November 15, 2002

"Them"-Peggy Noonan

[...]We should let the smokers back inside and treat them as if they're human, because they are. Until then I hope the smokers huddled together in the cold realize they're outside because of the modern liberals' war against being human. I hope they organize building to building and raise money to fight the prissy prohibitionists of politics, the Bloombergs and their ilk, who can't keep you safe from muggings or suitcase nukes but make believe they're being effective by keeping you safe from a Merit Ultralight.

I've gotta admit, I am a smoker, so Peggy's preaching to the choir here, but let's hope Bloomberg reads this (there's a waggish blogger who calls him "Nurse Bloomberg," wish I could remember who!)
Bloomberg is nuts, trying to ban smoking from all restaurants and bars--even cigar bars!--while raising city taxes and right after raising vice taxes on cigarettes!
(That idiot--he might not have had to raise the other city taxes if he made sure that lots of smoking was going to go on!).
Any thoughts I might have had of visiting NYC just went out the window with this--who wants to enjoy fine dining at Lutece or Le Cirque if you can't enjoy a post-prandial smoke, which is the only civilized way to finish a great meal?
With the city still reeling from the aftershocks of 9/11, they need all the tourist dollars they can get!
But if the Nurse has his way, it will be a poorer, but more "healthy" place.
Peggy's also right about this being a Liberal specialty and Bloomberg was avowedly a Dimocrat until he changed parties to cash in the current New York rage for GOP-ers like Rudy Guiliani and Pataki.
And as Mike Hendrix pointed out at Cold Fury a few weeks ago, the EPA majorly fudged their study and its numbers to "prove" that Second Hand Smoke was a pathogen/carcinogen when it wasn't found to be so at all.
The Constitution gives us the right to put anything into our bodies, even if its harmful!
Who are mere overbearing, Health Nazi mortals like Bloomberg and Hillary to take such rights away?
As Ms. Noonan astutely points out, these Limo liberals want to deprive all of us of our right to be "human."
Heads up, overeaters! You're next.