Thursday, June 27, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter June 28, 2013 - Issue #719 "I'm just into having fun, because I went through some bad yearsthat really depressed me and made me angry." - Sean Young |
 Vapestock Fun in Florida. There was no charge to attend Vapestock 3. Free raffle tickets were given out at the registration table and around three pm one of the organizers began randomly drawing ticket numbers, and matched them to prizes that were donated, to give out during the event. When the room closed for the day, the fun did continue at the Tiki Bar area, with live music, dancing, new friends, and a huge party until last call. Some people saw the sunrise for the first time in years and marveled at its beauty. There was something about Vapestock 3 that just felt right. To gather over 800 people all vaping, having fun, for free, was amazing. All forms of electronic smoking expels water vapor, nothing more. There was not a lit tobacco cigarette anywhere to be seen. To watch all these happy people in a social setting was reminiscent of the old days, before smoking was ever an issue.   AL: Public Smoking Ban Could Impact Tobacco Tax. Every year, Pike County volunteer firefighters get about $90,000 from the tobacco tax. That money is split between all nine volunteer fire departments. But even now, making ends meet is a challenge. CA: Oceanside reverses course, drops smoking ban. The council was scheduled to vote on the ordinance Wednesday. But after several business owners complained that the rules would infringe on their right to provide areas for smoking patrons, the council backed away from the measure. The proposed ordinance died after no one on the council made a motion to approve it. AND On Tuesday, the Vista City Council voted 3-2 against a ban on outdoor smoking. The majority on the council said it should be up to business owners to decide whether to provide smoking areas. Australia: Plain Cigarette Packaging - emerging unintended consequences from the Australian experiment. The theory is simple: branding is widely acknowledged to be a huge driver of consumer spending habits, and removing the branding from cigarettes should reduce the pulling power of cigarettes both to adolescents and existing smokers. I say should because there's no real-world evidence either way. The Australian initiative is, therefore, a massive 'naturalistic experiment', to use psych jargon. Canada: Don't feed the smokers. Try not to stick your fingers between the metal grates. You never know how an urban smoker will react if he feels his environment suddenly threatened. Looking is fine - but do not approach. Unless Thunder Bay reveals that this is all a big hoax (which, frankly, would make more sense than the status quo), we are forced to believe that smokers at a Thunder Bay, Ont. bus terminal must now retreat to a little fenced-off pen if they wish to smoke on the platform. New Zealand: Call for 'dirty' ciggie butt bins to go. A public health officer says an anti-litter group's promotion "endorses public smoking" due to its ties with British American Tobacco. Keep NZ Beautiful donated 40 cigarette butt bins to the Mackenzie District Council to assist with the council's smokefree parks and playgrounds policy. Scotland: Parents warned they could face court for lighting up at home in front of kids. He referred the case at Ayr Sheriff Court to the Children's Panel - where the woman could now face LOSING her kids. But his decision has sparked fears of a massive rise in meddling by authorities, which could land more Scots parents in the dock. Sara Matheson, a Glasgow University lecturer and partner in MTM Family Law firm, said: "There has been a move towards greater state interference. Three years ago there was a suggestion obese children could be taken into care - this is a similar step." 
USA: Tom Oyler updates... Jewelry, Telstar, Useless Eaters, Languor, Promoting Public Health Can Cause Leprosy. "According to Kansas law, criminal defamation is knowingly and with malice communicating false information that exposes someone to hatred, contempt or ridicule, thus depriving that person of the benefits of public confidence and social acceptance." Note: Good luck proving malice.
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Thursday, June 20, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter June 21, 2013 - Issue #718 "Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument."- Archbishop Desmond Tutu | |
Is Dr Margaret Chan The Most Dangerous Woman in the World? Most certainly there is a slippery slope, and now it's a veritable avalanche of New Inquisition hatred against capitalism and consumers, all designed to force you to live your life precisely in the manner that Public Health deems fit. In the last 30 or 40 years, Public Health has transmogrified from a group of compassionate scientists and doctors, who strove to eradicate communicable diseases all over the world, into what I call The New Inquisition, which is a self-serving socio-political / activist taxpayer-funded industry staffed with socialists (i.e. anti-capitalists who hate that people make money) and prohibitionists of the worst kind. Public Health, in its present incarnation, is the greatest threat to freedom and civilisation the world has seen since National Socialism ran roughshod over continental Europe in the 1930s.
UK: All pregnant women to take smoking tests as it is revealed one-in-five still light up while expecting. Midwives have described the guidelines as 'ill-judged'. It is believed 21 per cent of woman smoke during pregnancy. Ellie Lee, director of the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies at the University of Kent, said: 'If pregnant women think they need help with stopping smoking then that is fine, but it's not the place of midwives to start dictating to pregnant women what they do and don't do.' UK: Cruelty - the Mentalists! The weirdness of everyday existence certainly gets weirder as we watch normality go out of the window. I bumped into an old friend the other day, a lady that has dedicated her life to assisting the sick, the elderly & the disabled through her skill as a hospital physiotherapist. She was peeved. She was mightily peeved.It seems that some bright young spark had brought one of those breath testing-ometers into the physio department (as part of their onslaught on smokers of course) and asked each of the physio's to blow into it in turn. She was told to quit smoking. She doesn't smoke. Further investigation has shown that these breath testing thingummies cannot differentiate between exhaust fumes and cigarette emissions. Martyrs to Studies and Money. By Tom Oyler. stop relying on and believing these damn studies. They are about money and how some group can get it from you. I have said and will continue to say that no study in my lifetime has ever been proven true. Conform and Obey. CA: Dear Sacramento Council Member. By Robert J. Deitz, II. And now the City is considering a smoking ban on Patio's in the City. Yet they also state they want to make downtown Sacramento a thriving and alive night town? There are many restaurants and bars that do not allow smoking on their patio's - that is their choice and their patrons are there because of it. And there are those that do allow smoking, which is also their choice and their patrons are there because of it. That is the way it should be. DE: Dewey Beach is starting to enforce a new beach smoking ban, but town lifeguards are taking a soft approach. When the lifeguards start handing out tickets for a smoking violation, each will carry a $50 fine. OH: The Cleveland Clinic: Unethical By Its Own Standards. By Dr. Michael Siegel. By continuing to employ smokers, and by continuing to employ overweight individuals. It is not me who opined that hiring employees who exhibit unhealthy behaviors is unethical. It is the Cleveland Clinic! OR: Research and Commentary: Oregon Tobacco Tax. Tobacco taxes can lead to budget shortfalls. Tobacco taxes are a notoriously unreliable and shrinking source of revenue because the number of smokers is decreasing. Instead of raising particular taxes on Oregonians, lawmakers should advance pro-growth policies that strengthen the economy while controlling spending. WY: Casper smoking ban amended. Casper residents will be allowed to smoke in bars and private clubs again as early as next week. The Casper City Council on Tuesday repealed the smoking ban for adult establishments on a 5-4 vote. UK: Royal Bolton Hospital rebuilds smoking shelters. Mr Tyldesley said it was not legally enforceable to ban smoking on the site. A spokeswoman for ASH said: "This is a tricky one as having shelters might seem like condoning smoking, but if they don't there are people smoking everywhere in the grounds. "This is the lesser of two evils really." World: Listen to Anti-Nanny with Ravengrim Episode 32 with Belinda Cunnison, 33 about privacy, and MHRA Regulations and Speculations. Jan Johnson discusses smokers and vapors relationships and issues. World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. | |
  Enjoy the comedy of Patrick O'Donnell. | |
Thursday, June 13, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter June 14, 2013 - Issue #717 "The Vietnam era draft was discriminatory, undemocraticand resulted in the war being fought by the poor man's son." - General William Westmoreland |
USA HR 748 Requires All Young Americans to Enlist in a National Service Program. Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel. Universal National Service Act - Declares that it is the obligation of every U.S. citizen, and every other person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 25 to perform a 2-year period of national service, unless exempted, either through military service or through civilian service in a federal, state, or local government program or with a community-based agency or entity engaged in meeting human, educational, environmental, or public safety needs. Requires induction into national service by the President.
CA: SB 768 cigarette tax could promote smuggling. By Katy Grimes. The tax increase would make California's cigarette tax rate the fifth highest in the nation, with New York's the highest at $4.30 a pack. New York City tacks on an additional $1.50 a pack, making smokers inhale a price of up to $12 a pack. 
ME: Smoking in Portland is getting harder to do. Some say the city is overstepping in limiting places where smokers can light up. Michael McFadden, a spokesman with Citizens' Freedom Alliance, a smokers' rights organization, said that smokers are becoming a stigmatized group. "It's like smokers have become the dirty people, and we don't want to see them," McFadden said, describing the way nonsmokers often characterize smokers. "If they want to (smoke), they have to do it behind the Dumpster. They shouldn't be around the good people. "It's gone way overboard."
OR: Legislature Bans Smoking In Cars With Minors Present. The House passed Senate Bill 444 on Monday with a 43-15 vote, and it will now move on to Gov. John Kitzhaber's desk. Opponents have argued the state should not restrict what drivers do in their own cars. SC: Smoke Free Florence used federal dollars for lobbying. A government report confirms that Smoke Free Florence, the organization behind implementing the city's controversial smoking ordinance in 2011, illegally used funds to lobby local elected officials. Though disciplinary action was taken, a government watchdog group is demanding the county be barred from receiving federal dollars as a result of the violation. Tanzania: Tobacco Tops Traditional Crops, Generates Sh400 Billion. Tobacco production received a great boost in March, this year following the signing of an agreement on phytosanitary requirements for tobacco leaves to China, the move that will guarantee farmers of reliable market. 
UK: New proposals, E-cigarettes to be classed as 'medicines' in attempt to tighten regulation. The move will also mean that licensed e-cigarettes can be prescribed by doctors to help smokers cut down or quit. "Crucially, it will also ensure marketing of e-cigarettes and other such products is controlled to prevent their promotion to children and non-smokers." ALSO... ASH Scotland reacts to new e-cigarette regulation. "Any nicotine-containing device should be taken on its own merits. If it is truly effective in helping smokers, then it should be made available to them." "Yet we are seeing a growing trend for tobacco companies buying up these companies. The tobacco industry has a long record of prioritising increased profits over reduced harm. We remain concerned over their involvement in this field."
World: Watch Taking away food choice. Look out for "big food, big soda and big alcohol." The UN is trying to interfere in what you eat and drink, Anthony Furey is joined by Christopher Snowdon to discuss the World Health Organization's hunger for power. World: Listen to Anti-Nanny with Ravengrim Episode 31. Jan Johnson discusses smokers and vapors relationships. We all just want to be left alone, there shouldn't be any interference with a legal product. World: Smokers Blogs. Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. |
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Thursday, June 06, 2013
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The Property Rights Newsletter June 7, 2013 - Issue #716 "One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is,that things are what they are and will be what they will be." - Oscar Wilde | |
Packets of cigarettes on Rikers Island sell for $200 after prison tobacco ban in 2003. Ban has also led to a spike in black market-related arrests. Since January 2012, there have been 85 arrests in connection with the black market at Rikers Island, including 20 so far this year, records show. Inmates are shelling out a staggering $300 to $500 for a tin of tobacco in states including Florida and Ohio, according to local reports. Tobacco was 'the No. 1 contraband item of choice,' said Mark Stegemoller, from the Warren Correctional near Lebanon in Ohio. 'It's very, very profitable.'
Read More: Articles about smoking ban problems in prisons from around the world, including deaths and riots.
Warning: Anti-tobacco activism may be hazardous to epidemiologic science. This commentary accompanies two articles submitted to Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations in response to a call for papers about threats to epidemiology or epidemiologists from organized political interests. Contrary to our expectations, we received no submissions that described threats from industry or government; all were about threats from anti-tobacco activists. The two we published, by James E. Enstrom and Michael Siegel, both deal with the issue of environmental tobacco smoke. This commentary adds a third story of attacks on legitimate science by anti-tobacco activists, the author's own experience. These stories suggest a willingness of influential anti-tobacco activists, including academics, to hurt legitimate scientists and turn epidemiology into junk science in order to further their agendas. The willingness of epidemiologists to embrace such anti-scientific influences bodes ill for the field's reputation as a legitimate science.
Are you being manipulated? The wisdom of the WHO examined. I attended a workshop in the European Parliament: Do tobacco control measures reduce tobacco use: evidence from research and practice. Perhaps the most troubling contribution was a presentation with the title: Review of the scientific evidence on effectiveness of key measures to reduce smoking, with special reference to the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive by Kristina Mauer-Stender, Programme Manager, Tobacco Control, WHO-Europe office. The presentation did nothing of the sort. In fact, it had no outcome data in it as far I could tell. So I asked Ms Mauer-Stender what lessons we in Europe could learn from Sweden. As you may know, Sweden has by far the lowest rate of smoking in Europe, and very low rates of smoking-related disease as a result.
Read More: Articles about "World No Tobacco Day" from around the world. 
Stigmatizing obesity will harm, bioethicists claim. Daniel Callahan has again been chastised for his view that obesity should be stigmatized. Whilst most attacks have been from mainstream journalists, the latest critiques come from respected ethicists. In the most recent edition of the Hastings Centre Report two bioethicists argue that Callahan's approach is "a failed and ethically dubious strategy." The authors, Daniel S. Goldberg, of East Carolina University, and Rebecca M. Puhl, of Yale University, cite studies demonstrating the ineffectiveness of stigmatizing obesity. They state that: "there is consistent evidence that individuals exposed to weight stigmatization are vulnerable to numerous adverse health consequences, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, and avoidance of health care." Research also indicates that public health campaigns containing messages that stigmatize and shame obese persons actually induce less motivation and lower intentions to improve.
Caffeine Withdrawal Is Now a Mental Disorder. According to a new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders out last week (DSM, or in this case, DSM-5), that sort of excessive caffeine intake can lead to a condition known as "caffeine intoxication," except it's nothing like the sort of blissful stupor we tend to associate with that other sort of intoxication. This disorder, as it's described in both the older DSM-IV and new DSM-5, falls under the heading "Caffeine-Related Disorders," but in DSM-5, that section includes a new entry: caffeine withdrawal. According to DSM-5, symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include fatigue, headache and difficulty focusing.
MO: Casino concerns stymie smoking ban. After six months of debate, the issue appears to be snuffed, even after the City Council expressed its intent to take a comprehensive smoking ban to a vote of the people during the Nov. 5 election. Mr. Travers' statement reinforced what many council members had questioned during the six-month process - whether a ban that excluded the gaming floor really was a matter of public health or of money. USA: Pipe Events from across the country, from Pipes Magazine. Also, The Pipes Magazine Radio Show, the only radio talk show for pipe smokers and collectors. USA and Canada: Starbucks to smokers: Don't even take it outside! The coffee chain is banning cigarettes within 25 feet of its stores. Riley said there was no single reason for the new outdoor smoking ban, just a "sense of responsibility" in the Seattle-based company to provide healthier spaces for customers. Canada: Drivers, like smokers, assault our health. Why is it that society condemns smoking in public when, every morning, millions of people fire up their personal chariots creating pollution problems for innocents who have not made that choice? Australia: Health concerns over growing trend of Melbourne shisha bars. But Northcote's Ancient Memories shisha bar owner Shahin Shahin said alcohol was far more harmful than smoking the fruit-flavoured tobacco, which was much lower in tar and other toxins than cigarettes or cigars. "If the government wants to stop shisha bars, it should also close bars and places like Crown Casino," Mr Shahin said. Scotland: Land ownership and the Scottish effect. She is concerned for example that any benefits from renewables at present will go straight to the pockets of large landowners (pointing out that around one-third of Tory MSPs currently benefit from them). UK: I despise the nanny state - but it's the only cure for Fat Slob UK. For the first time in Britain, an entire city is being offered free advice to change the way they live - gut-busting on a massive scale. Fans say that by helping to change the way people choose to live even a little bit, the NHS will save millions in hospital admissions. | |
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