A General Nuisance

Is what the Mayor of Berkeley has declared second-hand smoke within his cities limits.

Smokers in Berkeley could find themselves increasingly restricted if the City Council decides to send several policies limiting smoking zones and advertising to the Community Health Commission and city attorney for further review.

The proposed changes to the city’s current smoking regulations, which were authored by Mayor Tom Bates, and would declare secondhand smoke a general nuisance in Berkeley, forbid bars from dedicating nights to tobacco industry promotions and prohibit smoking in cars with small children.

First it was a helath risk to the smoker, so they had it banned in government workplaces. Then, employers decided it was a risk to their health care costs, so they banned it in workplaces.

Not too long thereafter, the anti-smokingistas decided that waiters and waitresses were a special class and had it banned in bars and bowling alleys (they forgot that the fry cooks breath in more toxic fumes in an hour that a barmaid breathes in a 10 hour shift in the smoking section). Not ones to let consumers think for themselves, they decided that restaurants were going to have to ban smoking as well. The technology in 2005 wasn’t smart enough to be able to suck the dirty air out of the room, filter it and then send back into the room cleaned of toxins and odor.

Now the city of Berzerkley has decided that your car is their domain. I’ve seen anti-smoking advocates try the cellphone excuse and call it a ‘distraction to driving’ to try to get it banned, but that didn’t work too well. So now they pull out the old standard “It’s for the Chiiildren!� wail and the City Council of that insane burg is falling for it.

How much longer before they make it so that you can’t smoke in your house if you have small children or even just pets? Forget that, how long until you can’t cook, clean with bleach or ammoinia or even fart because that city is pretty sure that you’ll hurt your lungs doing it?

And the lemmings of Berzekley are welcoming this regulation with open arms,

Oh Nanny, please tell me how to live my life!

But mention the Patriot Act, and they go off about BusHitler McHaliburton conspiracies until the sun goes down (and then comes back up again).

Found @ Mean Mr. Mustard