Illegal to smoke in a car with a child present.

That's now the law in Bangor, Maine. I'm really not going out of my way to find news stories that go with things Matt and I talked about on Bloggingheads yesterday, but the creeping regulation of smoking, into the private sphere, is definitely one of them.

From the first link:

People who smoke with children present in the confined space of a car or truck might as well be deliberately trying to kill those children, said City Councilor Patricia Blanchette, who is a smoker.

"Let's step up to the plate and lead; our children are worth the fight," she said....

Pediatrician Robert Holmberg said the evidence is "incontrovertible" that exposure to cigarette smoke causes medical disorders in children, including asthma, bronchitis, ear infections and heart disease.

Not to mention that thing where Daddy throws the cigarette butt out the window and the wind whips it into the backseat where it lands on your lap. Man, I remember those days.