Live Free or Die

As I write this I am enjoying a nice Onyx Reserve Maduro cigar and playing some online poker. And winning. I'm very good at poker. Ok, I'm pretty good. Foxwoods Poker Room is my Disney World. Back before poker became so famous it was nice to sit in on a game for half a day and enjoy a few good cigars while playing. Now that everyone believes that they are WPT-level players, there are too many people to allow smoking anymore. The casino bowed to pressure, and I can't totally fault them. But it still sucks.
State after state has been caving to the anti-smoking Nazis. Fourteen states and numerous cities and towns have instituted differing degrees of smoking bans recently. First in public areas like malls and libraries and work spaces. Not pleased enough with their victory, they next set their sights on bars and restaurants. In the states where they had already pushed smokers outside this wasn't a tough sell. California and New York went first, the rest of the lib wannabe states followed in their role models footsteps. Now some are pushing for a ban within certain areas around bars and restaurants, in your car, and even in your home (for the children!). Last month, Calabasas, California went so far as to ban smoking in ALL public areas, indoors and outdoors.
Not so in the Granite State. This month they rejected a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. It was by a narrow margin (12-11), but it was a defeat for the Pleasure Police. The Governor, Democrat (surprise) John Lynch, had already stated that if it had passed he would have signed the bill. The house had earlier, easily passed the bill, leaving it up to the State Senate to step up to the bat and preserve the rights of business owners. There are numerous smoke-free establishments in New Hampshire, yet this is not good enough for those who know what's best for you. Kudos to the NH Senate for standing up to these pretentious blowhards.
But, don't breathe that sigh of relief yet. The Pleasure Police have announced that the bill will be reintroduced next year. Which means that it will become an annual struggle until it finally gets passed. Why not introduce a bill limiting the time frame between a proposed bills defeat and it's re-introduction? Or better yet, head these asshats off and propose a bill allowing the free choice of proprietors to determine whether or not to allow smoking in their establishments? There's a revolutionary idea, allow the owner who pays the bills and knows what type of customer he has, needs, and wants in his establishment, to make the decisions as to how to run his own business! It's too crazy and will never work. Or a simple bill baning the postiting of bills that limit freedoms of the individuals? Just a thought.