Anybody notice those crazy Frenchies out trampling on everyone's civil rights again? To wit:

PARIS - A ban on smoking in public spaces came into effect Thursday, a change that may alter the image of a country defined in part by its smoky cafes and cigarette-puffing intellectuals.

France’s 15 million smokers will be banned from lighting up in workplaces, schools, airports, hospitals and other “closed and covered” public places. More than 175,000 agents are to enforce the ban, handing out fines of $88 for smokers and $174 for employers who look the other way.

In a year, the ban will extend to cafes and restaurants — sure to be the moment of truth for a certain image of France, where writers like Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre are remembered with cigarettes dangling from their mouths.

In a further effort to even prevent drunk driving, the cafes will be banning alcoholic drinks as well.

What next,a ban on armpit and leg hair?

Can they smoke in the bathtub? Oh...wait a minute.

Tongue firmly in cheek.

They're trying to get the rest of their populace to quit, not just their military.

Someone must have threatened them.

shhhh...you'll wake up the "pain".

announcement to military(white flags inhand):
"Faut peter dans L'eau pour faire des bulles"

(no foul language in above comment,...Marty):-)

That ban already exists here in Edmonton and Vancouver... but the fine is a lot higher than that... i think like around $500... if i'm not mistaken! and everyone quit complaining about it maybe after a month or 2 and just got used to it!

i must say though it's nice that u can go to a bar and not leave smelling of smoke... and if u need fresh air ur allowed outside where as before if u leave than u don't come back in unless ur willing to wait in line again!

Lets just say that it's working here... some businesses were a little choked by the new law but have dealt with it! it does suck to be a smoker and have to go outside all the time and even in -40 weather! but unfortunately it is ur habit and ur choice... and it's nice for those who r allergic... they can resurface into the bars and restaurants!

i find it wierd now walking into a restuarant and bar where there is smoking allowed...

I'm still trying to convince Mrs. Mo that the smoke alarm is not an oven timer.

You cannot equate it with drinking and driving. Should I go to a bar, I can choose not to drink. Nobody will dump it down my throat. The guy next to me can get plastered if he wants, it has no bearing on my life nor do I care. But if I spark a cigarette, he is being put in a position to inhale my smoke without his consent. Public smoking infringes on the rights of everyone not the other way around.
How does a mother explain to her child that it is detrimental to your health to smoke but he sees his teachers smoking in the school lounge?
Imagine how it would feel to be about 6 years old standing in a subway with the red hot ends of cigarettes right at eye level all around you?
Rather than feel that I am being censored for not being allowed to smoke where ever I want, I think it would be selfish for me to assume that as a smoker I should be ALLOWED to smoke in enclosed public areas. Yup, I am a smoker. (But I draw the line at having any underarm hair :-)

and the bathtub....?