AFS Cinema
Wake Up! Your Rights Will Be Next
RECEIVED Wed., May 11, 2005
Dear citizens of Austin,
Austin passed a bill that dictates to me that I can't, after September 2005, go into a bar, watch a band, drink a beer, and smoke a cigarette. How sad that Austin has come to this.
You're probably very proud that you were able to take that right away from me. I, however, am disgusted with the fact that you have the need to even bring that issue up for a vote. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm sure that many of the votes you got were from “holier than thou” people who never go into a bar anyway. What gives you the right to take away mine or the owner of a club's rights? Do you really think that, just because you got more votes, it was the right thing to do?
In America the “free marketplace” should be our driving force when it comes to whether or not clubs allow smoking. I understand that there are many places in Austin that have live music and don't allow smoking. If your motivation for your “little vote” was to keep safely away from the horror of “secondhand smoke” (which you have always been able to do ... your choice), open your own damn club! If there are so many people who want that, they will pack your place every night. Rather than creating your own “no-smoking spaces,” you've found it easier to steal away mine! You pompous jerks!
As for you folks who agree with me that it's your right to smoke in a bar, that is designated as such, if you didn't vote ... you deserve it! I voted, so I don't! When you think about it, there are a lot of folks who, regularly, enjoy the freedom of smoking, but, unfortunately, a lot of them don't get involved enough to ever vote, for anything! At the same time the “squeaky wheels” who made enough noise about this issue, the ones who you see every Sunday at church and never in the local bar, are more likely to vote. Wake up, you! Don't you see what's happening?
Austin passed a bill that dictates to me that I can't, after September 2005, go into a bar, watch a band, drink a beer, and smoke a cigarette. How sad that Austin has come to this.
You're probably very proud that you were able to take that right away from me. I, however, am disgusted with the fact that you have the need to even bring that issue up for a vote. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm sure that many of the votes you got were from “holier than thou” people who never go into a bar anyway. What gives you the right to take away mine or the owner of a club's rights? Do you really think that, just because you got more votes, it was the right thing to do?
In America the “free marketplace” should be our driving force when it comes to whether or not clubs allow smoking. I understand that there are many places in Austin that have live music and don't allow smoking. If your motivation for your “little vote” was to keep safely away from the horror of “secondhand smoke” (which you have always been able to do ... your choice), open your own damn club! If there are so many people who want that, they will pack your place every night. Rather than creating your own “no-smoking spaces,” you've found it easier to steal away mine! You pompous jerks!
As for you folks who agree with me that it's your right to smoke in a bar, that is designated as such, if you didn't vote ... you deserve it! I voted, so I don't! When you think about it, there are a lot of folks who, regularly, enjoy the freedom of smoking, but, unfortunately, a lot of them don't get involved enough to ever vote, for anything! At the same time the “squeaky wheels” who made enough noise about this issue, the ones who you see every Sunday at church and never in the local bar, are more likely to vote. Wake up, you! Don't you see what's happening?
A truly pissed citizen,
Eddy A. Maine
Eddy A. Maine