Dane101 has treaded lightly on the smoking ban. For one reason, many of the contributors spend time on the Daily Page Forum and have been burned out by the ongoing discussion that seems to get tied to every aspect of Madison politics. Conceal and carry = smoking ban. Lobbying = smoking ban. Bill and his Red Pumps are having a show at the Neutron Bar this Friday = smoking ban. I had a nice visit to the children's museum yesterday = smoking ban. It seems to have died down, but really, for a while there it was getting silly.

When we did touch on it, we used it as a jumping point for the more important issue of micromeddling by the Republican controlled legislature. More specifically the regressive "Smoke Free Dining Act"

We did take a trip up to the smoke free city of Minneapolis to see how the ban was affecting things there. But honestly, we didn't learn much. We briefly stepped in it when Matt wrote about the closing of Lot 20 (wasn't that fun?).

But now it appears that the issue won't be going away anytime soon. As written up by the Isthmus's new cub reporter, Kristian Knutson, on his Daily Page blog, a rally matching the size of yesterday's Solidarity Vigil was held on the steps of city hall Wednesday.

In a separate editorial, Knutson paints a picture of supporters of the ban as appearing out of touch by spending the "ban the ban" rally at the expensive Ocean Grill. He then pontificates that the presence of local right-wing talk show hack Vicky McKenna at the rally is a sign that conservatives have "breached the backlash barrier." He suggests that conservatives are harnessing the anger of smokers and will use that anger to boost the stigma of the Madison liberal "elite."

What he fails to address is how many of the smokers at the rally even 1) know who Vicky McKenna is? 2) See her as anything more then a fleshy Republican talking point?

There is also the question of how many of those smokers supported the increase in the minimum wage? What is more important, being able to smoke in bars or being able to afford the pack of cigarettes you can't smoke in bars?

What hurts wait staff more? Not getting a solid wage increase? Or second-hand smoke?

However, he is accurate in saying that there is a disconnect between the city council and the citizenry. Both issues - the living wage and the smoking ban - should have been put to a referendum. The people should have been given the opportunity to make those life decisions, not only would it have deflated attempts at characterizing Madison leadership as out-of-touch with the rest of the state, it would have reduced the impact of conservatives who have forgotten the core values of their party and are calling for a concentration of power.

On that note, here is what some others are saying about the rally and the ban in general:

Lisa S. asks on her blog "Madison: Go West and Turn Left":

Over on CFUCT, after slapping around some of the more absurd pro-smoking people Phil says:

After equating some of the more absurd anti-smoking people to Health Uber alles Jihadists, Random10 suggests Madison ban tattoo parlors (tongue-in-cheek):

Forward Our Motto suggests that maybe all of this energy could be better suited by maybe...promoting your business?:

Reif over at Notes From the Underground makes a brilliant analysis of the true reason behind the proposed advisory referendum: