Patterico's Pontifications

6/18/2006

Smokers Whine About Loss of Ability to Make Beaches Unpleasant for Others

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:28 pm



The L.A. Times has an article about all the beaches in the area that are banning smoking. This whiner doesn’t like it:

“We pay taxes for these beaches,” said [Robert] Best, state coordinator for a smoking rights’ group called the Smoker’sClub. “These areas were set aside for the public to enjoy, and now they’re saying, no, you can’t go enjoy them because you’re a smoker.”

Uh, no, they’re not saying that, dumb-ass. They’re saying you can’t smoke there.

You might think that these smoking bans are silly, because after all, beaches are out in the open air. But I have actually had the experience of sunbathing and having some idiot smoking just upwind from me.

Ahhhh . . . I was in Flavor Country.

I have no sympathy for these people. Do whatever you like, as long as it doesn’t bother me. But when your filthy habit intrudes on my nose and lungs, that’s when I get annoyed. So I love these bans — and if you don’t, too freaking bad.

Go ahead, join Robert Best in the whining. I know you want to.

The Democrat Alternative: Spock, Activate the Transporter!

Filed under: Buffoons,Morons,War — Patterico @ 9:18 pm



A depressing recent Meet the Press survey shows that 46% of House Democrats can’t find Okinawa on a map — in that they apparently think it’s within striking distance of Iraq.

You want to take out the next Zarqawi? Just scramble the fighter jets from Okinawa! They’ll be at the target in no time flat!

I am not joking. I swear.

Blackfive has a visual to help. Hint: it’s 4800 miles away — assuming, of course, that our allies China and Iran would allow our fighters to cross their airspace. Which, they would, right?

Can someone find us an adult among the Democrats?

P.S. If it’s a slip of the tongue, it’s the second time he’s done it.

Happy Father’s Day

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 1:31 pm



Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there.

This is my first Father’s Day without my own father, and there’s a hole there. But it’s also my brother-in-law’s first Father’s Day as a father. Life goes on.

Enjoy it. I’m leaving the computer now to do that myself.

More on That Supposedly Better-Qualified Judge Who Lost to the Bagel Lady: Maybe the Voters Were Right After All!

Filed under: Dog Trainer,Judiciary — Patterico @ 12:57 pm



You remember that terrible tragedy wherein the idiot voters threw out the awesome judge and voted in a bagel lady? Because the bagel lady spent a bunch of money and targeted the judge because of her name? And that was so unfair that maybe we need to scrap elections for judges?

Maybe it wasn’t so unfair after all.

Yesterday I went to a birthday party for the daughter of some friends of ours. I was speaking to a mutual friend of ours who is a very bright and capable civil lawyer. Also present was another mutual friend, who is the wife of another bright and capable civil lawyer (who wasn’t himself at the party because he has a trial beginning on Monday).

Somehow, we started discussing the topic of the bagel lady who unseated the supposedly more experienced judge — an electoral outcome that the Los Angeles Times had decried as so distressing that it

sent a jolt through Los Angeles County legal circles, leading some to question whether the system to select judges needs overhauling.

I wrote some posts mocking this view, and noted that accountability is a good thing. I didn’t know the half of it.

My lawyer friend hadn’t heard the bagel-lady story. He had probably been working too hard to keep up with current events. Here, as best as I remember it, is the conversation between me, my lawyer friend, and my other lawyer friend’s wife:

(more…)


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