You say your a poker player, what if there was a call to ban all poker tables?

What if you are addicted to Big Macks at McDonalds and there was a push to ban all Big Macks?

What does banning poker tables have to do with an argument of smoking? sitting down and playing poker doesn't affect anybody elses personal freedom. some jackswad holding a cigarette in front of me so that my personal freedom of clean air is violated is causing me a problem that I cannot physically get away from. And if they banned poker then I guess I'd be SOL and wouldn't be able to play. Or, i'd go underground to play it knowing full well that by doing so I'd be violating a law and would accept the risks for it.

Isnt that what this country is all about, freedom of choice?

yep. problem is when people think that they're freedom of choice doesn't have any affect on somebody else's. what if I was forced to endure second hand smoke by somebody all day every day. what if, by chance, I also lived next door to that person. what if we were the only two houses for miles around. what if I then exercised my "freedom of choice" to play loud music all night long out of speakers pointed at my neighbor's house and also had extremely bright lights affixed to my house but pointed right at his bedroom window all night. My actions affect somebody else. I'd be arrested for disturbing the peace even though I'm just exercising my personal freedom.

Easy to support a ban of something you dont enjoy isnt it?

I'm not gay but I support gay marriage. I also don't drink but I don't support an alcohol ban. hell, I don't smoke and I"m not advocating an all out smoking ban. it's not about whether I enjoy it. it's about an individual's rights and how those rights affect others. smoking in public places affects others. period. all smokers have the right to kill themselves (whether they have the right to cause my health insurance premiums to increase so that they can be treated when they are diagnosed with cancer, emphysema, or any other maladies is a separate issue). the issue is whether they have the right to kill themselves while exposing me to the stench and carcinogens contained in their cigarettes. Who's personal rights win? One could argue that smoking is not a necessary action so banning it from places where non smokers also gather isn't actually taking aright away from anybody, it's merely saying that if you want to enjoy that right, go to a designated area to do it.

as far as me enjoying or not enjoying smoking goes, imagine your mother smoked since she was 13. for most of your young life, she was sick with a variety of illnesses. then imagine that 2 weeks before your 13th birthday, when she was all of 36 years old, she died of cancer that started in her lungs, spread to her legs and brain. then think about whether you'd do that to your children. think about whether you'd want to do something that somebody calls "enjoyment" when you realize you've actually lived longer than she has................smoking is a right. it sure is. so is sucking the end of a shotgun and pulling the trigger. one just ends it sooner than the other but they both affect others because somebody still has to clean up.

Doug