Posted on 02/09/2008 3:22:16 AM PST by rhema
This spring the Legislature will review the Freedom to Breathe Act that swatted smokers out of warm Minnesota bars and onto freezing sidewalks. There smokers huddle and, hands shaking, try to light up.
Meanwhile, the hands of small bar owners are shaking for different reasons. They worry over their balance sheets, awash in red ink, and lay off their part-time help. As the nation slides into recession, things can only get worse.
It's a cliché in the Twin Cities that the backbone of our economy is the small-business owner, but not in Greater Minnesota where small business might be the only employer in town. So shouldn't small-business owners get a financial hardship exception if they've been hurt by the smoking ban?
That question was asked last spring when the Legislature was lobbied to provide just such an exception. But the Legislature said no. After all, there should be no exceptions when it comes to the public health. Right?
Not quite. In fact, our legislators carved out exceptions for scientific study participants, Native Americans, tobacconists, truckers, farmers, actors and actresses and ... wait! What was that last one?
That's right. When the smoking ban was debated, some theater-going, latte-drinking, Volvo-driving legislators got their undies all in a bundle that a few performers might not be allowed to smoke cigarettes on stage. Really. They worried that performers might have to suck on straws or pencils or -- you know -- "act" like they were smoking. Heavens! Whatever would become of The Theatre?
Not to worry. Our legislators quietly slipped in an exception for "theatrical productions" so that actors and actresses could puff away onstage and the delicate flower of artistic expression could more fully flourish in the North Star State.
But in their haste they forgot to define where "theatrical productions" could
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
PING!
Perfectly beautiful !
"Hey! .. Hey you !! ... What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Oh .. Good evening officer ... why, just a little impromptu geurilla theater, that's all. Please stay and enjoy the show, intermission in about 5 mintes."
All the world's a stage .... etc.
It serves the legislature right that this is going on. Make exceptions to help one group and not another, begs the bar owner to be creative lol.....Enough of the nanny state.
Fascist laws work only because the public acts like sheep. The bastards impose unreasonable laws and most people passively accept them. We need a few people who will resist these laws and send the fascist lawmakers a message: we will not take it any more.
Besides, we need to practice for the time when the fascists come for our guns.
That’s a great idea. Let’s just hope it’s okay with the UN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967479/posts
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I would bet the people I see coming out of the Fitzgerald Theatre probably don’t find this amusing.
But I sure do.
this must drive libs nuts.
support the “arts” or support bans?
“The Tobacco Monologue” is what the lawyer is calling it.
Friends, (Drag blow) Romans,(Drag, blow) Countrymen (drag, blow) lend me you ashtray.
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