Random thoughts

Some random, comment-induced thoughts:

I don't when anybody prays regardless of their race, as long as it isn't government-sanctioned. I simply don't care about the religious beliefs of the vast majority of people out there. I care when it moves into the political realm, true, but praying? Give me a break.

Saying that we don't need a smoking ban to protect employees because "they know what they are getting into" has to be one of the most ridiculous arguments out there. That argument implies that any safety regulation that impacts business is unnecessary because people will figure it out on their own: the gilded libertarian dream. Sorry, but in the real world, people would rather work at an unhealthy job than starve and go homeless. If you took away every single mine safety regulation, do you honestly think that all the workers in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and Kentucky would rather be unemployed than have unsafe jobs? People shouldn't have to risk their lives or their health to put food on the table. There is nothing wrong with government protecting worker safety. Who else is going to do it?

I do have to admit that "the smoking ban decimated the 4th floor bars at the MOA" is something I hadn't heard before. What a crock. Did anybody think that maybe the reason that all those bars closed because nobody in their right mind would go to a bar at the Mall of America? Why would people drive out to a mall filled with teens for a night on the town? Did anybody bother to think of that angle?