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Title: Understanding the North Carolina Smoking Ban
Source:
AFP/Google
URL Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/af ... M5g-duwUbV5glu3kB4N6bFpPjXQFHA
Published: May 19, 2009
Author: AFP
Post Date: 2009-05-19 19:16:14 by Deasy
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Keywords: ties, rights, kindred, redress
Views: 311
Comments: 20
North Carolina is the house that tobacco built, and now its former sustenance is officially on the law books as being against the law to consume in public. If you think about the implications of this they are sweeping. News reports indicate popular support for the ban. I believe it. RALEIGH, North Carolina (AFP) — North Carolina's governor signed a statewide indoor smoking ban into law Tuesday, signaling the end of an era in the United States' leading tobacco-producing state. "This is a historic day for North Carolina," Governor Bev Perdue said. "But more important than the history that we are making is the positive impact we are having on public health. "By banning smoking in our restaurants and bars, we will greatly reduce the dangers of secondhand smoke and lower health care costs for families," Perdue said. North Carolina joins more than 30 other US states that have similar laws. Virginia, another state with a centuries-old tobacco-growing tradition, adopted a ban in March. The new law prohibits smoking in restaurants and bars, with the exception of private clubs and cigar bars. The law, which takes effect in January, authorizes fines of up to 50 dollars for people who smoke after being asked to stop, and up to 200 dollars for managers of establishments who have twice been warned to enforce the law. The law's supporters say it will protect people from the adverse health effects of second-hand smoke, which the US Surgeon General says causes the deaths of approximately 50,000 people a year in the United States. Critics of the ban say it infringes on smokers' rights as well as the rights of property owners to set their own rules. Scott Bissette, an international marketing specialist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said the law will hurt the state's tobacco farmers, who last year produced nearly 385 million pounds of tobacco worth more than 677 million dollars. North Carolina tobacco is exported all over the world. "Any time you put restrictions on smoking, you're going to curtail consumption," Bissette said. Poster Comment: Farmers talk over bales of tobacco before the start of the Wilson Tobacco Auction 2004 in Wilson, North Carolina
I include the article here, although you don't need to read it. What more do I need to say? 
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
ushistory.org, Declaration of Independence.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 6.
#1. To: Deasy, christine, HOUNDDAWG, Cynicom (#0)
Note how the dictators work: they enmesh hapless businesses into becoming part of 'law enforcement'.
If gaining a majority to support liberty was your goal, the abolition of public smoking in a former tobacco colony should inform you of your futility. We are now two nations. The one citizen believes in personal sovereignty, personal responsibility, and personal free will. His or her freedom is nonnegotiable. Such an individual would never look to the government for permission to gather into groups of like minded citizens. Such an individual would never demand an opportunity to control the terms and conditions of association. What's more, traditions such as tobacco agriculture represent an old and dear history to this liberty-loving patriot. To see such a tradition limited by law to private places is an affront to the Anglo-Saxon foundations of this land. Any citizen who loves this land as the nourishment to one's soul that it has always been to its inhabitants, would find banning such tradition an anathema. The other citizen relies on government for personal well-being. He or she seeks to dominate others through the force behind the law, which has the power to take life away. This other citizen is willing to reengineer our entire society to new and innovative standards on a whim. This other citizen represents a new world, a new world in which mankind can make any particular rules of public order so long as others agree. This other citizen has been transformed into a fearsome social animal, snarling and glaring at his or her fellow man over whiffs of smoke in dark rooms where he would not want to go anyway. This other citizen has been overtaken by the invisible and transitory power of government, which has the power to grant what he or she wants, but also has the power to destroy. My fellow forum readers, do not underestimate your enemy. And do not underestimate their strength in numbers. They are the new America. We are a dying breed, we who love freedom more than life itself. Understand this new law. This is the law of the masses, a tyranny of the majority, the law of chaos, the rule of lawlessness itself. And it is the new law of our land. Governor Perdue smilingly signed it into law today.
#9. To: Deasy (#6)
so very well articulated, Deasy. your words paint a perfect picture of the two americas.
We had our smoking ban here in my state. Part of the law, passed by dumbass voters in large numbers, is that no smoking signs must be posted in every business, complete with phone numbers for people to narc on the establishment if they see anyone smoking. It killed a lot of bars. After a couple years of this law, the legislature is considering watering it down so bars and the VFW are exempt. Is it because they believe in freedom? No, I think it has more to do with drunk driving arrests being down, despite the drunk driving laws being tightened to the point where they don't need any specific BAC to charge or convict someone and "vehicle" has been defined down to anything with wheels, even if it doesn't have a motor. Fewer arrests means less money for the state and local governments. Doesn't matter to me if they repeal the whole damned thing tomorrow. I still won't go out to bars again. I refuse to contribute anymore to the tax base of the idiots in this state more than I have to. Besides, it's cheaper. Like I've been trying to tell people for a while, when the SHTF, you won't have to worry about the DHS, FBI, FEMA, etc., as much as will have to worry about your neighbors. Here, most of them will sell you out in a second. If not for their own personal gain, then just for their own sick satisfaction of seeing someone punished for not doing as they are told. Big school levy fight going on here now. Voted down in November. The board put it back on the ballot. This time they brought out the big guns on the 2nd attempt and threatened to cut sports and all extra curricular activities. Voted down again two weeks ago again. The board's response...put it back on the ballot in August. Oh, and they refused to allow the parents to fund those activities privately. That would take away the leverage they have to pass more tax increases. You want to see the kind of assholes I'm living around...? Take a look at some of the comments left by posters on the local NBC affiliate's website on the story here: www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/lo...s_After_Levy_Fails/15487/ There are over 30 pages of comments. The sense of entitlement by a lot of these people (and their kids) is breathtaking. In short, if you are thinking about moving to Ohio...don't!
Not true. We are not a "dying breed". Every day brings more people to our side. I call bullshit on your post. You are surrendering before the battle. Some here think your post was good, I say it was crap and here's why: Cops, politicians and other pigs can screw over one citizen. Those same pigs lose not only that citizen but everyone around that citizen that knows what happened. For example, I"ve posted news stories about pigs raping little girls while "on duty", that later get probation, or a sentence lesser than you would get if you beat your dog! The pigs lost the families, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and those that read the stories. So no, we aren't a dying breed. We're getting stronger by the day. People are being kicked out of the system, and sometimes that kick can hurt like a SOB. And another point, look at how many fought in our 1st revolution. It's 3-5% of the population. They got the job done, with a little help. .
One of us is worth 100 of them when push comes to
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestThe law, which takes effect in January, authorizes fines of up to 50 dollars for people who smoke after being asked to stop, and up to 200 dollars for managers of establishments who have twice been warned to enforce the law.
#6. To: bluegrass, christine, noone222 (#1)
(Edited)
Replies to Comment # 6.
#12. To: Deasy (#6)
This other citizen has been transformed into a fearsome social animal, snarling and glaring at his or her fellow man over whiffs of smoke in dark rooms where he would not want to go anyway. This other citizen has been overtaken by the invisible and transitory power of government, which has the power to grant what he or she wants, but also has the power to destroy.
#16. To: Deasy, All, To those that haven't surrendered already! (#6)
My fellow forum readers, do not underestimate your enemy. And do not underestimate their strength in numbers. They are the new America. We are a dying breed, we who love freedom more than life itself.
#20. To: Deasy (#6)
And do not underestimate their strength in numbers. They are the new America. We are a dying breed, we who love freedom more than life itself.
shove shooting. They are useless, piece shit, girly man, sissy boy cowards.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 6.