Thursday, August 20, 2015
The Property Rights Newsletter Issue #810
August 21, 2015 - Issue #810"The people's good is the highest law." - Cicero |
Smoking: Shock and trauma as public policy. The department of health wants to force tobacco firms to sell their wares without branding, in plain paper packaging, decorated only with graphic and distasteful pathology images. This is nanny-statist, bureaucratic over-reach which limits the freedom people have as adult citizens to make their own choices in life.
AND: Getting People to Behave: Research Lessons for Policy Makers. Many government policies attempt to change the behavior of individuals and businesses. This article argues that policy makers and administrators should (1) think comprehensively about the barriers that may keep target populations from complying with government policies, (2) match policy instruments to the most important barriers that inhibit compliance, and (3) take into account heterogeneity within the target population. Relatively nonintrusive strategies such as social marketing, providing resources to targets to help them comply, and manipulating options and defaults (choice architecture) are politically attractive but unlikely to secure compliance when incentives for noncompliance are high. Based on the three basic principles outlined in the article, the author recommends strategies to increase compliance, including the use of leverage points and secondary targets, adjusting for unanticipated behavioral responses, and employing long-term, multiphase strategic management of behavior change initiatives. The federal gov't spent $2 million on campaign to get women to nag husbands to stop using tobacco. Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, said of the program: American women don't need the federal government spending money to get us to nag our husbands to stop using tobacco... Even if it were a worthwhile effort, we are $18 trillion in debt. We simply can't afford it. Tribal Oak Flat protest heading to D.C. The Apache Stronghold protest calls for Oak Flat to be exempt from a land swap between the federal government and Resolution Copper. The tribe considers Oak Flat to be holy and sacred ground and should not be mined. EPA plan is really a "Superfund blitzkrieg" Yes, that letter to the editor about the EPA was published. By Mark Esper, editor and publisher of the Silverton Standard. AND: After river disaster, is it time to re-evaluate EPA? Exxon had its Valdez, BP had its Deepwater Horizon and now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has its Animas River disaster with which to contend. The federal agency ensured with safeguarding the nation's ecosystems is facing a barrage of criticism and charges of double standards after millions of gallons of toxic sludge containing cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury spilled into the Animas River after an EPA backhoe accidentally punched a hole into a waste pit during a clean-up effort at an abandoned gold mine in Colorado. 
ME: Lazy legislators act on hype, ignore science on e-cigarettes. Research consistently has shown that, while not necessarily harm-free, e-cigarettes are far healthier than traditional cigarettes. A study published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology found that the levels of harmful chemicals inhaled through e-cigarettes was comparable to ambient air. Similarly, a study published in Addiction found that while e-cigarettes contained some chemicals found in traditional cigarettes, they were at significantly lower levels.
ND State Representative, Mike Schatz: Dear Mr. Stenehjem, Greetings! I am writing to you as a member of the Legislative Assembly to request your opinion about what I consider to be an overreach of government by Ms. Jeanne Prom, Executive Director, North Dakota Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy. 
French speed cameras sabotaged over plain cigarette packaging rules. Tobacconists caught placing bin liners over cameras to deprive government of revenues in same way they claim new packaging will damage their business. The radar "hooding" - by covering them with bin liners - is symbolic: a "cover up" that deprives the government of money in the same way that the anti-smoking legislation will reduce tobacco sales and tax revenue, the protesters say.
Philippines: Cameras to monitor tobacco plants. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will require all tobacco companies to install closed-circuit television cameras in its production lines and warehouses so the government can monitor their production and ensure the payment of correct taxes. |
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Thursday, August 13, 2015
The Property Rights Newsletter Issue #809
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August 14, 2015 - Issue #809 "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six." - Yogi Berra |
Say Goodbye to the American Cancer Society. By Brad Rodu. I have written extensively about the 30-year ACS smokeless tobacco misinformation campaign. Now that organization is using the same tactics against e-cigarettes. ACS volunteers nationwide follow a script that demonizes all forms of tobacco, the companies that market them and the people who consume them. It is time for tobacco users, their families and friends to send a message to the American Cancer Society: "Say goodbye to our donations." Tell ACS volunteers in your community that the society must acknowledge scientific facts and abandon its tobacco prohibition stance. Until the ACS tells the truth about tobacco harm reduction, charitable contributions should be directed elsewhere.
Are Your Medications Safe? The FDA buries evidence of fraud in medical trials. Agents of the Food and Drug Administration know better than anyone else just how bad scientific misbehavior can get. Reading the FDA's inspection files feels almost like watching a highlights reel from a Scientists Gone Wild video. It's a seemingly endless stream of lurid vignettes-each of which catches a medical researcher in an unguarded moment, succumbing to the temptation to do things he knows he really shouldn't be doing. Faked X-ray reports. Forged retinal scans. Phony lab tests. Secretly amputated limbs. All done in the name of science when researchers thought that nobody was watching.
Why what we think about eating is so often wrong. Here's how public thinking on food gets shaped: Every year, researchers publish hundreds of academic studies about the health effects of various foods - chocolate, kale, red wine, anything. Those studies, in turn, become fodder for newspaper articles, books and blog posts. But how much of this torrent of information is worth the trouble? Surprising little, according to a number of key researchers. In recent years, these skeptics have caused a stir by poking big holes in the nutritional science behind popular diet advice. Even the findings published in distinguished health journals have come under fire. Collectively, their work suggests that we know far less than we think we do about what to eat.
Chile's Busybody Politicos Say You're Too Dumb to Feed Yourself. Obesity Hysteria Brings on Wave of Labeling Mandates. In yet another case of biopolitics, the government has relieved us of the burden of deciding what is in our own best interests when it comes to our bodies. To promote healthy habits among the public is, in principle, a commendable goal. However, this and other similar measures give the state the power to define and exercise control over an individual citizen's body and biological capabilities. Country air could be good for us because it's slightly poisonous. Forest and seaside walks may benefit us by exposing us to low doses of natural toxins that our ancient ancestors once breathed in. Tiny doses of plant toxins in forest air could boost our health. "It is natural to ask: could we bottle the benefits of country and sea air?" Car hack uses digital-radio broadcasts to seize control. Chrysler says it's also taken steps to block the digital attack Miller and Valasek demonstrated with "network-level security measures" - presumably security tools that detect and block the attack on Sprint's network, the cellular carrier that connect Chrysler's vehicles to the Internet. Miller, one of the two researchers who developed the Uconnect-hacking technique, said he was happy to see the company respond. "I was surprised they hadn't before and I'm glad they did," he told WIRED in a phone call. He particularly praised the move to work with Sprint to prevent attacks through its network. BBQ SMOKE IS ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA? The guys in the video explain that the neighbor has called local fire, police and now some pencil pushing desk jockey from the the local government to come harass them. This is brought to you by the state that also brought us laws mandating dress codes. Philadelphia Becomes Largest City to Ban Smoking in Public Housing. Since HUD's statement, more housing agencies have opted to go smoke-free as officials in cities nationwide have also pushed to curb smoking - even from electronic cigarettes - in other public places. The Debate Over Raising the Legal Age on Tobacco Products. Data shows higher age requirements do not prevent youth access. By Thomas A. Briant, NATO Executive Director. Some of these serious responsibilities and duties borne by adults who are 18, 19 and 20 years old include voting, military service, marriage, divorce, payment of income taxes, health insurance mandates, health directive decisions, candidacy for public office, and prosecution as an adult for crimes committed. From this CDC data, a conclusion can be drawn that mandating an age of 21 for the purchase and consumption of alcohol has not created an impediment for more than one-third of minors who are currently consuming alcohol. This brings into question the true efficacy of a similar increase in the age of tobacco and raises the more serious health-related question of whether such a change in age of purchase could actually result in an increase in underage tobacco use as minors, in addition to adults who are 18, 19 and 20 years old, look to other sources for acquiring tobacco products. From zero to heroes? The uncomfortable truth about some e-cig advocates. I understand the argument but I'm not sure I agree with it. Does a proud and consistent commitment to freedom of choice, personal responsibility and fact-based evidence count for nothing these days? Contrast that with the woeful record of ASH and many other tobacco control groups. Yes, I welcome the fact that some public health campaigners are embracing e-cigs. I'm happy too that the tobacco control industry is increasingly split on the issue and some now see their colleagues (or former colleagues) in a new light. Suddenly though we're supposed to forget that the same public health campaigners who currently defend e-cigarettes are often the same people who for years fought tobacco using the same dodgy research and twisted rhetoric they now accuse others of in relation to vaping. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Health officials bust vendors, promoters at N.J. e-cigarette convention for indoor vaping. "Vape Expo NJ" this weekend drew roughly 1,200 vendors and electronic cigarette enthusiasts, as well as local and county health officials who fined the expo hall manager, the event promoters and nearly 70 sellers about $50,000 for violating the state's indoor smoke-free air law. |
 Learn what an Electronic Cigarette is. |
Saturday, August 08, 2015
The Property Rights Newsletter Issue #808
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August 7, 2015 - Issue #808 "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." - Sun Tzu |
Pentagon rewrites 'Law of War' declaring 'belligerent' journalists as legitimate targets. The manual also states that journalists can be labeled "unprivileged belligerents," an obscure term that replaced "enemy combatant." The 1,176-page "Department of Defense Law of War Manual" explains that shooting, exploding, bombing, stabbing, or cutting the enemy are acceptable ways of getting the job done, but the use of poison or asphyxiating gases is not allowed. Surprise attacks and killing retreating troops have also been given the green light. It also has an extensive section on journalists – including the fact that they can be labeled terrorists. The Pentagon did not specify the exact circumstances under which a journalist might be declared an unprivileged belligerent, but Chambers says he is sure "their legal department is going over it, as is the National Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists."
Wake Up! We are watching helplessly as a minority is seizing the social agenda of the USA. Furthermore, Americans are becoming more divided on issues and we are beginning to see the rise of collectivism within the country. On tonight’s show, Clyde Lewis talks with Joseph Green, author of the book, Dissenting Views in 'AMERICA WILL EAT ITSELF!' 
Cost of Federal Regulation Reached $1.88 Trillion in 2014. U.S. debt exceeds the size of China's economy. The report found that the federal bureaucracy-made up of 60 agencies, departments, and commissions-has 3,415 regulations in the process of being finalized, meaning that the number of regulations far surpasses the number of laws passed by Congress.
Canada: 11 Minutes - War On Cash. Is there a war on cash, and if so, why? If true, is it something that needs to be resisted, if at all possible? We'll explore this together on 11 Minutes. Childhood-welfare agency worries proposed cigarette tax increase would reduce funding. Proposed legislation for a $2-a-pack tax increase could ultimately cause funding to drop. The agency, First 5 California, already is searching for new sources to replace a decline in tobacco tax revenue, the result of fewer Californians smoking and lower cigarette sales. 
Center for Tobacco Products FDA. Subject: Import Tobacco Inspections. Are raw tobacco imports into the United States inspected for contamination with banned pesticides? Is that the job of the FDA, or the USDA, or EPA or other? At this time, there are no FDA requirements to inspect raw tobacco imports for banned pesticides.
AND More on the FDA ecig workshop. By Carl V Phillips. I think it can be a really useful shock to the system for these people to remind them that they are in the business of trying to make the people act contrary to the people’s preferences. It is so embedded in the DNA of public health to not care about people’s preferences that they can get away without thinking about this fact or admitting it to themselves. Putting it in their faces is always good. As If Prohibition Never Happened. By Dick Puddlecote. While Australian anti-smoking lunatics continue to pat themselves on the back for installing the utterly pointless policy of plain packaging, BAT Australia has announced some astonishing news. British American Tobacco Australia (BATA) is considering launching a Make Your Own (MYO) cigarette brand to try and capture the growing number of illegal chop chop smokers. Thunder Bay, Canada: No smoking, no exception. Is it fair to force an end to smoking in public housing? We don't expect people in private apartment buildings to quit in their own homes, though a municipality can do that, too. |
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