Where There's Smoke…

So they want to ban smoking in Georgia? Well, well, well. Somebody's been smoking something, I think.

Now don't get me wrong. I ban smoking in my car and in the house. I don't like the stuff and I don't have to put up with it. I won't sit in a smoking section of a restaurant. I love the new Ruby Tuesday here because it's smoke-free. Plus good food. Anyway, I don't smoke. And I don't put up with it around me.

However, the Georgia State Senate recently passed a bill that says in part:

Smoking shall be prohibited in all public places in this state, including, but not limited to, the following places:

1. Aquariums, galleries, libraries, and museums;


2. Areas available to and customarily used by the general public in businesses and nonprofit entities patronized by the public, including, but not limited to, professional offices, banks, laundromats, hotels, and motels;


3. Bars, including patios;


4. Bingo facilities when a bingo game is in progress;


5. Convention facilities;


6. Elevators;


7. Facilities primarily used for exhibiting a motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital, or other similar performance;


8. Health care facilities;


9. Licensed child care and adult day-care facilities;


10. Lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in apartment buildings, condominiums, trailer parks, retirement facilities, and other multiple-unit residential facilities;


11. Polling places;


12. Public transportation facilities, including buses and taxicabs, and ticket, boarding, and waiting areas of public transit depots;


13. Restaurants, including patios;


14. Restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways, and other common use areas;


15. Retail stores;


16. Rooms, chambers, and places of meeting or public assembly when a public meeting is in progress;


17. Service lines;


18. Shopping malls; and


19. Sports arenas, including enclosed places in outdoor arenas.

Now, such a bill would not affect me, except that I wouldn't have to put up with smoke. Well, I don't put up with smoke. And I don't need the state of Georgia's help in not putting up with it.

Smoking is not a right. Stupidity is. And smoking falls under that. But you can't legislate stupidity. Of course, the stupid can legislate.

The state has no business passing such a law. The bill is making its way through the House now, and it might pass. It shouldn't. While I'm opposed to smoking, I'm opposed to the state getting involved. What's next? Ban McDonald's because eating a Double Quarter-Pounder With Cheese and Super-Sizing the Fries and the Coke will make me fat. I know that. I don't care. And I don't want the state involved.

George Busbee, who I wasn't that big a fan of, once canceled a trip abroad because the Legislature was still in session and he, as Governor, couldn't leave the state in their hands. It's really too bad old George died recently. The Legislature is in session.

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