CNN correspondent Randi Kaye delivered a sycophantic monologue on Tuesday in support of Mayor Bloomberg’s ridiculous new smoking ban:
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The Rapture may have come and gone, but starting today, Armageddeon is being waged on smokers within the city’s pedestrian plazas, parks and beaches as Mayor Bloomberg’s severe new law takes effect. Since the NYPD won’t be enforcing the measure and there’s a shortage of Parks officers to issue the $50 fine, New Yorkers are being deputized to police their own. Read more »
Like smoking. Lawmakers in Iraq are proposing legislation that would overhaul the war-ravaged nation’s tobacco industry and basically make it a lot like New York City under Mayor Bloomberg. The New York Times summarizes some of the new changes being proposed that are sure to make life better for Iraqis. Read more »
The multicultural City Council, with the urging of Mike Bloomberg, a Jewish mayor, is adopting Nazi legislation and basically outlawing public smoking in a vote that’s expected to pass this afternoon. The law will prohibit people from lighting up at parks, pedestrian plazas, beaches and even on Coney Island’s storied boardwalks. But don’t despair too much smokers, it’s still perfectly legal to enjoy a cigarette at home or on sidewalks. UPDATE: It passed, 36-12.
Officials from Great Neck Village, a tiny town on the North Shore of Long Island where it’s already illegal to smoke cigarettes in public parks, voted to ban smoking on sidewalks in front of commercial businesses now too. Anyone caught violating the law faces a $1,000 penalty or 15 days in jail, however, enforcement could be a problem. Newsday explains: “[T]he village has no police force and its two parking enforcement officers and five building inspectors don’t have time to patrol for illegal smokers.”
Consumers in NYC will once again be able to buy stuff, cigarettes included, without having to see rotting body parts. Ruling on a lawsuit filed by retailers and three of the country’s biggest cigarette kingpins, a federal judge said the city went too far by imposing its grisly anti-smoking ads on store owners, only the federal government has the authority to do that. Please inform your local bodega at once.
According to NYC’s health department, there’s been a significant reduction in deaths by tobacco. Just look at these impressive numbers. Last year, 7,200 people died from smoking-related illnesses compared to 8,700 in 2002, the year that Mayor Bloomberg kicked off the start of his aggressive anti-smoking campaign. They cite the city’s graphic ads and the mayor’s ban on cigarettes in bars and restaurants as major contributing factors. Making them more expensive than illicit drugs probably helped too.
Soon, smokers (and regular consumers) in Massachusetts will be subjected to gross, prominently displayed anti-smoking posters in places that sell cigarettes, just like in NYC, which is where politicians say they got the idea.
Even non-smoking New Yorkers don’t agree with Mayor Bloomberg’s quasi-fascist campaign to stomp out smoking in public parks and responded to the news with derision and humor. |NYT|
Performing his human ashtray stunt on Saturday, magician Richie Magic suppressed his urge to vomit long enough to break the little known world record for “orally extinguishing, chewing and expelling” 200 cigarettes. The cancer stick-chomping magician proudly proclaimed, “Kids told me it was so disgusting that they’d never smoke. I couldn’t be happier.” |NYDN|
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