Thursday, March 15th, 2012
"No caffeine, No protein, No booze or Nicotine Remember everything gives you cancer." Those are the great lyrics to Joe Jackson's song "Cancer." No matter what we do in Kentucky it seems that some nanny is trying to look out for someone else best interest. Well, this week in the house committee Susan Westrom and crew brought up the statewide smoking ban once again.
"If we don't have the votes to get it out the Senate, I don't think we'll vote on it in the House," said Rep. Susan Westrom. Which is quite interesting. The reason being they are trying to hide from the light of day in an election year. Now is the time to expose the Nanny state that is sitting in our state house.
Everything they do backfires. Higher taxes has turned people to rolling their own. It's not only in Kentucky:
Smoking in bars and restaurants has been banned in New York City since 2003 but Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently added beaches, parks, and pedestrian plazas to the long and growing list of places where smoking is verboten in the Big Apple. "Sin taxes" on cigarettes have driven the average price of a pack to more than $11.
Yet in a city renowned for its innovation and drive, smokers have found ways to work around government attempts at social engineering. These include the booming "loosie" trade, where street entreprenuers risk arrest to sell loose cigarettes for a dollar each on the streets of Manhattan; tobacco crops blooming in Brooklyn; and a thriving Soho bar/restaurant that survived the smoking ban thanks to an obscure grandfather clause.
With so much tax revenue being lost to the black market, and even the green market, perhaps it's time for a mayor who made billions in the free market to consider allowing business owners to set their own policies, and let the marketplace sort out the demand for smoking and smoke-free establishments.
My favorite lines came from the Lexington Herald Leader: "Westrom said it might take another year for legislators to become educated on the issue.
"This is a difficult issue for some of the rural legislators," she said. "Sometimes it takes time to get used to a message before you truly hear it.""
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/13/2107706/kentucky-house-panel-approves.html#storylink=cpy
Basically, Westrom admits a bad election year issue and you hill jacks in rural counties aren't smart enough to understand how the smart folks in Lexington are trying to save you from yourself.
Meanwhile Kentucky is taking out a loan to pay interest on another loan before raising taxes to pay both loans and this is what we are spending time on? That and making sure the "foreign fish" have papers at restaurants with an exemption for what we feed our kids. Something that most cities can decide (granted it's a property right so even they shouldn't decide this). Fact is, in Bowling Green where I sit, pre-smoking ban over 70% of restaurants were smoke free. The Free Market and Free Will is a beautiful thing and to kill it in the name of good intentions is not. QUESTION YOUR CANDIDATES! Where do they stand on a state wide smoking ban! Do it before it's easier to list where you can smoke than where you can not.
A few points of interest: First, why is smoking in public the only concern if, in fact, health is really the issue. Ever since a few years back commercials encouraged kids to simply say, "No thanks, I'm allergic" as a way of escaping peer pressure, EVERY non smoker in the US is now "allergic" to smoke. Secondly, what about perfume/cologne wearers? Much less the ones who bathe in it. You'd think the allergic to smoke people would squawk a bit about the hives and rashes one gets who is truly allergic! What about the charcoal barbecues and traffic belching it's burnt rubber, old oil, and cancerous exhaust fumes? Not to mention factories dumping their invisible chemicals into our air? And one last thing. My sister had a booming karaoke family restaurant in a small southern town (in Tennessee). Very shortly after the smoking ban went into effect, business quickly went downhill into going out of business, just as many others here quickly went out. For those of you who think the impact on businesses will be nil, watch out. Do you think for a moment that smokers would rather eat at home with a good smoke after dessert, or at best change their eating out to fast food windows where they can eat and smoke in their cars? Smoking is a strong addiction. Why not let non-smokers start their own non-smoking establishments instead of taking the rights of other citizens - many of whom risked their lives in wartime thinking they were making a difference? ....... And lastly, have you ever noticed on health questionnaires, which health professionals require us to fill out - that there are NEVER any questions in addition to "do you smoke" which might cause upper respiratory problems, questions such as "do you work with chemicals", "are you exposed to excessive traffic fumes", "do you work in the woodworking industry", or even, "how often do you pump your own gasoline", for that matter. Why? Because with cigarettes being the only question, it is simply too perfect to use as statistics to "Prove" how deadly smoking is! ...... Just saying. PS, no, I'm not a smoker, never have been. I just believe in being fair to all. Seems like the last 10 years everyone seems to think they have the right to bully people whom they think aren't perfect like themselves. Oh, brother.
ReplyDeleteA few points of interest: First, why is smoking in public the only concern if, in fact, health is really the issue. Ever since a few years back commercials encouraged kids to simply say, "No thanks, I'm allergic" as a way of escaping peer pressure, EVERY non smoker in the US is now "allergic" to smoke. Secondly, what about perfume/cologne wearers? Much less the ones who bathe in it. You'd think the allergic to smoke people would squawk a bit about the hives and rashes one gets who is truly allergic! What about the charcoal barbecues and traffic belching it's burnt rubber, old oil, and cancerous exhaust fumes? Not to mention factories dumping their invisible chemicals into our air? And one last thing. My sister had a booming karaoke family restaurant in a small southern town (in Tennessee). Very shortly after the smoking ban went into effect, business quickly went downhill into going out of business, just as many others here quickly went out. For those of you who think the impact on businesses will be nil, watch out. Do you think for a moment that smokers would rather eat at home with a good smoke after dessert, or at best change their eating out to fast food windows where they can eat and smoke in their cars? Smoking is a strong addiction. Why not let non-smokers start their own non-smoking establishments instead of taking the rights of other citizens - many of whom risked their lives in wartime thinking they were making a difference? ....... And lastly, have you ever noticed on health questionnaires, which health professionals require us to fill out - that there are NEVER any questions in addition to "do you smoke" which might cause upper respiratory problems, questions such as "do you work with chemicals", "are you exposed to excessive traffic fumes", "do you work in the woodworking industry", or even, "how often do you pump your own gasoline", for that matter. Why? Because with cigarettes being the only question, it is simply too perfect to use as statistics to "Prove" how deadly smoking is! ...... Just saying. PS, no, I'm not a smoker, never have been. I just believe in being fair to all. Seems like the last 10 years everyone seems to think they have the right to bully people whom they think aren't perfect like themselves. Oh, brother.
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