So, next time you are approaching someone close-up, be kind: have a cigarette (better if scented) a few minutes before the encounter, or even during it. While making a silent statement, you'll do everybody a favour. Bad breath is a big problem in all cases, but it is a true switch-off in romantic encounters… chewing gum simply does not do the trick - especially the one that has been turned into a nicotine delivery device!

SMOKE AND MIRRORS ALONG I-290 - This short, well-written article about the blatant lies on second-hand smoke says it all, though even this author has caved in to the popular folklore: "A serious, fact-based campaign to discourage smoking would be worthy public service" ... "The health risks of smoking have been well established."

Not so. As a matter of facts, never before these times the health risks of smoking have been fuzzier. Thanks to the mass-production of junk science on this topic, now more than ever we are unable to assess the real dangers, if any, from the enjoyment of tobacco. With science on the leash of politics, its credibility is lost, and with it we have lost the most reliable tool we had. Logic and common sense is all we have left to help us navigate a sea of lies and frauds where, occasionally, a buoy of truth can be sighted, slowly floating away beyond the horizon.

BAD VERDICTS - Socialism and paternalism often go hand in hand. Often, they are one and the same. But both always preclude and hold in contempt personal choice and responsibility. They are, in fact, a great expression of mistrust, for the individual's needs and opinions become unimportant and insignificant when compared to a faceless, anonymous and undefined "majority," often called "state."

The endorsement of lies and repression through taxation and lawsuits as a tool to bend the will and coerce the behaviour of the physical or corporate individual is also typical of the socialist mentality, for the end always justifies the means. Sentences such as "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" originally meant to express democracy and social progress. But in the hands of the Socialist paternalists that is simply reduced to this: the needs (and choices) of the few are insignificant and have no relevance to the direction and goals of the "many", thus they have to be ignored and eliminated through taxation, regulation and prohibition.

This article by Sheldon Richman gives historical reasons why neither the gun nor the tobacco industry can be held responsible for their alleged "crimes," and how the verdicts of certain juries are the sad representation of the social and political regression of the United States.

LEONARDO DI CAPRIO: A MUCH NEEDED REBELLIOUS SPIRIT - 24-years old Leonardo Di Caprio, superstar of the Titanic among many other movies, is distinguishing himself for a very much-needed attitude about smoking. Conscious of the impositions on the neo-fascist anti-tobacco cartel and probably aware of the frauds on secondhand smoke, Leo is endowed with a healthy attitude of rebellion and defiance much more of the youth should have, nowadays. 24-years old Leonardo Di Caprio, superstar of the Titanic among many other movies, is distinguishing himself for a very much-needed attitude about smoking.

BUSINESS SEES THREAT IN GOVERNMENT SUITS - Notwithstanding the sad and mandatory deference to antismoking clichés, the US Chamber of Commerce is rightfully concerned about the looting of industries by state and litigation lawyers. The looting of the tobacco industry sets an important and dangerous precedent.

"If the trend is not stopped, no business or industry will be safe, they say. Gun companies appear to be the next target. Who knows what industries are on the list after them?" The answer to that question is quite simple: any industry that has large sums of money to be extorted, and that can be demonstrated, through the use of junk science, to be harmful to health -- in one sentence, potentially every industry.

Of course, the Utah Solicitor General Jim Soper, noticeable representative of the looting industry, dismisses the concern:

"Tobacco companies used cigarettes as a way to sell nicotine, an addictive drug," he said.

Setting aside the fact that nicotine is as addictive as Burger King hamburgers, even in the assumption that the addiction is real, how come the looting industry is not going after the pharmaceutical industry, distributing high-power nicotine under the guise of smoking cessation devices?

This seems to be a mystery that only crooks can explain.

THIS IS ANTI-TOBACCO: THE ANTISMOKING OUTRAGE DU JOUR - LEGALLY BLIND MAN CITED FOR SELLING TOBACCO TO MINOR - We have expressed our disgust against anti-tobacco in a million ways. We could do it again. But this speaks for itself. Just a reminder: this will continue as long as the anti-tobacco scum is allowed to run the country -- and smoking will go on.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SMOKING 99! - ISABELLA GIBSON READY TO CELEBRATE HER 99th - Another smoker approaches one century of life. Gambling, smoking, and enjoying life does not seem to have cut short the life of this person, though she will certainly be logged as yet another "premature, tobacco-related death" by the crooked statistics desing to create numbers proving the Lie of the Century. Isabella seems to be still in good health, notwithstanding osteoporosis (smoking-related, no doubt). Happy birthday, Isabella -- and keep on smokin'! Click here for "The World oldest: all smokers

WHY SOME OF US FEAR CLINTON? - "Certainly it is wrong to hate the president. But it is nonetheless correct to demand an accounting for his Marxist past, his corrupt administration, and his abuse of power. Suspecting Bill Clinton of Marxist sympathies should not be a crime. It is not a crazy speculation, but only natural for those of us who have studied his career and his associations." By J.R. Nyquist.

THE SEXUAL POWER OF MALE SMOKERS IS HIGHLIGHTED BY THE RED CROSS - RED CROSS FURY OVER NO-SMOKING UNDERPANTS - It is certainly not surprising us that lunatics like ASH representatives go around distributing pictures of anti-smoking underpants with the Red Cross symbol on the crotch to propagandize the unpteenth anti-tobacco fraud about smoking and male impotence.

The fact that nicotine-deprived pathetic individuals like Clive Bates -- ASH again -- argue that the white on the underpants is not exactly the tone of white used by the Red Cross as a backgroung for its famous symbol is perfectly in tune with the Clintonian contempt for anything decent and real. But Clinton is no fool: he keeps his brain sharp by smoking cigars!

And the fury of the Red Cross is more than justified. This is what happens when people who are making a living out of deceit and frauds get to sit on the throne of power: they immediately make it stink like a toilette.

What is sad and depressing is that the British Medical Association has fallen so low as to endorse the lies and methods of anti-tobacco. Who can believe in the medical establishment anymore?

But guys, don't get too depressed. Light up a cigarette and think of this: what woman could resist the seduction of a smoker who has a Red Cross on his crotch?

BIG TOBACCO - ROSY FUTURE - While many health experts had expected higher prices to deter people from smoking, the reality instead has been increased profits for cigarette manufacturers.

First of all, the so-called "health experts" never expected higher prices to reduce smoking since they would never endorse a scheme that would bring their gravy train to a rude halt. Secondly, increased profits for the major cigarette manufacturers are a prime component of the settlement. Tobacco Settlement price increases will not affect smoking rates one iota.

That people won't be deterred from a pleasurable activity by busybodies and monopolies shouldn't surprise anyone who has the slightest familiarity with human nature. The purpose of the settlement has always been the enrichment of the elite at the expense of America's working class. Smoking will continue as always and, in fact, may increase due to the nico-nazis. As Norman Kjono, FORCES contributor, has often noted, Anti-Tobacco (as well as lawyers and politicians) are the best friends Joe Camel ever had.

CONGRATULATIONS AMIGOS - IBERIA PILOTS LIGHT UP IN THE COCKPIT IN DEFIANCE OF THE BAN -- WELL DONE! - Iberia pilots are not made out of clay, as they plan to keep smoking in the cockpits while flying airplanes. Congratulations!

' Aware of the large number of Spaniards who smoke, Iberia published suggestions to help them. It recommended smokers drink non-alcoholic drinks and take their mind off cigarettes by watching a film, reading or resting.

"When faced with the irresistible desire to smoke, breathe deeply, filling the abdomen then breathe out very slowly," the pamphlet said. "You can also concentrate on the second hand of your watch and wait until a half minute goes by..." '

Incorrect Iberia, because:

• 1 - We do not need any help. We love what we are doing and we are not sick. However, the management of Iberia obviously is.
• 2 - When faced with the irresistible desire to smoke, especially when enhanced by the denial of the right to smoke, simply light up. Before boarding, ask others if they smoke, then do it all toghether. Smokers are the injured party, here.

  Smokers simply have to become an active problem, and create physical troubles to make their rights respected. As the bureaucrats of Iberia state themselves in obtuse puzzlement: "[Iberia] had not had problems earlier when it banned smoking on domestic flights under 90 minutes."

  It follows that if they had troubles the ban would not have come. It also follows that it is time to make trouble.

  
  IT IS GETTING SO SORRY... - 'DECEIVED' SMOKERS ASK FOR CLASS STATUS -The New York Law Journal reports:

  "Cigarette smokers past and present are asking New York's highest court to reinstate their consumer fraud claims against five major tobacco companies, a step that would create the largest class action in the state's history. Since the plaintiffs are seeking recovery only of money spent to buy cigarettes, not damages for personal injury or emotional distress caused by smoking or addiction, they say class actions offer the only realistic avenue for them to pursue redress against the tobacco industry."

  We have very few comments, as the story is self-denigrating... this is getting so sorry. What a bunch of greedy lawyers they have in the US! Do you suppose the reimbursement would exclude Fed and State excise taxes? Won't amount to much if it does!

  DR. KOOP.CON: LIES AND JUNK SCIENCE PAY - KOOP CRITICIZED ON WEB ETHICS - Dr. Everett Koop is under "friendly fire". He is criticized for making huge amounts of money with his website. This does not go down well with many, for there seems to be a striking conflict of interest between what Koop claims to stand for and what he does.

  "I have never been bought," he said. "I cannot be bought. I am an icon, and I have a reputation for honesty and integrity, and let the chips fall where they may."

  We don't see anything wrong in making money from a website per se. Making money is certainly not a sin. Dr. Koop's sins are of different nature: he is an egomaniac, a promoter and endorser of junk science on tobacco and other health issues, an exploiter and instigator of the persecution of smokers, and a paternalist who has taken upon himself the task of telling people what to do.

  THE PERSECUTION OF EATERS IS BEGINNING - EMPLOYERS FOCUS ON WEIGHT AS WORKPLACE HEALTH ISSUE - Here we go. $99.5 Billion in 1995. ' "It is clearly an epidemic," said Nancy Chockley, president of the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, a research and lobbying group financed by health plans and government grants.'

  Haven't we heard this before? State-financed health fascism at work again. "A healthy citizen is an asset to the state." "Those who do not care to be healthy are enemies of the state, and deserve punishment." Guess who spoke these words in the first half of the 20^th century.

  Fat is next. We can't wait to see how the anti-smoker tactics are brought into play. This persecution could get really ugly, for smokers can become closet smokers and hide, but fat people cannot even hide. This makes eaters even easier targets than smokers.

  At first, "leaning out" will be an "encouraged option" as were quit-smoking programs in the past. Soon, those who "do not comply" will be branded as anti-social, cost-to-society individuals, worthy of social marginalization. Junk science, in the meantime, will mass-produce epidemiological "associations" creating "links" with disease, behaviour, moral, and so on, while grant-fuelled Ph.D.s will babble about statistics and costs to society with authoritative arrogance, and enjoy full attention by the media.

  So now those fat antismokers who support the persecution of tobacco users, and believe in the junk science about it, are themselves about to have a taste of their own medicine. What goes around comes around.

  FORCES proposes that John Banzaff of ASH, fatty par excellence, be the first example to be set by the Motherland for disciplinary action.

  A few more observations, if we may. The article does not mention that last year the treshold for obesity was reduced to prepare the grounds for the new persecution.

  Also, notice how the word "companies" seems to have replaced the word "society," and how, once again, the will and the choice of the targets is not even taken into consideration; how only those who agree with this new conditioning are given voice by the media. Those who like to eat, like those who like to smoke, will no longer be given a dissenting voice, for they are no longer allowed to like themselves as they are. Thus their opinion does not matter, anyway.

  ANTI-TOBACCO CARTEL SUFFERS MAJOR DEFEAT IN FLORIDA - - BIG TOBACCO WINS RULING ON LUMP-SUM DAMAGES - "The threat of a crippling, multibillion-dollar verdict against the tobacco industry vanished yesterday when a Florida appeals court ruled that damages in a path-breaking lawsuit may not be awarded in a single lump sum.

  The decision is a victory for cigarette makers in a class action lawsuit that had, until yesterday, been considered a potentially lethal danger. Analysts had predicted that some of the smaller players in the industry might have been forced to file for bankruptcy had they been been slapped with a gigantic, one-time verdict," the Washington Post comments.

  But this is more than just a victory for Big Tobacco. This is a victory for justice and common sense; we all know that the so-called "tobacvco-related diseases" are multi-factorial diseases, sometimes with hundreds of co-factors. This is a victory over anti-tobacco -- an industry existing for the sole purpose of looting one of the economic engines of society, while misinforming the public about tobacco and its users.

  We'll certainly light up a cigar today... or, in this case, a cigarette!

  ANOTHER ANTISMOKING LIE BEGINS TO SURFACE - VIRUS BLAMED FOR ALL CERVICAL CANCERS - Those who are in the movement fighting the scientific frauds of the anti-tobacco cartel certainly remember the media blitz about cervical cancer being caused by smoking. "Now fresh evidence suggests that a virus may be the sole cause of cervical cancer - adding weight to calls for new tests and vaccines." FORCES researchers, among them Carol Thompson, said that long ago. The media was informed but, as usual, those who defend the right to smoke get ignored for political reasons. Click here for the section Smoking and Cervical Cancer of The Evidence.

  THE RIGHT ATTITUDE - While California is well on its way to being a bad joke of global proportions, the city of Oakland remains the armpit of a very smelly state. America's boom economy has bypassed Oakland completely. Serious crime is out of control. Students, if not dropping out, are functional illiterates upon graduation. Downtown is crumbling and the city fathers are incapable of providing basic services. The solution, of course, to all these urban ills is to crack down on tobacco.

  Oakland's latest smoke screen to con the voters is to outlaw discount cigarette outlets. Although there are no laws on the book prohibiting such stores, the City Council has forbidden "Cigarettes Cheaper!" from opening an outlet in one of the few upscale neighborhoods in Oakland.

  What makes this story different is that "Cigarettes Cheaper!" has caught onto the strange fact that anti-tobacco equals ultra elite left-wing politics. The so-call progressive City Council is in a dither that poor people are flocking to discount cigarette stores in order to find the best deals in this era of confiscatory taxation. In Oakland poor people tend to be minorities and "Cigarettes Cheaper!" has hit the nail on the head by noting the opposition to its store in Rockridge boils down to the discomfort that the residents would feel if "different looking people" flocked to their white neighborhood. "Cigarettes Cheaper!" is tackling the anti-poor and anti-workingclass policies of the anti-tobacco political elite head on.

  NAGS RULE - "This is a vegetarian restaurant. Stop talking about meat here!,'' screams the insecure vegan. "Do you know that newsprint contains a volatile cancer-causing chemical that is released by the heat of the sauna?" whines the hypochondriac at the gym.

  And on and on it goes. This wonderful article by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Adair Lara highlights the endless litany of complaints Americans are subject to from the loud mouths who know the way to perfection and are damn sure that the rest of us toe the mark. This article is a follow up to an earlier piece in the same vein that elicited a flood of personal horror stories from her readers.

  Although only one nasty incident concerning smoking is related, the two articles provide clues as to why smokers find themselves in such a deplorable condition. We have all let the cranky people set the rules for social interaction. These articles lack the inspiring examples of three FORCES members who didn't back down when faced with the ugliness of the anti-smoker whiner.

  One member was smoking a cigarette while standing on the street. A man paused near him, smiled condescendingly and said, "You shouldn't be smoking, it's unhealthy." The reply from the FORCES member to the impudent stranger is unprintable and the lecture that followed ensured that the busybody will not accost smokers anytime soon.

  In a coffee shop, out on the patio another FORCES member was confronted with a hand waver who dared to ask him to direct his smoke elsewhere. The whiner was allergic to smoke he claimed. The FORCES member loudly said, "Go inside. Do you think I'd be out here if I could smoke in there?" He then launched into the reason that tobacco smoke can never be blamed for causing allergies. The complainer was driven from the patio.

  Finally, in a popular bar, a FORCES member was ordered by three louts to go to the back of the establishment to smoke. Without a word, the member approached the bouncer, related the incident and the whiniest nagger was booted out of the bar via the front door festooned with a No Smoking sign.