The Smoker's Club

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Property Rights Newsletter July 29, 2011 - Issue #623 "Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people…better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave. - "Mal" Reynolds in the movie Serenity
UK Alan Dee: Should Smokers Be Shot? "So let's set a squad of licensed snipers on the streets, with permission to pick off smokers whenever there's a clear shot. I confidently predict that the prospect of having your head blown off while enjoying what you didn't realise would be your last cigarette would give smokers up and down the country an extra incentive to kick the habit. And if they defiantly carry on puffing, when they are popped between the eyes it will save the health service all the costs of caring for them in their declining years. We know bans don't work if they're not enforced. My way is simpler, and a lot more effective." - Alan Dee, Herald & Post (July 21, 2011) UK Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire. NO BAN! 150 men and women were asked to raise their hands if they supported the proposals by councillor Paul Bartlett to ban smoking on the streets of their town. Only two people raised their hands. And one of those was Paul Bartlett. What is remarkable about this event, I would suggest, is that this is the first time - in the entire five or so years that smoking bans of one sort or other have been proposed and implemented in England - that ordinary English men and women have been able to vote for or against a smoking ban that was proposed to be enacted upon them. It's never happened before. Wales could be first in Europe to ban smoking in cars carrying children. The move from the Welsh Government comes less than two weeks after the British Medical Association called for drivers to be prevented from lighting up in their vehicles. In June the BMA’s conference in Cardiff passed a motion calling for legislation to be introduced by all governments in the UK to tackle the issue of smoking while driving, to protect the health of other passengers and to increase the safety of other road users. Jakarta: The Law Huffs, but People Still Puff in Public. Fakta conducted a survey on compliance with anti-smoking regulations, and found that of the 96 shopping malls surveyed across the city, 87 percent were found to be in violation of the rules. It also found that the majority of people flouting the prohibition were civil servants. USA GA: Richmond County Board of Health endorses extended smoking ban. Currently, the city is under state law, which bans smoking in public places but allows it in bars and restaurants that do not serve anyone younger than 18, said Sadie Stockton, a chronic disease prevention/health promotion program coordinator for the East Central Health District, based in Augusta. Advocates such as the American Cancer Society have formed a coalition that is targeting the state's larger cities to extend the ban to those businesses, said Lora Hawk, Breathe Easy Coalition manager for the cancer society. USA IA: Raising The Smoking Stakes. Grand Falls is splitting the difference right down the middle when it comes to smoking. Half of its 900 slot machines are designated non-smoking, the other half allows smoking. So far, players have dropped more money into the smoking slots than in the non-smoking section. USA KY: Lies from Louisville’s Metro Heath Department. By Thomas McAdam. The problem is, all of these “scientific facts” are lies. They are completely made up; well-meaning inventions, with absolutely no basis in scientific evidence. The brochure makes no reference to any laboratory studies. Because there simply are none. USA OH: Easing of coercive anti-smoking tactics welcome. By Pam Parker. For weeks now, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association have criticized the governor and legislature for cutting funding for smoking-ban enforcement and smoking cessation. If these non-profits are so concerned, why aren’t they paying for these programs? Why should taxpayers? Kudos for cutting funding. It’s time to move on. Let adult-only businesses post smoking signs, employ Ohioans and help Ohio out of its money problems. USA WV: Smoking policy blogger questions study on Kanawha ban. "The most interesting thing is that the study doesn't conclude what it actually finds," said Dr. Michael Siegel, professor of Community Health Sciences at Boston University School of Public Health.
Let's make this the summer of FireBug! WATCH: Dreaming of America Hey there Mr. and Mrs. Congressman, making all the rules down in Washington... can't you hear me hollering out in the streets with my bull horn? Let us know your ideas on promoting FireBug at the Club Forum.
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# posted by Samantha : 4:00 AM

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Property Rights Newsletter July 22, 2011 - Issue #622 "It is pathetic and ludicrous to say we ever vanquished smallpox with vaccines, when only 10% of the population was ever vaccinated." - Dr. Glen Dettman.
Antismoking Vaccine Fails in Late Trial. A vaccine meant to help people quit smoking has failed to work in a large, late-stage clinical trial, dealing a setback to efforts to harness the immune system to help people fight addictions. NicVax was the first anti-nicotine vaccine to enter Phase 3 clinical trials, the last stage of testing before a drug can reach the market. So the failure is likely to curb enthusiasm for a novel approach to aid in smoking cessation. Similar vaccines are also being developed to treat addictions to cocaine and other drugs. Study Links Smoking Drug to Cardiovascular Problems. Chantix, the best-selling prescription drug for smoking cessation, was linked to an increased risk of a heart attack, stroke or other serious cardiovascular event for smokers without a history of heart disease compared with smokers who did not use the drug, according to a Canadian medical journal report released on Monday. The finding added to previous warnings about the pill’s connection to psychiatric problems and cardiovascular risks for people with a history of heart disease. "The F.D.A. should have already put it on their warning label," Dr. Singh said. "The risk is substantial, the risk is present in smokers without heart disease, and Pfizer knew about this for five years." Denormalizing: 2 thought-provoking pieces. The fag end of the argument. Attempts by anti-smoking zealots to smear a report on civil liberties reveal just how bankrupt their arguments are. The report explicitly does not examine the evidence about smoking and health. Instead it looks at how, in a remarkably short space of time, smokers have gone from being the life and soul of the party to latter-day lepers. Normalizing the Unthinkable: By Lisa Peattie, in the March 1984 issue of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The second thing I got was the Nazi's canny compartmentalization of the whole nasty project. Those who planned the Jews' fate were never the ones to execute it. (The legislatures that enact smoking bans in nursing homes are never the ones who actually throw the grandmas out in the snow and Siegel, who editorializes for smoker-free housing doesn't actually have to bodily evict the weeping mother or witness her desperation so the planners can plan "cleanly." No blood -- or tears--on their hands.) And w/i the camp setting, the soldiers who escorted the fresh meat from the trains were never the same ones who escorted them to the gas chambers. IOW, no one who eventually saw them as cattle had ever seen them as human. A look back to 2003: ALL CHOKED UP WITH HEALTHY ADVICE. The article which follows contains material which may put your health at risk. If you are in any way prone to puritanism or allergic to the sight of an ashtray, if you think that all smokers are nasty, disgusting people who are wholly responsible for every disease known to man and certainly if you have given up smoking and now choke in an ostentatious manner within a 100-yard radius of a smoker, you should stop reading now.

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# posted by Samantha : 9:08 AM

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Property Rights Newsletter

July 15, 2011 - Issue #621

"The secret of happiness is freedom.

The secret of freedom is courage."

- Thucydides

Property Rights for all include Smokers Rights!

PROPERTY RIGHTS. PLEASE READ THIS: UK Islamic radicals set to implement Sharia-controlled-zone. Hardcore Islamists in Britain are set to kick off their new "Sharia law enforcement zones" across the country, under which gambling, smoking, drugs and prostitution would be strictly prohibited. Under the new law, Islamists have vowed to ban booze and mixing between the sexes. According to The Daily Star, the move will see specific areas flooded with thousands of stickers saying, "no gambling", "no music or concerts", "no porn or prostitution" and "no drugs or smoking". They also claim their hardline rules will be policed by thousands of "Sharia cops" on the streets. (Note: Not all home and business owners in the first "zone" of Waltham Forest are Muslim!)

Local Laws Fighting Fat Under Siege. Several state legislatures are passing laws that prohibit municipalities and other local governments from adopting regulations aimed at curbing rising obesity and improving public health, such as requiring restaurants to provide nutritional information on menus or to eliminate trans fats from the foods they serve. In some cases, lawmakers are responding to complaints from business owners who are weary of playing whack-a-mole with varying regulations from one city to the next. Legislators have decided to sponsor state laws to designate authority for the rules that individual restaurants have to live by.

The BMA: modern-day prohibitionists. The British Medical Association is dressing up moralistic attacks on smoking and drinking as health policy. The BMA’s thinking stands in stark contrast to the principle of enlightened reason, which sees man as an autonomous agent, capable of exercising rational judgement in order to determine his own life as he sees fit. Prohibitionists believe that, left to our own devices, we will make the ‘wrong’ decision and that the government must therefore impose the correct choices upon us. It was once said that ‘prohibition makes you want to cry into your beer, and denies you the beer to cry in to’. The BMA want to nick your cigarettes as well. As doctors and health campaigners push for greater state control over our personal lives, we need to send them packing. I’d drink to that.

Could scented candles kill you? They're many women's favourite indulgence - but their fumes are as toxic as cigarettes. Since they are often lit in poorly ventilated rooms, such as bathrooms, or during the evening when windows are likely to be closed, the release of chemicals can cause indoor pollution that is potent enough to raise the risk of asthma, eczema and skin complaints. More alarming were the findings from a study by Dutch scientists, who measured the air particles in churches that burned candles for up to nine hours at a time. They found ten times as many damaging free radicals — molecules that can cause cancer — in the air inside the churches as they did in the air beside a motorway.

From The Mailbag

MD: Howard to ban smoking in county parks, First such prohibition in the state. County officials said that people caught smoking in a park would be asked to stop, and, if they refused, asked to leave. They said violators could be assessed civil fines between $500 and $1,000 for refusing to vacate the property.

MI: Michigan Next to Cut Cigarette Tax? New Hampshire recently cut its cigarette tax in a move to increase revenue and now Michigan the state generally regarded as having the worst economy in the country may follow suit. As with New Hampshire, experts believe the move could enable Michigan to become more competitive vis a vis neighboring states with higher cigarette taxes, encouraging consumers to purchase their cigarettes within the state rather than elsewhere. In addition, the move could reduce the attractiveness of smuggled cigarettes illegally sold without tax being levied.

Scotland: Air quality standard eliminates need for smoking ban. Bill Gibson of TICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition) attended last month's meeting at Westminster supporting an amendment to the smoking ban. His response is published here.

Scotland: A club in decline. This video was made to show the damage the total smoking ban has made to many small businesses but it highlights a rather sad picture of Scottish society today, with nowhere for folk who live alone to go for an evening's company.

Watch the new music video from Bill Murawski Where Have You Gone? (The Robin Hood Song) Read the liner notes before viewing the video.

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# posted by Samantha : 8:48 PM

Friday, July 08, 2011

The Property Rights Newsletter July 8, 2011 - Issue #620 "If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun." - Benjamin Franklin
FDA unfairly maligns tobacco plant with graphic new cigarette warning labels. By Mike Adams, the Health Ranger. Blaming tobacco for the health ills of cigarettes is like blaming corn plants for the increased risk of cancer that comes from eating corn dogs. (The cancer increase actually comes from the presence of sodium nitrite in the processed meat, in case you were wondering.) The brainwashing of the population on this issue of tobacco has been so successful that many people reading this article with react emotionally against the words presented here, in a knee-jerk reaction, insisting that tobacco (the plant) MUST be bad for your health because we've all been taught that for as long as we can remember! "Tobacco" is something we've been emotionally conditioned to react to without thinking... almost as if "tobacco = evil." And yet if someone sold "spinach cigarettes" that combined dried spinach leaves with hundreds of toxic chemical additives into a cigarette, it would seem downright retarded to say that "spinach causes cancer." And yet that's the same language used with tobacco right now. How often have you heard the phrase "tobacco causes cancer?" Again, if we are to approach this issue with intellectual honesty, we need to differentiate between the natural tobacco plant and the highly processed manufactured cigarettes packed with toxic chemicals. Chemotherapy is far more toxic than smoking cigarettes. The FDA's new cigarette warning labels may be quite gross, but what's really sickening is how the FDA utterly refuses to outlaw the truly dangerous additives in the food supply and the personal care products industry. While the agency wages war on tobacco, it openly allows hundreds of known chemical poisons to be used in foods, lotions, shampoos and beverages. It's "commitment to public safety," it turns out, is strictly limited to efforts that target just one industry -- the tobacco industry. What the FDA doesn't bother telling you is that even if you don't smoke, all the toxic chemicals in the processed meat you're eating will probably kill you anyway. Where's the graphic warning label on hot dogs? Big Brother gets really ugly: New cigarette labels are enough to make you ill. By Steve Chapman. Sebelius apparently thinks the health information has been widely overlooked. Not to worry. Vanderbilt University law professor W. Kip Viscusi has found that smokers greatly overestimate the risk of dying from ailments caused by tobacco. If the government wanted to make sure that Americans were accurately informed, it would have to tell them smoking is considerably less dangerous than they assume. Based on the experience of other countries that have tried hideous photos, including Canada, Britain and Australia, Viscusi sees no grounds for optimism. "Smoking rates decline after the warnings but at the same rate as they did before the advent of warnings," he told me. "The key for judging whether there is likely to be an effect is whether the warnings shifted the trend in smoking rates in these other countries, and they did not." Tobacco-derived compound prevents memory loss in Alzheimer's disease mice. VA-USF study finds cotinine reduces the brain plaques associated with dementia. Some epidemiological studies showed that people who smoke tend to have lower incidences of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Studies have widely attributed this apparently beneficial effect to nicotine, which has been reported to improve memory and reduce Alzheimer's-like plaques in mice. The brains of Alzheimer's mice treated with cotinine showed a 26-percent reduction in deposits of amyloid plaques, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Cotinine also inhibited the accumulation of the amyloid peptide oligomers – a predecessor of senile plaques – in the brains of these mice. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that cotinine stimulated the signaling factor Akt, which promotes the survival of neurons and enhances attention and memory. Grow Your Own: Residents turn smoking into do-it-yourself project. Robert Gehrmann, as the Pennsylvania representative for the Citizens Freedom Alliance and Smokers Club International, a smokers rights group, he said he continues growing tobacco as a conversation piece and a symbolic gesture of defiance of the amount of tax responsibility placed on smokers. "This is about freedom; it's not about much else," he said.
NY Watch: Whoopi: "I'm Smoking My Cigarette." "The View" debates NYC's smoking ban in parks, beaches and Times Square. USA Watch: Michael Crichton on the Unproven Dangers of Secondhand Smoke.
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# posted by Samantha : 8:05 PM

Friday, July 01, 2011

The Property Rights Newsletter

July 1, 2011 - Issue #619

"You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time." - Abraham Lincoln

Property Rights for all include Smokers Rights! The Smoking-Ban in Andalucia - Spain. By Peter Thurgood for The Smoker's Club. To my great disappointment, Paco had also succumbed to the ban, even though, once again, he is also a strong smoker. The first night we tried there, it was closed, although it was barely 11 pm, the second night, we tried it earlier, and found just a few people in there. I joined Paco out in the alley, where we both smoked cigarettes and spoke of the injustice of the ban, which has all but killed his business. The only gesture towards being smoker friendly was an ashtray placed on the seat of a motorbike parked outside. After a few visits, over the next few nights, mostly reserved to no more than two drinks each time, I think I managed to talk Paco into opening a window up, and having a shelf built outside, as a sort of mini-bar there.

Smokers Comprise Only 20% Of Lung Cancer Rates. The crux of the problem though is that we are so convinced smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, and COPD, that all money and efforts are directed into lowering smoking rates rather than focusing on the disease itself. With the smoking rates much lower than they were some 40 years ago, we are now in a time when the real picture will begin to emerge. Fabricated numbers and bogus studies will continue, but they will not be able to ignore or hide increases in the number of "smokers' diseases" afflicting non-smokers, which seems to be happening as of late.

Sitting down ‘raises death risk by as much as 40% and is NOT countered by exercise. That might sound ridiculous -- or obvious -- depending on your perspective, but the findings don't come from a fringe study. They come from the American Cancer Society, whose researchers studied 123,216 people's health outcomes during a 14-year period. (Frank Davis adds: So, like, some women who sit for less than six hours a day don’t actually, y’know... ever die? Oh Gawwwd. For crying out loud. Give us a break willya!)

Why Do We Die? Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.

From The Mailbag

MI: Media ignores catastrophic effects on small business of Michigan smoking ban. This month, Lottery Commissioner M. Scott Bowen testified before a House Committee on Regulatory Reform that the state has lost over $80 million in sales from bar Club Keno since the beginning of the ban. Media reports: Zero. Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, and many municipalities have recently rejected private property tobacco use bans. Many of these states and districts are using Michigan as an example of what will happen if such laws are passed.

MI: East Lansing. New legislation to be introduced to amend Smoke-Free Air Law. Because the decline in business for restaurants and bars has been dramatic, exemptions to the smoking ban should be considered, Melton said.

MO: Listen to Gary Nolan debates Chris Kelly on cigarette taxes.

USA: The Attack on Dignity and Moral Autonomy: The Case of Cigarettes. By Mario Rizzo. Case closed. So the whole campaign is an insult to the dignity of the individual. It is an attack on the older principle of informed choice. It does not respect individual moral autonomy. It is an example of the sickness of modern American society.

Australia: Imperial warns of nanny state. The TV, radio and newspaper ads warn of "Nanny State" legislation that erodes adult choice and sets a dangerous precedent for other products, such as alcohol and fast food.

UK: TICAP Welcomes Campaign To Amend Smoking Ban. By John Gray. There is no doubt that the smoking ban has contributed substantially to the demise of the British pub plus other hospitality outlets, and this trend is reflected worldwide - whenever a country adopts a smoking ban, pubs and clubs start to close in large numbers and this phenomenon occurs irrespective of any other economic factors or conditions.

UK: MPs join campaign to change smoking ban. The Rt Hon Greg Knight, Conservative MP for East Yorkshire, Roger Godsiff, Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green, and John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, will host a reception for the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign at the House of Commons.

# posted by Samantha : 1:26 PM