Repeal it now. The man should not tell us where we can and can't smoke.

whoo weee. this is neck and neck.

My pole has been up for 2 hours now and 33 people have voted. We have 14 people who say repeal it and 2 who want it repealed for bars that do not serve food. We have 17 that want to continue the ban or make it stronger. So as it stands right now the non-smokers have a slight advantage.

The only fair way is for the business to decide. People have a choice of going there or not. It is a legal substance after all. Gov't should not be micro managing our lives. Adults can make this decision on their own.,

We are at 4+ hours and the tally now stands at 26 no and 30 for repeal (54%). This could go for days before someone wins.

These liberal nannies should not tell businesses how to run THEIR own businesses!

aint no need 2 re peel thems.

I have been assured by my good friend Senator Kathy Sheran that the Freedom to Breath Act will be strengthened during this legislative session. She is very concerned with certain language that allowed some bars to circumvent the law. This loophole will be closed and a restriction on outdoor public smoking will also be brought up. We need to strengthen the current Freedom to Breath Act so everyone will be able to breath clean wholesome air inside and out. We must enact this legislation for our children!

If smoking wasn't hurting anyone but yourself, then go for it. But I shouldn't have my right to go to a bar or restaurant and have an enjoyable drink or meal taken away because I don't smoke. Smoking not only hurts the person doing it, but everyone breathing it around them. So, until they make secondhand smoke safe, you can light up outside. By the way, what ever was the point of smoking and nonsmoking sections of restaurants when there were no walls or doors separating them?

concerned...do you see the conundrum here. I understand your point. My right to smoke is infriging on your right to breath clean air. Point conceded. I get it.

Here's my point that I hope you concede. Now your right to have clean air is infriging on my right to smoke inside, in COMFORT.

Also, I never knew that in the bill of rights it stated you have the right to go to a bar or restaurant.

Well we are at the 24 hour mark so I thought we would look at how the poll is going. We have basically 48 votes to repeal the ban, 5 votes to repeal it for bars that do not serve food and 51 votes to keep it around. It still pretty much an even split with the Pro Smokers and Pro Business Choice group in the lead! Let’s overturn this silly law!

hey steve, your "no--let the businesses decide" option is a little confusing. Because how would we let the businesses decide if "no" we did not repeal the ban. it should say "yes-let businesses decide."

Mankato Mike wrote:

I have been assured by my good friend Senator Kathy Sheran that the Freedom to Breath Act will be strengthened during this legislative session. She is very concerned with certain language that allowed some bars to circumvent the law. This loophole will be closed and a restriction on outdoor public smoking will also be brought up. We need to strengthen the current Freedom to Breath Act so everyone will be able to breath clean wholesome air inside and out. We must enact this legislation for our children!

The cracks in your law have emerged. As we have seen in article comments the last few days, more smokers and non-smokers are coming out against the FTBA. A review of the act is coming this spring and the fight for repeal is still there and growing.

For those who disagree with Mankato Mike and the anti-smoking lobby, sign the following petition asking for Congressional Hearings into the smoking bans.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/conghearing/index...

Write your legislators and respectfully ask that this taking of personal freedom and business rights known as the "Freedom To Breathe Act" be repealed.

I think that it should be up to the individual businesses to decide whether to allow smoking or not. I am a smoker (although trying to quit) and I DON'T appreciate being told where I can smoke.

Stick me in a confessional and ask the question: Sir, if you had the authority, would you forbid smoking in America? You'd get a solemn and contrite, Yes.... Those who fail to protest the free passage of tobacco smoke in the air come close to the Zyklon defendants in pleading ignorance.

Mankato Mike wrote:

Stick me in a confessional and ask the question: Sir, if you had the authority, would you forbid smoking in America? You'd get a solemn and contrite, Yes.... Those who fail to protest the free passage of tobacco smoke in the air come close to the Zyklon defendants in pleading ignorance.

If you are going to use quotes, at least have the decency to attribute them to the proper source. That would be William F Buckley who said those words, not Mankato Mike.

Mankato Mike wrote:

We must enact this legislation for our children!

No offense Mike, but anytime someone utters the phrase, it's "for our children!" you just lost what ever support I may have given you.

More money for schools...it's for our children!
Free healthcare for all...it's for our children!
Free pass for illegal immigrants...it's for our children!
Free condoms for teens...it's for our children!
Abortion on demand when the condom breaks...it's for our children!
Light rail everywhere...it's for our children!
Clean needle programs for crack users...it's for our children!
(I like pizza. Why not free pizza for everyone...it's for our children!)
Government telling us what to do...it's for our children!

and on, and on, and on...

Back to the smoking ban; last time I looked,'kids' under 21 aren't old enough to go into a bar or nightclub. Your argument hold little water.

Mankato Mike wrote:

Those who fail to protest the free passage of tobacco smoke in the air come close to the Zyklon defendants in pleading ignorance.

It's very interesting you should use a substance (Zyklon) used by the Hitler and the Nazi's in the extermination camps in your statement while using propaganda, tactics and bans first used by Hitler and the Nazi's in calling for the banning of tobacco.

That says a lot about you and the lengths your type will go to achieve your end. Fortunately, we're wising up to you.

Fishing_guy wrote:

<quoted text>
If you are going to use quotes, at least have the decency to attribute them to the proper source. That would be William F Buckley who said those words, not Mankato Mike.

And he plagiarizes too huh. What a piece of work.

Anyone else here think Mankato Mike and Bob Moffitt are one in the same?