[Mpls] Smoking ban

[Michael Atherton]

Jim Bernstein wrote:

> Mariachi music is not a health hazard! Second hand smoke is well
> established as a public health hazard.  Protecting the public from
> preventable health hazards is a proper function of city government.

So you see a difference between moral turpitude and health hazards?
Many people don't.  They see people's spiritual health to be as
important as their physical health and they use that concern to
justify imposing their values on others. The concept of protecting 
the public from preventable spiritual hazards was used in Salem. 
Your using physical health to impose your values on others is just 
as pretentious and intellectually corrupt.  No matter how much you 
deny it, people congregating in a public place to enjoy entertainment 
and each other's company while smoking has no effect on anyone who 
does not make an explicit decision to have it do so. Anyone
who does not want to be exposed to secondhand smoke has other 
entertainment choices and no need to limit the choices of other
people.

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park