Thursday, November 29, 2012
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The Property Rights Newsletter November 30, 2012 - Issue #689 "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwantedis the most terrible poverty." - Mother Teresa |
Loneliness: We have, in the past 5 years, bred a nation of lonely souls and it is all courtesy of the smoking ban. READ: "For the first time local authorities will identify areas where older people suffer most acutely from loneliness to allow them to tackle the growing problem of social isolation and its harmful effects", announced Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. READ: Five million elderly people only have television for company as they see friends and family less than once a month, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said, as he announced new measures for councils to tackle the problem. READ: Maps showing solcial isolation across the UK are being drawn up in a bid to tackle 'fastest growing health problem in Britain", said Jeremy Hunt.
Bulgaria: Protesters: Rulers Are 'Nazis' for Imposing Smoking Ban. A controversial banner displayed during the protest depicted Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov as Nazis for endorsing the ban. Bulgaria's association of hotel and restaurant owners have been demanding that the full smoking ban be lifted, proposing the reintroduction of separate smoking areas instead.
NE: Omaha pool hall's ticket adds fuel to smoking ban fight. "We think any law cannot be selectively enforced," he said. "It is being enforced in what we think is a discriminatory manner." Big John's had been openly defying the ban, posting signs that read, "This is a smoking establishment" and "Warning: Smoker friendly pool hall." The Nov. 10 police action represents the first time that tickets have been written at the business. Meanwhile, the pool hall's lawsuit against the state continues to progress in Lancaster County District Court. On Tuesday, the judge found that the business could not be held in contempt for violating the smoking ban because she had not specifically ordered it not to allow smoking.
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 World Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. |
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
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The Property Rights Newsletter November 23, 2012 - Issue #688 "The highest compact we can make with our fellow is -Let there be truth between us two forevermore." - Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Smokers decry surge in smoking bans. By Delthia Ricks. The increasing restrictions have ignited a debate in which critics say government has gone too far and advocates say it hasn't gone far enough. One thing is clear: Smokers here, as elsewhere, are having a harder time than ever finding a spot to freely smoke. Michael McFadden, mid-Atlantic coordinator for Citizens Freedom Alliance, says the bans go too far. "I believe these bans are a definite example of government overreach," said McFadden, whose group advocates for smokers' rights and is not funded by the tobacco industry. McFadden, the smokers' advocate, worries bans on smoking in private homes are next. "I'm sure there'd always be a fair number of children out there willing to drop the dime on Mom or Dad after they've been properly trained at school," he said.
Does tobacco smoke prevent atopic disorders? A study of two generations of Swedish residents. In a multivariate analysis, children of mothers who smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day tended to have lower odds for suffering from allergic rhino-conjunctivitis, allergic asthma, atopic eczema and food allergy, compared to children of mothers who had never smoked. The WHO - the disease not the cure! For an organisation that are supposedly NOT politically motivated I sit here and wonder just what those that determine policy do actually think about because it seems to mke that this organisation has far exceeded its remit as a guide to world health and is branching out into world politics & domination! The WHO are no longer bothered by the starvation of millions on Africa (or anywhere else for that matter), in fact, it seems as if they have already dismissed those poor people in favour of targetting tobacco gowers, suppliers & users - much to the delight of the large pharmaceutical industries of course. Scotland: Illegal cigarette sales increased by almost half in last year. The report shows that 10 out of every 100 packets of cigarettes or loose tobacco sold in 2012 are illegal products designed to avoid paying tax, a rise from 7 in 10 in 2011. Produced by industry investigators, the report urges Chancellor George Osborne not to raise tobacco duties to help plug the gap in the public finances as the move would encourage even greater levels of tobacco smuggling across UK borders. USA: The Pilgrims' Real Thanksgiving Lesson. By Benjamin Powell, The Independent Institute. Feast and football. That's what many of us think about at Thanksgiving. Most people identify the origin of the holiday with the Pilgrims' first bountiful harvest. But few understand how the Pilgrims actually solved their chronic food shortages. World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. |
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
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The Property Rights Newsletter November 16, 2012 - Issue #687 "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."- Cicero |
It really is a crock of ....! Tragically this week, in Seoul, South Korea, government representatives from 176 United Nations (UN) member-states will meet to discuss proposals ostensibly aimed at curbing tobacco use worldwide. I say tragically because Lord only knows what these lunatic tobacco haters will come up with! They will read Clive Bates open letter, consider the contents and then simply carry on with whatever they have already decided. For an unelected mob with no governmental powers they seem to creating havoc where-ever they tread a path with their tobacco eradication programmes. They want to impose a tobacco tax, nothing new there then. But hang on a minute who the hell are the WHO to dictate that further taxes should be levied on smokers when much of that tax is to be directed toward... the WHO!
Should smokers require a license? Simon Chapman, who first proposed the smoker's license. He sets out a case for introducing a smart card license for smokers designed to limit access to cigarettes and encourage cessation. Key elements include smokers setting daily limits, financial incentives for permanent license surrender, and a test of health risk knowledge for commencing smokers. Arguing against the smoker's license is Jeff Collin, who says that it would shift focus away from the real vector of the epidemic-the tobacco industry-and by focusing on individuals would censure victims, increase stigmatization of smokers, and marginalize the poor. George Washington University, Washington, DC. Outraged by the University's effort to go smoke-free, senior Ellis Klein organized dozens of students and staff members to smoke together in Kogan Plaza. Junior Christian Geoghegan arranged the protest with Klein. He said the ban violates his freedom of choice. "We're a little guy movement. We're just students trying to rise up against a tyrannical university," he said. Leinster House Campus, Ireland, Ban Fails. John Mallon, spokesman for Forest Eireann, said: "This is a victory for common sense. Tobacco is a legal product and smokers are entitled to light up outside where they are not inconveniencing anyone. Senator Crown's motion had one objective, to force people to give up smoking. People should have a choice and education is better than coercion." World: Product reviews for smokers who enjoy smoking. Tarblock Filter, and Electronic Cigarettes. World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. |
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Thursday, November 08, 2012
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The Property Rights Newsletter November 9, 2012 - Issue #686 "Push yourself again and again.Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds." - Larry Bird | |
How the slippery slope works. By Velvet Glove, Iron Fist. A year ago this month, the Australian parliament passed the plain packaging law. Critics of the legislation warned that it would set a dangerous precedent and that zealots of every hue would demand the same rules applied to whatever 'vice' obsessed them. The sage of Sydney, Simon Fenton Chapman, assured us that this would not happen. This, of course, was a Chapmanism, ie. a fib. It's instructive to look at the chronology to see how swiftly anti-smoking extremism is applied to other activities.
Netherlands Packets and Vending Machines: Health minister opposes tougher tobacco rules, says RTL news. European plans to put 'gruesome' photographs on cigarette packets and ban vending machines are opposed by Dutch health minister Edith Schippers, RTL news reports on Monday. RTL quotes Schippers as saying she is following "a well-considered smoking strategy in which the protection of public health and measures to discourage tobacco use are balanced with the importance of individual responsibility and freedom of choice."
Canada: Manitoba chief won't pay illegal smoke shop fine, will oppose closure order. Earlier this year the Manitoba government brought in legislation that allows it to quickly stop anyone selling tobacco without a provincial licence. The First Nation says it never signed a treaty with the Crown and never surrendered its authority to any government. UK: Quarter of a million pounds to burn? Vintage, rare and mature cigars - and cigar-related Lots - is expected to be knocked down at C.Gars Ltd's seventh auction at Boisdale Canary Wharf on Monday 26 November. UK: Simple Simon Says... Pigeons are coming home to roost - They are looking more and more ASHen faced - Arnott-charged with being accomplice to murder? - The house of cards is falling - and more. USA: Read Dr. Michael Siegel, a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health. He has 25 years of experience in the field of tobacco control. He previously spent two years working at the Office on Smoking and Health at CDC, where he conducted research on secondhand smoke and cigarette advertising. He has published nearly 70 papers related to tobacco. | |
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Thursday, November 01, 2012
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The Property Rights Newsletter November 2, 2012 - Issue #685 "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to livein a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." - Nelson Mandela | |
TrANTZlating "no safe level." By Carl V. Phillips. Those who use it in popular contexts either know that it is going to be misinterpreted (and thus are intentionally misleading people) or actually think that the sloppy technical phrase has its natural language meaning (in which case they have no business claiming they know what they are talking about). Most readers of health science figure out the truism that quantities matter or "the dose makes the poison" - i.e., that trivial exposures do not matter in any practical sense. The "no safe level" claim sends the message that this (true) belief is wrong, and it is difficult for the lay reader to have the confidence to reply, "I know that is never true."
Smoking bans don't lead to less smoking. Perhaps a ban simply makes smokers feel like a persecuted minority and reinforces their group identity as they huddle together to smoke outside. Who knows? Economist Michael T. Owyang and research associate E. Katarina Vermann look at areas with and without bans, and find little difference in rates of smoking: ... we find that the correlations between smoking bans and the smoking behaviors examined are not quantitatively significant. Blaming the victim: The negative consequence of preventive medicine. Am J Public Health. 1990 October; 80(10): 1186-1187. CO: City butts out of bar, eatery patios - Smokers oppose proposed outdoor ban. Rick Carney, owner of Moe's on Main Avenue, said it was "hypocritical" for the overweight supporters of the ban to advise smokers on their health. "They should pass an ordinance that you can't be 30 pounds overweight if they are so worried about health." 
HI: Hawaii's homeless candidate for Congress. Kawika Crowley lives, works and runs his U.S. congressional campaign out of a beat-up white minivan that he often parks overnight at a grocery store on Oahu. In the van's front seat, which is his office, is a homemade shelf for his laptop, a copy of the U.S. Constitution, and a flurry of index cards that are scattered like confetti after New Year's. On the cards are his ideas and talking points: pro-smoking (in bars, if the owner wants to allow it); anti-taxes; anti-commuter rail; pro-freedom.
OK: Federal dollars help target disease prevention in Oklahoma County, one ZIP code at a time. The Oklahoma City-County Department of Health is using $3.5 million in federal health care grants to supplement ongoing effort to keep residents out of emergency rooms. SC: Goose Creek council considers smoking ban. "Is it our place to tell business owners what they can and cannot do?" said Councilman Jerry Tekac. "This is going to be a very difficult decision for me." The proposal will go before City Council at its Dec. 11 meeting. If council supports it, it will have a second reading before becoming law. USA: USDA newsletter encourages employees not to eat meat, GOP Senator calls foul. It further charged that heavy meat consumption has detrimental health effect. USA: Cigar Toast Across America. First debuting in 2003, this unique fundraiser brings together fine tobacconists and cigar enthusiasts from all over the world for one amazing evening. Locate Your Nearest Toast Event. Germany: Last month, smokers, bar owners and other freedom lovers in Dortmund, Germany, rallied against current plans to toughen the state-wide smoking ban in North Rhine Westphalia. UK: The house of cards is falling. Long have ASH and their lying, cheating, manipulative cronies from all walks of the anti tobacco fraternity held sway over what occurs on the medical side of parliamentary debate, but their time is coming to an end - thank God! World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. | |
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