 GOOD BUSINESS - While governments and pharmaceutical pressure groups rage against the tobacco industry, the most important people in the equation are invisible. The anti-smoking dogma ignores the obvious fact that the cigarette industry doesn't smoke. The customers do and research consistently confirms that they are very desirable customers indeed. Smokers tend to enjoy life more than non-smokers and are far more willing to spend money on their pleasures. Restaurants and bars in locales where the pleasure police have taken over wonder where are the non-smokers who were supposed to flock to smoke-free establishments. Although it may seen obvious that cigarette stores will treat smokers with respect, the anti-tobacco cartel has had some success in inserting its anti-pleasure creed into tobacco shops. In San Francisco, the local goon squad has pressured tobacconists to pass out anti-smoking matchbooks. Fortunately, as is demonstrated from this story from Iowa, the heartland takes its freedom, and pleasures, a bit more seriously than the West Coast.
ANTI-TOBACCO - AMERICA'S VILE EXPORT - As do all profit-making enterprises, the anti-tobacco cartel sees foreign markets as ripe for exploitation. The English speaking world has been especially receptive to the junk science, prudish blandishments and social coercion so profitable in the United States. From Australia we find the "health community" reaching out to steal the freedoms of Australian citizens. As in America, law enforcement is a group whose civil liberties are initially most at risk. Although the article, and the studies it quotes, deal with alcohol and drug abuse, the reporter is obliged to mention smoking even though that activity is not credited with affecting work performance or placing officers' lives in jeopardy.
FREEDOM FIGHTER - Many people have written off California as a society that has gone so far down the road of fascism as to be unredeemable. It's true that the state exercises more control over its citizens than does any other state in the Union and its citizens appear to be apathetic sheep waiting for the slaughter. The reality is a bit more complex. Thousands of people are bucking the Nazis in the State House and City Hall every day. Even the rapidly anti-tobacco Los Angeles Times is obliged to notice that hateful laws such as the statewide prohibition on smoking are not being imposed without a fight. The freedom fighter in this story may be crushed by the legal violence rampant in the California police state but everyone should be inspired by his courage.
CLEANING LADY BEATS CIGARETTE RAP - In an effort to extract their 'pound of flesh' and uphold the Excise Act, the Government goes after a Russian immigrant who accepted a 'gift' in lieu of wages from an Ottawa embassy.
GUILTY IF THE GOVERNMENT SAYS YOU ARE - While not agreeing with everything the author of this article says about smoking, he certainly raises some good questions about what's going on in B.C.'s Provincial Legislature - and what the future may hold in store for our courts of law.
EDMONTON: STUDENTS WELCOME VOTE TO LIFT SMOKING BAN - The irresponsible attitude of many School Boards to force students off the school premises to have a cigarette has suffered a major defeat in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
In a country heavily polluted by US-imported hysteria and false information about smoking (British Columbia is a prime example), some balance and common sense is to come once again from the Prairies. Forcing students to smoke away from schools exposes them to road dangers, as well as drug dealers, rapists and paedophiliac just waiting for the "smoke break." But in the sick minds of the anti-tobacco supporters, anything justifies sending the clear message that if you smoke, you are an outcast -- at any cost. A small veneer of anti-smoking contempt is even in this otherwise balanced piece. The article in fact does not neglect to describe tobacco as an "addiction." Perhaps it is better that "tobacco-free" students get addicted to crack cocaine... isn't it so, Mr. Farrel? (Comments by Gian L. Turci, FORCES International)
VULTURES WAITING IN THE WINGS - B.C. Government seeks support for its lawsuit against tobacco from Manitoba and the Federal Government. Can PROHIBITION be far behind.
FIRST THEY CAME FOR TOBACCO... - An editorial from the New York Post on the tobacco deal, and the bypassing of the democratic process to achieve goals of looting and control by the criminal anti-tobacco operatives. The smokers' money coming from the Deal of Shame will be used for general revenue by states and politicians that do not even have enough guts to call it tax. Very good article, but with an important error. Tobacco does not cause cancer -- it increases the statistical probabilities of getting lung cancer, as direct causality has never been proven. And this is an important distinction that goes above and beyond semantics.
GEE, WHAT A SURPRISE - "This (tax) essentially could put most tobacconists out of business,'' said Stephen Richman, owner of the Piedmont Tobacconist at 17 Glen St. in Oakland. Richman classifies cigar and pipe smoking as 'pleasure' activities rather than addictive behaviors like cigarette smoking."
Mr. Richman is one-half right. Proposition 10 will put him, and most tobacconists, out of business. That was clear to all who fought to prevent its passage. Where he is wrong and why he will be put out of business is his inane assertion that cigar and pipe smoking are 'pleasures' while smoking cigarettes is addictive behavior. Cigarettes are made with the same plant that comprises cigars and pipe tobacco. The anti-tobacco cartel's goal is to replace the pleasure of smoking tobacco with pharmaceutical nicotine delivery systems.
Worth a comment is The San Francisco Chronicle's timing of this story. As the Voice of the Anti-Tobacco Cartel, the paper's editors knew full well that Proposition 10 would drastically raise cigar and pipe tobacco prices. Had enough of those consumers known that Proposition 10 would pick their pockets along with consumers of cigarettes, the razor thin vote in the affirmative might have gone the other way. The Yes on Proposition 10 crowd worked very hard in keeping the cigar tax aspect of the proposition quiet. The San Francisco Chronicle serves its allies well.
FREEDOM UP IN SMOKE - The systematic destruction of the fabrics of liberty and private enterprise by the socialist government of the United States, and the huge society-destroying machine created by anti-tobacco and other health advocates is well-commented in this beautiful article by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.:
"...There is much more at stake than the fate of one industry and one group of consumers ... no one's rights are safe when a vast empire -- consisting of "advocacy" groups, predatory lawyers, bureaucrats at every level of government, and dictators in black robes -- can target an industry for demolition. Rewarding this cabal of racketeers only encourages them to engage in more legal mischief."
History will not be nice with the nineties, responsible for concluding this century in shame. Ruthless criminals have attacked not just an industry, but an entire class of citizens. They have destroyed families and friendships, jobs and businesses. They have induced people to treat each other with circumspection, resentment, and contempt. They have inverted the moral poles of society. They have stripped great countries of the dignity of personal liberty and individual self-determination -- all in the name of health and on the basis of lies and frauds, disguised as science and progress. The next generation has ahead of itself a huge task of restoration -- and punishment for those who are responsible.
NAT ROUGHS UP SOME BANKERS - This inspiring article has everything to do with smoking, though there is no mention of it. It is about fingerprinting. It is about state and system control. About a time we are entering where in order to function and survive you have to surrender your principles, your privacy, your choices -- your way of life. You have to bend to unnecessary rules, and be under the control of a triumphant, ever-expanding bureaucracy suffocating you in the name of security. A time where your opinions, feelings, desires and choices are irrelevant, useless, and worthless. Finally, a time where the quintessential materialism represented by hollow obsessions with physical health, environment, efficiency and state control paves the way for the greatest terminal disease humanity has even known: the loss of individuality.
FORCES SAID IT LONG AGO... THIS IS NOT ABOUT TOBACCO, IT'S ABOUT CONTROL AND LOOT. AND IF AMERICA DOES NOT DESTROY THE HEALTH NAZIS, THE HEALTH NAZIS WILL DESTROY AMERICA... AND NOT JUST AMERICA - A lawsuit filed by New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial against gun companies to recover the cost of firearms violence has Libertarians asking: "Who's next?" -- "Which law-abiding industry will be the next target of greedy politicians?" asked Steve Dasbach, Libertarian Party national director. "Will they force Budweiser and Heineken to pay for the crimes of drunken, violent criminals? Will they extort money from McDonald's and Burger King to pay for heart bypass surgery, and compel Chrysler and Honda to pay the medical bills of car-crash victims?"
NICOTINE - MIRACLE DRUG
A rash of news reports is praising the wonders of the most demonized substance on earth. Nicotine has been yanked from the lowest rung of Hell to join the choir of angels singing hosannas honoring the former demon weed. What's going on?
Not going on are any radical new findings regarding the properties of nicotine. For centuries those who smoke tobacco have known that, in addition to the pleasure they receive from tobacco smoke, they receive innumerable health benefits. When the criminals who form the anti-tobacco cartel began their jihad against smokers 40 years ago, the press cooperated by suppressing and censoring any evidence regarding the pharmacological benefits of smoking tobacco. That self-censorship is over as news outlets are stumbling all over each other in their rush to tout the wholesomeness of ...pharmaceutical nicotine.
"Our goal is to find a nicotine-like substance that will give the beneficial effects of nicotine without the harmful side-effects or addictive ability," proclaims the pharmaceutical operative.
Below are recent stories from the American and British Press regurgitating the results of studies that support the Pharmaceutical Companies' bottom line. Included is FORCES Gian Turci's in depth analysis of this new development.
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ANTI-TOBACCO FAILS TO CATCH FIRE - The anti-cartel spends millions persuading politicians that Americans are highly incensed about the tobacco issue. Even though poll after poll contradicts this claim, some ambitious politicians have seized on tobacco as an issue that can increase their power without actually having to solve any real problems. The results from Tuesday dashed plenty of anti-tobacco hopes. Hubert Humphrey's spectacular defeat in Minnesota was only one example of an anti-tobacco stooge biting the dust. Not only had Humphrey spent the past year demonizing smoking, he also successfully shook down the tobacco industry for billions. The citizens in Minnesota wisely rejected this demogogue. Wake up politicians! Anti-tobacco is a loser.
ANTI-TOBACCO HACK SUFFERS A BODY SLAM - During the Minnesota tobacco trial, Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III never skipped an opportunity to hog the media spot light testifying to the perfidy of the cigarette companies. No matter what baseless and inane charge he leveled, the press was there to record his rants. Humphrey became Mr. Anti-Tobacco. He planned to work his racket to the Governor's house but the people of Minnesota proved to be as sick of him as were outraged smokers.
Humphrey reaped as he sowed this Tuesday as he suffered a humiliating defeat on his crawl to the Governor's Mansion. The Democratic candidate placed third out of three contenders and lost the prize to a man best known for his performance on the professional wrestling circuit. We link to The New York Times story on the winner, Jesse Ventura. It's worth noting that the paper, which promoted Humphrey's anti-tobacco agenda to the hilt during the Minnesota trial, seems to have forgotten the issue upon which Humphrey had planned to ride to the top. Well done Minnesota!
SMOKING RATES - 1997 - For what it's worth, we link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's state by state tabulation of smoking rates. Considering the load of crap the CDC shovels on the public, the accuracy of its efforts are highly suspect. Unfortunately the CDC doesn't include the tobacco tax rate for each state, since its tabulation undermines one of the most sacred tenets of the anti-tobacco cartel. We are told that high taxes will reduce smoking yet several high-tax states, such as Alaska and Michigan, both have high smoking rates. If they are wrong about that as well as wrong about secondhand smoke as well as wrong about "costs to society" as well as wrong about advertising... We don't have space to continue.
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