[bryantm3]

okay, if you don't want to be subjected to other people's smoke, fine, you can ban it in indoor areas.

things that are absurd:
1) banning smoking in outdoor areas (not counting around hospitals or other healthcare facilities). this is certifiably insane. in an indoor area, air does not circulate as much as it would in a natural outdoor area, and the percentage of smoke in the air will increase due to the volume of air being considerably lower. but outdoors, smoke dissipates into the air rapidly, and unless you're just right next to them breathing in all the smoke, secondhand smoke ain't gonna do shit to you. besides, it's been shown to kill you if you breathe it in everyday; ie: if you have a smoker living with you or if you go to the same bar every night and breathe in billy bob's cigar who sits next to you. it's not going to bother you at a restaurant outdoors unless you just don't like cigarette smoke.

2) people claiming they are "allergic" to cigarette smoke. tobacco smoke is no more or less toxic than woodsmoke, and probably a lot less toxic than the pollution that comes from cars every day. the thing in smoke in general that's harmful is carbon monoxide, which is a poisonous gas. but despite all that, cigarette smoke isn't something you get 'allergic' to. it doesn't cause you to get hives, it doesn't make you break out in a rash or make your throat sore in an allergic manner. it's an irritant and it can cause harm, but you're not 'allergic' to it. if anything, you're intolerant to it, but while you're bitching about a dude 20 feet away smoking a cigarette, why don't you fuss at the dude who sits in the parallel parking space with his car idling for 30 minutes?

3) this crap of not hiring people because they smoke. alright, if they smoke, yeah, your healthcare costs are going to get higher and your cost of production is going to go up. unfortunately, health care companies are only discriminating against those who smoke, and not overweight people, people who drink, people with a history of cardiovascular disease, or south africans because they're more likely to have AIDS. so yeah, if you want your cost of production to go down, don't hire smokers. but maybe people should bitch about the rising costs of healthcare in general, and discriminating against one group of people among many that are doing things that are bad for their health.

i went to the doctor's office the other day, thought i had a cold, didn't, didn't get a throat culture or anything, just the basic ear, nose and throat checkup, and it cost me $150. that's insane. and you can't even get a decent healthcare policy for less than around $300 a month, when you'll probably only need around $100 most months. pharmacuetical companies charge $250 a bottle for pills and are dicking us in just about every way, and we're concerned about people smoking? the smokers are the victims compared to these fools for God's sake. i'm all for keeping health care private and not ceding any more power to the federal government, but for goodness' sake, our house is on fire and we're trying to keep the neighbour's dog from eating our rosebushes.