big brother in NJ alive and well
 

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/...ger?ntr&coll=1

ahhhh yes, the democratic utopia that is NJ seems to be always looking out for me, the little guy. from making it pretty difficult for lawfully abiding people to obtain handguns, i won't even get into the impossibility of trying to get a CCW permit, to doubling the fines in the 65 MPH zones and so called "safe corridors". now they have gone 1 step further to making me safe while out in public. they have overwhelmingly passed the states ban on smoking in indoor public places such as restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, private clubs, bingo halls and enclosed shopping malls.
Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Essex), a former restaurant operator whose brothers and sister run Cryan's restaurants in West Orange and Branchburg, was the most outspoken opponent of the legislation. He confirmed that in the Democratic caucus, he unsuccessfully proposed two amendments, one that would eliminate the casino exemption, the other more extreme, to ban smoking entirely in the state.
now, i'm not entirely sure why he would propose this cause in the next paragraph he states;
"It was the will of the caucus that the bill pass as is. It was a spirited and lengthy debate," he said. "I argued on behalf of small business, individual choice, and the merits of not standing up for big business."
and look at what this big good for nothing asshole has to say;
"This is the most important piece of legislation I have worked on in the last 10 years," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), a prime sponsor of the bill, S-1926. "Today we take a major step toward promoting public health in New Jersey."
most important piece of legislation in the last 10 yrs??? i guess he's the john kerry of assemblyman, missing about 76% of votes. way to go reed, you're really workin your ass off aren't ya?
and just for the record, i'm not a smoker. in fact i think it's a pretty nasty habit. but to pass legislation against it seems stupid to me.

Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves. ~Author Unknown

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~Louis D. Brandeis

Im glad we have taken another step toward losing all freedoms that we enjoy. I originated in Cali. They were the first on the smoking ban. Silly.

Awsome.. I hate going to a bar and coming home smelling like an ashtray.. It is disgusting. If you want to smoke take your stank ass outside! :lol:

I quit smoking three years. I do not like smoking around me so much any more. BUT to have another freedom taken away really bothers me. If there were such a demand for smoke free clubs & restaurants you'd think there would be some people cashing in on it. Everyone sees small things that they may not care so much about get taken away, you'll be crying at what gets taken away next.
Any freedom taken away is bull shit. How many people wrote your congressman to vote against the patriot act? They are taking away many freedoms when that goes into full effect. Hopefully our next President will have some brains a ditch it. It violates a few of your constitutional rights, yet it still passed, makes me sick. They will keep taking and taking if you let them.

Now being a smoker i kind of have my own views on this. But to make a law that stops a person there give rights is just out of control. I mean your gonna tell someone that fough in a war that he can't go to his American Legion and smoke a cig if he wants to? Thats crap beacuse the big money casinos will let the 80 year old lady blow smoke in the dealers face all day. I believe that the law should be all or nothing.

Personally the law won't change and neither will i. You'll see me outside smoking, which then will prompt the non smokers to complain that im smoking near the public entrance. Then you'll have a no smoking withing 5 feet of a buisness's door law come into affect. Its all crap.

I have always felt taht the government should stay out of the affairs of private businesses who choose to allow legal activities such as smoking. One article I was reading even said how statistics show that in CA and NY where bans were already in place, that businesses were doing better. That being the case, wouldnt it make sense for other businesses to follow suit, voluntarily??!

Quite frankly I don't think its the government's job to regulate things like this. HOWEVER, take this into consideration... How do you feel about the ban of smoking in the workplace?

While to most of us restaurants are merely a place to go out to eat, voluntarily, for others it is their own workplace. Why are the workers in these establishments any less entitled of being "protected" by the same laws in just about every other workplace?

Unfortunately in life, nothing is ever black and white, and there are many ways to look at things.. For a long time I always thought that the government should stay out, and for the most part I still feel that way, but with that last thought it does shed a different light on the subject...

I'm not a smoker and this will help my lungs since I have asmtha, but I think the goverment should stay out. It's my choice to go into the bar and deal with the smoke and it's someone else choice to smoke. I think they should be worry about other issue.

I still think you should be allowed to smoke in Diners and Bars though. :(

Just quit..it is simple.

If you ask me... If i can drink myself to death in a bar/resturant/etc i should be able to smoke myself to death as well-- Now, ok, i can see the merrit of a smoking section tucked in a corner, or a roped off, well ventalited area, but as long as they sell beer, liquor and fatty food in such places, i should be allowed to light one up.



Typical Democratic party-- taking your rights away so they can continue to make the decisions FOR you-- it makes me sick...

Yeah but by drinking your self to death and eating shitty food you are only hurting yourself.. By smoking..you are exposing other people to your smoke so you are impacting others. I have no objection to a seperate room..that is a good idea.

I agree. It's not good for others around you. Which is why when we go out I don't smoke with you sitting right there.

Right--- sooooo, anyone with a brain would pass a law stating smoking can only be done in sectioned off "smoking areas" in bars and resturants and the decision to be completely smoke free should be that of the bar owner/manager...


instead, these morons deny everyone the right to spark up a cig.


Great governing there guys--- thats like saying "I dont like pudding--- SO NO PUDDING FOR ANYONE! EVER!"

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Well then ISM i don't think you should be allowed to go to a bar and have a drink if you have a car there. You are putting your life and everyone elses life at risk by driving home.

So the new law should be "we only server liqour to people who walked here or got a ride".

Everything isn't that simple. Its a stupid law, and IMO the government shouldn't tell us what we can and can't do if its a legal substance.