Speaking of crackpots, New York Mayor David Bloomberg is almost as nuts as Fred “God Hates Fags” Phelps. Momentarily slowed down by the courts for his attempt to ban large soft drinks, he is now trying to make it illegal for cigarettes to be visible in places where they are legally for sale:
A new proposal would require New York City retailers to keep tobacco products out of sight under a first-in-the-nation proposal aimed at reducing the youth smoking rate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.
The legislation would require stores to keep tobacco products in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in other concealed spots. They could only be visible when an adult is making a purchase or during restocking.
While New York City would be the first in the nation to do this, Bloomberg says prohibitions began to be implemented in Iceland in 2001 and Canada in 2005, and these countries have already seen substantial declines in youth smoking.
“Such displays suggest that smoking is a normal activity,” Bloomberg said. “And they invite young people to experiment with tobacco.”
What a freaking loon. Rarely have I seen any politician so enamored with big government. And to think that the man calls himself a Republican.
If we consider the “reasoning” behind the measure — if kids see cigarettes, they might want to smoke — then why not make it a crime for anyone to either smoke or display a cigarette in sight of any “child”? (By that I assume he means minor.) That would mean that what I proposed in the past (“brandishing” cigarettes as an act of protest in solidarity with smokers) would also be illegal. And so would many films shown in theaters and on television.
I’m sure that many of the “God Hates Fags” people would want similar restrictions placed on public display of homosexuality, lest “the children” be “invited” to “experiment.”
Hey wait a minute. I seem to remember an old expression for cigarette. Wait a sec.
Here’s a well known definition of “fag”:
noun
Slang. a cigarette.
By any standard, Bloomberg hates fags, does he not?
The man might not yet be quite as deranged as Phelps, but he’s catching up.
Comments
6 responses to “Those who hate “fags” are the enemies of freedom”
I still love your idea of taking out a pack of cigs and just tap, tap, tapping them to get the “look”.
Brilliant!
This has nothing to do with decreasing youth smoking. It is about increasing mob profits from black market fags.
http://classicalvalues.com/2013/03/the-chicago-mob-connection/
[…] Think about the high taxes for cigarettes in New York. […]
Brandish, brandish, brandish!
Heh – fag is Brit for cigarette. “I’m off to burn a fag, back in a bit.”
Oddly, both the US fag and the Brit fag came from faggots – a bunch of twigs used to light a fire.
Personally, I think the Brit usage (cigs) is a bit less, well, threatening? than the US usage.
Bloomberg is a nincompoop. He doesn’t, however, call himself a Republican. He was a Republican during his first run for mayor, and only because he wanted to run on Giuliani’s coattails.
He spent his political career as a Democrat, switched to the Republican side, and then went independent. He’s been independent for the last six years.
The cigarette idea is stupid. I was in NYC last month and I saw posters in the subway that were pushing the no-displaying-cigarettes rule. Underneath it, it said something like “For a Smoke-Free NYC” or “Smoke Free Future” or something. I thought that was telling. Anti-smoking zealots love to tell you that they don’t really care if you smoke just as long as you don’t “breath their smoke in your face.” Which has never happened to me, by the way. But in fact, they really just have a long-term plan to tax and harass smokers out of existence.