MORE- Feb 2006

No BUTTs about the Smoking Law
Non-smokers of New Jersey, unite! The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act has finally been passed! The law prohibits smoking inside all bars, restaurants, and workplaces in the state, with the exception of casino floors and simulcasting facilities (http://www.njleg.state.nj.us). As with any law, views are divided, and tensions run high at the capitol as citizens put their eighth grade civics lessons to the test. Whose rights are violated by this law? Many say that smokers should have the right to smoke, and the ban takes away civil liberties. However, the legislature has declared that, "tobacco is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the State and the nation, and tobacco smoke constitutes a substantial health hazard to the nonsmoking majority of the public; the separation of smoking and nonsmoking areas in indoor public places and workplaces does not eliminate the hazard to nonsmokers if these areas share a common ventilation system." Sure, I understand the want and need to take a drag to go along with your cold Bud, but from now on, those who do share that desire will have to go outside in order to do it. Smokers have a choice of whether or not they want to ingest hundreds of chemicals and poison their body, but non-smokers lose that option when in a bar or restaurant. My rights are violated when I am burned with a lit cigarette or inhale tar and nicotine because a smoker is so overrun by their addiction that he can't take the time to find an open area to indulge. The ban may affect certain groups of people in other ways besides health concerns (though in my opinion, those should be the ones considered paramount). Restaurant and bar owners are concerned that the ban will bring sales down due to boycotts from smokers. They worry that smokers will find other ways to spend their time at places where smoking is welcome. There are also those who insist that the act is unfair because casino owners will not suffer the loss in revenue that other bars will, since smoking is still permitted on the gambling floor. On Thursday, January 12, a group of exotic dancers assembled at the Capitol to protest the signing of the bill. Their livelihood depends on customer support, and they fear a decline in business once the Smoke-Free Act goes into effect. Although everyone has a right to speak and let their opinion be heard, I am certain the act will go through and the protests will not change that. I know that as a non-smoker, I am really looking forward to going out to a bar and not having to shower at 2 am to rinse off the stink of cigarettes. I believe that the revenue lost to boycotts will be more than made up by people like me and my friends. I have stayed in at times because I didn't want to go out and get all smoky. I am more likely to go for a couple of beers and now than I ever was before. The new official slogan for New Jersey is, "New Jersey: Come See for Yourself." Now, thanks to the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, when people actually do come see for themselves, there will be one more reason to enjoy the Garden State.
	by Miss Gleny
Smokers: the last of the rugged individualists.
by: johnny	There is no doubt that smoking is no longer "cool". It is fantastically unhealthy, terribly addicting, socially unacceptable, and viewed as a true moral weakness by polite society. To smoke in public is to invite criticism from friends and strangers alike. Because of this, though I do not smoke, my admiration for smokers grows daily. Smoking was contemptible when it was done out of peer pressure (if they want you to smoke, then they are not real friends.) Smoking was pitiable when done out of addiction. But now, from my point of view, it is something else entirely. It is standing up and saying "To hell with popular opinion." This is my vice and when you do every-damn-thing that is healthy for you then you can criticize me. Now I've met people that have done everything healthy for them, and if you are reading this you probably aren't one of them because you would not have time to be reading this. Being healthy is a full time job. Smokers are those tough enough to be undaunted by public opinion. Ban me from smoking indoors and I will smoke outside, no matter what the weather (neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night). I will wear the smell of cigarette smoke not as a scarlet letter, rather as red badge of courage. Raise the tax on tobacco and I will cancel my health insurance so I can afford my two a day habit. Ha! There is your cost to society. Everyone has to die of something. Philip Morris, one of the yellow stained villains of "Big Tobacco" set the standard here. When New York City banned smoking in the tobacco giant's offices they picked up their ball and went south, taking their millions in tax dollars and thousands of jobs with them. Once, people wanted to smoke to look tough. Now, in order to be a smoker, you need to be tough. Smokers may be a dying breed (literally). Rather than being glad to see them go, I would put them on the endangered species list. An unrecognized national treasure is fading out. Bless you, smokers, bless you.
goldenpalace smoking rally video.. this is really worth a watch folks