Hey, hey, Backwoodsman and Villan! Is there a need to broadbrush all smokers as weak, selfish and villainous? You apparently don't think my opinion as a smoker, which agrees entirely with the principle of not smoking where others are affected by it, suggested that some smokers might have a moral compass?

That's part of the problem, the vitriol and demonization of people who certainly are addicted, for whatever reason, and there are many!

Most smokers around here didn't utter a complaint when the smoking bans came in. We saw it as inevitable and the right thing to do. The big whiners were the liquor establishment owners.

But honestly, far too many non-smokers treat us as if we eat babies for breakfast, instead of quietly indulging a bad habit mostly out of sight and smell of any member of the public.

I personally am revolted by people who spit in the street, and from the look of mainstreet sidewalks almost anywhere, a whacking large number of people do. It's horribly unsanitary, I cringe when I see kids touching sidewalks. But I don't think spitters should be crucified over the habit, nasty as it is, just asked to take it off the public streets.