....and why elect George W. Bush..???

[Raoul in Colorado]

In general, Europeans are absolutely dumbfounded by the election of George W. Bush....well ponder this.., Bush and the Republicans believe in less government, less taxes, more personal responsibility, less regulation, less government intrusion in peoples' lives. It is therefore no coincidence that the states that voted against Bush --and for Kerry-- (New York, Massachusettes, California, Delaware, etc.) have the most stringent smoking bans; and, the states that voted for Bush have the least smoking regulation.

[Ace]

Hi Raoul, nice to see you contribute here though I have to take issue with you.

Bush and the Repupublicans i am sorry to say have a particular view of what personal freedom means, take gay marraige for instance ! Their love of freedom does not extend to their community and desire to be free of state and federal interferance. Those god fearing republican white anglo saxon protestant hearts demand repressive legislation to prevent the gay community exercising it's own free will.

A black female pop star revealing her breast on tv sends these freedom loving republicans into hysteria and clammering for all sorts of censorship. It will corrupt the youth, obscene they say. Yet they see nothing obscene with arming the same youth to the teeth and sending them abroad to slaughter countless thousands. Right wing Christian fundamentalism from the USA is as alarming to us in Europe as fanatical eastern extremism.

Mayor Bloomberg of New York, the great exponent of the smoking ban is a Republican. The state of California where this whole smoking ban started was Ronald Regans old stomping ground and currently a Republican, none other than the exterminator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger is CA's govnerner. Frankly whether Republican or Democrat, right wing or left, the anti smoking social engineers come in all guises.

J Grace

[Mark]

If George W Bush is the answer then what the fuck was the question ?
Mark

[Raoul in Colorado]

Ace, I am amused by your cliched, conditioned view of Bush and the Republicans...., however, you are certainly entitled to your opinion..., if your sense of universal freedom is hinges on institutionalized formal gay marriage (gay lifestyle and rights in the U.S. are protected by a multitude of laws) and on the unfettered exposure of Janet Jackson's breast on television, well, so be it....; Republicans clammering for all sorts of censorship...?, who, when, what....?!!!.., Right wing christian fundamentalism (?!!) alarming to Europeans ?!!..., of all the things in the world to be alarmed about, to be fearful of, to be threatened by, this is what you choose ......, utterly amazing!! are Europeans concerned that in an ungarded moment the American right wing christian fundamentalists will forceably, or stealthly, convert them to Christianity....??!!, good heavens!!..;....a propos, the smoking ban was passed by the liberal Democrat California State legislature long after Reagan was governor and before Schwarzenegger was governor; Mayor Bloomberg, Republican in name only, is a leftist liberal elected by an overwhelmingly Democrat electorate and is repudiated and rejected by most Republicans.., alas, smoking bans are an outgrowth of the liberal left concept government enforced political correctness and government edicted entitlements, replete with all sorts of restrictions on free speech, on behavior and on ownership rights as well as confiscatory taxes, .....its a universal axiom that [less government = more personal freedom], including, most importantly, the freedom to smoke in peace...cheers..

Raoul in Colorado

[Pat Daly]

Ace. I think you might want to reconsider a few of your points.......Somehow I think you may be believing your news media a bit much.


"Bush and the Repupublicans i am sorry to say have a particular view of what personal freedom means, take gay marraige for instance ! Their love of freedom does not extend to their community and desire to be free of state and federal interferance. Those god fearing republican white anglo saxon protestant hearts demand repressive legislation to prevent the gay community exercising it's own free will."

Ok, heres the deal. Kindly show me where anyone in our Gvt. has advocated repressing the rights of the Gay community? What we do have is a gvt., quite responsibly saying that Gays should have no more rights than I, I.E. the ability to "marry" a person of the opposite sex. I also have the right to have a same sex partner with full legal rights and responsibilities of a marraige, but gee, they call it a civil union.
So on this issue, what we really have is a minority of the population, shoving it in the face of the majority, wanting to have a "special" right.



"A black female pop star revealing her breast on tv sends these freedom loving republicans into hysteria and clammering for all sorts of censorship. It will corrupt the youth, obscene they say. Yet they see nothing obscene with arming the same youth to the teeth and sending them abroad to slaughter countless thousands. Right wing Christian fundamentalism from the USA is as alarming to us in Europe as fanatical eastern extremism."

HEHE, gotta love them extreme right wing christian fundamentalists, right? Only one problem, the person running the FCC and making this decision is a DEMOCRAT! Now, granted, we have mental midget congressmen who like to posture for their constituants, but quite simply, the first amendment will handle the right wing whackos quite handily. You know the funny thing about your second part of the statement? Had this country not done the very thing you are excoriating us for, you would be speaking German...........I dont know where you all get your information, but to even concieve the notion that this country has right wing christians who would slaughter innocent people in the name of religion shows just how far from reality you have been kept.


"Mayor Bloomberg of New York, the great exponent of the smoking ban is a Republican."

Republican? Thats like calling Sean Penn smart. Bloomberg ran on the Republican ticket because he knew he couldnt get through the Democratic primary. This guy is left of the carpetmucher ( oops carpetbagger ) Hillary.

"The state of California where this whole smoking ban started was Ronald Regans old stomping ground and currently a Republican, none other than the exterminator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger is CA's govnerner. Frankly whether Republican or Democrat, right wing or left, the anti smoking social engineers come in all guises."

Well, Reagan had Alzheimers before any bans took place ( that is to say the came LOOOONG after he was gone ) and Schwarznegger is a smoker, Cigars to be specific. I think you had better research moonbeam and grayout, both of which were solid D's for the ban.

[carol]

We can thank the Republicans for the US EPA ETS report. It was in fact written by the very same anti-smoking activists who concocted the phony passive smoking death estimates, using illegal pass-through contracts to hide their identities. And on the board of directors of the company that handled the pass-throughs sat Frederic V. Malek, who was head of the Bush-Quayle election campaign in 1992, and who later put George W. Bush on the board of Caterair. He was also a longtime director of anti-smoker Sen. Frank Lautenberg's company, and his wife was on the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute. The REAL EPA scientists were against pretending that ETS is a Group A carcinogen.

www.smokershistory.com/etslies.htm

[whitigo]

Now there is a problem with your theroy.
Colorado enacted one of the most severe bans in the US. And was a "red" state that went Bush.
Just goes ta show you , If a Special Intrest group says there gonna screw you over ....Believe them.

[emma]

mark said:

If George W Bush is the answer then what the fuck was the question ?
Mark

so true... ;D