The bad news is that the state's Department of Health Services is still passing out grants designed to eliminate the civil liberties of the citizens.  From funding the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights enemy list to funding the American Lung Associations' scheme to put private businesses under surveillance, the Health Department is long overdue for a severe cutback of its own funding. 

ANOTHER WIN FOR THE INDUSTRY Added January 9 - Chalk up another win for the tobacco industry which seems, more often than not, to prevail in the courts whenever the executives remember that backbones can be straight.  Their recent victory is over a typical California attempt to shakedown the industry - and their consumers - to further the political aims of mediocre city attorneys.  The cities involved hoped at the very least to force the cigarette manufacturers to place the lie that secondhand smoke is hazardous onto packs of cigarettes.  Despite the fact that there is not one iota of proof that secondhand smoke has any ill effects and that a federal judge has vacated the EPA's corrupt secondhand smoke report, the lame-brained politicians in California continue to waste their constituents' time and money on ridiculous grandstanding.

AX THE TAX - Added January 8 - When Californians trek to the polls this March they have the opportunity to order Big Government to keep its greedy hands out of their pockets. Of the many issues on the ballot, none is more important than sending a clear signal to Sacramento that the era of exorbitant taxation is finished.

Smokers United, a grassroots organization consisting of citizens from all walks of life, has prepared a comprehensive overview of the Reiner Tax and Proposition 28. Please take a few moments to get the facts and make an informed decision.

READER'S DIGEST: HYPOCRISY AS AN UNDERSTATEMENT Added January 30, 2000 - TRIAL LAWYERS ON TRIAL: LAWSUIT FEVER CHEATS CONSUMERS, TAINTS DEMOCRATIC PROCESS - "How would you like to make $130,000 an hour? It's little wonder that, as they pocket colossal contingency fees, America's trial lawyers say the current justice system works just fine. But as high-powered attorneys scoop up billions from tobacco settlements -- and begin their hunt for the next target industry -- Reader's Digest magazine warns it is the little guy who ultimately pays for the nation's rising tide of baseless litigation."

"A growing number of critics -- and not just corporate defendants -- contend the legal gravy train is roaring out of control. Unfortunately, trial lawyers are using their vast financial clout to influence politicians and thwart much-needed reforms."

These are excerpts from an article published in The Reader's Digest. It is interesting to notice that the Reader's Digest has been (and still is) rabidly antismoking. While we are pleased to see that articles against the disgusting abuses by the anti-tobacco lawyers make it to the Digest, we cannot help but remember that the Digest itself has substantially contributed to the propaganda against smoking, the social dislike of smokers by non-smokers, and helped to instigate the public opinion against the tobacco industry -- not to mention the relentless publication of scientific and political misinformation on this subject -- for many years.

The moral question for the Digest is: what sense does it make to systematically instigate a thief to steal and then cry foul about his wrongdoing?

VICTORY AGAINST THE CARTEL IN OHIO Added January 28, 2000 - HAMILTON COUNCIL SCRAPS PLAN TO BAN SMOKING IN RESTAURANTS - "HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) -- The City Council, in a sudden reversal, has snuffed out a proposal to ban smoking in restaurants.

Restaurant and bar owners in this southwest Ohio city of 62,000 people had promised to fight the ban. They said it could hurt their businesses by turning away customers who are smokers."

Hard to believe, but somebody is seeing the light! Great news for the weekend...

SOME ASH BASH FROM FOREST FOR THE USUAL PUBLIC LIES Added January 28, 2000 - GIVING UP SMOKING IS NOT THE ONLY THING TO DO IN Y2K - "...Most patronising of all is the assumption that smokers want to quit. According to the health police, seventy percent of smokers desperately want to give up, especially at New Year. Nonsense. ... In fact, a great many do not want to stop smoking (heaven forbid, they actually enjoy it!) and they regard any interference in their lifestyle unwelcome and manipulative. "

"According to ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), ‘Calls to Quitline, already the busiest smokers’ helpline in the world, are up by 29% this year and it is expected that the Millennium will produce a tidal wave of at least 1.3 million quit attempts.’ "

"The reality is rather different. According to ‘Health in England 1996’, published by the Office of National Statistics and the Health Education Authority, methods used by ex-smokers to quit smoking include will power (91%), family support (15%), advice from doctor (6%), nicotine chewing gum (5%), nicotine patch (5%), and clinic or group (2%). By contrast, Quitline registered 0% (zero), a fact worth remembering when ASH boasts that calls to Quitline are ‘up’."

OSHA ENGAGES THE REVERSE Added January 28, 2000 - OSHA EXEMPTS WHITE-COLLAR TELECOMMUTERS - "The employers of millions of Americans who "telecommute" will not be held liable for any federal health and safety violations that occur at home offices, according to testimony prepared for Congress by the Labor Department. "

"Bobbie Kilberg, president of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, called the Jeffress testimony "a partial victory" for telecommuting advocates. She said, however, that OSHA should make its policy through rule-making and not internal policy changes. 'I think it's only common sense that the federal government stops at the front door of the employee's home,' she said."

This last sentence should be engraved on every bureaucrat's forehead.

THE FAILURE OF THE "MENTAL HYGENE" MOVIES: A LESSON NEVER LEARNED Added January 24, 2000 - NOW, CLASS, BEWARE OF STRANGERS AND IRONY - "...This is perhaps because the films are the work of sincere, technically gifted but fundamentally deranged human beings. Who else would make a film about a tot using a BB gun to shoot bottles and getting his eye put out, and then show the pitiful tyke with an eye patch? What kind of person would make a film about a little girl who impales herself on a pair of scissors and then act as if it's the kid's own fault? And why did so many of these films feature sadistic announcers gloating over teen-agers' shortcomings and taunting them in voice-overs?"

"...There is no evidence that exposing impressionable young men to lurid photographs at lunch time was ever a widespread or even effective homosexual courting mechanism ("Boys Beware," 1961). Marijuana is not ingested through a "pot needle." Soiled clothing has never prevented pretty girls from landing Mr. Dreamboat, and in some cases it may have helped. And no scientific data linking the consumption of beer with heroin addiction has yet emerged."

The failure of the stupid "mental hygene" films has of course thaught nothing to the operatives of the antitobacco cartel. What described in the article is exaclty what Health Canada wants to do with pornographic images of cancerous lungs and other affected organs on cigarette packages. Besides the enragingly dishonest attribution of those diseases to smoking (attribution does not in fact mean proof of cause), one can observe that the corrupt and the imbecile never learns from history.

VICTORY AGAINST THE CARTEL IN NEBRASKA! Added January 21, 2000 - BILL TO BAN SMOKING FALLS SHORT - "Lincoln - A bill to ban smoking in family-style restaurants stumbled Tuesday, falling two votes short of a majority in the Nebraska Legislature..."

Good. Since there is no danger in second hand smoke, this should be the fate of ALL smoking ban bills!

IS THERE ANY PART OF THE US CONSTITUTION CLINTON WON'T STEP ON? Added January 20, 2000 - NO NOTIFICATION FOR CRYPTO KEY COPYING - The Clinton administration is advocating allowing law enforcement officials to delay notification by up to 30 days of searches of suspect's homes for crypto keys. The move would allow officials to monitor activity without the suspect's awareness.

SMOKERS BURNED BY NET BUYING

WEB CIGARETTE SALES SAID TAXED Added January 16, 2000 - SMOKERS WARNING: Some discount internet distributors do share their sales information with at least some states. The Socialist Republic of Kalifornia, of course, is particularly aggressive in collecting the information. Those who order over the net should ask about whether the sale will be reported BEFORE they order. As the two articles above indicate, the situation is not completely clear at the moment. We believe that, in general, those smoke shops located on Indian reservations are a safer bet for mail order, since those are in sovereign nations.

The antitobacco cartel, while pretending to be noble and convince smokers to quit for their own good, it is hungrier than ever for the money that it steals from the pockets of its victims. It is important that smokers informe themselves carefully before buying, and find ways to avoid the financing of the war against them. Taxing the intended victins was a National Socialist (Nazi) idea that the cartel has picked up only with too much enthusiasm.

Smokers, remember: every dollar you save in tobacco tax is more than a hard-earned dollar that you put in your pocket: it is one less dollar that is going to be used against you! You don't just protect your wallet: you protect yourselves!

Connecticut, USA: PARENT RISKS 10 YEARS IN PRISON AND $10,000 FINE FOR ALLOWING HIS CHILD TO PUFF ON A CIGARETTE! Added January 13, 2000 - ABSURDITY REIGNS OVER TOBACCO ISSUE - Another great article from Jon Dougherty describilg the absurd level of fanaticism of the antitobacco cartel. How do we allow these people to get away with this?

"The state of Connecticut is willing to charge Mason, the father, with felony risk of injury to a minor -- which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Did you catch that? Up to 10 years in prison. A fine of $10,000. A felony. Good Lord. There are rapists, murderers, and armed thieves who don't serve that much time in jail."

"... Second, we're talking felony child endangerment here? Please, at best, the data about smoking and that dreaded second cousin, "second-hand smoke," is dubious. At every juncture, and in every academic circle -- every one of them - the so-called "findings" of liberal anti-smoking research has been, and continues to be, either contested or outright refuted by non-partisan scientists who have conducted better and more far-reaching research."

Thanks, Jon, for being fair. It really seems that there are still decent people around. Only one tiny comment. At the end of your article you say: "The tobacco debate, like many others, needs to be brought back into the realm of reality." It is not a debate, Jon, not anymore -- and perhaps it never was. It is a fascit, discriminatory, hateful agenda with precise targets and economic goals.

MORE OUTRAGE ABOUT THE ANTITOBACCO CARTEL'S ENEMY LIST Added January 13, 2000 - WAITING TO INHALE - At the time when the outrageous use of public money to compile enemy lists became public (click here for more info), we missed this interesting article because we were taking our deserved Christmas break.

' Meanwhile, like all good enemies lists, this one does not discriminate. It indicts big shots and small fry alike. Thus you may find on it the name and address of a man in Colorado who "appears to work for a research firm that represents the tobacco industry." You may also find the name and address of a man in Sacramento who "contacted the Chino Hills, Calif., city clerk, seeking information on the sponsor of a smokefree ordinance pending in Chino Hills." Obviously it took a lot of detective work to uncover miscreants like that, and as the Los Angeles Daily News reported last week, the tax-exempt Non-Smokers Rights Foundation spent part of the $1.2 million "monitoring people who attended and spoke on tobacco issues at city council meetings in cities throughout the state." '

Scrambling to defend itself, the ANR and its apologists are making the outrageous claim that keeping tabs on and intimidating private citizens is an appropriate way to spend tax dollars. The California Department of Health Services backs up its irresponsible decision to fund the enemies list by asserting that the people of California support the Gestapo tactics of the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights. Such slander heaped on the citizens of California is yet one more proof that the Health Department's Tobacco Control Section must undergo a complete and independent audit. The undemocratic activities of the ANR and its Public Health patrons are a blight that must be eradicated.

Incidentally, so far no answer to the letter written by our CEO Gian Turci to Americans for Non-Smokers Rights Foundation. Actually, we don't expect an answer, for they CANNOT answer without reveling ther antitobacco cartel's frauds and arrogance.

SO? Added January 13, 2000 - SMOKING BOOSTS ENERGY EXPENDITURE - Here is another piece of junk science about smoking, though this one may even be on our side somewhat. So, who care about smoking boosting energy expenditure? Since smokers are usually more creative and enterpreneurial in behaviour than non-smokers, this is to be expected. Of course, the extra energy expenditure is attributed to nicotine, but the study is so impossibly small (10 men!) and has so many limitations, it is essentially cocktail party chatter. Since, however, it is concerning smoking in a way that could be considered negative (it will be), the study has managed to make the news (Reuters, of course).

PROFILE OF A FAMOUS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ANTITOBACCO CARTEL: DOKTOR KROOK, .CON Added January 10, 2000 - THE FOX IN 'CHICK' KOOP - So, Doktor Koop, such champion of the war against tobacco; such spreader of junk science and false information using his [past] reputation to bambloozle America on a corrupt agenda. A man of such integrity; he was totally outraged at the corruption of the tobacco industry.

Wake up, America: Doktor Koop is a con artist, and that's why he has embraced antitobacco in a first place. Honest people do not embrace antitobacco unless they are either dumb or uninformed. Doktor Koop is neither. He got rich thumbing his nose at those who gave him trust.

Here is an excerpt from this unflattering article published by the Washington Post.

" ..They also accuse him of acting as a front for chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers. In 1999 testimony before Congress, Koop played down health groups' concerns that health care workers and some patients were being sickened by allergies to latex surgical gloves, saying calls for bans on the gloves' use bordered on "hysteria." He pressed a government official to soften a warning about use of the gloves as well. In both cases, Koop failed to disclose that he had once received $650,000 in consulting fees from a company that manufactures the gloves. "

Oops! The ban on gloves is hysteria, huh, Evy? We are ready to bet any money there is more scientific substance behind the glove scare than there is behind the ETS one. And how much payola did Doktor Koop get from the pharmaceutical industry to LIE about the health effects of tobacco while promoting smoking cessation devices?! What is your price to speak the truth, doctor?

OSHA: BACKING OFF FROM HOME INVASION? Added January 10, 2000 - We are pleased to report that after widespread protests on talk radio, OSHA at the Department of Labor, headed by Alexis Herman, has backed off [from regulating how we work at home, (click here for more info)], saying "they don't have the manpower to inspect home offices", according to a news story on an ABC radio affiliaate (KSFO) Wed 1/6. We hope that this doesn't mean they will selectively pursue only CERTAIN common "safety hazards", like 2ndhand smoke, for no one is safe from the health cartel when it comes to the fraudulent dangers of ETS. But it looks like prompt and strong opposition worked -- this time.

HOW BIG MASS MEDIA HAS SPINNED THE LATEST GOVERNMENT INTRUSION

Notice that the explanation offered by OSHA is not at all considering "the home invasion factor": it is only because of "lack of manpower" that OSHA does not invade our homes, NOT because of any sense of decency or respect for others. As far as Big Media is concerned, no consideration about violation of the rights of the individual, either. The disagreement only comes from business lobby, the BIg Enemy. And that is true, after all. In a Socialist state there are no individual rights, for the Collective (state) represents the rights of all, though Mr. All has no face at all.

MORE ON HOW THE MEDIA DISTORTS, SPINS, CUTS & PASTES INFORMATION TO SERVE POLITICAL AGENDAS Added January 10, 2000 - OUTGUNNED: HOW THE NETWORK NEWS MEDIA ARE SPINNING THE GUN CONTROL DEBATE - Detailed information on how the enemies of the US Constitution use the media to condition Americans and undermine yet another fundamental right the US: the right to bear arms.

We will not discuss here whether guns are "good" or "bad." Rather, we call the attention of the readers on the technique used by media to give the impression to be unbiased, while they actually are at the service of the state -- the same state that wants to forbid tobacco, negate our privacy, control what we drink and eat. That same state that wants the medical profession and the special interest lobby groups to have full control on our behaviour, and put all joys of living under strict regulation.

The spinning described in this article is the same that was used to propagate the frauds and misinformation on tobacco in earlier stages of the prohibition process -- when it was still supposed to look like a debate. But now we have made progress, and we have no need for that democratic waste of time. In fact:

• We have reached critical mass of antismoking pseudo-scientific garbage.
• We have achieved a constant flow of public money to ensure continuous production of that garbage.
• We have bamboozled a sufficient amount of population into the belief that smoking is the cause of all evils. Now we can lie galore, and everybody will believe us.
• We have have corrupted/convinced enough ignorant politicians that smoking is an epidemic. We have a ton of stupid doctors parroting what we say (how many have read just one antismoking study other than the abstract?). More importantly, we have convinced politicians that it pays to endorse antismoking frauds, both politically and financially.