As of January 1st in Louisiana it will be against the law to smoke in any public establishment, including restaurants that serve alcohol. BUT the ban does not include places that make 51% of income based on alcohol revenue (Bars).

That's fair to me, but don't let me hear a non-smoker bitch about having to walk through a cloud of smoke to enter a restaurant. You wanted 'em outside, you got it.

Actually, we DO need health issues regulated, otherwise companies would pollute and workers would be regularly poisoned, just like they were before such things were regulated. Hey, if I want to carry a small ball of plutonium around - not enough for a bomb, but just enough to give cancer to anyone in a 30-foot radius - should I be able to do that? Same thing, carcinogenic compounds being emitted.

We nonsmokers get it, you dig the "speedball" effect of alcohol and nicotine. Most restaurants and bars will probably cope by putting in al fresco dining areas and patio bar areas.

I know what I'm saying is unpopular, which is why most of the nonsmokers posting are apologists. And if it doesn't pass, I'll deal with it as I have most of my life. But I won't cry if the law passes either, I can't pretend it would bother me.

FWIW, I think insurance companies will force the issue ahead of government by pricing insurance, including general liability and workers comp, very high for the smoking establishments.

Okay let me rephrase....do we need the government to regulate health issues that are within the control of personal choice?

Take a deep breath...there are carcenogenic compounds everywhere.

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I disagree with the image of smokers as Satan too, but smokers also don't want to look at plain facts such as their secondhand smoke harming the health of their children. If the kids in the minivan have smoking parents there's a great chance the kids will have impaired lung function all their lives.
I had a doctor accuse me of smoking when I was 12; I never smoked, but both parents were 2-pack+ daily smokers.

So if a kid dies of lung cancer due to secondhand smoke, is he less dead than if a drunk T-boned his parents' car? Well, it took longer, probably a lot more pain involved, but no... dead is dead. The causality is not as specific to one individual, but statistically exists.

I'm not saying they're evil, but I AM saying they have a bad habit that harms the health of everyone around them, which is simply a fact. As for being self-righteous, maybe you're just in denial about the effects of smoking on others. This is an open forum, I don't need to tone it down, I'm not using profanity and you're the one saying I'm portraying smokers as evil. I never said that, but if you perceive it that way, that's your issue, not mine.

I am, like Andrea, a social smoker. I smoke in bars. And, I don't smoke around my son.
After reading the arguments here, I think that maybe bars that choose to cater to smokers could simply put up signs at the entrance. Something like
Warning - This Establishment Caters to Smokers. Do NOT Enter unless you understand and accept the dangers regarding the inhalation of Cigarette Smoke.
That way, the government has identified the hazard for people that want to avoid it, the bars owners still get to decide what they want to do with their establishment, and people can make the choice whether or not to frequent that establishment.

That's cool, you protect your son because you recognize it's a hazard.

To show my age, when I was 18, 18 was the legal drinking age in Mississippi and Louisiana. Well, beer only in Mississippi.

The Feds decided 21 would be better. We disagreed, especially NOLA did. The Feds said, fine, no highway money then until you raise the age to 21. Well, what's the age now? It's 21.

So when and if the Feds decide that no smoking in restaurants and bars is the thing to do, then it will get pushed through quickly everywhere by the same method - withholding of Federal funds. Again, the insurance industry could be a key lobbyist for that, as could labor interests..

As for bars CHOOSING to be non-smoking, I am sure there are a couple of examples, but the vast majority would never do that voluntarily for economic reasons. They would only do it if everyone else were being forced to do it.

I'm a smoker and sometimes the smoke gets way bad in a bar you wake up coughing your lungs up, but it's just part of it, and there aren't too many public places you can go any more where you can smoke. I do beleive in choice and if you go to a bar, club, what have you and you know there is going to be smoke there and you don't want to be around it don't go!!!!! And the fact that you can't even smoke on th ecampus at the hospitals is completely crazy!!! They should bring designated areas back. But then you have the whole littering issue, with people throwing there butts all over the ground. I do think that if you are a smoker such as myself you need to dispose of your butts properly. I'm getting off subject.... I think it's crazy to ban smoking from bars and resteraunts that's when people like to smoke!! after a meal and while they're drinking.

Wow, that is an issue that I must say smokers really piss me off. I dont care if people smoke. If you come to my house and smoke I have a great place outside for you to sit and do so.
But, or should I say butt......... Nothing pisses me off more than riding down the road and seeing people flick their butts out of the window. That would be the reason I would want to see smoking banned anyplace but your house. Just because I hate to see buttheads flick those damn things anyplace they want. I once ran a guy off of the road for flicking his butt out of his car window on I-95 and it hit my brand new car. I figured he had no respect for others, I had none for him.

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Yeah, I had a friend stay with me awhile back; asked him not to smoke in the house. He'd sneak a few, not realizing nonsmokers can smell that shit hours later. But the real irritation was when we'd go out to the porch. There was an ashtray right there, but he was so used to flicking away his dead cigs that he'd just launch them into the yard! He'd do it even when I was standing there, much less when I wasn't! It's a reflexive thing, they don't realize they're doing it.