It just makes me wanna smoke more

A nearby town just passed a smoking ban in public places. It's sister city, Bloomington, is considering the same thing, evidently.

From Tuesday's PJStar:

NORMAL - The Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve a townwide smoking ban which will go into effect Jan. 1, 2007.
The move was met with cheers and clapping from a local group whose members say they can breathe easier now.

"We can have a life now," said Smoke-Free Bloomington-Normal Coalition member Bobbie Lewis-Sibley, 34. "We're very pleased. It's a health issue, and that's all it is."

Normal is the first central Illinois community to approve a smoking ban. The Bloomington City Council votes May 8 on a similar proposal.

"We can have a life now."?? Puhleeeeeese!

I'm sorry, sister...but if smoking in public places was keepin you from 'having a life', then you must've had one sorry excuse for a life in the first damn place.

And just as a little additional aside, I caught a short story about the Bloomington vote on the local news tonight. The clip showed some chickie, a member of the above-mentioned group, raging about the 'health effects' of secondhand smoke...yada...yada...yada. I might be mistaken, but I believe she was a college student.

The thing is, she was probably 75 pounds overweight. At least.

I wonder if she'd be screaming quite so stridently about 'health effects' should the city of Bloomington try to push an ordinance against Big Macs and Doritos?

Fuckin hypocrite.

I'm pretty sure that most of the people that scream so loudly about secondhand smoke aren't really concerned about the health effects (that have NOT been proven...to MY satisfaction, anyway) on them. They just plain don't like smoking. I'd have far more respect for 'em if they'd just admit that and quit using scare tactics. But of course, simply not liking something just isn't enough justification to ban it, is it?

Too bad it's not. I don't like stupid people. Can we ban them? After all, they have FAR more detrimental health effects on us non-stupids than some piddly secondhand smoke. Don't believe me? Go drive on the interstate sometime.

But start running around and shrieking "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!", whether it has any shred of truth to it or not, and people tend to pay attention.