Good Point

It is a federal office building. One can imagine the President huddling outside in the wind and rain with the other social lepers

And all those parents who were proud to have their children sing odes to Obama that were posted on YouTube will just have to suck it up when they discover that their children have taken up the habit of smoking. "Obama does it!" will be their snarky retort. And who can argue with that?

In the meantime, perhaps the government should consider lifting the ban on smoking in federal buildings. After all, the White House is a federal building. You wouldn't want for our leader to have to suffer the indignity of sneaking out the back door just to grab a quick smoke, would you?

Kid Various is not a smoker, but he thinks we've gone way overboard on the persecution of those who take a hit off the Devil's Weed from time to time. It creeps him out because the whole anti-smoking thing is just so emblematic of the small losses of Liberty that we consistently endure in this nation all in the name of not offending someone.

Most smokers the Kid knows are fairly polite, and if you have an allergy or asthma or something they will be happy to restrict their puffing. But that's not what we are talking about in the vast majority of cases. What we are dealing with is people who have been brought up to believe that it is there right never to be offended. And they don't like cigarette smoke, so they use the coercive power of government to enforce their personal preferences.

To the point that you can't smoke in bars anymore. C'mon. Freaking bars! Because someone might walk in who doesn't like the smell of smoke. Kid Various hates children. That is why he rarely goes to Chuck E Cheese. If you don't like smoke, don't go to a freaking bar!

We all hope that when Obama is standing out in the rain taking those last, depserate drags off his Marlboro Light, he might meditate on the importance of Liberty.