Antismoking bans for private businesses shouldn't exist. This is one case where capitalism can create its own balance (if there are bars that allow smoking, there will be bars that prohibit it based on demand, etc). Seatbelt laws are fine for the most part, since in practice you almost always need to be doing something else wrong to get busted for them. They'd be better if that were more explicitly a part of how the law operated, but oh well.
Gref, is it hypocritical to disapprove of something but still allow it with a penalty attached? Seems to me that rules that limit but don't prevent certain activities (hunting, for example) serve a useful purpose.
EDIT: the librarian thing, the conversation wasn't misconstrued: the librarian was asked whether it would be feasible to ban certain books. The librarian blanched, and the topic didn't come up again. Later on, the librarian was canned, and public pressure forced Palin to reinstate her. As for the connection between firing the librarian and banning books, this is the reason the librarian believed she had been fired at the time, and Palin had previously mentioned (before she was mayor) to other people in the town that she wanted specific books banned.
Remember, this is a town of 5,000 where Palin was the first mayor to run as a member of a party; politicization and political hires, whether you agree with them or not, were not something the town had witnessed before. What I take away from this isn't that Palin supports banning books, though that is probably true, but that her managerial style is based on political loyalty, cronyism, if you will. She has to date appointed 3 classmates and her high school gym teacher to government positions. That she has and would make appointments the same way George W. does scares the hell out of me.