Sunday Quick Hits

More of the same...

John Stossel put out a great column last week concerning smoking bans in public places and privately owned establishments. I, like John, don't smoke. I also enjoy walking out of a bar not smelling like an ashtray. However, even though the majority enjoys the luxury of wearing clothes unstained by cigarrette tar, the minority suffers with smoking bans. These laws are especially intrusive in private establishments. If I want to go to a place that does not allow smoking, bars will cater to me over time. The government should not step in to make laws striking the rights of businesses to run them how the owners please.

Jim Petro is running for Governor of Ohio in 2006. Due to name recognition, he doesn't stand much of a chance against Ohio Sec. of State Ken Blackwell. If you haven't seen Petro's new television ad, check it out. It's the epitomy of right-wing conservative. Quite funny, if you ask me.

For my Post-9/11 class, I read the book Unfinished Business by Harlan Ullman. It was a great policy book with great suggestions on how to deal with the new War on Terror. He points out failures in every presidential administration dating back to Reagan's. Since it was written in 2002, you could tell it was pushing for a more global and broad war against extremism, in result pushing for war with Iraq. It was a great read and gave me a few things to ponder on how the administration handles foreign policy as compared to previous ones.

It looks like Bush's offensive strategy is working.

"Forty percent now believe that the U.S. is safer than it was before 9/11. That's up from 34% a month ago. The number who say the U.S. is not safer has declined to 43 percent, down from 50% a month ago.

Forty-eight percent (48%) [of] Americans now believe the U.S. and its Allies are winning. That's up nine points from 39% a month ago and represents the highest level of confidence measured in 2005.

Just 28% now believe the terrorists are winning, down six points from 34% a month ago."