Chris, you aren’t serious are you? I was never a stripper. Where did that even come from?

Ok, having read everything and catching up with what y'all have to say, let me make this as simple as I can: Is there anybody willing to let the government make the decisions as to what you can and cannot do, whether it affects you or not? Where you stand on this issue pretty much dictates whether or not you are willing to let our government control every aspects of our lives. As a non-smoker, I choose to avoid places that allows smoking, but I will NOT dictate to them that they are not allowed to smoke anywhere. I am a strong believer in the free market, and it works much more effectively than a government fiat. Today, they're after the smokers, tomorrow they may be after unhealthy food and after they are finished with that, then they may go after what you drive, and then after that. . .

To ask the government to ban something sets us on a slippery slope, because it never stops there, and slippery lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians and activists can always cite "precedent" and go for more.

Again, where does it stop? Who draws the line?

I'm going to be Rhett Bomar. I won't show up for work, and still get paid.

I was kidding about the DOK not paying enough. I'm not big on blogs...every once in a while maybe. I have a cousin who blogs about how many ounces of water she drank, how many calories she consumed that day, and how clear her pee was, due to her drinking lots of water of course… Ew? Also, about how many minutes she spent scrubbing the toilet, and folding clothes, etc….how does she have time to blog about all this stuff, you ask? I have no idea. It seems to me that she spends more time sitting on her ass typing about what she is doing rather than doing anything at all. Of course she conveniently leaves off how much time she spent blogging.

Here’s how my day would go.
Alarm goes off at 4:30.
Hit the snooze button until 5:30.
Jogging 45 min.
Shower 20 min.
Drive to work 30 min.
Coffee, Water cooler, Sit thru endless meetings, coffee, bathroom, water cooler, blab on DOK, scripts, water cooler, take fake bathroom breaks, scripts, blab on DOK, water cooler, 30 min bathroom break spent talking on my cell phone in the bathroom, water cooler, maybe lunch, another endless meeting, scripts, water cooler, blab on DOK, script, water cooler, DOK, script, DOK, DOK, water cooler, DOK.
Drive home 30 min.
Crazy mad dash to feed kid, pack kid’s lunch, give kid a bath, check email, maybe eat dinner, maybe not eat dinner, laundry, dishes, clean up the pigsty my son calls a bedroom, more laundry, wash my nasty dog, probably even MORE laundry, brush kid’s teeth, 30 min reading bedtime stories, sex – if I’m lucky, and crash out until it is time to hit the snooze button for another hour.

school boards hire superintendents, not politicians...do the research...understand school law...understand the legislature doesn't want to pay for education...Watch, schools will either shut down bus routes (not required by law) or close a few days early, as was proposed last time the Legislature didn't want to pay the bills.

Michael, she has more Lincoln traits than Obama and his goons.

Willis, I agree with everything you have just said regarding the harmful effects of smoking. I was once a heavy smoker myself and I have a mild case of COPD as well. My father was a heavy smoker, mother didn't smoke & I was the only one of five siblings that took up the habit. I married a non-smoking nurse a little over 5 years ago and she was smart enough not to nag me about my smoking but she had other ways of letting me know that she disapproved. So I quit cold turkey and now can't stand to smell cigarette smoke..Interesting that you were a professional musician...I come from a musical family...mother on the piano..oldest brother on the trombone...oldest sister on the clarinet...next to oldest sister on the flute...me on the trumpet and my youngest sister on the piano...everyone could sing except my dad and my brother....it was a great experience thru high school and college...my brother and I did play in college dance bands but that's about as far as it went...Of course my family is from the big band era with the beginning of the rock era thrown in.

Makes me glad I live in the country. I don't go anywhere hardly anymore. If they don't allow smoking in their establishments, they don't need my money. Heartless of me, I know. By the way, I'm nonsmoker.

Hope the girl is fine. Keith is a fine cop and I bet this is really hurting him.

Nah, Fox hasn't been drinking the kool-aid. They passed it up & went straight for the opium! =)

You're right Jason. These morons are jumping up and down about a wacked out religious extremist that happens to be from Iraq while they kiss the feet of the thousands of even more wacked out religious extremists that keep this backwater state in the 19th century. Sally Kern is a perfect example.

Insane. I am very allergic to many things, among them cats, certain perfumes & soaps, ragweed, cottonwood trees, pecan trees, etc. My neighbor has cats and pecan trees. Since they moved in after me it is MY rights that have been infringed upon. Shall I get the state to force them to remove that cat who ends up on my porch every night? Should the state force them to cut down the pecan trees?

WHen I go to the mall I get a serious sinus infection from all the perfumes. Shall I force all the department stores to stop selling perfume and all mall patrons from wearing them? These sinus infections cause me a great deal of distress, loss of work & pay. Should these people be paying me for my lost wages? My choice has always been to avoid the mall, but don't I have a right to shop where I want to, rather then being inconvenienced by selfish people?

I gag everytime I breathe in car exhaust. They drive right down my street, 40 feet from my front door. This offends me and makes me sick. Can the state ban vehicles from driving down my street? Can't the state force my neighbors to ride bicycles instead? I should seek out a government grant of 200k to study these effects on my street, then force my entire neighborhhod to either move, cycle or walk. After all these are my rights, aren't they?

Yes, very insane.

RESPECT....let's get some!!!!!!!!

GO POKES!!!!!!!!!

So someone proud to have never watched a Michael Moore movie goes on and on defining Michael Moore for all of us. Interesting concept. And what exactly does Johnny Carson have to do with it? Granted, a sharp wit, indeed. After that I lose the thread.

Marcel, Thank you for your kind words. I too was a lifelong smoker and felt at the time that that was my right. I never looked at the bigger picture until I was forced to quit for health reasons. That is when the real truth about smoking kicked in for me. All of those years I thought I was never hurting anyone by my smoking. One day my Dad called me and informed me that he was dying of lung cancer. There was no history of cancer on his side of the family. My Mother was a chain-smoking menthol loving two-packer. The entire house was covered in a thick yellowish layer of residual nicotine and other exhalant chemicals from her cigarettes. The doctor told my Dad that it was likely the second hand smoke that he inhaled that triggered the cancer. I remember as a child smelling that smoke and it became a familiar smell. I believe that led me to smoke as a teenager, just as much as the peer pressure. I was a musician for 35 years and played thousands of shows in thousands of bars. I used to joke with my band mares that my smoking was self-defense against the second-hand smoke. Well now that I have COPD, the joke is on me. My music career is over and I cannot go into places where smoking is allowed. When I do, my lungs sart filling with fluid to fight the foreign particles of second hand smoke. If I remain in the environment, then my Bronchial tubes swell and breathing becomes difficult and my ability to absorb oxygen depleats. In other word if left in the environment long enough, death will ensue. So all of you deny that smokjing will not harm you or others, have no idea of the danger you are asking yourself and others to go through just for your selfishness...