Did you notice that the left has this funny habit of avoiding telling you what to do in favor of telling you what you are not allowed to do? Telling you what to do is too blatant – telling you what you can’t do is more subtle. In my book, the two are opposite methods designed to achieve the same thing: control.

When the left does it, it is for our “own good.” When the right does it, they are “facists.”

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has seen fit to pass one ordinance this week banning smoking in all public parks, squares, and open spaces owned by the city.

“Secondhand smoke outdoors is just as dangerous (as indoors),” said Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who said she drafted the law out of concern for the environment and children.

She is following in the footsteps of her aunt, former Supervisor Angela Alioto, who in 1993 wrote the ordinance prohibiting smoking in workplaces, restaurants and public arenas in San Francisco.

“Like other young parents, I have had the wonderful experience of a child picking up a cigarette butt off the lawn and popping it in their mouth,” she said, also noting that discarded butts make up 1 out of every 4 pieces of litter in the city, and take up to a dozen years to degrade.

Hey lady – they pick up dog shit and put that in their mouths too. Will you be wanting the dogs banned from the parks as well?

I am very curious how they were able to determine exactly how many cigarette butts there are on the gound in the city. That must have been a massive undertaking, counting all those cigarette butts.

Personally, I think this is an idiotic waste of time. I used to smoke. I used to smoke in the parks. I was responsible enough to throw my butts in the trash. If I hadn’t been, I would have gotten a ticket for littering. This is not about cigarette butts or the joys of watching your kid put something they shouldn’t in their mouth. This is about eliminating a behavior the “state” doesn’t like.

Another example: grocery bags. The enviro-nuts have decided that charging shoppers of large grocery chains 17 cents per bag (a cost they will pass on to their customers) is a great way to cut down on bag use. This isn’t just plastic bags, this is paper bags too. Any bag they take their groceries home in would be an additional 17cents on top of their already high grocery bills.

The San Francisco Commission on the Environment unanimously approved a proposal Tuesday evening asking the city to charge grocery shoppers 17 cents for every paper or plastic bag they take home.

If approved by the Board of Supervisors and mayor, which could take six months, the fee would be the first of its kind in the country, though several nations charge for shopping bags, and New York City entertained the idea last year.

The commission wants the fee initially to apply only to customers at larger grocery stores. But it wants an option to later extend it to smaller markets, drugstores, department stores, hardware stores, dry cleaners, food takeout, newspapers and other bag distributors.

The supervisors could also determine how large the fee would be and how it would be applied. Supervisors are not bound by any part of the commission’s proposal.

As a result of the commission’s action, a private agency will be hired to analyze the impact of shopping bags on the city’s budget and its environment and examine the impact of a bag fee on low-income people and large families.

The analysis is expected April 30, commissioners said. Depending on the results, the proposal of 17 cents could change, said Jared Blumenfeld, director of the city’s Department of the Environment.

Many of the commissioners who spoke said their intention was not merely to increase revenue.

“We’re not trying to just charge a user fee; we’re trying to make a change in behavior,” said Paul Pelosi Jr., commission vice president. (ed. emphasis added)

I won’t even try to act surprised that a Pelosi made that statement.