Posted on 03/17/2013 5:58:30 AM PDT by Kaslin
California Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, has introduced a bill to make it illegal for people to smoke in their own homes -- if they live in an apartment or a condo or a multifamily home. When last I wrote about Levine, he was pushing a statewide law to require grocers to charge for bags. Now he's after cigarettes -- but only the legal kind. With his new AB 746, Levine is following a trail blazed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who pushed a law prohibiting the restaurant sale of large sugary drinks, which a New York judge overturned.
One politician thinks he has the right to tell New Yorkers what they can put in their stomachs. Another thinks he has the right to outlaw Californians smoking in the sanctity of their own homes. These two must think they are gods or kings. Or dictators.
They know what's best for you, so they feel free to force you to behave -- for your own good.
"I've got to defend my children and yours and do what's right to save lives. Obesity kills. There's no question it kills," quoth Bloomberg in defense of his erstwhile ban on Big Gulps. Never mind that people could purchase two drinks if they wanted to get around the law. Why even bother?
I asked Levine whether he has any qualms about passing a law that tells people what they cannot do in their own homes. Offenders would be subject to a $100 fine.
"When you think about this issue, we send our children to school in a smoke-free environment," he answered. "Our offices are protected by workplace laws, and where we should feel safest to breathe clean air, in our own homes, is the last unprotected place from secondhand smoke."
In other words: No. Because smoke can leach from one apartment to another and secondhand smoke can kill, Levine said, he is standing up for families who don't want smoking neighbors (whether nonsmoking families want him to or not).
Levine did add that his bill would allow apartment dwellers to smoke in "designated" smoking areas. But those areas, if they qualified, would be outdoors -- outside one's home.
Observe, please, how Bloomberg and Levine have chosen the easiest targets a politician can pick on -- fat people and smokers. Not that they would call them fat people and point with derision. No, they moan about the ill effects of obesity on health. Ditto smoking.
These guys wouldn't dream of restricting the rights of people who engage in risky behavior that is popular. I asked Levine: Would his bill apply to people smoking medical marijuana?
"That's not covered in this," Levine responded. "I am much more concerned with cancer-causing secondhand smoke than cancer-easing medical marijuana."
That's interesting. According to the American Lung Association, "marijuana smoke contains a greater amount of carcinogens than tobacco smoke." What about all those apartment-dwelling children who risk being exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke? That's different.
Will his bill pass? Levine answered, "Whether it passes today or not, it will pass soon." And: "We already have a law that says if you're driving in a car with minors, you can't smoke."
That's how governments take away liberty. First it's in restaurants, and then it's at work. Then they hit your personal space -- a car with kids. People get used to the restrictions, and once a ban applies to one venue, it seems natural to expand it to others. Now a California lawmaker wants to make it illegal for people to smoke in their homes. What next
You didn’t say if you live in a house or an apartment. If you live in an apartment, your right to fill up someone elses apartment with cigar smoke trumps their right to cigar smoke free air because you don’t want to stand in the cold for a few minutes?
If this really bothers you, you move to a place where you are more comfortable.
The NANNY state of affairs in this country is going to create more laws than a person can live with on a daily basis.
Hitler made enough laws deliberately so that a German citizen could not get thru the day without breaking Hitler’s laws.
I don’t smoke. I have ashtrays in the house. I don’t tell people they cannot smoke around me.
Some choices need to be left to the citizen.
In typical hypocrital fashion, this Democrat doesn’t want any restrictions on pot smoking.
I personally don’t like being on the roadways with pot smokers. That accident can kill me or maim me for life.
There was a time that wherever you went there was tobacco smoke. Cafes, hospitals, Government offices, airplanes, cabs, buses. Some theaters and churches even allowed smoking inside. We as kids and adults stank from the stench even though we did not smoke, noses always running green snot, burning eyes.
I think the ban on smoking in such places are very good, but I do think they are going overboard when they try to ban smoking in a park and such.
There was a time when people stank.
Then they began to take baths.
Started brushing teeth and invented mouthwash for bad breath.
Started using underarm deodorant to keep the stench down.
They balked at stopping smoking.
Maybe that is why smoking smells so bad,it is the only stench left and there are no other stenches to counter or enhance the smell.
Even if you don’t have COPD. I once lived above a man who was a chain smoker. Every night after work he would drink and smoke himself into oblivion. The stench was terrible, not just when he was smoking but day and night. The sofa never got rid of the smell. The clothes in the closets smelled like smoker’s clothes. Opening the windows only made it worse. Chimney effect.
Definitely. Once the stink of cigarette smoke is in clothing and furniture, it’s there forever. Had a doctors appointment a few years ago and he asked me how much I smoked because he could smell it on my clothes. I told him I didn’t smoke. By the look he gave me I could tell he didn’t believe me.
I know, this discriminates against the poor and illegal aliens, so let's target everyone with stupid laws. What's the punishment for this terrible crime? How about sending in the SWAT team and summarily execute the smoker or smokers on the spot? It's for the children!
We had a young man work with us for several years. His body odor was so bad he could stink up a gymnasium, and I’m not kidding!
We also had smokers, and I found out real quick I would rather be in a room of smokers than that stinker, unfortunately I was trapped with him!
One day I took him aside, and gently broke the problem to him. He began to clean up a little after that.
“It will end at the gulag, as it always does.”
One of my favorite books is, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”; wonderful story.
(Wonderful in that it exposes the antics of totalitarians.)
One hopes that it will not end in the gulaga, but long before that.
IMHO
“It’s going to end with people like Levine decorating lamp posts.”
Hopefully, it will end when people like Mr. Levine are recognized for who they are and laughed off any forum by an informed and literate populace.
IMHO
“When the federal government has appointed a person who will check your home daily...”
Progressives might consider some of the words of
Thomas Jefferson to be extreme: especially the following; ...”Now and again the tree of liberty must be nourished with the blood of patriots and tyrants...it is its natural manure.”
IMHO
don’t want to stand in the cold for a few minutes?
Cigars don’t get finished in a few minutes, more like an hour or more.
Should people who live in apartment building also have the right to play AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” at full volume at three a.m.?
What this legislation does is make it illegal to market multi-unit housing exclusively to smokers.
Make it illegal for people to smoke in their own homes.
Would stoners have to give it up too?,second hand weed causes people to over eat and become obese.
/s
We as kids and adults stank from the stench even though we did not smoke, noses always running green snot, burning eyes.
I am 70. My parents and grandparents smoked, as did everyone, everywhere, as you say. I do not recall any stench, green or even clear snot or burning eyes. We had far fewer asthmatics, fewer allergies and my particular family is/was long lived with no cancer except for one case of prostate cancer for at least 4 and going on 5 generations.
All I am saying is that we all have to be considerate of each other. You can not disagree with that, or can you?
*** I do not recall any stench, green or even clear snot or burning eyes.****
I remember it! Waiting rooms in hospitals were seen through a cloud!
In the car, when my dad and uncle lit up we all suffered in winter. In summer the windows were down so it was not so bad.
I still remember going to a cafeteria in the 1970s. It had a No Smoking room, but to get to it you had to go through the haze in the main room.
As a point of disclosure, I am part of a real estate investment group that owns several dozen multi-family buildings and we prohibit smoking in each unit.
However, I do not want the state to pass such restrictions.
But, many jurisdictions have ordinances banning the playing of load music after a certain time and if we are too accept noise ordinances, why should we not accept smoking ordinances?
Both activities, the playing of loud music create pollution and infringe on a person’s peace, quiet and comfort.
I would have no problem with an apartment owner designating his building as non-smoking, if he chooses to.
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Exactly. Even the Condo Building could be designated Non Smoking. When enough units lay open the tenants will either share the expense or modify the ‘rules’.
Bars/Restaurants and PRIVATE OWNED transportation Companies should have the right to OFFER either. Of course once they ‘allow’ the Government to subsidize them, they are forced to follow Government mandates.
The Hotels/Motels seem to do well OFFERING smoking or non smoking rooms and if the DEMAND swings one way or the other, they should be allowed to adjust as necessary.
Government should be in the ‘advise’ mode, NOT demand.
See that is all you had to do. He probably didn't realize that he smelled so bad and I am sure he appreciated you telling him that.
On the other hand it hard often to tell a smoker that his or her smoke is bothering you because many will tell you I smoke where I want to.
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