Bloomberg, Smoking, and Hypocrisy

[chanel]

I believe the cigar bars require membership. And the hookah bars may have alcohol. In fact, this article says there are "hookah hobo bars" where people can bring their own.

NYC Hookah Bars – A Review of the New York City Hookah Bar Scene | The HoBlog

 

[Shogun]

I'm a liberal who is all for promoting the prerogative of business owners who want to cater to smokers, be they hookah smokers, pot smokers, or camel smokers.

 

[dilloduck]

Obviously the only kind of pollution that is bad for you is the kind that smells bad. Out of nose --out of mind.

 

[rightwinger]

If you can't stand the clean air...stay home

 

[Charles_Main]

After being caught off guard when the city’s health commissioner first proposed the idea, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Tuesday that he was leaning toward seeking a ban on smoking at city parks and beaches.

Mr. Bloomberg said the ban made sense because it would cut the health risks of secondhand smoke and reduce littering by smokers.

“We’re talking about banning smoking on beaches and in parks, and it’s partially because you can breathe the air,” Mr. Bloomberg said when he was asked about a ban. “It’s in the open air, but the air wafts in your direction. But it is also because people take their cigarette butts and the packages and just throw them away.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/nyregion/07smoke.html

FYI - Smoking is still permissable in NYC Hookah Bars. Doesn't Bloomberg "care" about those folks? Irish bars - no. Middle Eastern bars - fine.

Here in Michigan they just made it illegal to smoke in Bars and Restaurants. Not sure about the Restaurants but there is story after story in the local papers about Bars that are seeing 70, and 80% drops in Business.

Just more Economic Damage in the name of Nobel Ideas.

 

[chanel]

Reuters) - New York state's cigarette tax revenue from convenience stores fell in the first six weeks after a steep tax increase, as consumers turned to Native American reservation stores, a convenience store group said on Wednesday.

New York state boosted the cigarette tax to $4.35 a pack from $2.75 on July 1 as one of a series of measures designed to help close a $9.2 billion deficit for fiscal 2011, giving it the highest cigarette tax rate in the country.

With the per-pack price rising to a range of $9 to $12, "aghast" smokers flocked to tribal stores, which are tax-free, the black market, and border states with lower cigarette taxes, said the New York Association of Convenience Stores.

Convenience stores that are located close to reservation competitors sold 45 percent fewer cigarettes; more distant stores experienced drops of 25 percent to 35 percent, the lobbying group said.

NY state cigarette tax hike burns collections: group | Reuters

Declining cigarette sales and disputes over how much tobacco companies owe to U.S. states may cause more than $12 billion of defaults on related bonds issued by California, New York City, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia.

Defaults on securities that are backed only by the tobacco- company payments and were issued in 2006 and 2007 “could start occurring as early as 2030,” according a report by Richard Larkin, a senior vice-president at Herbert J. Sims & Co.

As cigarette sales fall, states are collecting less money and aren’t able to repay tobacco securities as rapidly as was projected when they were sold. Repayment of Buckeye Ohio Tobacco Settlement Finance Authority’s 5 1/8 bonds due in 2024 was expected by 2017, according to the official statement when they were sold in 2007.

Cigarette Sales Drop Points to $12 Billion Tobacco Bond Defaults - Bloomberg

Unintended consequences. Or maybe not...

 

[rightwinger]

I'll do it !

Smokers are like the Jews in Nazi Germany.

The Jews smelled better

 

[rightwinger]

Smokers have spent generations not caring about the rights of those around them....their response "If you don't like it.....leave"

Why should anyone care about their right to spew smoke?

 

[Charles_Main]

Smokers have spent generations not caring about the rights of those around them....their response "If you don't like it.....leave"

Why should anyone care about their right to spew smoke?

Yes why should we care about rights at all really, I mean they are over rated.

 

[rightwinger]

Smokers have spent generations not caring about the rights of those around them....their response "If you don't like it.....leave"

Why should anyone care about their right to spew smoke?

Yes why should we care about rights at all really, I mean they are over rated.

Sorry pal...you rights end at my nose

 

[ABikerSailor]

You know......I'm a smoker of cigarettes (other plants too), and I remember when the Navy said that the only place you could smoke on the ship was in the bathroom just off of the mess decks.

If you went in there, you didn't NEED a cigarette, just stand in the room, the smoke was that thick.

Next, they told us to smoke outside the buildings and ship.

If New York bans smoking outside within the city limits, well......smokers are gonna need a bit more than 15 min for a smoke break.

 

[cad]

(on a different note, only slightly related)

we've all seen the commercials about the evils of cigarette companies and their devious marketing tactics. very few companies are as despised today as cigarette companies. how dare they use joe camel to get teenage smokers.

why don't we have that same kind of outrage at companies that market sex to teenagers, especially teenage girls? how many people would flip out if miley cyrus promoted smoking cigarettes? but the only outrage when she poses half nude is from the "square religious conservatives" why do we have shows on mtv glorifying teenage pregnancy?

why do we accept the fact that teenagers are going to have sex and there's nothing we can do about it, but we need to stop them from smoking cigarettes?

if you had the choice between having a sixteen year old daughter who was a cigarette smoker or one who had an active sex life, which would you choose? is she more at risk changing/ruining/losing her life smoking cigarettes or getting laid?

i have two daughters, and I say, light 'em up.

sorry for the rant. any thoughts?

 

[WillowTree]

You know......I'm a smoker of cigarettes (other plants too), and I remember when the Navy said that the only place you could smoke on the ship was in the bathroom just off of the mess decks.

If you went in there, you didn't NEED a cigarette, just stand in the room, the smoke was that thick.

Next, they told us to smoke outside the buildings and ship.

If New York bans smoking outside within the city limits, well......smokers are gonna need a bit more than 15 min for a smoke break.

You have disagreed with libruls three times today, just what the hell are you smoking?

 

[rightwinger]

(on a different note, only slightly related)

we've all seen the commercials about the evils of cigarette companies and their devious marketing tactics. very few companies are as despised today as cigarette companies. how dare they use joe camel to get teenage smokers.

why don't we have that same kind of outrage at companies that market sex to teenagers, especially teenage girls? how many people would flip out if miley cyrus promoted smoking cigarettes? but the only outrage when she poses half nude is from the "square religious conservatives" why do we have shows on mtv glorifying teenage pregnancy?

why do we accept the fact that teenagers are going to have sex and there's nothing we can do about it, but we need to stop them from smoking cigarettes?

if you had the choice between having a sixteen year old daughter who was a cigarette smoker or one who had an active sex life, which would you choose? is she more at risk changing/ruining/losing her life smoking cigarettes or getting laid?

i have two daughters, and I say, light 'em up.

sorry for the rant. any thoughts?

Nobody stops you from smoking in your space. Its when you enter public space and spew your smoke that it becomes a problem.

I don't think it is a choice between smoking and having an active sex life. My experience is that sixteen year olds that smoke do both.

 

[Shogun]

Smokers have spent generations not caring about the rights of those around them....their response "If you don't like it.....leave"

Why should anyone care about their right to spew smoke?

Yes why should we care about rights at all really, I mean they are over rated.

Sorry pal...you rights end at my nose

and no one is forcing you to bring your nose inside a smoke friendly location. Feel free to let people have the liberty to cater to more than your pink lunger fucking ego.

 

[rightwinger]

Yes why should we care about rights at all really, I mean they are over rated.

Sorry pal...you rights end at my nose

and no one is forcing you to bring your nose inside a smoke friendly location. Feel free to let people have the liberty to cater to more than your pink lunger fucking ego.

I have a right to bring my nose into any public space.

If you are fouling that space.....you have to leave....not I

 

[Shogun]

Sorry pal...you rights end at my nose

and no one is forcing you to bring your nose inside a smoke friendly location. Feel free to let people have the liberty to cater to more than your pink lunger fucking ego.

I have a right to bring my nose into any public space.

If you are fouling that space.....you have to leave....not I

Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to.

Yours is the prime example of why left leaning politics become just as fucked up as right leaning politics.

Sure, it's fashionable to shit on smokers at the moment. However, it's attitudes like yours which make it so easy for the right wing to remove your kind from power. If I were a business owner I'd ban people like you from my establishment the first time you cried foul.

 

[rightwinger]

and no one is forcing you to bring your nose inside a smoke friendly location. Feel free to let people have the liberty to cater to more than your pink lunger fucking ego.

I have a right to bring my nose into any public space.

If you are fouling that space.....you have to leave....not I

Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to.

Yours is the prime example of why left leaning politics become just as fucked up as right leaning politics.

Sure, it's fashionable to shit on smokers at the moment. However, it's attitudes like yours which make it so easy for the right wing to remove your kind from power. If I were a business owner I'd ban people like you from my establishment the first time you cried foul.

I'm afraid that it does.

Maybe Rand Paul can explain it to you
"Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to."

Just like business owners could not say "I choose to not serve blacks at my lunch counter" they do not get to choose who may come into their bar.

 

[Shogun]

I have a right to bring my nose into any public space.

If you are fouling that space.....you have to leave....not I

Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to.

Yours is the prime example of why left leaning politics become just as fucked up as right leaning politics.

Sure, it's fashionable to shit on smokers at the moment. However, it's attitudes like yours which make it so easy for the right wing to remove your kind from power. If I were a business owner I'd ban people like you from my establishment the first time you cried foul.

I'm afraid that it does.

Maybe Rand Paul can explain it to you
"Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to."

Just like business owners could not say "I choose to not serve blacks at my lunch counter" they do not get to choose who may come into their bar.

race is a federally protected class. Being an asshole pink lunger isn't. Be glad that you don't walk into my bar; the first time you complained about smoking would be the last time you set foot into my business.

 

[rightwinger]

Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to.

Yours is the prime example of why left leaning politics become just as fucked up as right leaning politics.

Sure, it's fashionable to shit on smokers at the moment. However, it's attitudes like yours which make it so easy for the right wing to remove your kind from power. If I were a business owner I'd ban people like you from my establishment the first time you cried foul.

I'm afraid that it does.

Maybe Rand Paul can explain it to you
"Your choice to enter a public place doesn't trump the prerogative of the business owner whose entire purpose is to choose which clientele he wants to offer services to."

Just like business owners could not say "I choose to not serve blacks at my lunch counter" they do not get to choose who may come into their bar.

race is a federally protected class. Being an asshole pink lunger isn't. Be glad that you don't walk into my bar; the first time you complained about smoking would be the last time you set foot into my business.

Where is your bar?

Do you serve gays?
The handicapped?
Blacks?

Do you get to decide that certain patrons get to endanger the health of other patrons?