Quote :

"Raleigh - A bill that would ban smoking in indoor workplaces moved forward today and is now headed for a vote in the N.C. House of Representatives. A similar bill was narrowly defeated on the House floor two years ago. But the bill's sponsor, Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, says he believes he has a few more votes this year that will enable the bill to pass. The bill was approved today by a House judiciary committee, which sent it to the House floor. Holliman, the House majority leader, will now focus on drumming up the 61 votes needed in the 120-member chamber. "Certainly, we need to check votes," Holliman said. "What's stayed the same (from two years ago) is that it's a pretty big debate. I think the vote will be fairly close." If the bill passes the House, it will then be sent to the N.C. Senate. The bill would ban smoking in bars, restaurants, office buildings and any other indoor place where the public is invited or where workers are employed. The bill's sponsors say they want to protect workers and members of the public from having to breathe unwanted secondhand smoke. Holliman said the bill continues to face resistance from some Democrats in districts where the economy depends on tobacco."

WOOT!!!

3/24/2009 2:22:56 PM

I don't smoke, but this is stupid. Culd you imagine all of the drunk people at the bar going back and forth outside to smoke?

3/24/2009 2:24:12 PM

Let the owners of the establishment decide.

People can choose whether or not to go into a bar with smoking. To pass this off as protecting the public is fucking stupid.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:24 PM. Reason : .]

3/24/2009 2:24:25 PM

maybe they'll quit smoking and spend more money on beer.

3/24/2009 2:24:59 PM

god i hate shit like this. i dont smoke, but it is not the government's place to decide where one can smoke. let the restaraunt/bar owners decide.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:25 PM. Reason : ^^. yep.]

3/24/2009 2:25:26 PM

itll never pass

this is north carofuckinglina

this would be like banning porno shoots in cali

3/24/2009 2:25:46 PM

i agree wholeheartedly with traub and ktcosent

3/24/2009 2:26:23 PM

Yeah...I think it's kinda dumb. A bar should be able to pick if they want smoking there or not. There are plenty of non smoking bars around too. Oh well.

Between the high taxes of cigarettes now and then the possiblity of banning smoking in a bar I probably won't ever smoke again.

Fuck, I think that's what they were trying to do!

3/24/2009 2:26:25 PM

i'm sure that'll pass, but i don't think it'll hurt cigarette sales. people will smoke regardless of where they are forced to do it.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:28 PM. Reason : \/ gracias]

3/24/2009 2:26:31 PM

*sales

3/24/2009 2:26:54 PM

I too am proud to take the power of wheather to allow smoking or not in a buissness away from the owner of that buisness wait.... Fuck this bill.

3/24/2009 2:27:47 PM

for the love of god

please get a browser with spell check

3/24/2009 2:29:11 PM

Now you'll just have to walk through a cloud of smoke upon entering and exiting every restaurant.

3/24/2009 2:30:12 PM

maybe soon they'll ban children under the age of 3 from restaurants

3/24/2009 2:30:55 PM

that, too, would be awesome

3/24/2009 2:32:02 PM

Roffle nahh I just need to learn to spell again that was past the iphone auto correct

3/24/2009 2:32:46 PM

haha

3/24/2009 2:34:11 PM

Quote :

"god i hate shit like this. i dont smoke, but it is not the government's place to decide where one can smoke. let the restaraunt/bar owners decide."

3/24/2009 2:34:38 PM

Cannot wait for this to pass. Nothing worse than coming home from a bar smelling like an aborted cigarette.

And to the people who say that the gov't shouldn't regulate where you can smoke: suck it. This is a public health concern.

If you wanna smoke, that's your choice, but your choices shouldn't infringe on my quality of life

3/24/2009 2:35:52 PM

i have the right to go to the bar and get shitfaced drunk without any impurities in the air

when I choose to completely wreck the shit out of my liver, how dare you intrude on my lungs

3/24/2009 2:36:30 PM

i only smoke tobacco products when I play pool, drink heavily or play golf

and for some reason smoking makes me perform markedly better at the former and the latter

3/24/2009 2:37:54 PM

I live in Columbia, SC. The smoking ban went into effect in October. At the time I was a smoker and I was pissed off about it. However, I adjusted in no time. There are times when I miss(ed) being able to smoke in my favorite bar, but now I LOVE being able to go out and not go home reeking of cigarette smoke. I have heard that certain bars, particularly cigar bars, have been hurt by the new law, but the city has also opened a lot of open-air bars where the smoking ban has little to no effect.

And yeah, if something like this can pass in South fucking Carolina, it'll definitely pass in NC.

3/24/2009 2:40:03 PM

Quote :

"If you wanna smoke, that's your choice, but your choices shouldn't infringe on my quality of life"

3/24/2009 2:40:16 PM

Quote :

"If you wanna smoke, that's your choice, but your choices shouldn't infringe on my quality of life"

3/24/2009 2:40:16 PM

if you don't want to go to a bar that is not smokey, then go to a bar that isn't smokey...


i don't like being around a bunch of gel haired guido's, so am i gonna go to my local representative and have him try to pass a law banning them from public places? no- i'm gonna avoid going to bars that I know have alot of these things i don't like....


if the bar decides they don't want to have smoking in it, or if they want to have a smoking section, then that should be their choice

3/24/2009 2:40:35 PM

i quit caring about my rights as a smoker when i paid 5.47 for a pack last week.

shits not worth the money, trouble, smell, or outcast label.

3/24/2009 2:40:45 PM

if this passes, i'll have to go back to smoking blunts at the bar

3/24/2009 2:41:32 PM

It's like if I decided to go to a restaurant and force a few beers down the throats of all the non-drinkers at the tables surrounding mine.

3/24/2009 2:42:46 PM

this, to me, is as stupid as banning what kind of materials you can cook your food with (see: trans-fat ban in NY)

3/24/2009 2:43:05 PM

Quote :

"If you wanna smoke, that's your choice, but your choices shouldn't infringe on my quality of life"

why should anyone else care about your health if you obviously don't?...you complain about it so much, but apparently make the decision to put yourself in that atmosphere repeatedly when there are already non-smoking alternatives out there.

If I was worried that much about something that I could very well control, I don't think I would put myself in that situation.

3/24/2009 2:45:15 PM

^^

no it's not like that at all, but it's ok if you live in your fantasy world.

Quote :

"The bill's sponsors say they want to protect workers and members of the public from having to breathe unwanted secondhand smoke."

someone's agenda needs to be shoved up their ass.

Quote :

"Let the owners of the establishment decide."

I agree.

Quote :

"People can choose whether or not to go into a bar with smoking."

true.

Quote :

"why should anyone else care about your health if you obviously don't?...you complain about it so much, but apparently make the decision to put yourself in that atmosphere repeatedly when there are already non-smoking alternatives out there. If I was worried that much about something that I could very well control, I don't think I would put myself in that situation."

true.

Quote :

"Cannot wait for this to pass. Nothing worse than coming home from a bar smelling like an aborted cigarette. And to the people who say that the gov't shouldn't regulate where you can smoke: suck it. This is a public health concern. If you wanna smoke, that's your choice, but your choices shouldn't infringe on my quality of life"

just b/c there is a bar that allows smoking and you don't like it, suck it up. don't be a little bitch.
go somewhere else.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:52 PM. Reason : eh]

3/24/2009 2:49:00 PM

If lung cancer was like AIDS and once you caught it you were fucked for life

then I could see people freaking out about smokers

but its just an inconveinence, not a health risk

Unless they go to the same place several times a week for several years

3/24/2009 2:50:46 PM

it would be nice to go into places and not smell like smoke constantly. I actually got to a point where I would have a jacket specifically for going to bars so i wouldn't get the smell in some of my other clothes. I'd be nice to be able to go to a restaurant and have to wait forever because he can't breath in smoke for too long because of asthma. I have an aunt who's throat closes up once cig smoke hits her. I personally hate the smell of cigarettes, and it keeps me from going out a lot of times because "i just don't feel like smelling like an ashtray today". it just overtakes everything.

3/24/2009 2:50:50 PM

When are they gonna ban automobiles? I'm sicking of walking down the sidewalk and having people infringe on my health. If you wanna drive, thats fine, but your choices shouldn't infringe on my quality of life.

3/24/2009 2:50:52 PM

BLAH BLAH BLAH CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO KILL MYSELF SLOWLY AND TAKE THE REST OF YOU WITH ME RAWR RAWR RAWR

fuck you smokers...quit bitching...it works both ways: if YOU don't like it, don't go to the bars

the simple truth of the matter is that, in the not-so-long-run, this will ONLY hurt places like aforementioned cigar clubs whose specific business it is to smoke indoors...smokers will bitch and moan for a week or so after it goes into effect, but since it's not a voluntary thing on the part of the bars themselves, people will still go and drink

in fact, i'm betting they do BETTER business because the people who were avoiding bars BECAUSE of the smoke will start going

despite all bitching about your "right" to smoke indoors (or, rather, the owners' right to decide whether you can or not), bars will not be hurt by this law...the only people "hurt" are those who like to scream "communism!" at every little thing they disagree with

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:54 PM. Reason : HAHA@smokers]

3/24/2009 2:51:40 PM

^^^^^it is like it in the sense that it is telling a business owner how to run their busines


i'm not comparing smoking to trans fat- I know smoking is bad for you, as is 2nd hand smoke


my problem with this is that it is the government stepping in again where they don't need to be doing a damn thing

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:52 PM. Reason : ^]

3/24/2009 2:51:42 PM

it is bullshit that a one man operation, such as an attorney, cant smoke in his own office without breaking the law.

3/24/2009 2:52:48 PM

Thing is, I am not aware of any bars that voluntarily say NO SMOKING.

Fuck you for thinking you can damage my health because you're too addicted to stop. My healthy life is more important than yours. HA HA

3/24/2009 2:52:56 PM

Quote :

"fuck you smokers...quit bitching...it works both ways: if YOU don't like it, don't go to the bars"

Well, seeing as it's not your bar, how about you agree to stay the hell out of anywhere that permits smoking as long as the smokers agree to do the same with anywhere that doesn't

Oh, but that's too hard for His Majesty, who expects his royal decree to be met at every turn.

RAWR RAWR RAWR I DON'T WANT YOUR POISONS IN THE AIR TO INTERFERE WITH THE POISONS GOING INTO MY LIVER RAWR RAWR RAWR

3/24/2009 2:53:45 PM

dude i cant go get drunk without smokers infringing on my health

3/24/2009 2:54:15 PM

I know plenty of people that are disgusted by the smell of cigarette smoke

I know nobody that is disgusted by the smell of marijuana smoke

They may not be comfortable in its presence

but it doesn't make them gag

3/24/2009 2:54:18 PM

i have been to several bars that are nonsmoking


and that is ok, because it was the owners choice to make it that way

3/24/2009 2:54:28 PM

i love these threads

3/24/2009 2:54:58 PM

Quote :

"If lung cancer was like AIDS and once you caught it you were fucked for life then I could see people freaking out about smokers but its just an inconveinence, not a health risk Unless they go to the same place several times a week for several years"

are you really that fucking stupid or do you just play a dumbass on the internet?

you are fucked for life if you get lung cancer. some people don't survive it. quit being a fucking nimrod.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:55 PM. Reason : aside from all the idiocy, I cant wait until this shit passes]

3/24/2009 2:55:08 PM

Quote :

"BLAH BLAH BLAH CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO KILL MYSELF SLOWLY AND TAKE THE REST OF YOU WITH ME RAWR RAWR RAWR"

seriously? do you even have a valid argument? or are you using personal reasons to justify the government telling people how to run their businesses.

i guess if they banned cars and water b/c they are deadly, you wouldn't have a problem with that either.

[Edited on March 24, 2009 at 2:56 PM. Reason : d]

3/24/2009 2:55:17 PM

This isn't the obama i voted for.
i thought i was gonna be able to smoke weed now.

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

3/24/2009 2:55:17 PM

Quote :

"Well, seeing as it's not your bar, how about you agree to stay the hell out of anywhere that permits smoking as long as the smokers agree to do the same with anywhere that doesn't Oh, but that's too hard for His Majesty, who expects his royal decree to be met at every turn. RAWR RAWR RAWR I DON'T WANT YOUR POISONS IN THE AIR TO INTERFERE WITH THE POISONS GOING INTO MY LIVER RAWR RAWR RAWR"

and yet, i'll likely get what i want, so you can bitch till you're blue in the face but nobody gives a rat's ass

3/24/2009 2:55:31 PM

Quote :

"A bar should be able to pick if they want smoking there or not."

3/24/2009 2:55:36 PM

nobody gets lung cancer from going to a bar now and then

you're a moron if you think you can be exposed to so little cigarette smoke and get lung cancer

i've smoked for over 10 years and i don't have lung cancer

but you think a few hours on a saturday night are going to give you lung cancer

3/24/2009 2:55:38 PM

Quote :

"and yet, i'll likely get what i want, so you can bitch till you're blue in the face but nobody gives a rat's ass "

So that's your defense? "I may be a douchebag, but more people agree with me, so I win."

Well, hope democracy doesn't come back to bite you in the ass someday.

3/24/2009 2:56:51 PM