[notyoubob]

Oh what the hell; this board has been about as exciting as tepid overcooked tapicoa pudding lately so here goes:
But first of all, I have to say I really wish it would have been up to businesses to decide whether to allow smoking or not and not a government. But with that being said:
Can I get drunk from sitting next to a chronic over-indulger?
Can I get fat from sitting next to someone whose diet consists entirely of Big Mac's and Fries?
Can I suffer from diabetes because my neighbor has it?
Smoking is indeed different. I once, during my "chewing tobacco" days, sat next to an ******* who insisted on blowing smoke into my face. I finally asked him to blow elsewhere, not even outside, but in a different direction, and he curtly told me that the dangers of second hand smoke were "junk science" and didn't affect anybody. So I asked him if I he would open his big mouth and let met spit some "second hand tobacco juice" in him. Luckily, for both of us, he just called me a jerk and moved to a different part of the bar.
The air around me and you is the only one we breath at that time; if you pollute my air with your smoke, what do I do? You can step outside for a smoke, but I can't breathe smoke-free air by moving a few feet away.
There are a lot more of our freedoms that are currently at risk of being taken away than being able to smoke in the same area that people don't want it.
Let the (smokeless) flames being...
PS: Oh, I live in a ski resort in Colorado that banned woodstoves years ago as well as smoking in restaurants and what was the hue and cry? We'll go broke!
It hasn't happened and before the Colorado state law prohibiting smoking in virtually all public places, all but one bar in town voluntarily banned smoking, due to complaints mostly from women who said they wanted to party in their bar but got tired of having to go home, take a shower and put their nice clothes in the washer to get rid of the stink. The bar owners report business as usual and in some instances better.
Give it time.