I'm surprised they didn't break out the batons or turn the fire hoses on him.

From the Blue Springs Examiner (emphasis mine):

In that case, Carnes said six officers from the Independence Tactical Swat Team and two patrol officers accompanied two Health Department employees in response to a a report that a person may have been smoking in the establishment.

[H/T 2 leighanimate on the Examiner Blogs.]

Can we come up with some other word for this besides "ban"?

Policy Guy points out a smoking "ban" I support.

...while governments should refrain from saying "Joe, you can't let people smoke in your bar," Joe is free to say "I don't want you to smoke in my bar." Nobody has a right to smoke in a private establishment.

On the other hand, Joe is free to ban smoking in his establishment, and his motives (financial gain, personal preference, etc.) make no difference.

People in one Michigan resort area will now be able to enjoy a smoke-free environment, if that's what they want. Crystal Mountain will ban smoking in most places on its property, which offers golf in the summer and alpine sports in the winter.

Of course, I would also support a competing business that REQUIRES patrons to smoke.

Apples and iguanas.

Another one of those little snippets that bounces around nearly constantly in my head is "Answers can be incorrect, questions can't."





Obviously, it refers to pure questions, not questions paired with statements such as "What time was it when you were beating your wife?"

I may have to rethink the whole thing, however.





The Baxter Bulletin has a poll up with a question so flawed that I don't know it CAN be fixed.

It draws a moral equivalency between government and property owners. It supposes that the two are either equally legitimate in enacting such a ban or equally illegitimate.

Of COURSE property owners should be able to institute such a ban in what is, after all, THEIR property.

But the government has no business telling the property owner what he can or cannot allow on his own property.

It would be akin to a parent saying "MTV is not allowed in this house." Does the government have an equal right to step in and say "MTV is not allowed in your house"? I don't think so.

On a barely related note, they haven't emailed me an activation code yet so I can post this point as a comment on their story.

Arkanssouri Public Service Announcement.

Health Nazis go after Secondhand Drool.

I told you; I told you! But did you listen? Noooooo! They're not even DONE with smoking yet, and they're already working on the next project:

[Arkansas State] Rep. Pam Adcock said she will propose next week a ban on
chewing tobacco from that chamber's floors or committee rooms. Adcock
contemplated seeking the ban during a committee meeting earlier this year and
said she would push for a state law in the 2009 session banning chewing tobacco
throughout the Capitol.

What's next? Secondhand popcorn smell? (Oh, wait; they're already on that one.)

Secondhand cola fizz? Secondhand tea aroma? Secondhand coffee stains?

I hate the Health Nazis.

Arkanssouri Public Service Announcement.

Arkanssouri Public Service Announcement.

I am inspired . . .

. . . by something Carlin wrote in the comments of a blogHOUSTON post:

There really is a correlation between the level of intellect and smoking/non-smoking.

TANGENT: I would *like* to post this in the comments of that post, but I am having difficulty signing in there for some reason.

Weary of harassing Big Tobacco, Congress goes after Big Clove.

The committee adopted an amendment by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., that would ban clove cigarettes, reversing a controversial decision by Kennedy to allow the FDA to make that decision.

Kennedy, the panel's chairman, said he was responding to several senators who contacted him with concerns that a ban on cloves would not be compliant with World Trade Organization rules. But Kennedy agreed to the ban after several senators objected.

Most cloves are marketed in Asia, and Philip Morris, a unit of New York-based Altria Group Inc., recently launched a Marlboro cigarette flavored with cloves in Indonesia.

Kennedy said at the meeting that Philip Morris had "nothing to do with our decision" and he supported the clove ban as long as it is WTO compliant.

Because, you know, SO MANY AMERICANS DIE FROM CLOVE POISONING EVERY YEAR! And there are all those studies that conclusively prove cloves are harmful to your health! Look out; the clovey menace will get you! It's Clove Madness, I tell you!

Sick of Big Brother and his absurd, irrational, foaming-at-the-mouth histrionics yet?

Try homegrown.

Or catnip, which kind of smells a little like marijuana.

I know what marijuana smells like only because I've seen shows about it on TV.

The War On Pleasure continues.

Great piece from the ARI on the Flavor Police.

From Matt J . . .

. . . in the comments of this Reason post on how teens rebel against being what to do (like that's news!) comes today's Quote of the Day:

The Truth ads are so douchey they made me start smoking again.

I agree. Let's all get together and do a class-action suit against them.

[H/T 2 libertarian.zebby.org]

My ugly mug.

You won't see a lot of pictures of me here on the blog, mostly because nobody (including me) wants to look at my ugly mug, but I *have* occasionally received an email from a minion or two who wants to gaze upon my visage. It's easier to worship someone when you know what they look like, I guess.

So here you go. They were taken with my digicam over the past couple of days.

Those of you with weak constitutions, avert thine eyes.

Don't be TOO nasty with your comments, or I'll post the collage I sent to R of pictures of what happens in the Gay Hulk Family household when Mikey is gone to camp! :)

I knew this was coming.

Lawsuit seeks perfume-free workplace.

Every argument in favor of workplace smoking bans applies here as well. Perfumes contain more carcinogens than cigarette smoke, and the "stink factor" is just as bad if not worse.

So you Health Nazis better be just as vocal in your support of this as you are about smoking bans. If you're not, you are exposing your own total lack of integrity.

Arkanssouri Public Service Announcement.

Take that, FCC oppressors!

I wonder if they truly don't recognize their bias.

Tariq Panja, AP reporter, on London's new smoking ban:

The smoking ban applies to covered public places and brings the nation in
line with the more than 35 other countries and territories.

There is no mention of the nearly 160 other countries of the world, the ones that don't have a smoking ban, that Britain has now placed itself out of line with.

And now a word from our sponsors . . .

FREE DICKIE!

Paducah business owner defies unjust law.

"I was raised that if you're right you stick to your guns and I think I'm right," said Dickie Todd.

I would LIKE to call him a Randian superhero, but that doesn't quite fit.

"One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

When is a pub not a pub?

When it's an embassy.

Pub becomes embassy to beat cig ban.

Here in the states, I don't know if this would work.

You might have better luck becoming a church.

Why don't they sell cigarettes by the each?

Today marks about a month since I began my latest attempt to quit smoking.

Note that I say "attempt."

Prior to yesterday, I had fallen off the wagon only twice. The first time, the mother of two of my high school friends had passed away. Dealing with visitation night meant dealing with crowds of people, and I needed some way to stave off a panic attack. I bought a pack and smoked it up over the next two days.

Quit again. Was going along great -- no withdrawal, no real urge to smoke.

Then, about a week ago. Plumbing problems. Water (thankfully, pre-flush water) flooding all over the bathroom floor. All day operation. Got thoroughly pissed off and needed a smoke; I guess to punish the toilet or reward myself for dealing with an obstinate toilet or something.

Bought a pack. Smoked it up over the next two days. Half a pack would have been adequate. My snit was over after smoking less than ten. But I had the rest of the pack there, so I had to smoke them up.

Some people say you can store cigarettes in the freezer. I know from experience you can't. They act just like baking soda, absorbing all the odors and rancid flavors floating around in there and wind up tasting literally like vomit. And not good vomit such as spaghetti, either. They taste like the vomit one would have after siphoning a car through a douche hose.

And my thrifty nature just won't let me throw away half a pack of unsmoked cigarettes.

But I stray . . .

Then came yesterday. All it took to set me off yesterday was receiving promotional Marlboro Menthol coupons in the mail, and a mention from my aunt that I had quit smoking. I don't know what it is about it, but I would rather people not talk about me trying to quit smoking. It always causes an urge to fire one up.

She left. I went to the convenience store and bought a pack of Marlboro Menthol 100's. Didn't even use my coupons. They were for cartons and I bought (buy?) mine by the pack.

I still have six of them left.

I keep telling myself that I am not perfect, and if perfection is my goal, I will fail.

And three packs in a month is a helluva lot better than the 2+ packs a day I was smoking.

Right?

"Man outta be able to do what he wants as long its legal."