Maryland smoking ban overturned

Annoyed lawyers make some funny quips:

Court Strikes Down Montgomery County Smoking Ban [Washington Post]

Lawyers for the coalition of restaurants and taverns that fought the ban in Montgomery presented the Maryland Court of Appeals with a range of objections to the anti-smoking measure, but today's ruling stuck exclusively to procedural issues, and left unanswered whether such a ban could ever pass legal muster in Maryland.

Montgomery County Attorney Judson P. Garrett, who argued the case for the county [and lost], said he too had anticipated an in-depth look into all of the thorny legal questions surrounding such a measure.

"Given the period of gestation, the baby was surprisingly small," Garrett said. "I mean, we thought, given the length of time they took, the court was really going through the issues and writing a lengthy analysis..."

 

 Random Roundup

Random Roundup:

• I haven't really paid attention to this site, but I think I should start: The Memory Hole. A representative sample: MSNBC Article on Bush "Misstatement" Pulled Off Site.
  
  
• Fascinating: How To Make A Telemarketer Cry (or, Suing Bozos for Fun & Profit): In November 2002, a telemarketer called my home in D.C. at 5:24 a.m. This is the story of how that call cost him $500.
  
  
• Two people making a similar point: William Saletan (Impatient Justice: Congratulations. We've just won the wrong war) and Senator/Candidate Bob Graham (Running Scared: Bob Graham's message to the voters is simple: However frightened we are, it isn't nearly frightened enough).
  
  From the article on Graham: ...if Graham is a dove, he's an extremely rare bird. He supported the first Gulf War, and only opposed the second one because he had a long list of countries he believed were more dangerous than Iraq, and didn't want to jack up the risk of terrorism for a low-priority target. He hints that he could support military action against known terrorists -- al Qaeda in Yemen, Hezbollah in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, and even Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza. His message is simple: There are many people with the ability and desire to kill Americans, so we'd better kill them first. "We've taken the pressure off al Qaeda," he complains. "We haven't done anything about Hezbollah. We need to take the fight to the terrorists."
  
  From Saletan: Something had to be done, and Bush did it. But don't tell us this was a triumph in the war on terror, Mr. President. Don't tell us the defeat of a secular dictator has turned the tide against a gang of religious fanatics. And don't talk about patience. You inserted a battle that could have waited into a war that couldn't... You wanted a quick, clear victory, and you got it. But don't flatter yourself. You haven't changed the world in 19 months. You've only changed the subject.
  
  
• Iraqi Nuclear Site Is Found Looted [Washington Post]
  
  
• A look back to October 2002: 13 Sniper Sites Marked Forever by Tragic Role [Washington Post]