NYC = Nanny State? Health Dept. considering smoking ban in parks [More]What is it about some "former smokers"-- like Bloomberg?
I think I'm starting to sense a grander plan unfolding. In an effort to deter being victimized by further terrorist attacks against American targets, the mayor et al. are doing their utmost to make the Big Apple as un-American as they can...
I do find it telling how many degraded denizens there will bitch and moan about their freaking cigarettes, but not give a moment's thought to their right to keep and bear arms--aside from denying and disparaging it.
I figure the whole point of living in New York is to get taxed to death, become a crime victim, get pushed around every time you breathe, and in general, live like a rat in a cage. Lemme get this right. Cigarettes are upwards $6.oo a pack, mostly because of taxes, and you damn near can't smoke anywhere? Sounds like a workers paradise allright.
ReplyDeletecomrade bloomturd says: it's not a paradise yet because we haven't achieved total control to implement our plans to make the workers' lives better.
ReplyDeletePlus we started a war on salt, fat trannys...err, trans-fats (the fat trannys was the guy before me, but equally bad for you) idling the car over a couple minutes, and a whole lot that haven't made the news.
wv=apast...beacon of freedom
so. you can get a jackboot foot-soldier to show up like clockwork at a public park, any public park, just by smoking, or sufficiently recreating the illusion of smoking? assume for a moment that you could have gotten 19 saudi hijackers to report to a security desk at logan airport with a one-page essay on how they planned to take a plane or two that morning.
ReplyDeleteevery time you read a story like this, you are staring right at leviathan exposing its soft underbelly. every spying camera is an audience. every nuisance ordinance gives you the power to mobilize someone else's forces. an honest lover does not commit rape without becoming a rapist whether he is caught or not. how does an honest custodian behave?
the time to ponder quis custodiet ipsos custodes is when you're on the 300 yard line with your eye about an inch and a half away from the answer. the rest of the time you should be taking notes.
This spring I was in Balboa Park in San Diego, PRK. I was at least 100 feet from any other mammal, sitting under a tree having a cigarette when an officer approached me.
ReplyDelete"Sir, I have to tell you there's a $1,000 fine for smoking in the park"
I looked him dead in the eye and said "you mean, out here among the grass and trees which turn CO2 into oxygen that keeps us all alive? You know... (I extended my wrists, together, for cuffing) ... you might as well go ahead and lock me up, because I'm not going to put it out, if you ticket me I'm not going to pay it, if you summons me I'm not going to appear. Everybody has a line, and I guess this one is mine. Please take it easy on me - I'm not going to resist, and my left leg is ruined...
I started to get up, he smiled and said "you know... I agree with you. This is bullshiat" then he turned on his heel and walked away. I sat back and enjoyed my cigarette, then lit another just for the hell of it. I made a point - when I had the time - to come back to the same spot and have a cigar.
At that point I made up my mind that henceforth - while I would not go looking for trouble - I would also not be cowed. "Civil Disobedience" is a matter which deserves to be resurrected.
Don't get me wrong - I respect your right NOT to smoke, and try to be courteous - I'll even abstain in my own car if my passenger requests - but this sort of crap is SICK.
It's TYRANNY, and must be resisted. The state laws banning smoking in bars and restaurants are trampling the rights of the property owner - who is the only proper person to determine what is or is not permissible on his property.
At most a warning sign ("Smoking is permitted in this establishment") on the door should be enough - if you don't want to be near it, don't enter.
Gee - that was easy!
DD
That sign, DD, and advertising whether or not you're a smoking or non-smoking establishment--would be an incentive for a certain segment of the customer base to visit your establishment. It would be an economic stimulus.
ReplyDeleteHell, around here they sent the nazi patrols out to the local American Legion and issued them a fine for smoking in their bar. Some bartendress wanted revenge--also filed a sexual harassment lawsuit because they had joked with her--she couldn't just tell the first person who offended her to knock it off, she had to hang around for a year, then snitch on them, then quit and then sue a bunch of old vets trying to do some good and have a social life, and from a different era before pc.