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Ditka: Smoke won't hurt you
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | January 10, 2003 | FRAN SPIELMAN

Posted on 01/10/2003 7:41:00 PM PST by Max McGarrity

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To: F16Fighter
Good point. It's no prblem of mine whatever you choose to do in the privacy of your own home.

So what business is it of yours what he does in the privacy of someone else's property, assuming the other person consents?

81 posted on 01/11/2003 3:47:43 PM PST by laredo44
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To: laredo44
So what business is it of yours what he does in the privacy of someone else's property, assuming the other person consents?

Have at it, Mango.

82 posted on 01/11/2003 4:13:54 PM PST by F16Fighter
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To: F16Fighter
It's no business of yours what I choose to do in the PRIVACY of Mike Ditka's Restaurant, either.
83 posted on 01/11/2003 4:45:55 PM PST by Max McGarrity
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To: CDHart
"There's more to the smoking/health equation than one person's anecdotal evidence."

You say "Amen to that!" then proceed to use your OWN "anecdotal evidence" to try to prove a point. Why is YOUR anecdotal evidence any more real and true than Ditka's or mine or many millions of others? It isn't.

But even if the cancer doesn't get you, smoking anything usually results in some form of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). If you like inhalers four times a day and oxygen at night and the inability to walk up a slight grade without huffing, just keep smoking -- first or secondhand./p>

I'm sorry about your personal problem, but your sweeping conclusions are just flat-out wrong, as sweeping conclusions usually are. Twice as many lifelong smokers never fall ill from one of the "smoking-related" illnesses, including COPD, as do. And as for "secondhand smoke," that's hysteria. But, even if everything they say about environmental tobacco smoke were true, it would still be a CHOICE to be exposed to it. Or don't you belive in private property rights, either?

84 posted on 01/11/2003 4:55:00 PM PST by Max McGarrity
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To: Tacis
"He runs a public place and if I am in it, I don't want to be forced to suffer the by-product of some other customer's personal weakness or stupidity."

WRONG !

He runs a private place and if you don't want to eat there you don't have to. You have your rights and we have ours ! I'm not a smoker but if a restaurant lets smokers smoke then it's their business not the Gov't. If the employees don't want to work there then they can work someplace else.

85 posted on 01/11/2003 4:56:08 PM PST by america-rules
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To: Max McGarrity; Tacis
Well folks, you got both sides of the argument down OK!

Let's see what the judge says. My question:

If there's no smoking anywhere, how's it going to hurt business? Has it been shown that people will stay home to eat and drink?

What about smoking sections for restaurants and bars with their own ventilation? That seems to work. Can't we all just get along?

86 posted on 01/11/2003 5:05:58 PM PST by Kenny Bunk
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To: JimVT
No, we have gas furnaces in our neighborhood :-).

I'm not sure what the point is, though. There's considerably more ventilation outdoors. If a person's house were smoky inside, I'd probably stay outside; and if a restaurant is smoky, I won't go there.
87 posted on 01/11/2003 5:22:24 PM PST by Tax-chick
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To: Tax-chick
My cousin died from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke. Her smoker husband is still alive in his 60's.

I'm not certain that science backs that statement up.

88 posted on 01/11/2003 5:24:26 PM PST by meyer
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To: Tacis
He runs a public place and if I am in it, I don't want to be forced to suffer the by-product of some other customer's personal weakness or stupidity. Whether that customer is playing a radio at max volume, burning strong incense, burning tire chunks or burning tobacco, he does not have the right to take my freedom.

Then don't go in it. Its his public place, not yours.

89 posted on 01/11/2003 5:28:06 PM PST by meyer
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To: GhostofWCooper
Billions of dollars in tax money were earned from the big lie. Now fatty foods are in the cross-hairs.

Here's a little more info on how the leftist control nazis try to twist statistics to meet their goals. You're right that billions of dollars in tax money were gained, but there were also many, many millions in lawyers' fees. The tort lottery continues, this time with government help.

90 posted on 01/11/2003 5:41:24 PM PST by meyer
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To: Kenny Bunk
If there's no smoking anywhere, how's it going to hurt business? Has it been shown that people will stay home to eat and drink?

Yes, it has been so shown. Not everyone, of course, but enough that small businesses are hurt or destroyed. Sixty percent of bars in Northern California are "noncompliant" and the percentage is probably about the same here in SoCal. Business owners are willing to risk the fines because otherwise, they'll be out of business.

What about smoking sections for restaurants and bars with their own ventilation? That seems to work. Can't we all just get along?

What about permitting the free market to work? How about letting the business owner decide who HIS market is and how best to cater to them? I'd love to "get along," but anti smokers want it all, 100% zero tolerance, and absolutely NO accommodation for smokers, no matter who it hurts. It's ridiculous.

91 posted on 01/11/2003 5:44:52 PM PST by Max McGarrity
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To: Kenny Bunk; humblegunner
If there's no smoking anywhere, how's it going to hurt business? Has it been shown that people will stay home to eat and drink?

I will damn sure never go to a non-smoking bar. None of my smoking friends will either.

What about smoking sections for restaurants and bars with their own ventilation?

Better yet, a bar that forces candy-ass whiney crybaby pidgeon pukes to smoke if they want to come in and stay?

I would love a place that would not admit crybabies who want the nanny-state to ban legal products.


Stay safe; stay armed.
Eaker

92 posted on 01/11/2003 5:49:01 PM PST by Eaker
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To: Kenny Bunk
If there's no smoking anywhere, how's it going to hurt business? Has it been shown that people will stay home to eat and drink?

Yes it certainly has, in my town business is down appr 25%, ban took effect a year and a half ago.

93 posted on 01/11/2003 6:30:53 PM PST by Great Dane
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To: Eaker
What the hell is a non-smoking bar?
There might be one down in montrose, for special folks..
I'm sure the chive dip is just divine...
94 posted on 01/11/2003 6:38:20 PM PST by humblegunner (Molon Labe)
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To: meyer
I'm not certain that science backs that statement up.

You could well be right.

On the other hand, what do we call the "products of combustion" in other circumstances? A: Air pollution. Science backs up the fact that sludge in the air irritates our lungs.

I'm not sure how I got into this :-). I certainly have no interest in regulating other people's smoking!

95 posted on 01/11/2003 6:58:50 PM PST by Tax-chick
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To: Max McGarrity
"It's no business of yours what I choose to do in the PRIVACY of Mike Ditka's Restaurant, either."

Max, by all means find a nice dark corner of Mike Ditka's Restaurant and smoke, drink, and play doctor with WHOMEVER in total privacy.

I could care less if Ditka turned his restaurant into a San Francisco bathhouse -- in that case hopefully, he would make ashtrays available.

96 posted on 01/11/2003 7:27:46 PM PST by F16Fighter
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To: Kenny Bunk
If there's no smoking anywhere, how's it going to hurt business? Has it been shown that people will stay home to eat and drink?

Many smokers find it hard to enjoy themselves if they go for an hour or two without smoking. That's not to say they can't go without smoking, but they don't enjoy themselves.

People who go to bars and fancy restaurants generally do so for the purpose of enjoying themselves. Few people will go to a restaurant to spend $30 or more on a meal they know they're not going to enjoy.

I've noticed that many fast food places around me are completely non-smoking, and suspect there are four reasons: (1) smokers can generally be in and out quickly enough that not smoking for the brief time in-between isn't a problem; (2) smokers who don't want to stop smoking long enough to eat can get food to-go; (3) smokers who don't want to stop smoking, even for a moment, can use the drive-through; (4) many people who go to fast-food restaurants aren't particularly concerned about enjoyment.

If bars were allowed to let people have beverages to-go, they might not be hurt too seriously by a smoking ban. Unless a bar has an attached beer garden which allows smoking, however, they generally can't.

97 posted on 01/11/2003 8:03:48 PM PST by supercat (TAG--you're it!)
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To: JJDKII
You've forgotten what may be the most important: Ignorance is Strength.

I knew I was forgetting one; that one fits liberals pretty self-explanitorially.

98 posted on 01/11/2003 8:05:46 PM PST by supercat (TAG--you're it!)
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To: Max McGarrity
"Or don't you belive in private property rights, either?"

Good Lord, what set you off? I believe everyone has a right to smoke if he/she chooses to do so. (I have no idea what that has to do with property rights, though.)

Feel free to smoke your brains out. Maybe you'll be one of the fortunate ones. Then again....

Carolyn

99 posted on 01/12/2003 3:51:13 AM PST by CDHart
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To: F16Fighter
Have at it, Mango.

Mango?

100 posted on 01/12/2003 5:06:27 AM PST by laredo44
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