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Smokin’

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003

Go read Gene Healy’s piece on the D.C. smoking ban.

There’s a public hearing this morning at 10am. It looks like a done deal. The city council will also probably ban cell phone use while driving.

Up next: The city council will mandate that you wipe from front to back, and not vice-versa.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2003 at 7:49 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

8 Responses to “Smokin’”

  1. #1 |  Ms. Dani |  December 3rd, 2003 at 9:11 am

    Sorry Rad, I’m sure you’re pretty miffed about this.

  2. #2 |  Frank N |  December 3rd, 2003 at 9:36 am

    Oh great, a bunch of asswipes are going to tell their residents how to , oh never mind.

  3. #3 |  The Serpent |  December 3rd, 2003 at 10:07 am

    Radley Balko: Up next: The city council will mandate that you wipe from front to back, and not vice-versa.

    In the same way that a good majority of our citizenry are too inept to understand that smoking is bad for you, or that not wearing your seat belt is bad for you, or that not saving for your future is bad for you, or that any religion other than Atheism is bad for you, many individuals do not fully and completely realize that wiping from back to front is very bad for you.

    Obviously if these people cannot take care of themselves so they leave the government no choice but to regulate that the state take care of them.

  4. #4 |  raj |  December 3rd, 2003 at 10:09 am

    (cough, cough)

    You know what happens to smokers….

  5. #5 |  Brian Hawkins |  December 3rd, 2003 at 10:39 am

    Tyranny of the f***ing majority.

    And people wonder what I mean when I say I’m not really a fan of democracy.

    Oh, well. You can still smoke in Virginia, can’t you? It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, but I seem to remember something resembling a gigantic pack of Marlboros next to freeway as you pass through Richmond…

  6. #6 |  Will Wilkinson |  December 3rd, 2003 at 5:04 pm

    Actually Radley, it sounds like Tony Williams said he’d veto the ban. And Carol Schwartz submitted an alternative, with 7 co-sponsors! that would provide tax breaks to businesses that become non-smoking, but doesn’t require anyone to do so. Health fascist and Vin Diesel wannabe Adrian Fenty was visibly pissed this morning. So I think the Schwartz thing is what we’re going to get. And I think we may have more or less won…. For now.

  7. #7 |  Amy |  December 4th, 2003 at 6:08 pm

    Good God. It looks like mandated wiping from front to back is just around the corner for us in NY.

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Potty-Parity.html

    Glad to hear about DC’s smoking ban smackdown, though. Very encouraging.

  8. #8 |  Henry Baugh |  December 6th, 2003 at 6:32 pm

    Rad.
    It all makes sense now. We try to eliminate smoking by taxing it to the point of absurdity, but continue to pay agricultural subsidies to tobacco farmers because they vote.
    Henry Baugh