wingNuts say jobs are leave'n NC cause of smoking bans.. in El Paso TX the restaurant attendance

[sam sarrha]

went up about 30% when they banned smoking in public places, i dont go to 'any' public place that Allows smoking in the building.

The Reich Wing knows the people are about to FLIP OUT about sending jobs to China.. and are doing preemptive lying..

[wyldwolf]

1. before the smoking ban in Georgia...

...my wife and I just quit going out. We found the wait times for non-smoking sections were sometimes an hour, where we could be sat immediately in the smoking section. That told us there was maybe a little interest in a smoke-free dining experience.

[ixion]

2. smoking bans are a bunch of BS, IMO

and that's all I've got to say about that.

[kestrel91316]

3. Tell that to the asthmatic employees who don't risk death merely by

showing up to work anymore.....

Were you born devoid of concern for your fellow man, or did you have to take special lessons to get that way??

[jpgray]

9. Yeah, I remember people dying right and left when I worked in restaurants

We were heirs to an indirect but far-reaching pogrom designed to wipe out waiters and bartenders. Field hospitals were constructed throughout the United States to deal with the food service tobacco holocaust that went on for 100 years in bars and restaurants the nation-round. All you could hear was the gravelly hacking of emphysema-suffering bartenders and asthmatic serving wenches, dying by the millions. Confronted with the dramatic evidence, after having smoked his thirtieth cigarette of the day Ed Murrow was heard to say "Who gives a fuck?"

[ixion]

16. excellent response

:applause:

[JVS]

22. damn jpgray! have you been in a snark training program?

wonderfully hilarious post! :toast:

[susanna]

37. Wasn't it though?

That damn near killed my nasal passages. (They generally don't like beer expelled at too high a rate.)

[susanna]

36. LOL!

jpgray, you made my freaking day. I haven't laughed that hard in a looooooong time. Good on ya. :-)

[ixion]

18. I might ask the same thing about you

how about letting humans be human?

[sam sarrha]

42. you cant expect anything from an addict but denial

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[originalpckelly]

5. Anywhere in your own car or outdoors, or your house as long it won't hurt others.

Anyplace else, where other people are affected grossly, one has no right to inflict a higher risk of cancer on them.

[ixion]

19. oh please... I got news for ya

LIFE causes cancer.

Living in a maxed-out, stressed out, dog-eat-dog world does FAR MORE damange than cigarettes ever did, or ever will do.

But I don't here anyone talking about bans on that type of behavior.

[SoonerPride]

6. Smoking is BS

I smoked for years.

It is a poison and should be outlawed.

We should legalize drugs and outlaw cigarrettes.

[Warpy]

7. Remember what you were like at 3 AM when you were Jonesing

for a smoke and out of cigs?

Outlawing it won't work. Yes, it's a poison, but outlawing it will be just as effective as outlawing other poisons have been, like first alcohol and now drugs.

People should be left alone to do whatever stupid thing they want to do to themselves. They just need to be prevented from doing it to you or me.

So set fire to that thing OUTSIDE, we'll get along just fine.

[Beelzebud]

8. Owners of private businesses should be able to set their own rules.

It's ironic you use the term "reich wing" when talking about how nice it is to force private businesses to ban a product, that they can sell, from being used.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. Private businesses should not be allowed to endanger their employees

And that's exactly what allowing smoking indoors does.

[Beelzebud]

14. Really? So should we outlaw every manufacturing job? They all pose risks.

How far are you willing to take this premise that there should be zero risk at a job site?

[Hippo_Tron]

15. No, but manufacturing jobs have safety standards

And restaurants should as well. Customers should have to step outside if they want to smoke so that the employees don't have to be subjected to second-hand smoke for 40 hours a week or more. I do agree that outdoor smoking bans are ridiculous.

[ixion]

17. if employees don't like the atmosphere

they can find work in a smoke free environment.

[mondo joe]

26. And they can, to a degree. There are plenty of laws employers are bound by regarding

health and safety of employees.

[TheFarseer]

11. jobs are leaving

but not because of smoking bans. Typical republican, they know there's a problem, but they have the exact wrong solution.

[ixion]

21. smoking bans have decimated many bars, and hence cost may people their jobs

but hey, ruining those people's lives is okay, right?

[Flying Dream Blues]

24. When they banned smoking here, where nightlife and music is one

of the biggest local industries, they said it would kill business. It hasn't; in fact, things are better than ever. People still smoke; they just do it outside, and a whole lot of people who wouldn't go to a club are now venturing out.

Hey, I used to smoke, too, and I would have hated the ban. But there are still patio venues where you can smoke, and now that I don't smoke, I have a much better realization of how sick it can make you to sit for hours in a smoke-filled room.

[mondo joe]

27. Didn't kill business in Seattle either.

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2007/06/11/daily11.html

The one-and-a-half-year-old smoking ban has had a "minimal effect" on the Washington bar and tavern business, according to state officials.

Gross business income for taverns and bars grew 0.3 percent in 2006, compared with a 1.1 percent average annual growth rate from 2002 to 2005, according to the state Department of Revenue.

***

"Although the (Revenue Department) has not attempted to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the ban and business revenues, the numbers suggest that bars and taverns may have lost some smokers, but gained customers drawn to a smoke-free environment. While some drinking places may have been hard hit by the ban, overall the industry appears to have been able to adapt," state officials said in a statement.

[smokey nj]

35. I'm a smoker and I have no problem with the smoking bans in public places.

[Raine]

39. Same here in CA

*if* they lost any smokers they gained non-smokers in their place.

[VP505]

28. Where was that at?

Can you cite some ref to back that?

[ixion]

31. I don't have a link... it has to do with the smoking ban in NE

lots of the "old timer" bars went out of business because of it. The stories I saw on it were ran on the local (Omaha and Lincoln) news channels.

[sam sarrha]

41. it is cheaper for old Alkies to drink alone at home anyway..

[TheFarseer]

40. bar jobs are not going overseas!

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the merrits of a smoking ban, just saying that Republicans are totally missing the point again.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. California seems to be doing fine, many years after they enacted theirs.

[VP505]

30. Both Santa Fe & Albuquerque New Mexico restaurants

have both done BETTER after enacting theirs, and now that they have included bars we will see how that works out.

[supernova]

13. Jobs aren't leaving NC

because of the smoking ban.

For that to be true, restaurants bars and clubs would have to be closing right and left. That's not happening. In fact, in many places there's a wait list. Be sure to get in line to get your blinky light beeper.

Jobs are leaving NC because employers see there is more money to be made in moving the plant to the developing world, paying less than 25% of what they pay an American worker,

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Yeah. That must be why California is such a hugely unpopular place to live.

33 Million People notwithstanding, I guess.

It's been years since the statewide ban took effect, and it's wonderful. Smokers even seem to survive with the indignity of having to go outside before lighting up, although I remember the great wailing and gnashing of teeth my smoker friends engaged in beforehand. It was a great move, and bars and restaurants are doing better than ever.

[driver8]

25. It is awesome.

Hey -- if people don't want to move here because they can't smoke in bars and restaurants, fuck 'em!

More fresh air for us!

[JanMichael]

23. Just like they left Florida after its ban?

It was a hoot in Sarasota. The people at Chilis were screaming about the ban the week before it went in to effect a few years ago. Yes the first week saw "happy hou" really take a hit (we went in and it was almost empty) but after two weeks it was back to where it was plus some.

Yet the smoking ban really killed Florida restaurants!

Riiight.

I would suggest that shitty "free" trade policies and decimated manufacturing have hit NC pretty hard. At least that's what the folks here IN NC say.

[johnaries]

29. You can't judge by TX, it's "bizarro, reverse world"

Apologies to out DU friends in TX, but every time I visited there it just seemed everything is the reverse of the rest of the country.

[NC_Nurse]

32. I call bullshit.

NC was fucked by furniture and textile jobs going to China.
The place is still full of smokers, who are perfectly capable of taking it outside.
What's the BFD?

More and more evidence comes out about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
What's the problem with going outside to smoke?

[yasmina27]

33. Honestly

this smoking ban debate seems to be more divisive in this country than any other issue. Aren't there more important things to argue about? If you don the asbestos suit and visit freeperville, you will find the exact arguments being made. It's like the abortion issue, everyone has their opinion, and arguing isn't going to change anyone's mind.

I have my own very strong opinions on this issue - I won't say which way, because I did on another forum and ended up in the middle of a verbal fray, and don't want to go that route again.

I'm going going to sit back and watch the fireworks:popcorn:

[Raine]

34. BS...In CA smoking has been banned

for years and the restuarants are doing fine. People get to eat without the stench of cigarette smoke chocking them and ruining their dining experience.

[Duppers]

38. this ex-smoker agrees with you

:toast: