Comments on: Clearing the Air

By: Therese

Therese — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:56:59 +0000

Andy, Andy, Andy…are you breathing clean air is you’re anywhere near a city or town?

The oldest woman who ever live, Marie Calment, died in recent history at over 120 years old. She smoked up ’til her 90′s — then went into a nursing home.

Your point was?

Oh, right, you said, it’s your “PERSONAL opinion”.

By: Andy Hetzel

Andy Hetzel — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:43:57 +0000

This is my personal opinion. Smoking is legalized suicide. It is virtually certain that if you smoke, you will subject yourself to some sort of wasting disease, thanks to the carcinogens you are “legally” allowed to inject into your tissue and bloodstream.

The legal right of the smoker to do this to themselves does not extend, however, to other people who are forced to inhale the carcinogens spewed into the air by the smoker. The workplace smoking ban is focused on the right of the non-smoker to work in an environment free of poison. This is the point of the ban — to protect people’s right to breathe clean air — it is not an assault on smokers’ “rights” as some other posters have asserted.

Thank goodness that Michigan policymakers have acted to protect innocent people from the health hazard of secondhand smoke.

By: apdt

apdt — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:40:33 +0000

Thank you for making Michigan smoke-free. I am looking forward to May 1st.

By: marbee

marbee — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:56:22 +0000

I wish someone would put as much effort into stopping special interest’s campaigns against free citizen’s free will! You purposely blur the line between publicly owned taxpayer funded property and privately owned business with no public funding who cater to different clientele in the guise of “public” health. America is no longer the land of the free.

By: mark w

mark w — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:44:20 +0000

Implementing a smoking ban is nothing to be proud of, tens of thousands of hospitality establishments have failed after smoking ban implementation; eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/10/smoking-bans-air-quality-facts-economic.html

By: Adam Wilkes

Adam Wilkes — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:41:39 +0000

I am hopeful now that you have fought so strongly and helped remove the rights of private property owners for your smoking cessation manufacturing “sponsors” that perhaps you will do the stand up thing and help the bar owners that the laws (mess), that you have created to pay their bills, mortgages, pay their staff. Because Lord knows your friends in others states spend more time after these socialist laws are enacted trying to say nothing is wrong while bars close their doors. Step up. Shell out the money in the demographics that will be hardest hit by this. How about private clubs, what about them? Will you be stand up enough to be giving them out? Its too bad your self righteousness outweighs your common sense. These bans do nothing to curtail smoking. They put people out of business. It doesn’t reduce sales of cigarettes. Self righteousness, that’s all it is.

Just in case I haven’t lost you yet and you’re still reading, I’m a non-smoker. I despise it. Will I begin going to bars? No. BUT, I do come from a state where the bar industry in the largest demographic has struggled with its smoking ban. Blue collar, working class. You have no idea what you have done to this states economy!? But you’ll never notice, you’ll simply keep trying to prove yourself right. With skewed statistics that include McDonalds and fast food chains and discounting bar loses.

Well done. Morons.

By: Billy

Billy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:19:58 +0000

Would you ever be so kind as to tell the public what the cost was in lobbying money and who funded it? In tracking expenditures claimed by the Condolidated Divisions of the American Cancer Society by review of the Federal 990 tax returns I have found under reporting of grass roots lobbying expenditures close to $4,000,000.00. Also as supposed nonprofits lobbyimg limits are regulated by the IRS. Please tellus what the cost were if you are not to ashamed to do it.

By: Dan Wholihan

Dan Wholihan — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:00:06 +0000

Peter – Interesting read. I don’t agree with the bill at all since I think this needed to be a decision of the business owners and not the government, but the process was interesting.

I’ve long been aware of the ACS and the public health lobbying powers which has long been stronger than supposedly “big” tobacco, but this is a good picture of the insider process on this one and keeping the coalitions together.

By: JKZimmerman

JKZimmerman — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:15:43 +0000

Wish someone would put that same kind of effort into a movement to end daylight savings time once and for all.

By: Therese Stiff

Therese Stiff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:57:47 +0000

I hope all non-smokers will turn into regular bar patrons after May 1st, since true regulars — most of whom are smokers — will be staying home.