FIGHTING BACK: MAINE - Council to Revisit Smoking Ban - "Faced with opposition from some restaurant owners and their patrons, the City Council will decide Monday whether to repeal Portland's ban on smoking in restaurants. The council, which adopted the ordinance in April by a 7-2 vote, is likely to put the issue on the November ballot rather than repeal the ban. The measure was returned to the council before it could take effect because opponents of the ban - the first of its kind in Maine - gathered the 1,500 signatures needed to reconsider the issue."

Lepers Can Now Smoke at Richmond Airport's Restaurant - It is a well-known fact that secondhand smoke kills on contact, and that the simple view of a lit cigarette is sufficient to induce asthma attacks, heart disease, nausea, coughing, and all kind of other discomfort. It is therefore necessary to at least isolate the irresponsible, addicted, arrogant, selfish, tax-paying criminal killers who are victims of the tobacco industry, and still chose to smoke. We've got to teach them a lesson! Screw that stupid science that proves no danger. We pay no attention to that. We've got to get the tobacco industry! The task here is to set the smokers straight, save the children, and at least isolate those obtuse individuals that stubbornly continue to smoke and pay tax.

Which brings us to this article. "Richmond International Airport, along with a California-based concessions company and cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, today will celebrate the opening of 'The Hitching Post,' a restaurant and bar designed to suck up smoke from cigarettes before it reaches the nostrils of nonsmokers. Located on Concourse A, the restaurant will use a high-powered ventilation system to draw smoke directly toward the ceiling." Dr. Dwain Eckberg, an antismoker, applauds the solution: "... they can accommodate the smokers and still not place non-smokers at risk..." We applaud the solution too-- if it calms down the hysteria -- with one proviso: there is no risk.

Hocus Bogus - Our introductory title for this article is quite appropriate. The writer is certainly not on the side of smokers, or tobacco companies, for he grinds out the same, old, tiresome rhetoric of the anti-tobacco cartel, including the usual denouncing of the "big lies" of the tobacco industry, as if the public had never heard that BS before. But even this anti-smoker has a problem with the bogus figures that the cartel spits out with clockwork predictability. That is good, for it indicates that even people who perceive tobacco as a social danger are sick and tired of hearing lies.

Anti-Tobacco Cartel: Replacing a Habit with an Addiction - The pharmaceutical industry -- and their fronts in the anti-tobacco organizations and smoking cessation programs -- want us to believe that we are poor addicted victims of the tobacco industry. Of course, they offer a "way out" proposed by (who else?) the pharmaceutical industry! The "way out" consists of expensive smoking cessation programs, and high-priced, nicotine-loaded cigarette substitutes, that the smoker is supposed to self-administer to "free" himself from the "addiction." WRONG! Even on the assumption that smoking is such an addiction, the smoker intakes the amount of nicotine he/she needs by altering the frequency of puffing and the number of cigarettes. Many smokers often forget to smoke if busy, or while relaxing in a setting outside of their usual daily routine (try that with a truly addictive drug). Nicotine delivery substitutes in the form of patches continuously deliver large amounts of nicotine into the blood stream. Result? The body develops more of a tolerance to the steady intake than a smoker would - and the nicotine habit is reinforced even more -- or, (if you insist on callling it an addiction), you have a worse addiction! In the marketing of smoking substitutes, the silent implication is that once you lose the habit of smoking, you can easily get off the nicotine delivery devices. WRONG AGAIN, as this article clearly documents. It is not a coincidence that the cartel calls the quitting programs "smoking cessation", but there is no mention of nicotine cessation... The pharmaceutical industry knows that well, as it wants to substitute itself for the tobacco industry as a nicotine dealer, reaping the immense profits attached. Nothing wrong with that - AS LONG AS THE SMOKING PUBLIC FULLY UNDERSTANDS the politics behind the marketing campaigns - and accepts that the vilification of smokers is a factor in creating this new market. SMOKERS! DO NOT FALL PREY TO THE SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAMS. THEY ARE A FRONT FOR THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY! Most people who have quit permanently, have quit on their own.

Anti-Tobacco Cartel: Contempt for Free Speech - "The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy group that favoured the tobacco bill killed by Senate Republicans earlier this month, yesterday asked the Federal Election Commission to stop the tobacco industry from running ads supporting senators who voted against the bill and are running for re-election." -- But the bastards of The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids do not seem to have a problem with free speech and political support to their political muppets who are vomiting lies and propaganda! Like all good fascists, they think that they are on the right side of the equation, thus they are entitled to the propagation of their putrid ideology, while their opposition is to be silenced. Readers, do you understand what you are fighting, now?

Anti-Tobacco Cartel Squallor: "My Tobacco Contributions Are Cleaner Than Yours!" - "...Green questioned Ferraro's judgment in accepting a $20,000 speaking fee from a tobacco company. Ferraro responded by accusing Green of taking a contribution from a tobacco industry ($50, as it turned out), and complained about Schumer's aggressive fund-raising effort." -- What a pitiful display! In a nation whose politicians are sadly devoid of moral and political values, tobacco becomes the dominating issue of all debates, as if there were no important issues left to argue about in a society that is in many respects falling apart. Indeed, anti-tobacco successfully spreads only in decaying societies.

If Past Is Guide, Smoking Crusade Will Fail - " Perhaps nothing is more amusing or more pathetic than adults determined to force adolescents to do their bidding. The defeat of the tobacco bill in Congress and pledges by the Clinton administration to continue to search for ways to 'save our children' from the ravages of tobacco smoke and addiction to nicotine will be about as effective as Prohibition. Today the crusaders are named Bill Clinton, C. Everett Koop and John McCain. More than 90 years ago there were Chicago's Lucy Page Gaston and her Anti-Cigarette League of America. "

Cartel, Mind Your Business, and We Decide Ours -- Texas Restaurants - HOUSTON, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- A majority of Texas hospitality business owners and managers say they would expect a decline in business if a smoking ban were imposed on the hospitality industry, according to a poll conducted for the Texas Restaurant Association which was released this week at the annual Southwest Foodservice Expo. Hospitality business owners and managers were also overwhelmingly in favor of having managers (61 percent) or customers (24 percent) decide smoking policies for their businesses instead of government (10 percent).

Good Riddance: Driven by Greed, the Tobacco Bill Deserved to Die - "The tobacco legislation recently killed by the Senate was a monstrosity that deserved to die. ... Politicians and trial lawyers were salivating over a $516 billion pot of money and were willing to shred the Constitution and trample freedom to get their hands on the loot. The bill represented everything bad about Washington. ... Restrictions on the First Amendment right to free speech (the ban on tobacco advertising) head the list..."

"Warning: Smoking On Stage. Unsuitable for Stupid Persons and Those With Psycosomatic Diseases" - If you are a junior of the smokers' rights movement, you won't believe what you are about to read. You will believe that it is a joke by some prankster in a good mood. Unfortunately, this is real enough to be published by the Washington Post. It's a head-shaker. Anti-smokers are so arrogant as to think that if they pay the ticket for a theatre or an airplane, they are entitled to a non-smoking environment, while the smokers who pay the same are not entitled to any accomodation, under any circumstances. What makes them better people than us? What makes their needs and preferences more important than ours? Nobody knows, but let us make the following observations: a) smokers are not leaching the resources of society through pensions, because of our shorter lives; b) we are doing our share -- and then some -- of paying for the diseases contracted by everyone -- through our tobacco taxation; c) most importantly, we recognize the right of people to have lifestyle choice, while they do not our right to our choice of lifestyle. Thus, if there is someone who should have contempt, it certainly should be us. Finally, if the lady who wrote this letter has a constitution that is as delicate as she claims, it is miraculous that she makes it through the pollution generated by city traffic to get to the theatre in the first place!

North Port, Florida: No Outdoor Ban - Thanks to the efforts of Jackie Miller of the Florida Smokers' Rights Association Inc., the city of North Port, Florida will not consider an outdoor smoking ban. Now, stop and think for a moment: outdoor smoking ban. It already does not make any sense to have bans inside due to the second hand smoke scam. But outside?! The defeat of outside smoking bans should not be an occasion for rejoicing, but fuel for feeding our rage, and the determination of defeating smoking bans inside. Smokers have the right to enjoy the comfort of an indoor environment (while smoking) as much or even more than nonsmokers because they pay way more taxes. It is therefore high time to recapture our rights, and our dignity as citizens by making the life of the anti-smoking cartel as miserable as possible. Fending off new bans is not enough.

I'll Think of Quitting Smoking - When You Give Up Driving - This simple but great article illustrates much of the thinking and emotional response of smokers, though we of course differ from the ususal "filthy addiction" routine: "...my reticence about quitting is an indication of a rather adolescent form of rebellion. The more I'm told to quit, and the more adamant society becomes in its efforts to eliminate smoking, the more determined I am to continue. The recent news reports on non-smokers trying to force the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to eliminate all smoking areas, citing the 'Americans with Disabilities Act' as prohibiting smoking in public buildings where those with asthma or other breathing disorders might be bothered by secondhand smoke, has hardened my resolve to continue lighting up, particularly in public places."

Large Health Insurance Contract Dropped, and More to Come: Now You Pay - The tobacco industry and its supporters definitely seem to come out of their lethargic state. "A labour-led boycott of Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield over smoking lawsuits made its first mark yesterday when Philip Morris USA said it was yanking a chunk of business from the state's largest health insurer. Philip Morris, the area's largest private employer and maker of Marlboro cigarettes, said it was dropping Trigon as the administrator of its vision plan for an estimated 5,000 hourly employees and their families." - God bless you, Philip Morris and Machinists' Union! One can discover what one's opponent respects by observing how the opponent behaves. The anti-smoking cartel respects nothing but economic and political brute force. By seriously flexing its muscles, the tobacco industry can stop the anti-smoking political wave, and even put the bastards on the run. And -- with the help of God and for what we can do -- we'll be there waiting for them.

Smoking in the Movies and the Transformations of Stanton Glantz - The obtuseness of the anti-smoking cartel is well illustrated by this article. The cartel has been attacking Hollywood for depicting smoking in movies since the beginning of this garbage in the early 90s. If we follow this stupid logic, then we must prohibit actors and actresses from having sex on the screen, to address the problems of unwed teenage mothers, AIDS and date-rape. Featured in the article is, among others, Stanton Glantz, mechanical engineer transformed into a professor of medicine, this time transforming himself into an art critic, and condemning (of course) smoking in the movies. Considering his uncanny ability to transform, we recommend that Paramount replaces actor Rene Auberjonois with Stanton Glantz in the role of Star Trek's shape-shifter Odo in a special episode by the title: "The Transformations of the Interstellar Turd". We assure you, Paramount: it's going to be a smash hit!

Big Tobacco Regain Confidence - "One year after the most concerted assault against Big Tobacco in US history, the industry is showing surprising resilience as a series of legal and political developments break its way. The industry is winning lawsuits and prevailing in Congress. Buoyed by its improved standing, companies are pushing ahead with an aggressive PR campaign - and fighting back in court. ... ' The need to settle is no longer there,' says a tobacco industry source" - It's about time! We wish the industry well in defeating its (our) enemies, though the enemies and the product seem to be the only things that Big Tobacco and smokers have in common. For whatever is worth, here is a recommendation to Big Tobacco: if you win, do not stop until you have utterly destroyed your enemies politically and financially. Have no mercy. That's the only way to make sure they'll never come back. And if you want to retain the support of politicized smokers, don't support cigarette tax extortion schemes or measures that make us de facto second-class citizens. On our side, we'll do the best we can to help.

BIG TOBACCO WINS AGAIN! - U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Connecticut Attorney General's Appeal - Another attempt by the anti-smoking cartel to alter due process has been shut down by the US Supreme Court. Big tobacco is winning where it counts. And regard;less of how we often feel about the tobacco industry, that's good. "In the latest in a series of state and federal court rulings favorable to the tobacco industry, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari of the Attorney General of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal. He had sought Supreme Court review of a unanimous decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in September 1997. That decision upheld Philip Morris's right to have its federal constitutional claims decided in federal court."

Isolate the Lepers!... Where is the Stick? - This article describes a solution that can be considered "better than nothing", and acceptable to many smokers, and perhaps it is. In California, a bar owner has found a way to go around the unfair law banning smoking in restaurants. It's separate room with a giant fan, and no employee is allowed to enter. The offensive part here is the same as always: the implicit acceptance of the notion that ETS is dangerous, and smokers hurt others. Again: ETS is not dangerous even after prolonged exposure, and there is overwhelming evidence of that. So, restrictive laws are infringing on the rights of business owners and individuals. It is as simple as that. It would be quite different if these measures were taken on the basis of customer preference, and respect for personal taste. The social schism that anti-smoking has created also rests on the conscience of the antismoking cartel, for which it is going to pay. Look at the image of the waitress taking the money from the smoker to have an idea of the diseased paranoia, and the absurd sickness of the antismoking panic. As smokers, we cannot and should not accept this humiliation based on putrid lies and propaganda!

Doctors: Whining Health Blues While Growing Tobacco - NORTH CAROLINA - Many doctors who are singing the anti-smoking tune to fit in with the political times own tobacco farms. As this article points out, these tobacco-growing doctors recite the "mea culpa" but they don't let the plantation go. The reality that nobody dares to mention is that tobacco is not such a killer, once it is divested of the propaganda and the false statistical associations that link it to almost any disease known to man. If those associations are removed, tobacco turns out to kill far less than alcohol, and probably far less than stress, fatty foods, and other things that are "no good for you". Therefore, it is not necessary for these doctors to cry repentant. Growing tobacco is as respectable as selling hamburgers, or distilling alcohol. As sick a society as we have become, we should still be bound at least by consistency, if not by the scientific truth and moral integrity we have discarded in the last decade: either we lay off this anti-tobacco nonsense and restore a normal society, or we go all the way, and we become a "new" society, forbidding and controlling anything that can possibly harm. Then we can go buy a glass bell and sit in it for the rest of our healthy, boring existence.

The Voice of a Nazi: "Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, Go Smoke Outside!" - It is an established fact. To sit on the Minister of Health's chair you have to be a Nazi, and a puritanical liar. There seems to be no other explanation for a phenomenon that seems to be common in all the English-speaking world. The NZ Health Minister Tuariki Delamere wants Deputy Prime Minister Peters to stop smoking. Thus, "If Parliament was declared smoke-free, Mr Peters could be forced to smoke outside..." Delamere wants to put political pressure on all MPs: "it [is] important that MPs lead by example in all spheres of life, including being non-smoking role models". Mind your own business, useless prick! Go patronize and lie somewhere else for a living! Fortunately, the Deputy Prime Minister shows signs of intelligence and a good sense of his priorities: "I've got more important issues to be concerned about". Faithful and servile to the US anti-smoking cartel, like his Canadian counterparts, Delamere uses the same anti-smoking rhetoric and false information, obviously scaled down to the population of this country. It is curious that all the dreadful figures about mortality, disease, etc.-etc.-etc., are always an exact fraction (or multiple) of the US ones in direct proportion to the population of the country in question, and regardless of diet, lifestyle, culture, climate, race, etc. ... Isn't that a formidable coincidence?