CJ
01-13-07, 04:21 AM
:mad-pound: :mad-pound: :mad-pound: :mad-pound: :mad-pound: :mad-pound:
I don't know about the rulings in any of the cities anyone else lives in, but this whole little war that the whiny little bitch anti-smoking activists want to wage is becoming a bit rediculous. Last I checked, working in the smog-infested downtown of the city wasn't much better, we should ban SUV's soon too.... wait, almost all of the whiny activists drive big shiny Hummers and Lexus 450's and the like, that wouldn't work...
Original Article (http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Rodriguez_Jose/2007/01/12/3320091.html), full credit and big props to Mr. Rodriguez for this blunt and honest POV.
Blowing smoke
By JOSE RODRIGUEZ - Editor, Calgary Sun.
OK, OK, OK!
We give, we surrender.
You win, we lose.
I promise, promise, promise to leave my smokes in the truck and check my matches at the door the next time I go for a beer.
But please allow me one parting shot at the city's ridiculously-concocted, ill-executed smoking bylaw before they empty my ashtray for the last time.
First things first.
It's a sad day for freedom when business owners who cater to strictly adult clientele aren't allowed to dictate what legal activities can take place inside the closed doors of their establishments.
I'm sure somewhere in hell, Stalin is applauding.
Last time I checked, there were no reports of non-smokers being kidnapped from pub parking lots, tied to barstools and forced to suck in smoke rings. I assume they went to smoking bars of their own free will.
Then there's the hypocrisy of it all.
It's OK for Johnny (double rye and coke) Smith to get absolutely obliterated or Frankie (should have cashed out) Jones to feed his life savings into a VLT, as long as they keep their lighters holstered.
What a crock!
Bars aren't churches.
They cater to vices and anyone who thinks drinking and gambling don't have an effect on people other than those partaking in the sinful deeds, needs to pick up a newspaper more often.
Surely we're not moving to ban booze and gambling too, are we?
Non-smoking activists also argue second-hand smoke harms the workers who are forced to sling drinks and dumplings inside the fog-filled lounges.
Well, I don't know if anyone else noticed, but we're in the midst of a boom.
If you don't like your job, go get another one.
But the most distressing part of the new bylaw is the disgusting double-standard it sets.
The way it's being rolled out is about as fair as a game of Texas hold 'em with a team of blind monks.
Allowing bingo halls and casinos to cater to smokers punishes bar owners who will no doubt lose many of their clients to the gambling joints.
In the end, life is a funny and unpredictable thing.
Many a young man whose lips never touched a cancer stick died far too early and George Burns, who was seldom photographed without a cigar in his mouth, lived to be 100.
Taking away business owners' rights to run their business and smokers' rights to partake in the perfectly legal activity that has garnered the federal and provincial governments more than $150 billion in tobacco taxes since 1970, is hypocritical.
Bars are places where grown ups go to do grown up things.
Attendance is voluntary and those who don't like the smoke can frequent any of the fine non-smoking establishments that will no doubt thrive given the new-found zeal for drinking among non-smokers.
But until I'm pushing up daisies in some boneyard, I'll continue to argue there is a bigger chance of dying in a bar brawl at the fists of some drunken idiot than there is of dying from second-hand smoke contracted in some drinking establishment.
Anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
Now here's my white flag.
I reluctantly surrender.
(c) 2007, Sun Media Corporation.
I don't know about the rulings in any of the cities anyone else lives in, but this whole little war that the whiny little bitch anti-smoking activists want to wage is becoming a bit rediculous. Last I checked, working in the smog-infested downtown of the city wasn't much better, we should ban SUV's soon too.... wait, almost all of the whiny activists drive big shiny Hummers and Lexus 450's and the like, that wouldn't work...
Original Article (http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Rodriguez_Jose/2007/01/12/3320091.html), full credit and big props to Mr. Rodriguez for this blunt and honest POV.
Blowing smoke
By JOSE RODRIGUEZ - Editor, Calgary Sun.
OK, OK, OK!
We give, we surrender.
You win, we lose.
I promise, promise, promise to leave my smokes in the truck and check my matches at the door the next time I go for a beer.
But please allow me one parting shot at the city's ridiculously-concocted, ill-executed smoking bylaw before they empty my ashtray for the last time.
First things first.
It's a sad day for freedom when business owners who cater to strictly adult clientele aren't allowed to dictate what legal activities can take place inside the closed doors of their establishments.
I'm sure somewhere in hell, Stalin is applauding.
Last time I checked, there were no reports of non-smokers being kidnapped from pub parking lots, tied to barstools and forced to suck in smoke rings. I assume they went to smoking bars of their own free will.
Then there's the hypocrisy of it all.
It's OK for Johnny (double rye and coke) Smith to get absolutely obliterated or Frankie (should have cashed out) Jones to feed his life savings into a VLT, as long as they keep their lighters holstered.
What a crock!
Bars aren't churches.
They cater to vices and anyone who thinks drinking and gambling don't have an effect on people other than those partaking in the sinful deeds, needs to pick up a newspaper more often.
Surely we're not moving to ban booze and gambling too, are we?
Non-smoking activists also argue second-hand smoke harms the workers who are forced to sling drinks and dumplings inside the fog-filled lounges.
Well, I don't know if anyone else noticed, but we're in the midst of a boom.
If you don't like your job, go get another one.
But the most distressing part of the new bylaw is the disgusting double-standard it sets.
The way it's being rolled out is about as fair as a game of Texas hold 'em with a team of blind monks.
Allowing bingo halls and casinos to cater to smokers punishes bar owners who will no doubt lose many of their clients to the gambling joints.
In the end, life is a funny and unpredictable thing.
Many a young man whose lips never touched a cancer stick died far too early and George Burns, who was seldom photographed without a cigar in his mouth, lived to be 100.
Taking away business owners' rights to run their business and smokers' rights to partake in the perfectly legal activity that has garnered the federal and provincial governments more than $150 billion in tobacco taxes since 1970, is hypocritical.
Bars are places where grown ups go to do grown up things.
Attendance is voluntary and those who don't like the smoke can frequent any of the fine non-smoking establishments that will no doubt thrive given the new-found zeal for drinking among non-smokers.
But until I'm pushing up daisies in some boneyard, I'll continue to argue there is a bigger chance of dying in a bar brawl at the fists of some drunken idiot than there is of dying from second-hand smoke contracted in some drinking establishment.
Anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
Now here's my white flag.
I reluctantly surrender.
(c) 2007, Sun Media Corporation.