but I hate the idea of an indoor smoking ban.  Hopefully Virginia will remember how much tobacco is grown here and lay off.

All those times we've sat the Ale House bar together, and all the while you've been plotting to send me into the alley.  ;)

that Ben hates me.  Do you have a crush on me?  Or do you hate me?

Circle yes or no for each question.

Of course Virginia has tobacco farmers, always has always will, but they need to find a new cash crop, folks, and should have been encouraged and helped to do so some time ago.

How about switchgrass, that crop which can be turned into biofuel much more efficiently than corn into ethanol?  Not only would it be good for national security to help free us from dependence on mideast oil, but the factories or refineries to produce the ethanol from swithgrass must be located close to the places of production (it's a heavy load to transport very far, so to save money the processing occurs near the point of origin).

Thus, at one fell swoop the suffering tobacco farmers would get a new cash crop and the numerous unemployed workers in the neighborhood would have new jobs. And the public health workers would have fewer tobacco smoke-caused cancer cases to worry about once tobacco is no longer grown....

You know very well that the Capital Ale House is building a beer garden. Soon you'll be smoking in luxury on a beautiful patio. Besides which you forget: under my plan CAH would be grandfathered.

We should also go to Legend Brewery once it cools off a bit: their patio has the most amazing view of Richmond's skyline.

can I get blasted off of one or two beers at Legends?  Is there a brother beer made in VA that can possibly top the 90 minute IPA?

I think not, my friend...

Legend nearly always has a seasonal that hits around 8%.  And they're usually among the best beers you've ever had.

....I am with Phriendlyjamie on this.  let the smokers smoke.  As long as they don't get rid of "non-smoking" sections of restaurants, I am OK.

Besides, smoking is a great population control.

Let the market decide it.  If people don't like a bar or a restaurant because it allows smoking, then people will stop going.  It's not as if there's a shortage of restaurants.  As people demand smoke-free establishments, the restaurant market will respond by providing them.

This is a modern example of a tyranny of the majority that our forefathers tried, apparently in vain, to protect us against.

It's really sad that we're becoming a sterile, Big Brother, let-government-protect-you-because-you're-too-stupid-to protect-yourself society.

This is a clear case of the government using the police power to increase the safety of people.

You might as well say that fire alarms and emergency exits are part of the "tyranny of the majority."

If you want to fight tyranny, fight warrantless wire-tapping.  At least a smoking ban will be enacted in public by legislators who are subject to the ballot box.

How do smoke alarms infringe on anyone's rights? 

You propose to make it illegal for someone to open a business where people can choose to engage in a legal activity.  That is simply ludicrous, and quite totalitarian. 

What business is it of yours or anyone else's if John Q. Entrepreneur wants to open a restaurant where cigar smokers can gather freely and enjoy cigars with their meals?  If you don't like cigars, or are offended by cigar smoke, then the solution is pretty simple -- Don't freakin' go there!  Why do you feel the need to make that decision for everyone else?

At least a smoking ban will be enacted in public by legislators who are subject to the ballot box.

This is exactly what James Madison was referring to in Federalist 51.  You should read it.

I don't like eating in a restaurant surrounded by kids.  Should I just not go to child friendly establishments, or should I propose to ban kids from restaurants?  And I think that obesity is unhealthy, not contagious, but very unhealthy esp. bc it leads to children and grandchildren and great granchildren also having weight problems.  So, I say, no fatties in restaurants I go to!

Ridiculous?  Yep.  So are somking bans.  this is the type of shit that fuels the anti-gay, anti-black, anti-immigrant arguments.

And I shouldn't have to tell anyone this, but the facts on second hand smoke are inconsistent.

As long as cigarettes are produced and pour money into the pockets of the government, then they should be allowed in public placs, with the exclusion of the obvious (court houses, hospitals, the post office, etc.)

I have done extensive research on this, and if anyone wants a copy of my 24 page reserach paper for grad school on the topic of smoking bans and the creation of second class citizenry, then yopu are more than welcome to it.  And please read this quote, and think long and hard about it, bc the creation of a smoking ban will only lead us further down the "your business is now mone, and my feelings trump yours" path:

“The United States is not some hellish kibbutz where there’s just one communal dining area, which only serves comfort food...The person who smells cigarette smoke and wrinkles his nose before batting the air like a loon is now in the same position as the Peeping Tom neighbor who climbs precariously atop the fridge, binoculars clutched in leprous palm, in order to report the vile bedroom antics of the couple next door.  You have to go out of your way to be offended.  Never doubt that there are such people; never give them an inch either if you value privacy or diversity.” (Hitchens, Vanity Fair, May 2001)