A lot of venues up here, addend enclosed back patios or rooftop patios to accomodate smokers since all clubs are smoke free. I would not have a problem with there being a lil side room being a smoking room (like a washroom, but no toilets), but not with main room smoking fares since most non-smokers who are there for the music and to dance dun wanna have to brave the smoke to hear the talent. Since my city's gone smoke free, I find it so much worse when I'm somewhere that permits smoking in clubs, I can barely breathe when I get back to whatever hotel I'm crashing at.
From a monetary standpoint, when the ban first comes into effect, people act like whiney ****** about having to go outside for a smoke and attendance dwindles, but eventually they're gonna realise that if they still wanna go out and have fun, they'll have to live with it and within a year or so the attendance will start to rise again.

i agree, it's not a non-smokers fault that we are at peace with what cancer-sticks do to us, however, i'm seeing also from a business side of things... this coming from expirience running a club night, and being affiliated with a full-time club... for a small operation that is marginally profitable after paying for dj's, bartenders, venue, cleanup, security etc, it is hard to fork out extra money for more security to check if this person going in was actually in before... we had no problem with the very rare occasional person who would go outside to smoke and get fresh air... you can remember one face, but when you run a big night with over 1000 people, and let's say half are smokers, then you need to field those 500 people as they go in and out to smoke...

i dunno, as i said before i have no problems with accomodating non-smokers, they deserve the right to fresh air and i would never challange that, but i deserve the right to destroy my lungs if i so wish, obviously in a manner that would not cause harm to others... however local or larger scale governements should not be able to say that you jsut can't do it except outside or on the street... there are better ways, and with an economy like the one we have, they sure could come up with a solution that would please everyone and be profitable...

That is the problem with the current two party system that is employed in the US right now - it does not properly represent the ideas of the people. It gets to the point where you're not voting for who you support, you're voting for teh lesser of evils. Up here in Canada, we've got 5 majors parties (3 of the five have a legit chance of winning an election and all five of the major parties generally have a chance of winnning representation in the house). By having more diversity in political views, you do in fact get more of a chance in electing a party (and/or candidate) that will represent you and listen to what you have to say.

As for your smoking ban. We've been smoke free for about 3 and a half years now here, and although there was an initial spike in attendance by bitter smokers, in the long run, the attendance has come back up in clubs now because people have learned to deal with having to step outside for a smoke. I am a non-smoker and feel a million times better coming home from a club able to breathe when I go to bed at night and not smelling like the bottom of an ashtray. The bottom line is that it's not our fault that you want to kill yourself, but you have no right to take us non-smokers down with you (hence the reason they tell ya to take that butt outside).

from a young whippersnapper's point of view, not many people (people i talk to, relate to, etc) care about the turnout of the vote anymore, because the common opinion is, we're not going to gain much either way... the voice of the people doesn't seem to matter because, for example, whatever *I* might think as something this country could use will never be heard by the people whom make those decisions...

since i already have the soapbox, let me explain my plan for new york city (yes, i have spent alot of time on this one)... I'm a smoker, and I ran a club night for a while in alphabet city before and during the smoking ban... we closed that night becuase after bloomberg was enforcing the no smoking law, we had an average turnout of 5 people, which compared to our previous 70+ turnout is a very big difference... I understand, and support, the need to have non smoking areas for those who do not wish to be in that kind of environment.. it can be unpleasant and/or a health risk to some people, and that is understandable...so what if we were to do the following:
new york city is in debt, and bloomberg wants to take care of that by raising every tax we have..i'm sure everyone has felt this by now
establishments and consumers (not all but way more then enough) want smoking areas
if a smoking permit was established, something that would allow a bar, club etc to have a smoking permit which would work like a liqour permit... they would need to have proper ventilation, get inspected (look more jobs!), and pay their permit fees etc... this would help the debt, create jobs, and bring people out who want to enjoy a cigarette while they flirt/drink/dance... and the non smokers can still have a good time if they want to go to non-smoking establishments or if the proper ventilation systems etc are good enough for them

this rant brought to you by the limpidnova mayoral campaign, 2005

What was the voter turn-out for the last election? For a populace so adamantly against losing their right to vote, very few seem to exercise that right.

i saw an electronic billboard in times square... it said "study finds most americans are adamantly against losing their right to not vote"

i thought that was interesting, but also it is information that must be taken with a grain of salt (study finds... wtf is that?)

In any country, voting is the cornerstone of Democracy. but the onyl thign worse than nto voting is not educating yourself before you vote. Take the time andm do your research before you cast your vote. Voting empowers you to influence positive change in your country - let your voice be heard or shut up and fade into the background.

Although it's never good news to hear when someone has passed on, I'm getting kinda tired of hearing about Reagan.
It's apparent that Reagan was no asset to the country during his presidency. His war on drugs was a joke in itself. And this may ring with a tinge of Black nationalism, but Reagan snatched money left and right from many of the social programs instated by the government to aid the black community. And i'm sure many of you who were in school during the 80's can remember various aftershcool and extracurricular programs being cut under his discression. Let history be a teacher for those of us looking for a change in the future. In America, voting is next in line behind the power of the consumer dollar. But counteracting voter apathy is only half the battle. Being informed is the key. As my Grandmother says, ignorance is bliss. In the words of James Brown, "Get up, Get into it, Get involved!" (hmmm...is that a bit cliche?)