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Opening Arguments

Safe in chains

Old New Hampshire: Live free or die!

New New Hampshire: Ban smoking, or we'll die!

Governor John Lynch signed a law yesterday banning smoking in New Hampshire's bars and restaurants.

"The science is clear -- secondhand smoke poses a dangerous health risk, and that is why this new law is so important," Lynch said.

But in New Hampshire there does seem to be a tiny remnant, lacking in Fort Wayne, of the concept of private property. Social, fraternal and religious organizations and their private events are exempt from the ban. Enjoy those smokes in the VFW parking lots, all of you soldiers who were given cigarettes in your ration kits.

Posted in: Current Affairs

Comments

CED
Thu, 06/21/2007 - 4:59am

It would be wonderful if this state had a governor with as much guts as New Hampshire. Perhaps then we would have a level playing field across the state, as it should be. I guess grandfathering VFW's and Legion posts, etc. here would have been a sop to those who somehow feel they served to protect our "right" to slowly poison each other.

tim zank
Thu, 06/21/2007 - 5:38am

CED, Even if your callous enough to take smokes away from 80 year old veterans, who in fact DID risk their lives to protect yours, you'd have to admit that a private club is just that...private....

If the club engages in no illegal activity, why should the state/city/feds have any say so in what they do inside??

CED
Thu, 06/21/2007 - 6:54am

I believe I said I would be willing to have private clubs exempt from the non-smoking ban if they were properly grandfathered. I choose to believe that my right to breathe smoke-free air in any public establishmnet is the proper right to be protecting. Incidentally, all private clubs are already being being regulated by the governmental entities you mentioned in many ways, particularly with regard to health standards.

Kate McNally
Thu, 06/21/2007 - 6:57am

It's too bad we don't protect EVERYONE from the toxic contaminant, secondhand smoke. What does that say about how we value our troops? We'll just kill them and the people who work in those clubs with tobacco smoke...they've earned the right because they fought for our country? Makes no sense. Tobacco smoke doesn't distinguish. My dad was a veteran who was given the opportunity to buy cheap cigarettes in military stores. He died of a massive coronary and lung disease. I'm amazed that our federal government has "rewarded" our troops with the highly addictive drug that's known to kill more people than any other preventable cause of death. We should get it out of all establishments, especially those that serve our veterans. We have to stop killing people in the name of protecting their rights.

tim zank
Thu, 06/21/2007 - 2:19pm

Kate McNally, in r/e your question "they've earned the right because they fought for our country?" the answer is no, not because they fought for their country, but rather they born with certain inalienable rights, oh hell, never mind. That old document is outdated and out of touch anyway, I'd much rather rely on you to make my decisions for me.

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