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March 2003
Dateline Brampton, Ontario
Rothman's just spent $1.7 million complying with the last edicts of Brampton city council. Rothman's who employ 70 people in Brampton also has a plant in Quebec City. Although Rothman's did not ask for my advice I'll offer it anyway-move to Quebec City. When New York City completed its war on smokers Philip Morris moved to Virginia. Ontario doesn't care about jobs anyway. Ontario is prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of hospitality jobs on the alter of "Health"-Social Engineering. The American Ambassador to Canada has all but announced it will be open season on Canada (read Ontario) once the war is over. My advice to Rothman's is to leave Ontario while the going is good. Also in Brampton, City Council has come up with a half-assed comprise about smoking. Reduce the smoking sections in bingos, but still allow smoking, allow some DSR's in bars that have them and allow Daimler Chrysler to keep its 10 DSR. Enjoy it while it lasts. If I was an America trade official my first target would be a Daimler Chrysler plant in Ontario. I don't think Germans or Ontarians are likely to win too many popularity contests in the U.S. now. Dateline York, Ontario
"York Region's public health department is conducting a phone survey with Italian and Chinese residents to learn about their attitudes and behavior towards smoking. "Respondents will be asked about their awareness of smoke-free public places and second-hand smoke. "The survey will be funded by a $494,000 Ministry of Health grant to address smoking in York's Italian and Chinese communities." Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
Dateline Lapwai, Idaho
As an act of solidarity, I urge all Forces Canada readers to also pray for the safe return of the soldiers. Dateline-New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
These dangerous criminals are accused of having a cigarette at a Pizza restaurant. Be on the lookout for: Kathleen Irving, Kenneth Richard, Wendy White, Vince Rizzotti, Jeremy Paris, and 68 year old Ruth Alexander. If spotted contact the nearest detachment of Rose Marie's finest (R.C.M.P.) Dateline- Nanaino,B.C
It seems, that Capitalist exploiter Wayne Smith, the owner of the
Occidental Hotel Pub found a loophole in B.C's anti-smoking law. He fired
his 6 employees. He then made them partners in his bar. Voila he has no It used to be that the 3 biggest lies ever told were: I'll love you in the morning, the cheque is in the mail, and I'm here from the government to help. We can add a fourth-smoking bans are about health, not social engineering. And you wonder why Pat Buchanan calls Canada "Soviet Canukistan". It's a smoke-free workers paradise-if your job hasn't been eliminated because of smoking bans.
At this moment I can't begin to describe how ashamed I am to be a Canadian. President John F .Kennedy said in Ottawa in 1961"Geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends." As the President of Forces Canada, I would once again like to paraphrase President Kennedy:" All free men are Americans. Ich Bin ein American." In order to show solidarity with America, I have requested that for the duration of the war to liberate Iraq, I have requested that the American flag be put on the Forces Canada site. There will be a demonstration Saturday in Winnipeg at the legislature at 1:00 PM Saturday, to show solidarity with America. This will be the first demonstration I plan to attend since the 60s. Dateline-Toronto, Ontario
In short a who's who of Canada's anti-smoking nuts. Here are what we Canadians get for the $10 bucks a pack the Liberal Government taxes Canadian smokers. Dr. Pam Kaufman a research assistant at Ontario Tobacco Research Unit and a lecturer in public health sciences at the University of Toronto wrote: "Recognition of the health impacts of environmental tobacco smoke has led to increased smoking restrictions in indoor public spaces. But one of the outcomes of this is that more people are now smoking in outdoor spaces. We need to look at the impact this has on the acceptability of smoking and how it may influence young people to start smoking or recent quitters to relapse." For those of you who think its hyperbole to compare this to Nazism, here is a brief description of Hitler's anti-smoking campaign: "Armed with the requisite scientific expertise and political power, Nazi authorities moved to limit smoking through a combination of propaganda, public relations, and official decrees. The Ministry of Science and Education ordered elementary schools to discuss the dangers of tobacco, and the Reich Health Office published pamphlets warning young people not to smoke. Public lectures sponsored by the Reich Health Office -on maternal health or vaccinations, for example-were declared "smoke-free". A Bureau against the hazards of Alcohol and Tobacco was established in 1939...Fifteen thousand people attended a March 5-7,1939,congress in Frankfurt on the hazards of tobacco and alcohol, at which Reich Health Office president Hans Reiter and other Nazi luminaries-including Leonardo Conti, Robert Ley, and Ferdinand Sauerbruch (standing in for Gerhard Wagner) --- attacked both vices as reproductive poisons and drains on the German economy." Robert Proctor, The Nazi War on Cancer,pp198-199 To those kids who say they want a revolution-how about a Canada where you can smoke what you want, where you want? How about a Canada where the likes of Frau Dr. Kaufman and her Nazi luminaries are sent to Angola to clear landmines? You can say that I'm a dreamer-but more people smoke in Canada than vote for the Liberal Party. Dateline-Prince George B.C
Dateline Vancouver, B.C.
My complaint then and now is that if you're rich and well connected in Canada you're rights are respected and accommodated. If you're not, you have no rights in Canada.
I am ashamed as a Canadian to say that Canada is not part of the coalition of the willing. Dateline Calgary, Alberta
Dateline Edmonton, Alberta,
What is truly amazing is that certain members of city council are actually listening. If you are in Edmonton and haven't already made your views known please do so. Dateline Midland, Ontario
Our experience has shown that polls in general-especially on line polls should be taken with a grain of salt. In Ottawa the anti-smoking nuts claimed overwhelming support for a smoking ban. However, when the question involved ventilation the polls showed a very different result. The only poll that counts is the one on election day. More people smoke than vote in on-line polls. Dateline Orangeville, Ontario
Dateline St.John, New Brunswick
If the tobacco companies had hired the anti-smoking nuts to get kids to take up smoking they couldn't have done a better job. Dateline Ottawa, Ontario
The anti-smoking nuts love to trot out a misleading KPMG study that shows" no over-all loss of revenue." This is the favorite tactic of the anti-smoking nuts-the "no-overall loss of revenue argument." As with the similar claims out of California, this is misleading. When smoking bans are imposed the big winners are fast-food restaurants where the dining experience is less than 15 minutes. Some takeout places also see a spike in business. The big losers are sit-down restaurants and bars. Blue-collar areas take a much bigger hit than wealthier areas. The entire "level playing field" argument is an oxymoron. Hospitality is not a commodity business. The most salient argument is the re-sale price of bars and restaurants AFTER a smoking ban is imposed. In the Forces evidence archive is a study by the same KPMG that examined the re-sale value of California restaurants and bars after smoking bans are imposed. The KPMG study found between a 40-80% REDUCTION (depending on cliental and location) in the resale value of California restaurants and bars. Keep in mind this KPMG study was conducted when the California economy was booming, showing a 32% growth in the economy, while OVERALL hospitality revenues were flat. Using meta-statistics including a spike in fast food revenues, the anti-smoking nuts sell this spin to gullible editorial boards. In a letter published Monday in the Winnipeg Free Press, Mr. Barry McKay of Ottawa's Pubco sets the record straight. Barry has kindly allowed Forces Canada to repost. Here is the real story of Ottawa's smoking ban:
Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
If you cannot attend there are still ways to have your voice heard. You can call the Citizen Action Centre at 496-8200.You can e-mail the Action Centre at: cacentre@edmonton.ca. You can e-mail city council at: councillors@edmonton.ca. Dateline- Kingston, Ontario
The basic textbook definition of fascism is where the state legislates private life-style choices. It was for this reason that the anti-smoking nuts always maintained that their efforts were driven by "Health", not social-engineering. Even that ridiculous lie has been dispatched. Dateline-Winnipeg, Manitoba
It turns out that when he tried to access Forces from his school's computer-the site as blocked. His teacher told him it as because "Forces encourages smoking." No we don't. Nor have we ever encouraged smoking. The overwhelming majority of Forces Presidents are parents and in many cases grandparents. None of us have ever encouraged anyone to smoke. We have, however, criticized many of the claims and efforts of the anti-smoking nuts, as being self-defeating. We have bent over backwards to present the empirical evidence to counter the non-stop propaganda of the anti-smoking nuts. Back in the 50's and 60s the phrase "Banned in Boston" was a titillating come-on. Now we can update this to "Banned in Winnipeg Schools." My 13 year old went to the Forces site on his computer. He called us "COOL". He said it was" very impressive and professional." When I asked him what he found most interesting on the Forces site he said "Japan." He found it fascinating that Japan has the highest percentage of smokers in the world and the highest life expectancy. Smart kid. If you're a kid tell all your friends that Forces is banned in Winnipeg schools. The truth is very harmful to the non-stop propaganda lies of the anti-smoking nuts. Dateline Toronto, Ontario
For those of you glued to CNN for hours on end to see fascinating coverage of which way Cameroon and Guinea were going to vote in the U.N. Security Council (Why the United States needs to worry about which way a couple of third world basket cases nobody can find on a map to give legitimacy to operations against Iraq is beyond my comprehension). At the bottom of the screen was a story about second-hand smoke causes cavities. I happened to have on CNN because we in Canada don't get: Fox News, HBO. ESPN, the History Channel, TV etc. etc. Buried-and I mean buried-at the CNN web site was a story that "Second-hand Smoke CAUSES Cavities." According to that Ivy League bastion of world renowned scientific credibility- The University of Rochester (N.Y.) put out a study picked up by the Journal of the American Medical Association (J.A.M.A.) that kids who grow up in smoking homes have more cavities than kids who grow up in non-smoking homes. But kids who grow up in non-smoking homes also have cavities-just not as many. Never mind there are undoubtedly a myriad of factors besides smoking as to why kids have cavities. If there was a direct correlation kids who grew up in non-smoking homes wouldn't have cavities-but they do. Its the same with ear infections. Whether you smoke around your kids or not chances are they are going to have an ear infection and cavities. That's part of having kids. In other words this is Junk Science 101. For those of you unaware the Journal of the American Medical Association has an illustrious history on its reporting about second hand smoke. As far back as 1939 JAMA ran articles praising Nazi anti-smoking programs. JAMA was especially impressed with Herman Goering's and Heinrich Himmler's 1939 decree that barred uniformed soldiers and SS officers from smoking on the streets, in marches and on brief off-duty periods. The longest and most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the effects of second-hand smoke ever conducted was by the U.S. Department of Energy's laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Oak Ridge study came up with nothing and dispelled numerous myths about second-hand smoke. The most fascinating claim of the Oak Ridge study, however, was their claim that JAMA had used fraudulent and manipulated data to push for smoking bans. The only newspaper who printed the University of Rochestor/JAMA junk was of course the Toronto Globe and Mail. (Grope and Flail). Naturally the editorial masquerading as a news story was authored by the Globe "Science reporter" André Picard. Mr. Picard and the Grope and Flail write the most ludicrous garbage about smoking. My predecessor at Forces Canada launched a full scale complaint to the Canadian Press council and the Globe and Mail about Picard's smoking stories. Other than the Grope and Flail not one other paper I monitor found this newsworthy. The list includes: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Providence Journal, the National Post, the Winnipeg Free Press or the Sun newspapers. Only CNN and the Grope and Flail found this newsworthy. I can't imagine why. Dateline-Collingwood, Ontario
The Enterprise Bulletin quotes Collingwood City Councilor Joe Gardhouse as saying:" Its a big waste of taxpayer money. It wasn't necessary at all." No kidding. Dateline Timmins, Ontario
Its not just smokers who are being punished. Spare us the baloney that this is about "Health '. This is social engineering 101.There is a lot of collateral damage on Ontario's war on smokers. Let us all hope and pray that reason and common sense prevail at Timmins city council. Dateline Calgary, Alberta
Although I alerted Forces Canada readers previously to these ads, I have as yet seen one. But from calls I have received from smokers in Winnipeg, I gather that these are guaranteed to backfire. These are directed at kids. When the government of Canada put the pornographic warning labels on cigarettes, in a story carried by the Montreal Gazette, and re-posted on Forces Canada, tons of kids started buying cigarettes to get the grossest labels possible. Forces Canada put these labels up on our Internet site so kids could get these labels without having to buy cigarettes. According to the Montreal Gazette story kids were trading these like Pokemon cards. Forces Canada registered a million hits from kids downloading this misleading garbage. Phony propaganda campaigns back-firing is nothing new. How many kids started smoking pot because of the anti-marijuana cult classic" Reefer Madness"? As that famous smoker Bob Dylan once sang "Propoganda all is phony." And its guaranteed to backfire. Dateline Winnipeg, Manitoba
In a first in human recorded history and the first time an anti-smoking story appeared on page 12 of the Winnipeg Free Press, Kristina Hunter of the Environment Health Sciences of University of Manitoba has concluded that second-hand smoke is now responsible for the common cold. This non-peer reviewed "study" was based on the anecdotes of 35 people at (count 'em) ONE restaurant in Winnipeg. This garbage gives even Junk Science a bad name. I implore all readers of Forces Canada to write McLean's magazine on behalf of the University of Manitoba and ask for a recount. Dateline Mississauga, Ontario
The rest of Canada pays extra thousands per vehicle for the privilege of supporting the Ontario Auto Industry. The Ontario Auto Industry unlike the Alberta Oil Industry in Western Canada was exempted from the Kyoto Accords. You Americans will actually be doing the clean air fixated Ontario a big favor if you help shut down the Ontario auto industry." Clean Air" fixations are shutting down the Ontario Hospitality Industry, which employ far more people than the Ontario Auto Industry.100,000 in Toronto alone work in the hospitality industry threatened with smoking bans. But this is a health issue. The auto plants in Ontario are major polluters. Why shouldn't clean air fixations shut down the Ontario auto industry? There are no shortage of plants and capacity in America that could produce vehicles for all of North America. There are tons of unemployed auto workers in the U.S.-why do an Ontario politician that calls Americans "BASTARDS" any favours? The Toronto Grope and Flail regularly runs anti-American polls. I'd like to ask the non-Ontario readers of Forces Canada a question: Would you rather be part of George W. Bush's America or part of the Liberal Party/Grope and Flail - Ontario dominated Canada? There are no shortage of voices in both Quebec and Alberta who are starting to say they've had enough. On behalf of Canadian smokers-we've had enough too. Dateline Calgary, Alberta
There is much to applaud in Mrs. Corbella's column. She dispels the myth that cigarettes are spiked to increase its addictive quality. She makes clear that" Big Tobacco" is really the government that rakes in 8 Billion in cigarette taxes-10 times as much as the tobacco companies. And she makes reference to the breathtaking hypocrisy of the anti-smoking nuts who pressured the tobacco companies in the 1970s to introduce Light and Mild cigarettes and are now being vilified for it. What is disappointing about the column is Mrs. Corbella's unquestioning of anti-smoking propaganda. She unquestionably accepts The Insider propaganda where tobacco company executives were dragged before a congressional committee in 1994 to deny that cigarettes are "addictive." This was indistinguishable from one of Stalin's show trials. Guess what folks-they were telling the truth. "Addiction" has a very specific
defintion. "Addiction" means something that is BOTH habit forming AND INTOXICATING. Cigarettes are certainly habit
forming-but they are not intoxicating. Heroin, Cocaine, and Alcohol are both
habit forming and intoxicating. Gambling is both habit forming and intoxicating. Marijuana is intoxicating without being habit forming.
Addiction is a loaded word, that has been re-defined by public health types Besides cigarettes, coffee, chocolate, sugar, salt and sex have been called addictive. The only funny line in the otherwise dreadful movie "Town and Country" is when Dianne Keaton accuses Warren Beatty of being "addicted" to a euphemism for a part of the female anatomy. Its a cute line, but Warren Beatty is not "addicted to p----." Mrs. Corbella quotes a 1962 Brown and Williamson (B.A.T) memo from 1962 that" nicotine is addictive." Habit forming yes. Addictive no. Mark Twain said about 150 years ago:" Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it 1,000 times." Mrs. Corbella makes reference to the "demonization and denormalization" strategy of the anti-smoking nuts without understanding the inherent fascism -past and present-of this. Hitler and the Nazis were the first to make use of the "Demonization and Denormalization" strategy. In Nazi propaganda "Tobacco Capitalism" Big Tobacco) was portrayed as caricatures of Hasidic Jews scheming to lure" Aryan Youth into smoking slavery." Smokers were "Denormalized" as a motley crew of "Jews, Africans, Indians, loose women, and decadent intellectuals." In his study of Nazi anti-smoking campaigns, Penn State historian Robert Proctor described it "as in some sense just as fascist as Yellow Stars and Death Camps." The Nazi War on Cancer). The whole Nazi playbook has been instituted in Canada .Besides the
"demoniztion/denormalization" strategy, we have the huge tax increases,
draconian indoor restrictions, the moronic propaganda campaigns. Like Nazi
Germany, Alberta has criminalized Youth smoking. Canada has produced a generation of brainwashed Hitler Youth who are being indoctrinated to
believe that the highest duty of citizenship is to "be Healthy." The end
result of all this kookiness in Nazi Germany was the highest rate of teen Mrs. Corbella accepts at face value the claims of the anti-smoking nuts about second-hand and primary smoke. The claims about second-hand smoke are the hoax of the century-devoid of one iota of evidence. About a hundred years ago George Bernard Shaw got it right when he said" Quitting smoking doesn't make you live longer. It only seems that way." Dateline Mississauga, Ontario
Dateline- St.John, New Brunswick
Dateline-Thunder Bay, Ontario
What separates Thunder Bay from innumerable communities in Canada was the dedication of a few people who wouldn't let this go through without a fight. For those of you who don't think the actions of one individual can make a difference - I say-behold - Thomas Laprade - "The Snowbird." Mr. Laprade was a man on a mission. Thomas became the number 1 pain in the ass to the anti-smoking nuts. He wrote letters, he organized, he testified at city council meetings, he refused to be intimidated, and he ultimately prevailed against all odds. What this country needs desperately is more heroes like Thomas Laprade. Dateline Halifax, Nova Scotia
I can't speak for Gian or Stephen but I would like to clarify my remarks, and offer a public apology to Mr. Rodenhiser for making jokes about his name. I referred to him as a "Rotten Hoser." I unconditionally apologize. This was a cheap shot and uncalled for on my part. Mr. Rodenhiser neither threatened me nor asked for an apology in print. I am doing this on my own volition. Mr.Rodenhiser's name comes from the German "Rothenhauser." The term "Hoser" comes from an old SCTV skit, where two caricatures of Maratimers wearing plaid shirts and toques sit around cooking Canadian bacon and drinking beer tell each other to "Take-off Hoser" These two used to discuss such weighty topics as finding a parking spot at a donut shop or plotting to stuff a mouse in a beer bottle to get a free case of beer. Mr. Rodenhiser may well be intellectually lazy, gullible to the propaganda of the anti-smoking nuts-but he is clearly not a "Hoser." I never meant to imply that Mr. Rodenhiser subscribed to any kind of hair-brained conspiracy theory involving Jews and Freemason's taking over the world. What I was trying to do was show how ridiculous conspiracy theories are. Mr. Rodenhiser took my words out of context and distorted them, to imply that he was an adherent of Ernst Zundel or Bin Laden-which he is clearly not. If there is anyone else out there who feels offended by what I wrote feel free to contact me for an apology -if you feel one is deserved. So far the Globe and Mail has not contacted me about calling them the "Grope and Flail." Linda Williamson of the Toronto Sun has not objected to being called "Canada's answer to Nurse Rached." (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest). The anti-smoking nuts have not objected to being called the anti-smoking nuts. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P) as yet have not complained about me calling them" Rose-Marie's Finest."("Rose-Marie" was the singing Mountie movie from 1936 starring Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy.) The editorial board and columnists of the Winnipeg Free Press have not objected to my contention that they should be out covering fires. As Mort Sahl used to say:" Is there someone out there I haven't offended?" Dateline-Winnipeg, Manitoba
According to Monday's Winnipeg Free Press-spending $250,000 to buy pornographic anti-smoking ads from Australia for "The Children." I am not going to bore the readers of Forces Canada with the usual self-serving boiler-plate rhetoric cooked up by the parasites who dream this stuff up. If anyone is interested in the Forces evidence archives there is a meticulously documented study by Wanda Hamilton that demonstrates what we all suspected-teen smoking rates have risen dramatically because of the efforts of the anti-smoking parasites. The very same agenda with the very same results was implemented in Nazi Germany. By 1939 despite or because huge tax increases on cigarettes, draconian indoor smoking restrictions, moronic propaganda campaigns-youth smoking reached 50%.The highest documented rate in human recorded history. There is an old Wall Street expression-"The most expensive words ever uttered were 'THIS TIME ITS DIFFERENT'." Apparently the ads encourage parents to talk to their kids about smoking. Brilliant strategy-tell your teenager not to smoke 500 times and guess what will happen? I have a better idea. Talk to your kids about not voting NDP Dateline-Ottawa, Ontario
After years and a cost of millions Rose-Marie's finest found RJR LEGALLY exported tobacco from Canada and Puerto Rico to the U.S. The Feds went to U.S. Courts to charge RJR. Virtually every American Court including the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the lawsuit as being without merit-after wasting even more millions. Now the Feds are having a second round in Canadian Court. RJR is being charged with LEGALLY exporting tobacco to the U.S. but not having the eschatological insight to know it would be smuggled back into Canada. Right. My hunch is Canadian Courts after more millions are squandered will reach much the same conclusions as their U.S. counterparts. Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
Dateline-Brantfort, Ontario
Let the Brantford experience be a lesson to the rest of us in Canada. If we go along with smoking bans (such as those in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) the anti-smoking nuts win and have a huge propaganda windfall to push for smoking bans. If you refuse to patronize places where your rights are respected eventually you will be accommodated. The choice is yours. < Back To "I read the news..." > |
TOBACCO
NEWS FROM CANADA
March
28 - For those of you who think its just the hospitality industry who gets
screwed from smoking bans, there is a new victim. The Proverbial whipping
boy of the anti-smoking nuts-Big Tobacco. Actually Rothman Benson and Hedges
is not that big, compared to B.A.T. (Imperial Tobacco controls about 90% of
Canada's tobacco market.). According to the Brampton Guardian, Rothman's
happens to have a testing facility that would be in violation of the new
rules banning designated smoking rooms. (D.S.R's).