Clearing The Air

Friday, July 13, 2007

Selective outrage

Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman is outraged that hospitality workers at the state capitol have lost their jobs, outraged enough to devote a column to the issue.

Nick Coleman's outrage though is strangely silent on the issue of many more Twin Cities hospitality workers who lost thousands of jobs at the hands of liberal lawmakers.......who saved us all from "deadly" * secondhand smoke. When in reality, what they really did was eliminate 118+ bars and restaurants and countless jobs in the Twin Cities. Minnesota unemployment information by industry confirms this trend.

So it's seems hypocritical to me that Mr. Coleman would seem so upset about 18 workers who lost their jobs at the capitol versus the 2,100 + who've lost their jobs at Twin Cities bars and restaurants since implementation of the smoking bans.

Perhaps Coleman is upset because the 18 laid off workers were union members, or because the administration which oversaw the new kitchen contract is Republican. Or perhaps Nick and a lot of selectively outraged liberals are so happy that their clothes don't smell of smoke that they can overlook the plight of 2,100+ non-union individuals who paid so dearly for their (non-smokers) narcissistic preference.

Oh well......I guess when the pro-smoking ban, unionized paper of record controls the print media......outrage over hospitality lay offs is expected to be selective. Local media has made a concious decision not to report the record number of hospitality closings and job layoffs so that Twin Cities residents will never know the true cost of their clean air preference on the community.

The Star Tribune & Nick Coleman are on the job to report the social injustices of our time..........as long as those injustices fit in with their agenda.

Footnote:

* Just how "deadly" is secondhand smoke? Apparently not at all, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published air quality testing which clearly shows that the levels are 2.6 - 5,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace permissible exposure limits. Closer to home, the St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department testing found that secondhand smoke levels are 15.4 - 500 times SAFER than OSHA workplace permissible exposure limits.