"Die For Your Country, We ''Take Care Of You" -- AND -- Senate Bars Veterans Benefits For Smoking-Related Ills - Anti-tobacco "science" offers an excellent excuse to the US government for denying its war veterans medical care. The formula is simple: if you smoke(d), and you get what is called a "tobacco-related disease" (that is, almost anything fantasy can relate to tobacco) no VA benefits! Isn't that a great way to divert money to highway construction? American Legion Commander Anthony Jordan has called the initiative "a breathtaking display of contempt". And we are the sad, powerless spectators of the disintegration of their social contracts, including the sacred one of caring for veterans: "stick it to the people who risked their lives to defend us, just blame it on tobacco!" Is this the beginning of rationing medical care based on false scientific data and funding pretense?

Has Anyone Ordered The Brown Shirts Yet? - Gov. Chiles of Florida has spent $500,000 on a retreat to initiate what The Miami Herald calls "the nucleus of a statewide youth anti-tobacco front." The retreat brought together advertising professionals and 600 teens to plan a campaign and indulge in antics like rewriting the words to "Bad Boys" (the theme song from "Cops") so that it becomes "Bad Breath". ``How do we enlarge this 600 . . . How do we go to 6,000 . . . 60,000 . . . 600,000?'' frothed Chiles. Despite insisting that this is a campaign that will take its cues from the kids, the adults already had a ready-made theme that they took to the retreat: "Rage." It was changed by the kids to the more moderate "The Truth," according to a St. Petersburg Times report.

What Will Smokers Do? - As the U.S. prepares its federal tobacco tax hikes, industry watchers are wondering how this will affect smokers' behavior. Will they smoke less to save money? Will they simply pay the tax and keep smoking at the same rate? Opinions differ, but there's one possibility - with plenty of historical precedents - that this article doesn't address: an explosion in the black market.

U.S. Senate Commerce Approves Tobacco Bill - Here comes the U.S. government's 1990's Brave New Version of Prohibition -- call it Prohi-cution. Not quite prohibition (because that would cut the flow of money) and not openly persecution (that would be politically incorrect), the U.S. government has finally found the formula for its "Bridge to the 21st Century." This bill, which legislators want to take to a full senate vote by June 1, calls for billions more from the tobacco companies -- from their customers, that is -- than the original tobacco settlement, for a total of $506 billion. There is little liability protection for tobacco companies, and they will be heavily penalized if teen smoking rates do not drop. Of course, that will not happen. Anti-tobacco propaganda will see to it. Details such as who will get the billions and who will make the ultimate decisions about pay-outs will be left to later stages of the debate. Little is being said about how all this will contort the social landscape of the United States.

The American Cancer Society Donates Money to Politicians to Further Its Antismoking Advocacy Political Agenda - The Washington Post reports that ACS is wining & dining politicians in order to make sure that its putrid agenda of social control is heard by the political world. This once honorable organization is on a rampage of political and financial control without precedent. Obviously, there are high hopes to get exhorbitant returns from the infamous tobacco deal, which would put in the hands of this organization incredible financial resources. By the way, the ACS is not supposed to make political donations, but what the hell, with the uncontrolled corruption going on in anti-tobacco, what's the dif?

The Wrong Smoke Screen - "Our 'peace dividend' is fractured by the we-know-what's-best-for-you crowd. On Jan. 1, California enacted the nation's first statewide ban on smoking in bars. As nonsmokers, we are not inconvenienced by this charge. Selfishly, we might welcome it. Our fear is simple: What next?"

A Breath of Fresh Air and Some Commonsense From the Los Angeles Times - Thanks to the LA Times for this article once again underlining the absurd paranoia about tobacco. There is still some common sense buried under the pile of lies and corruption. More and more of the press is realizing that this absurdity is gone way too far.

BMA Is Britain's Public Enemy Number One - In line with their American counterpart, the British muppets from BMA angrily refuse the findings of the WHO study, and notwithstanding the ridiculously low risk levels shown, they call for a nationwide smoking ban, calling smoking public enemy No. 1. Obviously concerned that their international scam is discovered, the British Health Nazis are more and more frantic about achieving smoking bans in England before their activities and profits can be stopped by an uproar of public opinion. We appeal to our British readers to organize and fight for their liberties, and destroy the health establishment in its present form before it destroys them.

Smoke Out - "The Phoenix has argued that a smoking ban doesn't make sense. The plan unfairly targets smaller businesses, and it threatens an industry that is a vital part of the city. More fundamentally, the ban aims to fix a problem that does not exist. The current system, a sensible compromise that divides restaurants into smoking and nonsmoking sections, works just fine." Editorial from The Boston Phoenix

Smoker's Group Thick Wallet Raises Questions - In this article from the Los Angeles Times we can see the full arrogance and lurid hatred of the antismoking cartel at work, trying to project the impression that the NSA's actions in defense of the freedom of choice can only be explained by the money of the tobacco industry. In other words, they want you to believe that freedom of choice is NOT a sustainable proposition and that NO ONE outside the tobacco industry can POSSIBLY support freedom of choice on tobacco. And anti-smokers NEVER address the actual arguments raised against their crusade. Buzz off, bastards! But being supported by extortion money from Prop 99 in California, where the victims of neo-prohibition are taxed to fuel their own slashing and persecution is perfectly OK, according to this scum. We have only one criticism of the NSA: they should concentrate their finances on litigation against the criminals responsible for false science and hate propaganda, and never ever stop until the perpetrators rot in jail for a long, long time. And speaking of thick wallets, the anti-smokers are ordering wheelbarrows to carry theirs around.

Hurray for Japan!! - This article from The Sidney Morning Herald describes how Japan has managed to preserve -- and even enhance -- the freedom to smoke, conscious of the valid contribution of smoking to the economy. Despite the effort of the newspaper to portray tobacco and its supporters as evil and corrupted, it's clear that Japan is impervious to the pressures of the Anglo-Saxon world (thank God!). This economic giant rightfully gives the finger to the falsifications, moralization, and "statistics" that are plaguing our world, and in a pragmatic Japanese way, checks out the bottom line ... smokers ARE POWERFUL CONTRIBUTORS TO ECONOMY, AND THEY DESERVE RESPECT AND ACCOMMODATION. We are all with you, Japan, for being a shining example of common sense and freedom on this.

Putting Out the Flame of Desire for Young Smokers - You Wish! - The Los Angeles Times reports on tactics of intimidation and repression perpetrated in California by the anti-tobacco cartel. Of course, parents who are willing to trade liberty for the illusion of health seem to be glad that this happens. But the attempt to suppers personal choice is resisted more and more by the young generation who -- thank God -- seem to be able to see through the smokescreen. Smoking has indeed become a symbol of liberty and rebellion.

Teaching Children Hate and Intolerance in the Name of Health - Teaching hate is easy, and Florida children are the targets. In a scenario reminiscent of Third Reich social engineering projects, kids have to come up with better ideas about how to hate other kids and adults who smoke. PARENTS! Do not allow your child to participate in this disgusting propaganda. If your child learns intolerance, one day he/she may become intolerant of YOU. (Does hearing the word "health" make parents forget all basic values of responsible citizenship?) Read this on an empty stomach.

What The Antismoking Zealots Really Crave - We cannot think of any better way than this article by Jeff Jacoby from the Boston Globe to describe the depth of the moral corruption of the anti-smokers. Just read it.

Mom and Pop Shops Hurt, Too - Tobacco Cuts Leave Small Business Reeling - "Local economists say there's no firm estimate on the number of "mom and pop" shops that serve Philip Morris and the rest of the industry. Some industry insiders estimate that about 200 machine shops, equipment makers and other companies make parts and machinery for Philip Morris alone. But economists do say that tobacco-related jobs have a dramatic "multiplier effect" on the local and state economy. Every cigarette-making job results in the creation of nearly four jobs in the economy -- or more than 30,000 overall in the Richmond area, they say. In all, Philip Morris and the jobs it generates account for more than 38,000 jobs in the region, according to Christine Chmura, chief economist at Crestar Bank." Article by Chip Jones, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

The Tobacco Gestapo - "The tobacco settlement between the industry and the government is dangerous. It is a massive assault on individual rights. And, even more frightening, it establishes the precedent of totalitarian control over legally functioning businesses. There is a name for the political system that maintains a facade of private ownership while people's lives are actually controlled by the state. It is fascism." Article by David Harriman, The Ayn Rand Institute

Burger eaters: Macdonald's Made Me Do It - Preparing for the next generation of control freaks - "Even now, in an era of healthier living, McDonald's ode to its high-fat, cholesterol-laden star burger may seem innocuous. But 20 years from now? The fast-food maven may find itself answering the same questions now facing cigarette makers." - Janet Colwell of the San Francisco Business Time

The Danger In The Tobacco Deal - In this powerful article, James K. Glassman of The Washington Post explains why Americans (and indeed the world) should say "no" to the tobacco deal. As we are aware of the ad campaign the US tobacco industry is financing on all media to support the deal, we are even more appalled at its behavior. The "deal" would impose an enormous taxation on smokers while allowing gangster organizations such as ASSIST, the American Cancer, Lung, Heart, and other assorted organ societies to have access to unlimited funding for the persecution of smokers and the propagation of false information on the effects of tobacco. Children would be brainwashed with lies to a much greater extent than today, while smokers would be marginalized even more, their children taken, their names on computerized black lists. And all this, while the US tobacco industry -- shielded by the most unfair deal in history -- would not have to fight, nor it would have to expose the scientific and legal frauds of the antismoking cartel, comfortably passing the buck to smokers, and letting them be slaughtered!

Security Guards to Smoke Out Students Puffing in School Bathrooms - Since time immemorial, students have puffed cigarettes in school bathrooms. And it's always been against the rules. But in the new world of anti-tobacco, PRIVATE SECURITY GUARDS are being accepted in some places as the appropriate way to enforce the rules. Message to students from school administration: "WE KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, but we can't handle our own discipline problems, and we'd rather intimidate you with imitation policemen." Students will respond with the the time-honored adolescent response: "the middle finger!" It's more fun foiling a uniformed security guard than Mr. Miller the English teacher!

Teen Accused of Smoking - The dream of the fetid anti-smokers is to make smoking a crime, and with people of the like of Kessler, Koop and Clinton in the dictatorship chair, and smokers in perennial inertia, this is quickly becoming true. Here is a story of a teenager who went out to look for her cat, and she was accused of smoking. Again: ACCUSED OF SMOKING. If this is not sufficient to instigate any sane and normal teenager to spite these fascists by starting to smoke, we don't know what will. Ah, but the cop was just doing his job. So did the Gestapo. Article from NBC Local News.