 |
Smoke Screens
A former NBA Star and ESPN commentator takes on the nanny state of america and argues for the right to light up by John Salley
John Salley
From the Print Edition:
William Shatner, Sept/Oct 2006
(continued from page 1)
The new and improved no-smoking ban in Calabasas may seem insignificant in regard to the swollen debt of the United States. But in the big scheme of things, it is a telltale sign that America has not learned from any of its past mistakes. Take, for example, Vietnam and Iraq. I was born in the mid-'60s and was very young when the Vietnam War ended in 1975. But from what I've read and heard, the war in Iraq sounds very similar. So, freedom for Iraqis but restrictions for Americans? Houston…we have a problem!
In 1994, California law made it illegal to smoke inside most public workplaces. That left the great outdoors as an open playing field for smokers. Which, by the way, sounded fair. Walking through a bit of secondhand smoke as you enter or exit a restaurant isn't necessarily going to shorten your life expectancy. Yet the same groups that complain about being 20 feet away from secondhand smoke speak constantly on cell phones—which supposedly are sending microwaves through your very delicate brain!—for more than 20 minutes at a time. They must be either oblivious to that threat or unconcerned about the electromagnetic radiation shooting through the phone all the while.
I say smoking is practicing freedom of choice! It may not be your type of freedom, but it's a freedom just the same.
So what is this Calabasas smoking ban really all about? It's about going back to the future. It is another confirmation that our American freedoms are being taken away from us.
Maybe I missed some other stuff in history class, too. But didn't the wall come down in Berlin? Looks as if it just went up in Calabasas.
Hey, I have an idea for the communist party in America that's now in charge. I'll turn into a modern-day Paul Revere in my black Hummer. The Russians are coming… The Germans are coming! I hope this wakes you up. What's next? Colored and white bathrooms? Women denied the right to vote or work? Let's look on the bright side of this ridiculousness. We're learning like the rest of the world that "stopping the war on terror begins at home."
As Public Enemy's Chuck D would say, "Fight the powers that be!"
You must be logged in to post a comment.
RSS