And what, you may wonder, brought me to this? No, I don't care if you wonder or not, I'm gonna say this anyway.
The subject for tolerance today is 'smoking'. Not the cordite leftovers that drift lazily from a muzzle, the kind that comes from tobacco. In specific, the efforts of a bunch of elitist dictator wannabes to prevent anyone from doing it.
I don't like cigarettes. I think they stink, and being around people who smoke them makes your clothes stink. Most cigars I've been around smell like the proverbial burning rope(there are some exceptions), though I do have a liking for the aroma from some pipe tobaccos. And by the way, what's the crap with places that do allow smoking not allowing pipes?
Ahem. In any case, I have a simple and well-working solution to the problem: A, I don't smoke them and B, I don't go to places where people are smoking unless I'm willing to put up with it. I realize these two things may be a little too simple for some to accept, but it takes care of my needs and doesn't hassle people who like to smoke.
Two things brought this to mind. First was this from John Stossel(blessings upon him) on the planning by the nannies to eventually either ban smoking or make it too difficult/expensive for people(sounds like what some nannies want to do to firearms, doesn't it?). Then there was this from the beauteous Sondra K's place on what's happening in Washington state under Gov. Gregoire. Key quote: " Two days after the Statewide smoking ban went into effect in my fine State of Washington our esteemed Governess politely asks the stateÂ’s sovereign tribal casinos to VOLUNTARILY comply and make their establishments non-smoking also." Take note of the 'voluntarily'; I bet there was a lot of pressure in whatever way she thought she could get away with. Happily, the tribes seem to have told her, in a polite way, to kiss their collective ass.
There's a bar/restaurant here called Galileo's where I used to go every week for open mike night. Amazingly, a lot of people there smoked, so I planned on the clothes I wore that night not being worn again until they were washed. I was willing to put up with the smoke because I wanted to attend those evenings. I did NOT bitch and whine and demand that everyone who smoked leave. When I eat at most places, I just sit in the non-smoking areas; isn't that simple and easy?
Right now there's a commercial being played on the radio about how you should look for a sticker on restaurant doors noting that they don't allow smoking because 'hundreds of people die from secondhand smoke every year in Oklahoma'. Now that is a blatant lie, but they repeat it over and over, and I'm sick of it. You don't want to smell smoke? Don't go into or work in places where people do smoke. And if you're tolerant of people smoking in places you don't go, you'll be noted as a tolerant type who leaves other people to make their own decisions, instead of a pissy little busybody who wants to run the lives of all people- all for their own good, of course.
Amen. Congregation dismissed and the bar is open.
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