Random Notes, Christmas Edition
Alright, the shopping is done. Just a few more Art Projects, and I'm set for Christmas 05.
Instead of putting up a Christmas tree (for the last two years I haven't gotten around to buying one...), I have decided to invent my own holiday tradition. I call it, the Hooskavoo Man. To make your own Hooskavoo Man, simply take some wire and shape into a vaguely humanoid shape. Mine looks like a horribly deformed midget. Then cover your wire skeleton with paper mache. After the paper mache dries, paint that bad boy up, and then hang it (preferably from the neck) in your house somewhere. Place some presents underneath it, and voila! Christmas for the bizarre!
So, did anyone watch the President's Address last night? Yeah, me neither.
I'm actually feeling very festive this year, but at the same time, I've been avoiding a lot of Christmas functions I usually attend, and I am officially sick to death of Christmas music. Ugh.
So, apparently, a lot of cities and/or states are starting bans on smoking in restaraunts and public places. Here's my two cents on the subject. I HATE smoking. It's dangerous, it ages people prematurely, and it smells bad. I'm brutally allergic to smoke. If I spend any amount of time in a heavily smoked area, I start coughing and sneezing uncontrollably, and my eyes swell shut. BUT, this is America, damnit, and last time I checked, it should be the Choice of the owner of an Establishment as to whether or not smoking should be allowed on his/her premisisces (spell?). This anti-smoking ban, no matter how good a decision it may actually be, is ultimately, very Un-American and wrong. And, again, this is coming from a guy who can't stand the Residue of smoke.
Instead of putting up a Christmas tree (for the last two years I haven't gotten around to buying one...), I have decided to invent my own holiday tradition. I call it, the Hooskavoo Man. To make your own Hooskavoo Man, simply take some wire and shape into a vaguely humanoid shape. Mine looks like a horribly deformed midget. Then cover your wire skeleton with paper mache. After the paper mache dries, paint that bad boy up, and then hang it (preferably from the neck) in your house somewhere. Place some presents underneath it, and voila! Christmas for the bizarre!
So, did anyone watch the President's Address last night? Yeah, me neither.
I'm actually feeling very festive this year, but at the same time, I've been avoiding a lot of Christmas functions I usually attend, and I am officially sick to death of Christmas music. Ugh.
So, apparently, a lot of cities and/or states are starting bans on smoking in restaraunts and public places. Here's my two cents on the subject. I HATE smoking. It's dangerous, it ages people prematurely, and it smells bad. I'm brutally allergic to smoke. If I spend any amount of time in a heavily smoked area, I start coughing and sneezing uncontrollably, and my eyes swell shut. BUT, this is America, damnit, and last time I checked, it should be the Choice of the owner of an Establishment as to whether or not smoking should be allowed on his/her premisisces (spell?). This anti-smoking ban, no matter how good a decision it may actually be, is ultimately, very Un-American and wrong. And, again, this is coming from a guy who can't stand the Residue of smoke.
3 Comments:
Smoking is being banned because of its effect on OTHER people besides the smoker in question. It's like guns, that way. If a gun could only hurt the dumbass pulling the trigger, everybody could have one. Same with cars, very heavily regulated...hell, how many cops are employed JUST to monitor drivers?
Part of government's role is to protect people from unhealthy situations when said people are too dumb and/or lazy to do it themselves. The tobacco industry has already shown us that peer pressure is the number one way to make people smoke or hang out with smokers. However, peer pressure alone isn't enough to make people stop smoking. Most smokers won't go to a non-smoking establishment regularly to hang with their friends. Most non-smokers will go to a place that allows smoking for the same reason.
And let's consider the employees. OSHA ensures I don't get carpal tunnel at work. For the most part, the same goes for everyone in any sort of industry with a danger of injury. They help protect people from lung cancer in toxic chemical plants. Why can't the government protect bartenders, waitstaff, and cooks from lung cancer in the places people eat and socialize?
Personally, I don't go out enough to give a fuck about bars. My friends that do, love the bans up here, though. I do enjoy not eating in a haze of smoke, but more importantly, I like the idea that my waitstaff/bartender friends (AND MOTHER, if she didn't live in Illinois), aren't at risk for all the symptoms brought on by smoking because the only jobs they can get are in the food/alcohol service industry.
In the end, I say fuck the establishment owners. The restaurant industry is well meshed in corporate ownership. Bars are generally independant, but food chains are just that, chains owned by big business. No other corporation in the country is openly allowed to harm its customer and employee base, why should the food industry? They're the very people most responsible for keeping us alive....
What's more unnerving is the trend of some companies to now ask applicants if they smoke or not. If Yes, "Will you stop smoking if the company helps you?" If No, you're not hired.
I'm all for companies not allowing smoke breaks and making the campus non-smoking, and I understand that smokers more than triple the cost of my health insurance at work (because insurance costs are averaged over each employee every year). However, I don't think that not hiring smokers is the way to go. That's a sizeable portion of the world that a company is ostracizing from its brain pool AND its customer base. Bad form.
Here's my proposal. Rather than refusing to employ smokers, REWARD the non-smokers. Give employees that don't smoke (and you can legally require medical check ups to prove this) extra pay, 50-75 cents per hour. Smokers can get the "healthy living stipend" by quitting smoking. While quitting, they get a smaller stipend, and any medical aids are paid for. After quitting, they get a little higher stipend every three months, over a period of 12-18 months, at which point, they've proven they aren't smoking anymore and get the full "healthy living stipend." The company saves on health insurance costs, and the employees are encouraged to take care of themselves. Hell, you could tack on pennies to the stipend for various other activites. Regular attendance at the gym? 5 cents. Yoga classes? 5 cents. Maintaining a low cholesterol? 3 cents. Ad infinitum.
when has America ever been American? Ever since America started, it has only made decisions against the initial thoughts it was founded on. America is all about big talk, and doing the exact opposite of what you're talking about...but, hey, at least the tv shows are good =)
Oh, this is Katrina, I'm a xanga girl, but Brian told me about this blog, so I came to visit.
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