Thursday, May 30, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter May 31, 2013 - Issue #715 "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."- Albert Einstein | |
Pure Evil: If you give the New Inquisition an inch, it will take a light-year. Picture if you will a horrific, compassionless campaign of oppression against some of the most vulnerable people in society, relentlessly waged by a charity an organisation of hate that the dark lord of Hades would be delighted to call his own. In a dead-end street in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, stands a brick building worth a million Australian dollars that overlooks a tiny triangle of trees in Daffodil Park. The occupants that toil and scheme within this structure look like any other ordinary figure you might bump into on the street, for those within do not have glowing red eyes, nor horns protruding from their skull. They look like us, but make no mistake, they do not act like us. Ironically, those beings inside the building in Dowling Street do not realise that they are the minions of evil; they believe that their mission is that of love, that they are doing good works. The same holds true for all of the world's greatest tyrants who brutally tortured and demonised minorities and other groups of people they deemed unworthy of living in their utopia. Do you now have the picture in your mind's eye? It is time for this organisation of hate masquerading as a charity to be named: It is called Action on Smoking and Health Australia.
Inside the Progressive Mind. By N. A. Halkides. The Progressive believes in precisely two things: his own magnificence and the constructive power of brute force. In combination, they lead him naturally from the role of pestiferous busybody to brutal dictator. Where the productive man dreams of the things he might create if only left alone by his fellows, the Progressive dreams of the world he could create if only the lives and property of his fellows were at his disposal. The roots of his pathology lie in that oldest and most destructive of all human vices, the desire for the power to rule over other men.
ME College Campuses: LePage vetoes smoking ban on college campuses. If lawmakers want to be consistent, they should submit a bill to "outlaw tobacco altogether" instead of just banning smoking in certain places, he says. LePage said he thinks "universities, colleges, and Maine people can make their own decisions" concerning tobacco. MN Tax Update: Cigarette tax could change Minnesota smokers' behavior - but how? Advocates tout health benefits. Smokers say the tax is unfair. And law enforcement expects more smuggling. The new tobacco tax signed into law last week will raise the price of cigarettes in Minnesota by $1.60 a pack. Then there will be the unintended consequences. Committed smokers might beat a path to North Dakota, where a pack of cigarettes will cost nearly $3 less. Or they might try to offset the increase by rolling their own cigarettes, or by switching to electronic cigarettes. Worse yet, they might turn to the black market, which is already a concern in Minnesota for some tobacco products. Australia: End 'cruel' smoking ban, says health campaigner. Australia's leading anti-tobacco campaigner claims the NSW government has gone too far in forcing its outdoor smoking reforms onto vulnerable psychiatric patients held in public hospitals. Ashley Coleman is dead. "All was fine until he wanted a cigarette and was told that policy now said he couldn't." MORE: Psychiatric hospital horror stories in the Newsletter system. 277 stories, from CT and IN to NJ, and around the world! France: France Admits It's Never Been About Health. The French government could be set to ban the use of electronic cigarettes in public places and at work because of health precautions, it emerged on Monday. The ban threat comes as the nicotine-filled "vaporisers" experience a boom in sales in France. Scotland: Leaders: Smoking ban proposals invade private space. Seven years ago, legislators in the Scottish Parliament were looking to control what happened in public spaces. There was some debate at the margins about what "public" actually meant - did it include hotel rooms or prison cells, for example - but, in the main, the focus of the new law was clear. This was a public health matter in the fullest sense of the word "public". In this new debate, however, the focus of legislators' interest has narrowed considerably, and now includes some of the spaces we might naturally regard as our most private - namely the interiors of our homes and cars. Read: Antis: What to expect. The Cold Sharp Slap Of Reality. World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. | |
 Watch the new music video - The Root of All Evil - By Jay Tyranny | |
Thursday, May 23, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter May 24, 2013 - Issue #714 "This morning when I put on my underwear I could hearthe fruit-of-the-loom guys laughing at me." - Rodney Dangerfield | |
USA Underwear That Senses Cigarette Smoke. The University of Alabama has received two grants totaling $402,721 for the project, which so far has produced a "very early prototype" of the monitoring system, which - in its current state - fits like a vest. The goal of the three-year study is to "develop a wearable sensor system comprised of a breathing sensor integrated into conventional underwear." The Personal Automatic Cigarette Tracker (PACT for short) is intended to accurately measure when and how often people smoke as well as how deeply they inhale. The real-time information would be used to design strategies for smoking cessation. "We are trying to eliminate the need for self-report from people about how much they smoke, when they smoke, how many puffs they take from the cigarette," he said.
NY weight limit. Too Fat, Too Furious: NYC bike-share riders fume over city's weight limit. Too fat for fitness? New York City has its limit - apparently a 260-pound one. New York has become the epicenter for the national battle against obesity, largely due to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push for various bans to bring about a healthier lifestyle, including super-sized sodas and trans-fats.
Processed Meats Declared too Dangerous for Human Consumption. The World Cancer Research Fund recently completed a detailed review of 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Upon conclusion they are stepping out and bluntly stating that processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption and consumers should stop buying and eating processed meats. What are processed meats? Processed meats include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwich meat, packaged ham, pepperoni, salami and nearly all meat found in prepared frozen meals. Processed meats are usually manufactured with a carcinogenic (linked to promote and cause cancer) ingredient known as sodium nitrate.
Coffee Lowers Liver Disease Risk, Plus Five Other Benefits. That cup of coffee you enjoy every morning could do more than help you wake up; it could reduce your risk of liver disease. Results of a new study note that that drinking coffee on a regular basis is associated with a lower risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). But stick around: there are five other benefits from drinking coffee as well. Alzheimer's disease, Breast cancer, Endometrial cancer, Stroke, Type 2 diabetes.
FL: Ban against buying pipes. CS/HB 49 - 2013. In an attempt to stop the sale of bongs and other marijuana related paraphernalia, Florida has passed a bill to ban the sale of the following: Metal, wooden, acrylic, glass, stone, plastic, or ceramic smoking pipes, with or without screens, permanent screens, or punctured metal bowls. Water pipes. Carburetion tubes and devices. Chamber pipes. Carburetor pipes. Electric pipes. Air driven pipes. Chillums. Bongs. Ice pipes or chillers. NZ: Psychiatric patients are refusing treatment because they cannot smoke at DHB facilities, the High Court has been told. ONE News spoke to a mother, Jenn, whose son took his own life after a lifelong battle with a personality disorder. He was a heavy smoker and Jenn says he smoked to keep calm, but when the smoking ban in his local mental health unit came into place she believed it stopped him seeking help. "He constantly kept telling me, he didn't want to go in there, that he couldn't go in there, that he needed to have a smoke," she said. His story was mentioned as part of the civil case which has been brought by two former psychiatric patients. UK: You are invited to attend Forest's Smoke On The Water, our annual boat party. This year's event takes place on Tuesday 18th June, 2013. Our vessel, The Elizabethan, is a Mississippi style paddle steamer with an external walkway and plenty of room to smoke while enjoying the conversation and the scenery. (Did we mention this a smoker-friendly event?) USA: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary. By Dr. Michael Siegel. Sacrificing Children's Health for Politics: American Cancer Society Sinks to a New Low. I reveal that the American Cancer Society has admitted that Dr. Phillips is correct. This is no longer just a theory. This is a bona fide explanation for the ACS position on this issue. Wales: Ban Damage. Terrible news from Wales - for the health freaks and those that want to guard our bodies as if their own! In six years of smoking ban terror, stigmatisation, denormalisation, hatred, open discrimination and killing of businesses left, right & centre it transpires that smoking prevalence has decreased by one whole percent. WOW! World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. | |
 Free TV On Your Computer - Movies and TV shows. Stuff to watch for free anytime you want. | |
Thursday, May 16, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter May 17, 2013 - Issue #713 "Though the doctors treated him, let his blood, and gave himmedications to drink, he nevertheless recovered." - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace | |
No Benefit Seen in Sharp Limits on Salt in Diet. In a report that undercuts years of public health warnings, a prestigious group convened by the government says there is no good reason based on health outcomes for many Americans to drive their sodium consumption down to the very low levels recommended in national dietary guidelines. As sodium levels plunge, triglyceride levels increase, insulin resistance increases, and the activity of the sympathetic nervous system increases. Each of these factors can increase the risk of heart disease. Although the advice to restrict sodium to 1,500 milligrams a day has been enshrined in dietary guidelines, it never came from research on health outcomes, Dr. Strom said. Instead, it is the lowest sodium consumption can go if a person eats enough food to get sufficient calories and nutrients to live on.
MORE: Articles about salt. Study: Fish oil doesn't help prevent heart attacks. Eating fish is good for your heart but taking fish oil capsules does not help people at high risk of heart problems who are already taking medicines to prevent them, a large study in Italy found. The work makes clearer who does and does not benefit from taking supplements of omega-3 fatty acids, the good oils found in fish such as salmon, tuna and sardines. MORE: Articles about fatty acids. MORE: Articles about trans fat. UK - Queen's Speech: Bad news for healthy lifestyles? Sometimes it is what is omitted rather than what is included that is the most telling. In terms of the health aspects of the Queen's Speech, that could certainly be true. And, what is more, it arguably kick-started a wider debate about unhealthy behaviours more generally from the quality of school dinners to drinking habits. It is a point made by Prof Lindsey Davies, of the Faculty of Public Health. "When it comes to policy decisions that affect everyone's health, it's actions, not words, that make a difference," she says. "From compulsory seat belts to the smoking ban, we've seen that governments of all political persuasions need to show leadership and courage to protect people's health. MO: New Opponent Emerges in Smoking Ban Fight. As the battle rages on in St. Joseph over the future of a city-wide smoking ban, an out-of-town advocate has joined the debate. "I know what has to be done. I know what the arguments are. I know what's possible. I'm a seasoned warrior in this battle and I'm definitely going to try and help out if I can," said Bill Hannegan, of Keep St. Louis Free. NJ: Revel casino recovery plan OK'd by NJ regulators; smoking ban abandoned. So with over a dozen casinos in AC, there weren't enough nonsmokers who hated smoke so much to make even a single casino viable? And yet the Antismokers insist, over, and over, and over again, that smoking bans don't hurt business. somebody must either be incompetent, or they are lying. Which is it? PA: Nonsmoking is killing tax revenue. Pennsylvanians are buying fewer cigarettes, according to state sales tax collections. While that may be good news on the health front, a recent decline in cigarette tax collection means a bigger-than-expected revenue gap as the commonwealth scrutinizes a tight budget. Canada: BC - Nelson business told to remove tobacco plants from window. Comment magazine publisher Michael Chesney was told Monday to remove the tobacco plants from his Victoria Street storefront or face a fine under the Tobacco Control Act. He was given two days to either remove them or face a fine of $575 each day they remained on display. Turkey: World Tobacco cancels Istanbul trade exhibition. World Tobacco Turkey 2013 was cancelled after the hosting exhibition centre rescinded permission to hold the trade fair less than one month before the 29 May start, organisers said. "We were astounded by this arbitrary and completely unjustified decision. No advance notice whatsoever had been given in spite of our staff being in daily contact with the convention centre. The event has been scheduled for two years," WT said. Netherlands: Listen online! Revolution FM is a project of a number of radio producers who have decided to join forces. The main studio in Paris and program studios in Haarlem, Aachen and London in an optimal way using the possibilities that internet radio has to offer. (Revolution FM is een project van een aantal radiomakers die besloten hebben hun krachten te bundelen.) Scotland: Smoking ban and cheap supermarket prices blamed as Scotland loses 147 pubs in six months. Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said the dismal statistics showed the smoking ban, the recession and cheap supermarket booze had taken their toll on traditional watering holes. He said: "The industry have never recovered from the smoking ban and have never had the same influx of people coming in." | |
 World Smokers Blogs: Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. | |
Thursday, May 09, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter May 10, 2013 - Issue #712 "I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."- President Barack Hussein Obama II | |
Senate passes internet sales tax bill amid opposition from conservatives. Bill to overturn 1992 court decision has support of Obama, Amazon and Walmart - but its future in the House is uncertain. The legislation would overturn a 1992 supreme court ruling that said a state could not force a retailer to collect sales tax unless the retailer had a physical presence in the state. The largest online opponent is eBay, which has campaigned against the bill and organised a mass protest by its sellers. Other opponents include numerous conservative and antitax groups.
NOTE: The Constitution for the United States of America. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 5: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. President Obama's cigarette tax up in smoke. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Washington's highest-profile smoker, broadly condemned Obama's proposals for new tax revenue but didn't address the proposed cigarette tax hike. And the Washington press was so disinterested in the idea that Boehner wasn't asked about the tax during two press conferences he held to discuss the budget. A Boehner spokesman said House Republicans are so opposed to new spending programs that it doesn't matter how Obama proposes to fund them. NYC cigarette tax fight hampered by low fines. High taxes have emerged as the No. 1 weapon in the war on smoking. The more cigarettes cost, research has shown, the fewer people buy them. That is one of the reasons six states are considering proposals to hike tobacco taxes. But the effectiveness of that strategy is being undercut in the home of the nation's highest tobacco taxes - New York City - by light penalties for merchants caught selling cheap cigarettes smuggled in from low-tax states. Denmark abandons the soda tax. How about tobacco and liquor tax next? A soda tax in Denmark didn't lead to people drinking fewer sugary beverages. Instead, they just headed next door to Germany, where sodas were cheaper. Well, I'll be damned. In short, the Danes have had the same experience with the soda tax as they did with the disastrous fat tax. The decision comes months after the government in Copenhagen repealed a similar tax on foods with high concentrations of saturated fats - dubbed the world's first "fat tax." The measure was introduced with the intent to incentivize healthier eating, but authorities said it ultimately just drove up food prices and put jobs in jeopardy. The message is clear. These policies are unpopular and people will search out cheaper alternatives whenever they can find them. Happily, the Danish government has come to terms with reality and is now rolling back prices. USA Airline tickets told to hide tax. Muzzling free speech about taxes. These three low-cost carriers compete for the most price-conscious travelers, and they want to tell those travelers which portion of a ticket's cost the airlines control. The government, far from regulating to prevent customer confusion, is trying to prevent customers from understanding the taxes and fees that comprise approximately 20 percent of the average airline ticket. John Dalli - the facts finally emerge. After months of rumour and conspiracy theory, the results of OLAF's investigation into former EU Health Commissioner John Dalli have been made public. John Dalli's friend, Silvio Zammit, attempted to solicit a bribe from Swedish Match, claiming that he was working on behalf of Dalli and could get the snus ban overturned. This is confirmed by a recorded telephone conversation. Neither Zammit nor Dalli's friends in the Maltese and EU media are denying this aspect of the investigation. UK Hospital cigarette ban has gone up in smoke. HEALTH officials have admitted a ban on smoking at Oxfordshire's hospitals has failed to stub out the problem. They are reviewing the situation as a "matter of urgency" after receiving complaints about staff and other people lighting up, despite the habit being outlawed at all four of their sites. UK Freedom 2 Choose: Message from the Chairman: Lively debate on plain packaging at University College, London. - News in brief. - F2C Articles and official Blog, and more. World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. | |
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Thursday, May 02, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter May 3, 2013 - Issue #711 "Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endlesseffort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction." - Erich Fromm |
Scientist Steven Eaton jailed for falsifying drug test results. Eaton, 47, was working at the Edinburgh branch of US pharmaceutical firm Aptuit in 2009 when he came up with the scam. If it had been successful, cancer patients who took the drug could have been harmed, the court was told. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how Eaton had manipulated the results of an experiment so it was deemed successful when it had actually failed. He had been manipulating his results since 2003, it seems, including tests for compounds from Roche and AstraZeneca. These included a variety of drugs, from anti-cancer agents to anti-depressants. (He has been given a three-month prison term.) Also - Very few researchers have served jail time for scientific misconduct. Scott Reuben was sentenced to six months' prison for health care fraud and Eric Poehlman got a year and a day for faking a grant application. Luk Van Parijs was given six months of home detention and 400 hours of community service for fraud in papers.
Chantix: Smoking-cessation drug linked to violence. - Critics see conflict of interest as Obama admin advises doctors on prescriptions. - Running the Business of Science. - and more! AZ: Arizona legislation calls for music therapist licensing. Some nationally certified music therapists contend that the wrong music, or even perhaps the right music improperly used, can be harmful. So they want state legislators to limit who -- besides them -- can practice the discipline. It not only would have the state Department of Health Services license the therapists but also make it a crime, with a potential 30-day jail term, for just about anyone else to use music therapy. (Since the 1940s, music therapy in the United States has benefited patients, improving their cognitive functions and emotional well-being.) NY: Oscar winning actor Jeremy Irons: "It's The Nanny State; It Is Terrible." A dig at Nanny Bloomberg and his many infantilising policies, including this one. "I think the smoking ban is a tip of an iceberg of society - the leaders of society telling us how to be. I think it's not their business. I think it is their business to tell us to care for and respect each other and each others happiness and each others health, and we are responsible enough to do that." Read more articles about Michael Bloomberg. NY: New York Cops Will Arrest You for Carrying Condoms. Like most laughably cruel tricks of the justice system, you probably wouldn't know that you could be arrested for carrying condoms until it happened to you. Arrest is always violent. The NYPD may or may not break your ribs, but the process of arrest in America is still a man tying your hands behind your back at gunpoint and locking you in a cage. Holding cells are shit-encrusted boxes, often too crowded to sit down. Police can leave you there for three days; long enough to lose your job. If this seems obvious, I say it because the polite middle classes trivialize arrest. They talk about "keeping people off the streets." They don't realize that the constant threat of arrest is traumatic, unless it happens to them or their kids. OH: No E-cigarettes in some Casinos. "In keeping with the spirit of the state's nonsmoking law, electronic cigarettes are not permitted," said Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for Hollywood Columbus, whose employees are forbidden to smoke at work or even at home, and can be fired for breaking the rule. E-cigarettes are permitted at the Horseshoe casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati and the recently opened ThistleDown racino near Cleveland. "Customer feedback is the reason we allow them," said Jennifer Kulczycki, spokeswoman for Rock Ohio Caesars, which operates all three. Smoking is allowed at the casinos in the neighboring states of Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. VA: Virginia government prosecutes homeowner with criminal charges for backyard chickens that produce organic eggs. And all are there with blessings from Gugal-Okroy's neighbors, with whom she had consulted beforehand. "Burdensome rules, regulations and inspection requirements -- many of which are indecipherable except to lawyers and bureaucrats -- now impede the ability of health-conscious individuals and small farmers to raise and produce their own food free of corporate contaminants," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "This case speaks to a growing problem in America today, namely, the over-criminalization and over-regulation of a process that once was at the heart of America's self-sufficiency - the ability to cultivate one's own food, locally and sustainably." World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. Do you prefer a Tweet, instead of an e-mail? Please follow us for one reminder Tweet a week, sent out when the new issue of The Newsletter is online. |
WATCH - Muse's "Uprising" Music VideoOR - Audio only with lyrics |
