Post by scheissekopf on Mar 7, 2008 7:54:51 GMT -5
This is from an actual British release....
Winston Churchill without a cigar is like a beach without sand, yet the anti-smoking Nazis are taking the cigar out of Churchill’s mouth:
Because of the ban on smoking in public places, Britain’s greatest wartime prime minister will be without his trademark cigar when he is portrayed on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe festival later this year.Mel Smith, the comedian and actor who will play him in a production of Allegiance, a play about a little-known meeting between Churchill and Michael Collins, the Irish revolutionary, could be forced to use a plastic replacement.
Producers believe Churchill’s lit cigar and the cloud of smoke which permanently surrounded him are so integral to his character that they plan to appeal to the Scottish executive for a special dispensation.
And when I say anti-smoking Nazis, I don’t just mean their general fascist tendencies towards government control of people’s private lives. Actually, Hitler’s beliefs about tobacco were nearly identical to that of today’s anti-smoking zealots, and he even advocated for the same public policy measures:
In Nazi Germany, for instance, abstinence from tobacco was a “national socialist duty” (Hitler gave a gold watch to associates who quit the habit, though this didn’t stop them from lighting up in the Berlin bunker once they heard the Fuhrer had committed suicide). Armed with such senior sanction, anti-tobacco activists succeeded in banning smoking from government offices, civic transport, university campuses, rest homes, post offices, many restaurants and bars, hospital grounds, and workplaces. Tobacco taxes were raised, unsupervised cigarette vending machines were banned, and there were calls for a ban on smoking while driving.
Hmmm… that sounds a lot like somewhere I live.
This also sounds an awful lot like that woman who was smoking at the Mayflower Hotel bar, but refused to give her name to the Washington Post reporter because she works on anti-smoking ballot measures.
Fortunately, unlike Hitler, today’s anti-smoking Nazis have democracy and the Constitution to slow down their assault on our personal freedoms, though you get the feeling they wish such obstacles didn’t exist.
In the end one thing is for sure: Somewhere, Churchill is rolling in his grave.
I'm actually surprised a smoking/non-smoking thread has not entered the hallowed halls of TalkAmarillo.com and if it has, then I thoroughly apologize because I don't frequent here often. My thoughts on this:........
1) I work in a locally owned establishment that has been around for almost 18 years.
2) A lot of our business that keeps us going (besides regular customers) is bar business and bar business usually outweighs the food business aspect.
3) I am a bartender. My whole life depends on the drinkers/smokers in order for me to provide for myself and my kids. I've been in and out of this business for 20 years, but I can honestly say that drinkers and/or smokers are the best tippers EVER!. I can also name who the worst tippers are (namely schoolteachers), but I won't.
4) The Clean Air Nazis are worried about employees in restaurant/bars being exposed to 2nd-hand smoke. Have these people ever known someone who works at a restaurant? Most people who work in the "hospitality industry" smoke. The way I see it is, if I choose to work in a restaurant/bar setting I should know that smoke is going to be around. It's common sense. I don't need some dumb gov't branch to tell me that. At the same time...I hate kids. I don't want to be around kids. That's why I don't work at Chuck E. Cheese or Incredible Pizza Co. or CiCi's. Make sense??! You Anti-Smoking Nazis hate smoke and some of us hate children when we go out to eat. It's fair, right?? Civil liberties and all that.....agreed?! You want a non-smoking section, and I want a no screaming baby section. And don't even get me started on these old women that smell like a can of Glade Potpourri just exploded just seconds before they walk into the restaurant. Makes me wanna puke and I have a strong stomach. You would wish for a smoking Marlboro or Camel.
Winston Churchill without a cigar is like a beach without sand, yet the anti-smoking Nazis are taking the cigar out of Churchill’s mouth:
Because of the ban on smoking in public places, Britain’s greatest wartime prime minister will be without his trademark cigar when he is portrayed on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe festival later this year.Mel Smith, the comedian and actor who will play him in a production of Allegiance, a play about a little-known meeting between Churchill and Michael Collins, the Irish revolutionary, could be forced to use a plastic replacement.
Producers believe Churchill’s lit cigar and the cloud of smoke which permanently surrounded him are so integral to his character that they plan to appeal to the Scottish executive for a special dispensation.
And when I say anti-smoking Nazis, I don’t just mean their general fascist tendencies towards government control of people’s private lives. Actually, Hitler’s beliefs about tobacco were nearly identical to that of today’s anti-smoking zealots, and he even advocated for the same public policy measures:
In Nazi Germany, for instance, abstinence from tobacco was a “national socialist duty” (Hitler gave a gold watch to associates who quit the habit, though this didn’t stop them from lighting up in the Berlin bunker once they heard the Fuhrer had committed suicide). Armed with such senior sanction, anti-tobacco activists succeeded in banning smoking from government offices, civic transport, university campuses, rest homes, post offices, many restaurants and bars, hospital grounds, and workplaces. Tobacco taxes were raised, unsupervised cigarette vending machines were banned, and there were calls for a ban on smoking while driving.
Hmmm… that sounds a lot like somewhere I live.
This also sounds an awful lot like that woman who was smoking at the Mayflower Hotel bar, but refused to give her name to the Washington Post reporter because she works on anti-smoking ballot measures.
Fortunately, unlike Hitler, today’s anti-smoking Nazis have democracy and the Constitution to slow down their assault on our personal freedoms, though you get the feeling they wish such obstacles didn’t exist.
In the end one thing is for sure: Somewhere, Churchill is rolling in his grave.
I'm actually surprised a smoking/non-smoking thread has not entered the hallowed halls of TalkAmarillo.com and if it has, then I thoroughly apologize because I don't frequent here often. My thoughts on this:........
1) I work in a locally owned establishment that has been around for almost 18 years.
2) A lot of our business that keeps us going (besides regular customers) is bar business and bar business usually outweighs the food business aspect.
3) I am a bartender. My whole life depends on the drinkers/smokers in order for me to provide for myself and my kids. I've been in and out of this business for 20 years, but I can honestly say that drinkers and/or smokers are the best tippers EVER!. I can also name who the worst tippers are (namely schoolteachers), but I won't.
4) The Clean Air Nazis are worried about employees in restaurant/bars being exposed to 2nd-hand smoke. Have these people ever known someone who works at a restaurant? Most people who work in the "hospitality industry" smoke. The way I see it is, if I choose to work in a restaurant/bar setting I should know that smoke is going to be around. It's common sense. I don't need some dumb gov't branch to tell me that. At the same time...I hate kids. I don't want to be around kids. That's why I don't work at Chuck E. Cheese or Incredible Pizza Co. or CiCi's. Make sense??! You Anti-Smoking Nazis hate smoke and some of us hate children when we go out to eat. It's fair, right?? Civil liberties and all that.....agreed?! You want a non-smoking section, and I want a no screaming baby section. And don't even get me started on these old women that smell like a can of Glade Potpourri just exploded just seconds before they walk into the restaurant. Makes me wanna puke and I have a strong stomach. You would wish for a smoking Marlboro or Camel.
