It's just San Jose that thinks it has the power to stop cigarette smokers from smoking outdoors in public parks. The rest of the state hasn't regressed that far yet, and I'd imagine when they do, they might have a tougher time passing by everyone the notion that cigarette smoke is the primary source of pollution in parks surrounded and dissected by public petro-chemical vehicle thoroughfares.

until these neighborhood-naming conflicts require the United Nations stepping in and resolving them.

You know, sometimes it helps if you read the whole diary instead of just the title...

55 and 70 are down, but the kids don't seem to give a rat's ass.

I mean, how about some direct advertising for once?

Angry, bitter non-smokers, like everyone else on Earth, are powerless, but only marginally self-aware with regard to their lack of power. Therefore, they subconsciously try to inflict themselves on what seems to be the most powerless group of all, as, if they can boss those dirty, smelly, subhuman smokers around, then, well, they can't be totally powerless, now, can they?

Joan Blow is imprisoned by a life of watching soap operas and picking the kids up from soccer practice. Joan Blow, insulated from real problems, now curls her nose when she gets a slight whiff of tobacco smoke, and vows to take that cause up until no one can ever smoke again, thus 1) effectively empowering her over someone else, and 2) protecting her children from ever making the same mistakes she did when she was a teenager at college, smoking her first cigarette.

The problem, of course, is that Joan Blow doesn't know Joe Anonymous has had an exceptionally shitty day, has a conceal/carry permit, and has nothing left to live for. Oh, the potential!