Hiya Doug!

>Hi Doug.
>
>>I will take the responsibility to decide this issue for myself. I am not a victim.
>
>Sometimes you don't have a choice. For example, smoking was allowed at the Hyatt in Milwaukee where GLGDW was held. As someone who's allergic to smoke, I often suffer a fair bit after being exposed to it. However, I couldn't decide to go to a different hotel. I could've decided to skip GLGDW altogether, but that seems somewhat drastic. Isn't there a compromise? Isn't it possible that people can smoke in places where I won't go or where the smoke will quickly dissipate so I'm not forced to breathe their waste products?

I'm sure there could be some sort of compromise. Who gives first and who gives up the most and how do you determine the aappropriate application of a much-maligned phrase, "fairly"? <g>

Why couldn't you have gone to a different hotel?

Why couldn't you have skipped? Candidly Doug, from what I've seen, the loss of your sessions would cause a serious rethinking of the loctions. Now, I don't mean that to gove you a fat head, ok <g>, but to simply point out that you could have done something abouth this. You chose not to, so don't gripe. <s> Drastic? What's more drastic... To do something or just gripe about it? I mean absolutely no offense here but a more personally appropriate response was at hand and you didn't avail yourself of it. Now, Whil has also taken note of the issue and from everyrthing I know about him he will make absolutely sure that next year's event will resolve this issue. Also, as I've mentioned before, I am in the same camp as you regarding smoking. While I'm not allergic to the smoke I do occassionally suffes from sinus/nasal problems that are exacerbated by cigarrette smoke, so it's not very pleasant for me to be around. Things is, I've made a conscious choice to subject myself to the discomfort (when I've had the time to go) as a direct result that I prefer the company of so many good friends to my own personal comfort. At the end of the day it's a choice I've made and am comfortable with.


>
>>What ever happened to personal responsibility?
>
>I agree completely. If I want to engage in an activity that could harm other people, I should be responsible enough to ensure that that won't happen. To expect that everyone else should have to change their plans and go somewhere else because I want to behave in that way seems very irresponsible.

Right, so let's force the smokers all to quit. <g> Maybe the smoking crowd should force us all to smoke. <bg> IOW, there should be 'give' on all sides IMO.

>
>>And tolerance seems awfully one-sided these days.
>
>Not necessarily. All I'm asking as a non-smoker is to *not* be exposed to someone else's waste products when I'm in public places. Is that being intolerant?

It could be depending on how 'public place' is defined I suppose. I'll post for the third time today a link that may help explain my 'take' on the kind of attitude I think can help in a situation like this. It's an article by Peggy Noonan and is IMO well written. Here's the link:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110002699


>
>>I also do not favor lawsuits against companies like MacDonalds, blaming them for the fat kid. Sheeshh..
>
>Neither do I -- those lawsuits are just a sign that there are too many lawyers around with not enough to do. OTOH, if McDonald's disputed the fact that Big Macs eaten in large quantities are unhealthy while at the same time adding addictive chemicals to their food to ensure a constant supply of consumers, the public outcry would be enormous and they would deserve to be sued out of existence.

I don't think they'd need to be sued if they made such claims. They'd suffer from the free market voluntarily choosing to not purchase their product. That's the beauty of the system; there are some 280+ millions of brains here in the US who are collectively choosing whom to support and whom not to support. Don't know the population of your great country but the same holds true there in areas where folks are still allowed to choose, as is the case here.

A highly recommended read is Thomas Sowell's book, "The Visions of The Annointed" which deals expressly with these issues in a far better manner than I am capable of. <s>