No puffing allowed at pipe convention (Chicago - land of the not-so-free)

Moldova ^ | 5/04/08

[Libloather]

No puffing allowed at pipe convention

The United States' largest gathering of pipe smokers is being held near Chicago but none are lighting up inside the convention center, aficionados lament.

Illinois law requires pipe smokers attending the Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show to retreat to a tent 15 feet away from the St. Charles convention center if they want to enjoy a puff or two, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

How would you like it if you went to a wine tasting and you couldn't taste the wine? asked Al Shinogle, 53, of Denver, who was smoking a hand-carved Danish pipe. It's a freedom issue.

Shinogle was one of about 4,000 pipe lovers from 60 countries attending the event.

Organizers had sought unsuccessfully to get an exception to the state law that went into effect this year, arguing it was essentially a private club meeting.

That argument didn't fly with anti-smoking advocates.

This is the first time we've seen such a blatant attempt ... to actually undermine the law through legal sophistry, said Mike Grady of the American Cancer Society in Illinois. We're very happy with the outcome. This is the perfect example that the law is being enforced.

[Libloather]

How would you like it if you went to a wine tasting and you couldn't taste the wine?

Wine? Now that'll kill ya...

[clee1]

I fail to understand why the organizers of such events would book them in places that are totally against their activity/interest.

To say nothing about actually living in such liberal cesspools.

[mojo114]

Who the heck was the organizer for this disaster? I did go the link and did not see?

[HerrBlucher]

Mike Grady of the American Cancer Society in Illinois. We're very happy with the outcome

Hmmmm, lets see the logic here. Grady is opposed to smoking because it causes cancer, but he is happy that the law was enforced causing the pipe smokers to have to retreat to a much smaller building, actually a tent with a much higher concentration of smoke. Yah, that makes real sense.......its the letter of the law I guess, reason be damned!

[CindyDawg]

I don’t smoke but...why would people bring money to a city that is going to ban them from what they came to enjoy?

[HerrBlucher]

I fail to understand why the organizers of such events would book them in places that are totally against their activity/interest.

Proximity to a major airport is probably the highest priority for these international gatherings. I would wager that nearly all major airports are situated in liberal cesspools.

[terycarl]

It’s high time that citizens “revolt” against suce inane laws....if all the pipe smokers had lit up, do you suppose that the tobacco polce would have rounded them up in paddy wagons????? I doubt it!! Enough of this nonsense is enough.....lie here like a doormat if you wish...I will violate these laws, and challenge their constitutionality when taken to task. we are becoming a pathetic bunch of lemmings...sad

[Cobra64]

"This is the perfect example that the law is being enforced."

Meanwhile there are 50,000 illegal aliens and gangs in the neighborhood raping women, committing other acts of violence, and this moron wants pipe smokers banned.

I'd bet this is the same kind of faggot that that General Patton would have slapped.

[BikerJoe]

I don’t smoke but...why would people bring money to a city that is going to ban them from what they came to enjoy?

Sometimes these events are set up a couple of years in advance, so with the law going into effect last year, the only other option might have been to cancel the show for this year. It might have been too late to find another suitable venue (even a year in advance can be "too late" for some of these events).

[ccmay]

Revolution is a two-way street--if you light a pipe at the next table over from me and my family in a non-smoking restaurant, and the manager doesn't do something about it, I sure as hell will. You have the right to your disgusting vice, but you certainly have no right to inflict it on everyone else.

-ccm

[traviskicks]

bookmark

[Hardastarboard]

if all the pipe smokers had lit up, do you suppose that the tobacco polce would have rounded them up in paddy wagons

These policies infuriate me, too, and I don't smoke. The issue is that the Commies who rule us, make laws against our will, and then villify and punish us for violating those laws are smart enough to know how to force us to comply. You and I can act out against this all we want; we ultimately won't pay the price. The business man or event organizer pays the price.

The Commies have figured out that they can't force us, the body politic, to do anything we don't want to do. They force the businesses to do their dirty work for them (collect withholding taxes, prevent smoking in your establishment, sell guns under very strict conditions, etc). There are so few businesses relative to the rest of us, that they're between a rock and a hard place. No sane businessman is going to give up his freedom and his livelihood for our liberty.

We can rail against smoking laws and background checks and whatever else we want. The hard reality is that the government has many thousands of unpaid, and often unwilling, enforcers of their laws in the form of businesses that are required to force us to comply.

[traviskicks]

Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.

[headsonpikes]

To paraphrase Mao, this looks very much like “Communism with American characteristics”.

Enjoy!

[FreedomPoster]

>>I fail to understand why the organizers of such events would book them in places that are totally against their activity/interest.

Second that.

Back in the day of the big Personal Computer show, the really big shows never went to NYC, Philly, or Chicago. Why?

Union electricians demanded they hook up every cable. PC vendors couldn’t live with that.

The really big shows were in Atlanta and Las Vegas as a result, and those other cities lost tons of revenue. Getting back to your statement, the organizers of those events didn’t book them in places that were unfriendly to their shows.

[FReepapalooza]

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

[Scutter]

I’ve been to a number of conventions/trade/large venues in facilities like this. They ALL are no-smoking buildings and require smokers to step outside to smoke. I fail to see how this is unreasonable or a sign of “liberal policies”. If I own a multi-million dollar facility, the last thing I want is for a bunch of smokers to permanently stink it up and potentially make it less likely for me to book future customers. This is the same reason hotels have non-smoking rooms; non-smokers don’t want to smell the smoke.

[Bernard]

It gets worse; the Chicago police are buying assautlt rifles to keep up with the bad guys. And the local news has been full of stories about how many shootings there are in Chicago every week. You can tell the weather is finally getting better.

Of course, this pipe smoking event is in St. Charles, which is a nice little town about 30 miles west of the Chicago border. It's the state law about smoking, not the city.

[btcusn]

You would take your family to a pipe convention for dinner?
There was no mention of a restaurant.
My opinion is let the people decide, if there is call for non smoking restaurants and bars, they will open and thrive. The non smokers will flock to them. The smokers will avoid them.
I believe that the non smoking establishments will outnumber the smoking establishments in short order. There is no need for a law to try to change human behavior, information and knowledge will.
Jack

[Cobra64]

It's the state law about smoking, not the city.

Interesting.... Isn't IL the same state that forced a large gun manufacturer to leave the state and rebuild their business (and TAXES) across the border into IA?

[justiceseeker93]

There is no need for a law to try to change human behavior; information an d knowledge will.

Very well put. The government should have the power to determine where smoking can be prohibited or permitted within government-owned property. But on private property, the owner of the property should be making that decision, not the government.

[arderkrag]

Ridiculous. Eventually, the people of this country are going to have to staret fighting back against this kind of idiotic “public health” reactionism.

[elkfersupper]

You have the right to your disgusting vice, but you certainly have no right to inflict it on everyone else.

Then please bless us with your absence.