Smoking Ban in some homes now, this is getting nuts!

[Raineyrocks]

The issue was first brought to the attention of the Belmont City Council last July, when residents at a senior housing complex complained of complications arising from secondhand smoke in their apartments.

Ah, the media missing the sweet, smooth, unfiltered irony of elderly people complaining about the health risks of other elderly people smoking.  If smoking is supposed to kill everyone quickly, then how is it possible that a senior housing complex could have any smokers in it?

Good point Spencer!  Logic escapes the media constantly!

[Ogre]

Know what?  I think cockroaches spread disease.  Therefore, they're dangerous.  I think government needs to ban them.  Now since government can't outright ban them (because they'd be on the endangered species list, at least in theory), I think we can regulate them.  I think we should pass a law that fines anyone who has a cockroach in their apartment.  Oh, and if they have kids, the government should save them and take them from their parents.

[Raineyrocks]

www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=487645&in_page_id=1770

Look at that link!

[Ogre]

Wow.  Riot police for smokers.

I wish we had some sort of governing document that would protect us from insane crushing of individual rights by the government.  You know, something that outlined limits on government and described what they were permitted to do.  Maybe something that clearly codified that individuals have rights.  I wonder if someone could make something like that as a basis for a government.

[Ogre]

http://www.lysanderspooner.org/notreason.htm

Ouch.  The truth hurts.

[lildog]

Ban on smoking in private homes - I wonder how they're gonna enforce that.

I guess they'll use the friendly neighborhood SWAT team. Protect and serve, their lives on the line, your safety, blah blah.

Hmm... that skeevy Libertarian guy downstairs, I'm sure he came back from the store with cigs a few days ago.   Hey Gladys, call that 800 number -- what was it?  1-800-RAT.M.OUT?  Yeah, call 'em and tell 'em we got a Sah-MOKAh down there.

That'll fix his wagon.

Does government know their people, or what? 

You joke but either the Today show or WMUR had a story about that type of thing just this morning.  Pointing out how people are now rating each other out to the government.

[lildog]

Here's one even worse... a woman arrested for swearing in her own home because her toilet over flowed...

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18920981&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6

"A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home."

So much for free speech.

[Raineyrocks]

Ban on smoking in private homes - I wonder how they're gonna enforce that.

I guess they'll use the friendly neighborhood SWAT team. Protect and serve, their lives on the line, your safety, blah blah.

Hmm... that skeevy Libertarian guy downstairs, I'm sure he came back from the store with cigs a few days ago.   Hey Gladys, call that 800 number -- what was it?  1-800-RAT.M.OUT?  Yeah, call 'em and tell 'em we got a Sah-MOKAh down there.

That'll fix his wagon.

Does government know their people, or what? 

You joke but either the Today show or WMUR had a story about that type of thing just this morning.  Pointing out how people are now rating each other out to the government.

Sure they are!  I don't know if you remember or not when I posted about an anonymous phone number people could call if they saw other people smoking in the "wrong" place.  It was a frequent commercial where I used to live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the commercial was for Delaware when they first instituted the smoking ban.  They even had a counter on the commercial showing how many "good" citizens called already.  If their numbers were correct it was in the hundreds!

[Raineyrocks]

Here's one even worse... a woman arrested for swearing in her own home because her toilet over flowed...

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18920981&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6

"A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home."

So much for free speech.

What assholes!  You should hear me when my toilet just gets clogged let alone overflows!   I'd like to follow this one and see if they are the "language police" now.

The article did state this at the bottom:

At the end of the day, the opinion that counts is of the magisterial judge," he said. "It may be something open to interpretation. The officer has his own and this person had the opposite opinion."

The use of obscene language or gestures is an offense under the state criminal code. But cursing at a police officer isn't a punishable offense, said Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union based in Philadelphia.

"It cannot be the basis for a citation. You can't prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet," she said. "We bring one of these cases a year and sue some police departments because they do not remember that they are not the language police."

[dan_sayers]

So much for free speech.

First AND Fourth Amendments...

[David]

Ban on smoking in private homes - I wonder how they're gonna enforce that.

I guess they'll use the friendly neighborhood SWAT team. Protect and serve, their lives on the line, your safety, blah blah.

They will enforce it the same way they enforce marijuana prohibition.  For that matter, I now believe I will see the day, when they outlaw cigs, at least in some areas of the usa.  I like to dream that the gov't cannot continue its war on people much longer, but then reality wakes me up from that dream.