Ahhh....clean air

[lakercub]

Normally I don't approve of these types of laws, but the smoking ban that went into effect today is literally a breath of fresh air. I frequent a Village Inn restaurant when I have to work late hours. I like to sit there quietly and read my book. The only drawback is I leave smelling like a 3-pack-a-day smoker even when I sit as far from smoking as possible. I went there today just to bask in the cleaner air. I sat in what used to be the smoking section, and the smell was already almost undetectable. I was worried that the carpets might retain that awful odor. They didn't 14 hours of a non-smoking ban and the place was like a whole new restaurant. Now I can't wait to go out for a drink down at Jack Quinn's. I will breathe deeply and happily.

[Robb]

1. Feh

I'm no fan of legislating something I feel like the marketplace has actually taken care of, but if it makes people more comfortable than it inconveniences, I can dig it.

Of course, I'm next door to a little wildfire that's been flooding town with smoke for the past week, so irony lives. :)

[politicat]

2. Non-smoker, but not happy with the law.

Leftist-libertarian with anarchical leanings here; Business owners have the right to make these decisions for themselves. If there's a niche in allowing smoking, they should be able to operate a business that allows that. I like Boulder County's law, with its provision for a separate ventilation system. Our law works and it's sensible and it allows business owners and individuals both to invest their dollars in their own choices.

I see a smoking ban as being the first step into legalized puritanism. I like my chocolate cocktails and limoncello and barenjaegers and Persephone's Ruins. Exotic booze is my moderated vice, and I'm an adult well aware of the health risks of drink. When one group of fanatics succeeds in banning one vice, the next group is encouraged. Next it will be fried food or chocolate or coffee or whatever else can be passed off as benefiting the CHILLLLLLLLLL-DRUUUUUUUN. (I go to bars because there are no children there.) I'm not a walking uterus and I get to make the decisions about what chemicals enter my body. As it happens, I feel safer with a smoker's second hand smoke than I do with the crap coming out of the Longmont Con-agra facility.

I will leave the state if any more of this puritanism gets enacted.

I'd much rather that smokers who butt-tossed were fined for attempted neglectful arson (rather than littering).

[Democrats_win]

3. Business owners thought they had the right to pollute the Hudson River.

Supporting businesses doesn't mean we have to support them when they're wrong.
No employee should work in these unhealthy conditions.

Americans assume that a business is good because it is a business. Yet if it squanders its investors investment no one will defend it as "the best thing since Enron." We no longer allow them to pollute as they once did.

So why do we defend businesses when they squander the health of their employees? It will cost our society a lot of money to care for a portion of the employees who must waste away from smoking-related illness. This cost will not be paid by THESE businesses. It does not show up in their "cost/benefit analysis."

Not all businesses need regulation, but almost all marketplaces do. WE regulate the marketplace, not the other way around. WE the people declared independence from the tyranny and arbitrariness of kings, why do we now accept this from the marketplace especially when the marketplace is wrong?