Still smokin'

Are you tired of it? Sorry, but I couldn't refuse this one more post about smoking policies and laws. I was looking for any new details on Max's Belgian festival in February, trying to sway me between General Lafayette and heading to Baltimore for the weekend of 2/17. {Put on your sarcastic voice for this one} And, lo and behold, what do I see? Heresy? Let consumers, owners, and employees of establishments decide what they want in terms of smoking or non-smoking? You mean if consumers won't go to a bar that allows smoking or if staff will look for work elsewhere, that a business owner may reconsider their smoking policy? Last time I checked it wasn't against the law to open a non-smoking establishment. Every month, more establishments are choosing themselves to change their smoking policy without getting the government involved. {Put on your best Guinness voice for this one} BRILLIANT! Looks like the Max's folks have got it right (or at least they agree with me, go on now!). This is just what I like to call commonsensical in these here parts...or at least in my tiny, insignificant corner of this world :) I said a couple of weeks ago that I would not be making a New Year's resolution. But, I'm rethinking that in light of more serious issues out there. While you see this is an issue I have strong feelings about, I'd like to ask that we all focus on an issue that deserves 1000 times more of our energy and passion. Baltimore, like Philly and this country as a whole, has a problem with gun control and gun-related crime. My question at the end of the day is: how are our legislators actually able to pass anti-smoking laws, but do not seem capable of passing strict, honest-to-God real, gun-control laws? Shouldn't we be demanding more of our legislators? Shouldn't we be demanding more of ourselves? We'll see where this thing heads next...