A Response to Joseph L. Bast of Chicago, IL

Re: 2 posts ago.

First, it made no mention of the thousands of proposed smoking bans that have been defeated by concerned citizens...

Thousands? Really? The fact remains that the more progressive parts of this country are doing the exact opposite.

...who see them as unnecessary violations of individual freedom and private property rights.

This is NOT the issue. The issue has never been about individual 'rights' to smoke, it's been about the publics RIGHT to health and their freedom to breathe clean air. It's a public health issue.

Second, it did not mention the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by the anti-smoking movement to demonize smokers and tobacco products.

I'm sure it didn't mention the BILLIONS of dollars spent by the tobacco industries to keep the smokers as the puppets that they are. Any monies spent by the anti-smoking movement pales in comparison to the clout of the marketing divisions of huge multi-nationals.

They are the outcome of a deliberate campaign to shape public opinion by exaggerating health threats and ignoring values such as self-responsibility and privacy.

Exaggerating health threats? I don't think any reputable scientist or person would question the health risks involved.

I absolutely agree that it ignores the values of self-responsibility and privacy. However, it promotes the values of courtesy and respect for your fellow citizens.

The truth is that people wised up, they saw their parents and grandparents dying painfully.

There is nothing inevitable about the spread of smoking bans, and it is entirely likely that we will look back on the recent spate of bans with guilt and remorse, just as alcohol Prohibition is now viewed as having been a deadly mistake.

It's entirely unlikely that we will look back on smoking bans with guilt. The parallel to alcohol Prohibition is entirely unreasonable. No one has completely outlawed tobacco (which I'd be in favour if it came to it), just keep it out of public. One can drink/smoke all they want, it's perfectly within their right. However, once your drinking/smoking becomes a personal issue to other people, well then we have a problem. Smoke all you want in your own place/car.

If we want to keep on the alcohol topic, the education and cracking down of impaired driving has reduced the amount of incidents, and nowadays it's socially unacceptable to get behind the wheel whilst intoxicated. The law is not about infringing the rights of the drinker, it's about protecting the public at large.

The doomsayers have always pointed to the sky and claimed that no one would patronize bars or restaurants anymore. That's been shown to be wrong, and most establishments in NYC have reported increased revenue since the smoking ban took effect (granted, there are far more variables involved).

Smoke all you want, but stop with the self-righteousness by thinking that your 'rights' are more substantial or fundamental than others.

Between you and me

Are you now or have you ever been a hulkamaniac? click here

My Thoughts Exactly

Eric Zorn thinks the NCAA Basketball tourny should reduce; not expand. Of course he acknowledges this will never happen, so it is to be taken with a grain of salt. My take: the regular season should matter more. As an ex-athlete, it doesn't sit well with me that a team that took fourth or fifth in their conference is in the running for the national title (and in some cases get a very high seed to boot). Conference champions vs. conference champions with only a handful of exceptional invitees is what I would like to see.

sniff, sniff, what's that smell?

well put

Jane Engle's article about the spread of smoking bans ["Smoking bans gain worldwide favor, including at Disneyland hotels," March 19] was misleading in two ways. First, it made no mention of the thousands of proposed smoking bans that have been defeated by concerned citizens who see them as unnecessary violations of individual freedom and private property rights. Second, it did not mention the hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by the anti-smoking movement to demonize smokers and tobacco products.

Smoking bans are not just appearing spontaneously, the result of people suddenly deciding that smoking is unhealthy or that second-hand smoke is a danger to nonsmokers. They are the outcome of a deliberate campaign to shape public opinion by exaggerating health threats and ignoring values such as self-responsibility and privacy.

There is nothing inevitable about the spread of smoking bans, and it is entirely likely that we will look back on the recent spate of bans with guilt and remorse, just as alcohol Prohibition is now viewed as having been a deadly mistake.


Joseph L. Bast
Chicago, Illinois

Almost

I was reading this article about global warming, when for a moment I thought I read a talking point I conjured up in a dream the other night

But what's significant is that the issue now has the high-minded imprimatur of the Ad Council...This has not escaped the notice of people on the other side of this issue, such as James M. Taylor, the spokesperson for climate issues at the Heartland Institute, a conservative Chicago-based think tank... Taylor wrote in an e-mail, but "global warming alarmism is markedly controversial ... This Ad Council campaign amounts to nothing more than an end run around a skeptical Congress, a skeptical president and a sharply split scientific community." Like the groups promoting "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution, Taylor's outfit is fighting to convince the public that there's even a debate going on.

I thought for a moment that global warming alarmists were being compared to Intelligent Design types (something I do often), but it turns out they are comparing global warming skeptics to ID (an analogy based on politics, and not science). Oh well. If you've read this far you might be wondering how global warming is like ID. You bend over backwards to fit empirical data into a preconcieved notion whose ultimate purpose is to affect public policy and not science. This "theory" works best as long as all of its "predictions" are untestable and its premises unverifiable. Now I ask you, am I talking about ID or GW?

General Requirement

There is a wonderful guest opinion by Francis Diebold over at the Daily Pennsylvanian about general requirements and undergraduate education. The opinion may be a little bit too free market for some, but I find it very compelling.

The key problem is more fundamental than the mere content of USCAR-type requirements (more on that later). Instead, it's their existence that enables groups to impose their views on others -- not by competing successfully for student interest but rather by lobbying successfully for faculty votes. Achieving the coveted status of "requirement" is immensely valuable to those involved, allowing them to skirt competition and force themselves on unwilling victims.

The study-by-force associated with USCAR-type requirements harms students, the University and society by misdirecting the allocation of one of our most valuable resources: aggressively keen and curious young minds.

and

The principles sketched above suggest that all core requirements -- not just USCAR-type requirements -- are bad ideas. That is, stifling free choice is generally a bad idea, and requirements stifle free choice. If such complete reliance on free choice seems extreme -- perhaps unworkable in practice, albeit desirable in principle -- simply consider one of Penn's peer institutions: Brown University. Brown's elimination of all core requirements, for precisely my reasons, has met with resounding success. The "Brown model," as it is now called, does work in practice!

Booooooooo!

6 arrested at spring break wet T-shirt contest

Deputies arrested six people. Thirty-two-year-old Charles Ray Bunch of Panama City is accused of solicitation for lewd and lascivious conduct by the contestants. Seventeen-year-old Jacqucin Strong of Orange Beach, Alabama was arrested on nudity and indecent conduct.

Also charged were: Louis Adrian Green, 34, of Essixville, Michigan, Christopher Scott, 21 of Saginaw, Michigan, Dianna Chang , 23 of Naperville, Illinois, and an Illinois man was charged with resisting an officer without violence.

Illinois: represent.

Please help me

I go tango dancing Tuesday nights so I can't finish watching American Idol. My favorite contestent got voted off in part because I couldn't vote for him. Are you TIVOing American Idol?

Farewell, and forgive me.

Congratulations

The University of Pennsylvania just crowned its 3rd ever wrestling national champion: Matt Valenti. Congratulations!

Conan is Coming to Chicago

from the Tribune

Fresh from his triumphant visit to Finland, Conan O’Brien is coming to Chicago.

“Late Night with Conan O’Brien” will broadcast four shows live from the Chicago Theatre starting May 9, NBC announced Monday.

O’Brien will tell viewers how to get tickets to the five Chicago broadcasts on the March 28 edition of his show, which airs 11:35 p.m. weeknights on WMAQ-Ch. 5.

Though David Letterman visited our fair city to do live broadcasts of his late-night show, that was way back in 1989, and we’re long overdue for a visit from a talk-show host. (As a couple of readers have pointed out, Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" has visited Chicago too, but I think of O'Brien as Letterman's late-night heir, and await O'Brien's visit with almost as much anticipation as I had for Letterman's arrival back in the day.)

O’Brien, who has done live shows from Toronto and Los Angeles, has never done his show from the Windy City, though NBC’s press release says “Late Night” “has deep Chicago roots, from the numerous writers on the show who have honed their craft in Chicago at the famed Second City and Improv Olympic theaters to the show’s recurring ‘live’ Central Time Zone New Years Eve Countdown.”

Deja Vu

It's looking more and more like tweedle-dee and tweedle dum will start the season on the DL...again.

Sniff, sniff, what's that smell?

It's the smell of sensibility, and a long time coming.

Here's lookin' at you Chicago. Breathe deeply.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

All Man

Chuck Norris, that is. Here is a video of the man reading facts about himself. You can find more facts here.

The quickest way to a man's heart is with Chuck Norris' fist.

Chuck Norris is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.

Chuck Norris has two speeds: Walk and Kill.

Chuck Norris discovered a new theory of relativity involving multiple universes in which Chuck Norris is even more badass than in this one. When it was discovered by Albert Einstein and made public, Chuck Norris roundhouse-kicked him in the face. We know Albert Einstein today as Stephen Hawking.

Commentary

This piece by T.R. Fehrenbach is spot on.

First off, let's face a salient fact: If you allow cops to carry, somebody is going to be shot. (If you don't allow them to carry, it will invariably be the cop.) There are a lot of crooks and crazies with guns out there. Most policemen are courageous (if not, they shouldn't take the shield), and faced with run or fight, they'll fight. When in doubt, it is usually safer to shoot than be sorry. Any lawman worth his salt will obey the dictum: Better to be judged by 12 than carried by six.

I think the emphasis upon cop shootings (that is, shootings by cops) is all wrong. It should not be on the shooter but the guys getting shot. Usually a little investigation shows that these are felonious, intemperate, stupid or impolite, even when not armed. Most are not really worth the powder and lead to blow them up....

.... Lawyers have fixed it so that it's hazardous for police to shoot anyone, especially on the run. The argument is that shooting inflicts the death penalty for lesser crimes. I agree that this argument is valid. The solution would be to make fleeing from law officers a capital crime.

Local News Gaffe

One thing I enjot is watching the sports news right before Leno. I don't get to normally watch, but whatever. The sports anchor is Paula Faris who is an undeniable hottie. Anyways, they did a fun story on suburban moms who are part of a hockey league who aren't pros but enjoy sports all the same. After the segment new PBS import Bob Sirot quipped

Instead of a penalty box they just tell them to cool down and go shopping

flanked on his left by Paula and his right by the two other female anchors he received his monthly dose of woman's scorn. Think before you speak, my friend.

Calling all blue state liberals

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a republican? The disgruntled chemist did a covert investigation to uncover the truth. He infiltrated a Campus Republicans meeting and here are some exerpts of what he found

[T]he hate was palpable. People were openly making racist jokes directed toward Muslims to no opposition. Muslim audience members were insulted to their faces in the most racist of terms, and the one Muslim panelist was spoken over as though he didn't exist. An entire religion was treated as subhuman and evil for two hours by the people around me, people I was speaking to and trying to understand.

and

Simply, I was afraid of the people in the audience around me. When the greater part of the audience stood up and began to chant "USA! USA! USA!" in response to a thinly-veiled threat against American Muslims, the image of a lynch mob came to mind. This comes to mind as I edit this post on Thursday night; how many of the people in the room would really have objected, in the heat of that moment? If you ask me now, I'd say "most". If you'd asked me as I sat in that auditorium, shaking with fear and anger at my fellow man, I wouldn't have been so sure.

and

Seeing how depressed I was yesterday after going to the meeting, several people who know me asked if I regretted going. My answer was that yes, I do regret going, but as I think more about it I have to say "yes and no". I regret going, in the same way I would regret watching an execution or looking on as somebody beat their child.

Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time

For coffee drinkers out there who may have considered sweetening your coffee with Coke....Don't do it! It is totally nasty, I just found that out.

White Sox

Grinder Ball Rule No. 71:
If at first you succeed, repeat.