The Missouri Court of Appeals gave Kansas City the "OK" to keep banning smoking in bars and restaurants.
On Tuesday, the court upheld the smoking ban, which voters passed in April 2008. But the fight's not over, yet.
This morning's Kansas City Star story says opponents, namely Bill Nigro of the Kansas City Business Rights Coalition, plan to appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.
So it'll be a a while before Buzzard Beach can reclaim its title of "Smokiest Bar in Kansas City."
(photo by Jay Soldner)
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so lets talk about all the bad things cigarette smoke does to all ov you overly health conscious citizens......oh wait but first uh .... SO WHEN DOES THAT BAN ON 2ND HAND CAR EXHAUST GO INTO EFFECT? Yah, you know the stuff you breath in everyday ov your life and um yah it really kills you no really not bothers you or stinks or could maybe if in a room and your trapped and the sky is falling oh my it KILLS like as in dead so hmmm oh yah cigarette smoke at bar that you CHOOSE to go mind you uh .....mmmm really really can you say mOrOnS no really try it ....silly ...silly people ............ best part for me i dont even smoke i just cant stand mindless retardation masked as a health concern when so many things we do on a daily basis is well uh yah not good for you welcome to planet earth ...cha cha cha
Were judges in that court checked to make sure none had economic links to the cigarette industry? That is...no investments etc with tobacco pesticide manufacturers, tobacco fertilizers, dioxin-producing chlorine (many pesticides and the chlorine bleached paper), ag biz that supplies so many non-tobacco cig ingredients, sugar and chocolate or any of the many non-tobacco ingredients---or any of their investors and insurers? Remember---even top health insurers invest billions in cigarette manufacturing and in even tobacco pesticides and all sorts of chlorine industries---dioxin-producing chlorine being easily the most deadly part of most (not all) cigarettes.
If judges had such links, justice and the quite important Appearance of Justice is destroyed. This is a Constitutional issue regarding guaranteed Due Process.
The same applies if judges (or jurors) have Religious Bias against "sinful" tobacco. Can a Mormon judge, for example, ever preside over any tobacco case? Not if Constitutional law is applied.
If lawyers opposing the smoke bans failed to address this bias issue up-front...that is a problem. It may involve legal malpractice due to unprofessional ignorance, or complicity. Where do the lawyers have their investment holdings, or do they simultaneously hire out out to various parts of the cigarette industry?
Here in Chicago, after a year and a half, many small neighborhood bars simply ignore the ban. The only complaints are from neighbors of the bars that comply.
Look, the libertarian in me says a privately-owned business should have the right to set its own rules, much like as a private citizen I have the right to patronize said business (or not).
I'm just saying that I don't see many politicians endorsing a bill to repeal this, nor do I see a majority of citizens voting for such a repeal.
I'll take stale beer and piss over smoke any day. Hell, you can even throw in some vomit and expired milk. Still better than breathing in smoke. Smokers use their feet and go outside to smoke.
No way it could be reintroduced? Smoke-free environment? Have you not noticed that just about every bar smells like stale beer and urine since the ban? That isn't an improvement.
Listen, the ban shouldn't be in place, and people should vote with their feet: smokers can have their smoke, while everyone else can have the stale-beer-and-piss bouquet they seem to prefer.
I don't think there's any way smoking will be reintroduced to bars. People have grown too accustomed to smoke-free environments for this to be reversed. Short of having a smoking ban declared unconstitutional, I think smoke-free bars/restaurants are here to stay.
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