Posted on 03/18/2006 8:43:01 AM PST by FairOpinion
Calabasas makes it illegal to light up in public spaces, with fines up to $500. Some residents breathe easier, but others just fume.
As a pioneering public smoking ban went into effect Friday in Calabasas, enforcement came from a higher authority: Mother Nature.
A pouring rainstorm snuffed out renegade smokers' cigarettes and sent them scurrying for cover as security guards began issuing warnings at the town's main shopping center.
Calabasas, an upscale suburb perched on the western edge of the San Fernando Valley, was generating international attention for what appears to be the nation's first ban on smoking in all outdoor public spaces. Violators can be fined up to $500.
As the day wore on, smokers were playing a cat-and-mouse game with mall security. Cupping their cigarettes in their hands and hiding them under patio tables, they flipped them to the outdoor mall's damp sidewalks when guards approached.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"Driving out business via stupid laws isn't going to make California a place worthwhile to invest or sell to if nobody can afford the product."
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I couldn't agree with you more. The stupid Dems are trying to kill the goose that lays the golden egg: chase out businesses, which employ people, that provide revenue. If all the "rich" leave, who is going to be left to pay for all the indigents?
Careful now. There are plenty of "Republicans" and "freedom-loving" posters on this forum who joyfully cheerlead any anti-smoking ordinance. Big government nannies can be found on both sides of the political spectrum.
I have traveled the country far and wide and spent weeks at a time in most major cities. I've seen freaks and weirdos in NYC, Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas, DC, and Miami to name a few. Someday I'll write about the crazies I saw in each one of them. You don't even want to hear about what I saw in the highway rest stops in Arkansas.
For 60 years people from those places have been streaming in to California for the opportunities, the weather and the overall way of life. I've had the chance to live in any number of different cities and rural towns over the years. I always come back to California though. There's a reason for it.
This really is resounding around the world.
Just saw an article in the UK Telegraph.
Lights are going out all over town that bans smoking
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/18/wsmoke18.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/18/ixworld.html
"The people of Calabasas can no longer light up in the street, in parks, bus stops, by office entrances or even on their own balcony if it overlooks communal areas such as swimming pools.
The ban underlines California's anti-smoking zeal. In the 1990s it outlawed cigarettes in bars, restaurants and offices, a move that was followed last month in Britain when MPs voted for a ban in all pubs, restaurants, private clubs and most workplaces by next year.
The Calabasas ordinance also follows January's landmark decision by the California Air Resources Board to classify second-hand tobacco smoke as a "toxic air contaminant".
But the new rule takes the crackdown to extremes that some critics see as draconian and infringing civil liberties.
The ban is supported by the American Cancer Society and the Heart Association and Lung Association."
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Maybe people should write to the American Cancer Society and the Heart and Lung Associations ( see above) and let them know that you will no longer donate to them, if they support such infringements on people's personal liberties. They should stick to finding cures for the diseases.
The loony left will just keep making the remaining "rich" pay more and more in order to live in their communist utopia.
When things come crashing down, they won't blame themselves, they'll blame the rest of the world, because it will be the economic slowdown of the rest of the world that will cause California to take even more drastic measure to keep afloat. They'll just tax more in hopes of better days. Socialism is a cancer that keeps on spreading. The only way to stop it is to cut it out, and we know that won't happen. Already they are 'streamlining' things like pre school- socialist daycare for all, which will work if EVERYONE participates- the same old communist speech.
SO how will preschool daycare work? Working people pay and are forced to take their kids there, if they don't they pay anyways depending on income. Only the poor, uneployed, or those on welfare can send their kids to their entitled daycare, giving their welfare moms the whole day to lay on the couch and watch daytime TV.
"I've had the chance to live in any number of different cities and rural towns over the years. I always come back to California though. There's a reason for it."
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Absolutely.
There are strange people everywhere, not to mention criminals. But you don't make judgment about an entire state, because of seeing one strange person somewhere.
But everything considered California is a great place to live. You can't beat the climate and the general atmosphere. I wish more conservatives would move here to counter the liberals, instead of fleeing.
There will come a time (or actually it's upon us) when those living in primitive countries or even dictatorships will be freer than the Americans.
Everything will be hyperlegislated in the USA. Call somebody the wrong name, light up a cig, forget to buckle up... and you're in trouble. Formally you'll have all the rights you can shake a stick at, but as for the actual living (cursin', spittin', elbowin') space around you, it'll be nothing compared to those under harsh regimes.
Today, in modern countries, when a road needs to be built, they measure the "ecological impact"... I think something similar should be done for Laws that mean well (they all mean well, don't they), but that more and more make us feel like animals in a zoo.
We're hyper-legislated.
A few months back, here in Italy, a man was arrested for calling a Moroccan: "Ehi Marocco!"
In better days that would've been a type of slight that builds comaraderie. It was like kids playing, inventing their own rules and eventually finding common ground.
If "Marocco" was caught sipping a beer during Ramadam, undoubtedly he'd be instantly nicknamed "Ramadam". Today that would be some sort of religious offense. According to Clause 3, comma2 of Article forty-seven... bla-bla-bla!
Anyway, I can't see why a cig out in the open air is any worse than a SUV spewing out exhaust or a 747 flying overhead. Maybe soon govt. agents will come to make sure we're getting enough exercise and drinking enough water.
Bah!
And to think people came to America to be free...
I just read in another article, that smoking outdoors, can even be a CRIMINAL OFFENSE!
"Smoking scofflaws face warnings, fines of up to $500 for a recidivist with multiple offenses, and misdemeanor charges."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/18/MNGU7HQGCO1.DTL
I never understood, why people aren't incensed about invasion of their privacy by the government, when they do things like this, when they have laws invading your bathroom: what kind of toilet and showerheads you are allowed to install in your own home ("water saving" shower heads and toilets), but scream to high heavens about common sense measures, such as listening in to conversations of terrorists.
Haven't you realized yet that these places aren't looking for cures? They are looking for ways to manage diseases so you have to buy their drugs to stay alive. A cure would put them out of business. There are already cures for these things. Eat properly. Understand which foods are required for your organs to function properly. Smoking doesn't cause cancer, it only weakens your system so cancers can then take hold. Just as many people who never smoked a day in their lives get cancers, and lung cancer. I'm sure that diesel bus spewing it's exaust at you when it pulls away from the curb causes more illnesses than tobacco smoke. Industrial pollutants are everywhere, the air and water is full of toxins which come from the earth itself. Blaming everything of cigarette smoke is nothing but a lie, a scapegoat for those who want to take away all your freedoms tell everyone how to live. Why are kids fat these days? Because they aren't allowed to do anything!
I wish it were satire.....
Thanks for the ping!
"Coffee will be there too. Coffee addiction will be "a new study" topic within a year."
Then you better be quite prepared to pick up the slack billions in tax revenue generated by smokers.
Are you ready for that?
Oh yes. You should read about all the violence and death that has been created against smokers in the past few years. It's horrible.
And that idiot Lise Wiel was just on Fox News spouting that "our right to smoke ends at her nose." Gawd, how I hate that witch.
And then she started spewing the lies that second hand smoke is JUST as bad a smoking. She is a PIG!
It already is coming to a head. Check out this post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1596190/posts
"Auto makers should also refuse to build cars to meet California emmisions. Let them walk or ride bicycles, which manufacurers should mark "Not for sale in California" to protect themselves from lawsuits. Everything should be marked "not for sale in California" for that matter."
That's one of the best ideas I've heard in a long time.
Government regulation is completely out of control. They will never stop, now that they have their foot in the door.
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