Austin Election Results and Smoking Ban Info

[fairprincess]

City Council Races:
Place 1: Lee Leffingwell (whom we all love dearly) 62.35%
Place 4: Betty Dunkerley (whom Kathryn loves dearly) 63.51%
Place 3... four very qualified people ran for this race and there will be a run off between Margot Clarke and Jennifer Kim. The results are

Comments

[punkshmunk]

hey. i like you, i think like you, and i like that you use your lj as a political sounding board. i really do... and i philosophically and practically agree with you about this smoking issue

[ex_mollygrue119]

i would argue that the reason one can make a law about smoking is that it allows one person to make a choice that takes away other people's ability to make a similar choice - that is, to inhale cigarette smoke. it is fine to inhale cigarette smoke and damage your own lungs, but it is not fine to do it in an enclosed public area where you force others to do the same. i think this is closer to what is said in katie's last paragraph, not that the decision is all about what is healthier - it's about people's ability to choose to be healthy. it's possible that i have misinterpreted that, though.

similarly, i think that there aren't any people who oppose the ban on smoking thinking that they have a constitutionally granted right to cake their lungs with tar. first, the constitution doesn't grant rights, it protects them. i think we probably agree on that and it is just a slight language error

[fairprincess]

the constitution doesn't grant rights, it protects them

Pssh, not the Texas constitution! ;)

they just don't have the right to cake the lungs of whoever happens to be nearby.

Amen! I'm glad I've got people who can reword what I ment to say to make it clearer.

as for seatbelt laws
This is where we disagree. People who don't put on seat belts are stupid. Stupid people have a right a live too. The difference between this and tabacco is that I don't think smokers are necessarily stupid... they're addicted. But that's another argument. :)

[punkshmunk]

i do think that the constitution both grants and protects right. i think the privileges and immunities clause in the 14th amendment grants us things like the right to freely assemble, speak, worship, and petition the government (privileges) and protects us from the government if they want to establish a state church or come into our bedrooms while we're sodomizing each other. (immunities) in all seriousness, the courts have held that contraception, family choices, and education all fall under the category of immunity... so that does exist, buti don't think a single court has held that the right to smoke is either a privilege or an immunity.

i agree with the rest, too.

[katydid972]

I LOVE BETTY DUNKERLEY!!!

[fairprincess]

Freak.

I love her too!