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Indiana House panel backs smoking-ban bill

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An Indiana House committee has approved a bill for a broad statewide smoking ban that's tougher than a proposal that failed in the Legislature last year.

The House health committee voted 9-3 in favor of the bill Wednesday after adding an exemption for retail tobacco shops. The bill would prohibit smoking in most public places and workplaces, including bars. The proposal would allow smoking only on the gambling floors of casinos, fraternal and veterans clubs and cigar and hookah bars.

Its sponsors expect some legislators will try to add exemptions for bars when the bill is debated in the full House.

A Senate committee chairman says a bar exemption that the House approved last year might be needed for the restrictions to win passage.

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  • What about me?
    This is such a cop-out by the State of Indiana. Because I work on a casino Floor my health doesnt matter. There are times when I literally can hardly breath because of the smoke. Once again the ole mighty dollar rules. I would love for some of these legislators to step into my shoes with a couple cigar smokers puffing away. WHAT A JOKE!!!
  • Lies....
    Anita, the problem with including casinos is that it's hard to hide the damage from the taxpayers. When the little bars close and people lose their jobs, there's no strict accounting of it: the taxpayers will pay for it in higher unemployment taxes etc, but it won't be obvious.

    Casino tax income is **VERY** well-regulated, tabulated, and reported on though. When Illinois' ban came in their casino tax income fell by 22% although other states' casino income stayed stable or rose. Anita, you say you think casinos should be included: that could easily cost Indiana taxpayers fifty to one hundred million dollars a year. Do you want to pay that?

    And are you happy with the idea that you'll be paying similar but more well-hidden amounts for the rest of the ban? Don't let them fool you when they claim it will be "cost-free." One VERY important thing to remember about antismoking advocates is this: THEY LIE. Some of them lie for what they think is a "good cause," and some of them lie simply because they don't know any better and they're just repeating what they've been told, but they're still lies.

    Check the reference link to "The Lies Behind The Smoking Bans" that I gave in my previous post below. If you think I've misrepresented things there, then show it to everyone right here.

    - MJM
    • Agree
      I agree, this should also include casinos.
      • Freedom to choose
        Why do the smoking ban advocates feel this is such a great thing. Non smokers have the freedom to choose where they go and there are plenty of non-smoking bars in this city. What they want to do is take away a smokers right to choose to go to a bar that allows smoking. I personally always choose one that allows smoking. I will quit going to bars.

        My wish and prayer is that as soon as this freedom is stripped from me that all the backers of the ban are the next targets in the governments infringement on people's right to choose for themselves. I really sincerely hope that something that you enjoy is taken from you and you lose a freedom!
      • casinos
        This should have also included the casinos. Maybe next time.
        • Air Quality
          How about part of a bar's health inspection to include an air quality test. Every bar should be required by law to have smoke eaters fully operational and inspected yearly to scrub the air quality.
        • Smoking Ban Vote:
          While the vote was disappointing it wasn't unexpected: despite all the sound arguments to the contrary, it would be VERY hard, politically speaking, for a member of a "Health Committee Panel" to vote against a smoking ban without endangering their political position. The real test will come from the full vote when all the arguments are laid out and the legislators actually have to balance the harms of such a ban against the claimed benefits.

          In terms of those supposed "benefits," the lawmakers might want to listen to what the president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Peter Carmel, had to say:

          "Despite tremendous progress in enacting smoke-free laws and higher tobacco taxes to discourage tobacco use, the United States has seen smoking rates, especially among teens, remain flat...."

          http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/2011-11-30-reduced-funding-tobacco.page

          The ban will NOT stop "the children" (even the 18 - 25 year old children that are the new "target" of antismoking advocates") from smoking. Nor will it "protect employees who are begging for help": you'll notice that you will NEVER see a poll of bar/club/ restaurant/casino employees asking them if they want a ban. The Antismokers KNOW that these folks do NOT want bans that will put them out of jobs and reduce their main source of income: happy customers.

          To see how they lie in order to get these bans pushed through, read "The Lies Behind The Smoking Bans" at:

          http://kuneman.smokersclub.com/PASAN/StilettoGenv5h.pdf

          It's openly one-sided, but its facts are accurate and their presentation is honest. If anyone has ANY specific substantive criticisms of anything it says, please feel free to expose them here. I promise I won't mind, and I'll try to stop back to respond.

          Michael J. McFadden
          Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"

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        1. liek the rest of America

        2. These quaint,obsessed musings by the stalkers are certainly entertaining, but I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, all the yelping below has to do with Zak Brown.

        3. It's evident that Moffett was pushing the right buttons and corporate America is now trying to squash him. He just wanted to withdraw the free pilot services provided to the company by the pilots to try and put some pressure on a company that has not been interested in negotiating a contract in over 5 years. The company does not provide a contract because not having one has saved them a bundle of money. Shame on any Republic pilots not standing behind their union leader just because things are getting tough, can you not see such strategic moves by the company as putting the last union president in a corporate position and into THEIR pocket. Do you really believe the last union president is so appalled at the attempts by Moffett, do you not remember his oppositions to the company? We stood behind him. It has been proven over and over again for thousands of years without fail, a man cannot serve two masters. Anyone that believes people vote contrary to their paycheck and livelihood deserve to be taken advantage of, the recent statements by the former union president are laughable as he denounces the current union president from his new corporate position. Have you ever seen a drafted sports player score points for his previous team, it cannot be done, he is not on the pilots side anymore, he gets his money a different way now than you and I do, and he should not be allowed to remain on the seniority list. A drafted player brings strength, credibility, tactical knowledge, and a strategic advantage to his NEW team, he would not be drafted or paid were it otherwise. We are all forced to choose only one side to play for and support, not doing so has many references in life such as insider trading and shaving points, all illegal for good reason. This basic fact is why corporate moguls, scientist, and engineers all sign non-discloser agreements and non-compete clauses, as protection in case they are lured into switching sides as our former union president has done. No NFL coach ever drafted a player so that both teams could benefit and better understand each other, they are recruited to win the game against that former team, period. Likewise the company does not recruit the former union president by accident or mutual understanding, its strategy. Don't confuse playing the game with good sportsman-like conduct in support of common business and prosperity goals, with the requirement to only play for one side. Good men we all love and favor fall subject to this manipulation, often without their knowledge, and it is not a betrayal of their friendship to oppose them when they switch sides. If we did not love and trust them, they would not have been chosen and lured to the other side in the first place. The deception by the drafted player is not made at a conscious level, it's just human nature and it's all about money and power which corrupts our ability to be objective and loyal to two masters. This is why our court system created the defense attorney, and why our military created counter intelligence. Its strategy and its propaganda, and it works, and that's why the "powers to be" manipulate the chess pieces by sometimes changing their colors. Some players know they are being manipulated when their color is changed, but it brings them more money and power so they do not care. The rest have good intentions but do not even realize they are being manipulated. This tactic is also known by another name, Divide and Conquer. In battle sending an imperfect message with an imperfect team is obviously not ideal, but it's still being sent by YOUR team, your union leader, a leader that has common goals and common rewards with you, they are the best, because we have elected them to do a job for us. If you are not backing Moffett but believing the spin by those that have recently switched sides, you are taking food out of your own mouth. Showing unity and backing an imperfect situation still results in taking just as much ground, it's about unity and bargaining power. It's not necessary to wait around for that perfect attack because it will never come, the company will spin and attempt to destroy anyone that gets in their way. Ultimately it's not about any specific attack anyway, ASAP or whatever it makes no difference, it is and always has been only about power. If this company cared about safety it would not build pairings with 8 hour overnights, come on, are you that naive? Besides, do you really think Hoffa cares, no, he got a call from corporate America and was squeezed into denouncing Moffett. If he didn't they would spin the safety card against him and the Teamsters National with implication for truckers, future contracts, insurance rates etc...saying something like the Teamsters use safety as a bargaining chip, blah blah blah... Do you really think any pilot is going to do something unsafe for the contract, absolutely not, the only ones threatening safety here is the company with reduced rest, fatigue, and poverty. Do you not find it odd that Hoffa and the Teamsters are opposing a Teamster president publicly? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and work with one of their own? Why did they not sit down and help him strategize, correct any mistakes, and charge ahead? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and leverage a contract for all those pilots that have been paying Teamster dues, isn't that why we have all been paying Teamster dues in the first place? I sure haven't been paying dues so that the Teamsters National could come along and write this kind of an article undercutting our union leader and our unity. Whose side is the Teamsters National really on, it's obviously not the Republic pilots side.

        4. No matter what Moffatt does the company is going to spin it like he is the terrorist and brainwash people like you into believing it, wake up, back your players that are trying to change things for you and your livelihood. Where has Hoffa been for the last 6 years, except collecting our dues. Seriously, do you really think an FO going for upgrade, signed off by a checkairman ready for the upgrade, who then fails, is not even capable of returning as a First Officer.

        5. whoa!

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