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April 2003
Dateline Toronto, Ontario
Those of you who are faithful readers of FORCES are aware of the W.H.O's role in anti-smoking campaigns. For the most part it can be characterized as a series of outright lies and distortions. Even when the news is 100% exculpatory for smokers as was the case of second-hand smoke and lung cancer-the W.H.O buries its own report because it does not fit its agenda. (W.H.O. Multicenter Case - Control Study Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer in Europe). In a world of malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, etc, etc. that annually kill millions-the W.H.O. made lying about smoking its central mission. These W.H.O. lies no matter how scurrilous and ridiculous were always cheerlead by the likes of the Globe and Mail (Grope and Flail) and its "Science" reporter Andre Picard. My predecessor at Forces Canada in fact made an official complaint to both the Globe and Mail and the Canadian Government about the reporting of Andre Picard. She was informed that Mr. Picard was entitled to his "opinion". Now that the issue is Toronto and SARS the reporting about the W.H.O. has changed at the Grope and Flail. Mr. Picard now calls W.H.O claims about Toronto "alarming, overblown news and misleading statistics." Its just a co-incidence that we at Forces have been saying for years that the W.H.O.'s claims about smoking were "alarming, overblown news, and misleading statistics". Picard and the Grope and Flail treated the IARC (IARC is a subsidiary of the W.H.O) claim of a 20-30% increased risk of contracting lung cancer from second-hand smoke as TRUTH. What the IARC did was take 50 existing studies-IGNORED over 50 other studies-tortured statistics to come up with a 1.5 epidemiological risk level as opposed to a 1.15 risk level. Voila a 30% increased risk. However anything under the level 2 does not even register as a risk. Now, however, Mr.Picard labels the W.H.O as POLITICAL Advocacy rather than disinterested science. This is nothing compared to the Grope and Flail editorial page. In very unGlobe and Mail like prose, the usually bluenose Grope and Flail labeled the W.H.O. Toronto travel advisory" a bunch of bullshit." For those of you who have wondered why Toronto has been particularly hard hit by SARS, the National Post's Mark Steyn supplies the answer. Its a legitimate question as numerous cities around the world have large Chinese Diaspora communities. But not every city is blessed with the prize packages from public health and the OMA who seem to spend all their time dreaming up smoking bans and engaging in political advocacy using "alarming, overblown news and misleading statistics." Steyn's column on why SARS spread in Toronto is fascinating reading. Despite warnings passed around the world, someone with SARS was allowed to sit 12 hours in a hallway in a Toronto hospital infecting 500 people. Then he was given antibiotics. When he finally died the cause of death was listed as" Heart Attack." These are the same diagnostic geniuses at the O.M.A. that claim that 2,600 people a year die from second-hand smoke. Thousands more die from greenhouse gasses according to the O.M.A. (The O.M.A. supported Kyoto which devastates Alberta's Oil Industry while exempting Ontario's Auto-Industry). Speaking of geniuses and further karmic irony, the Mayor of Toronto, Mel Lastman confused the World Health Organization (W.H.O) with the Center for Disease Control (C.D.C.). With the crisis who has come to Toronto's rescue? It sure wasn't the rest of Canada that could care less. Nova Scotia which has taken over from B.C. as the Canada's biggest collection of nuts has advised its citizens not to travel to Toronto. The French, Germans, Russians and the coalition of the unwilling never lifted a finger. It was only the Americans (the C.D.C) who are trying to get Toronto out of its self-inflicted mess. The same Americans, Canada turned its back on. The Americans, greater Toronto area M.P. Carolyn Parrish called "bastards." Despite what the Toronto Red Star, the Grope and Flail, the C.B.C say about Americans-its America alone that rushed to Toronto's defense. 20 people have died of SARS in Toronto. Over the past couple of weeks over 100 Torontonians have died of influenza .Is the risk of SARS grounds for not visiting Toronto? No. But if you're a masochist, Toronto's your kind of town. Think of all the fun you can have sitting for 3 hours stuck in traffic on the 401 trying to get anywhere. Or spending a fortune to watch the Blow Jays lose. Take in ambience of Hog town that banishes all fun. If this sounds appealing "The Big Lemon" (New York City is the "Big Apple") is a fun spot for a vacation-if you're a masochist- SARS or no SARS. Dateline -Sudbury, Ontario
The by-law dreamed up by the Sudbury Health Unit clearly states (in the breathtaking prose of the Grope and Flail): "The Bylaw states no smoking signs should be conspicuously posted in every washroom, foyer, conference room, entrance, elevator, meeting room, and reception area. The bylaw also includes details about coloring, wording, and letter size down to one-thousandth of an inch." The successful prosecution was initiated by "Sudbury Citizens Advocating Bylaw Reform." This is a group fighting Sudbury's anti-smoking laws. Way to go. Dateline Inuvik, North West Territory
According to the C.B.C. a non-smoking legion member since the early 1960s, Fred Church put forward a motion that they were not going to raise a dime or lift a finger until the smoking ban is abolished. According to the CBC the mayor's pleas were drowned out-all anybody discussed was when the smoking ban would be repealed. Dateline Toronto, Ontario
In this particular story the Toronto Star took time out from its usual "reporting" -- blaming America, Israel for the world's problems and hyping the SARS story, with huge banner headlines. I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but does anyone believe that if 13 people died in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan or Red Deer, Alberta the Canadian media would have gone into overdrive on this story. 13 people have so far died of SARS. The Ontario Medical Association puts the deaths from second-hand smoke at 2,600-without one iota of evidence mind you. The O.M.A. puts the deaths from Green House Gasses-also with no evidence in the thousands-so why the fixation with 13 deaths? But I digress. The prescription for the "Cancer epidemic" in Ontario according to the Toronto Red Star and the quacks at the O.M.A. is your usual social engineering fantasies of "Preventative" Medicine. In this case virtually the same formula was applied in Nazi Germany under Hitler.
What was missing from the Red Star (more like Swastika) was reporting about why Ontario lung cancer death rates are so high. This wouldn't have anything to do with obsolete radiological equipment that can't detect lung cancer when its treatable? For those of you wondering, the cornerstone of Nazi Medicine was Preventive rather than curative. The punch line as to why Preventive rather than curative medicine is so seductive for government funded health monopolies like Canada and Nazi Germany, is simply because preventive medicine is cheaper. Lots cheaper.
Sounds like Ontario's prescription, doesn't it? Dateline Halifax, Nova Scotia
The Daily News also reported that the anti-smoking nuts didn't come away empty handed, however. You can no longer be served food in the smoking room. You can however order it and take it to the room. This is for reasons of health and not social engineering. Of Course. Dateline Toronto, Ontario
Before the ink was dry in the Grope and Flail, Canada's answer to the Taliban Vice and Virtue Committee - Gar Mahood's "Non-smokers Rights Association" put out a press release. You would have thought that Gar and his unmerry band of 17th century would have been delighted with this. Another chance to impose their dour vision on the populous, another chance to bring suffering and unhappiness to Canada, and most important another chance to get Gar's name in the Grope and Flail making one of his usual self-righteous, bombastic diatribes. Surprise, surprise, Gar et al denounced Imperial Tobacco for ending its sponsorship. The reasoning was so convoluted that I'm not even going to bother trying to explain it. Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
For now however they are dropping an attempt to get the question on the ballot. They are scared off by the war chest of the anti-smoking nuts. I think this strategy is a mistake. Even if you don't win the plebe-site you will draw a lot of smokers to the polls. But I wish Edmonton well. Dateline Regina, Saskatchewan
The pretext was of course "The Children." If kids don't see tobacco products displayed they will be less inclined to take up smoking-or so the Academic daydreamers would have us believe. So what has been the effect of this so far? According to the Regina Leader-Post-nothing. In fact teen smoking has increased since this was implemented. This insanity has cost small retailers plenty. They have lost desperately need revenue for displays. They have had to build special cases to hide tobacco products. Theft is up. When Manitoba's N.D.P announced Manitoba was going to follow Saskatchewan's lead, Macs Corporation immediately announced that 300 plus jobs would be transferred to Alberta because of this law. On behalf of Forces Canada I'd like to offer a big "I-Told-You-So" to the anti-smoking nuts from Academia who daydreamed this up. Dateline Iqaluit, Nunavut
Way to go Nunavut! Dateline Kingston, Ontario
I wish the freedom lovers in Kingston good luck to have this struck down by the courts. Datelines Halifax, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Its OK for private businesses to lose millions but not government casinos? But haven't proponents of smoking bans kept telling us how great they are for business? The Mayor of Cape Breton told the Cape Breton Post that the Provincial action exempting Provincial owned casinos undermines Cape Breton's "level playing field." I prophesize that this one will be in Court before long. A similar attempt was wisely thrown out of court in New Brunswick. But this is about health and not money, right? No. This is about social-engineering and money. Smoking bans have nothing to do with health. Dateline Toronto, Ontario
Halifax City Council is having a vote soon on the same DSR issue, lets hope common sense prevails there as well. Dateline Prince George, B.C.
The CBC quoted City Councillor Don Zurowski as saying: "I'm not going to do something simply because it may represent the wishes of the majority. They can vote with their feet about where they go and where they invest their money." Don Zurowski - a profile in courage. Dateline Calgary, Alberta
Last week on the Forces main page was the story of two GPs from Montana-not cardiologists by the way-who attempted to link the Montana smoking ban to a decrease in heart attacks. This non-peer reviewed garbage was based on the supposed decrease from 6 to 3 heart attacks since the smoking ban in Helena, Montana was imposed, and the 6 heart attacks since the courts threw out the ban. This whole "study" was based on 6 month intervals. Co-incidentally the two quacks who came up with this were the same two quacks pushing for the smoking ban. Steve Milloy of Junk Science wondered why there was
not similar data found in places like Boston and But Bill Kaufmann manages to quote the always reliable "Dr.Stanton Glantz" (A PHD in mechanical engineering who he calls Dr. Stanley Glantz). Stanton Glantz is an expert only in getting grants and spreading hate. Here is Bill Kaufmann's take on this ground breaking research: "They shipped their documentation to Dr. Stanley (sic) Glantz at the University of California, Santa Cruz-an expert in analyzing medical data." Mechanical engineering makes Stanton Glantz an expert in medical data. Just for the record there are 300 causes of heart attacks. Second-hand smoke has never been demonstrated to be one. In response to various attempts to establish the link by "Meta-statistics" (Junk Science), the world's foremost acknowledged expert on the question, University of Chicago epidemiologist, Dr. John Bailer wrote a scathing editorial for the New England Journal of Medicine on these attempts he labeled "unprofessional." Dr. Bailer wrote: "an increased risk of such magnitude was NOT PLAUSIBLE given how dilutive second-hand smoke becomes in the air." Case closed. Dateline-Toronto
In a country that produces an endless collection of know-nothing whiners, bitchers, hypocondonriacs - who lie, fabricate evidence, and end up sounding like a combination of Nurse Rached (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest) and Ilsa Koch (convicted of using human skin to make lampshades)-the Toronto Sun's Sue Ann Levy was in a class by herself. Sue Ann was even more irritating and obnoxious if that's possible than fellow Toronto Sun columnist Linda Williamson, the Winnipeg Free Press' Lindor Reynolds, the Ottawa Citizen's Janice Kennedy, the Winnipeg Sun's Lyn Cockburn and the Edmonton Sun's Mindelle Jacobs. Just so I cannot be accused of picking on the girls, the Winnipeg Sun's Laurie Mustard, and the London Free Press' Chip Martin are a couple of serial nitwits who are always factually challenged on the smoking issue. You can imagine my shock when I saw in the Sunday Sun that Sue-Ann Levy came out against closing designated smoking rooms (DSRs) in Toronto. Sue-Ann even denounced the Health nuts as "buddinskys", telling everyone how to live. Sue-Ann was more outraged over the transgressing of property rights than even the National Post-which wrote a half-assed insipid editorial on the question. In all seriousness, the DSR question in both Toronto and Halifax is sad. Hospitality owners have spent up to $250,000 installing these monuments to social-engineering and now face a double whammy, of the cost plus the inevitable loss of business. Let us all hope and pray that city councils in both Toronto and Halifax do something radically un-Canadian and let common sense, decency and fair play prevail. I'm not holding my breath either. But for her "Up In Smoke" column, I hereby nominate Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy as Forces Canada's Woman of the Year. Dateline Timmins, Ontario
Stephen Hartwell of Smokers Rights Canada sent me an e-mail where he pointed out that Porcupine County is mining country. Stephen informs me that lead, zinc, cadium, nickle, etc. etc. are co-incidentally mined in Porcupine County. But this of course has nothing to do with the cancer rate-its all about smoking. One of the more interesting aspects of the (Red) Star's story, however, was the issue of racism entering the smoking debate. It seems that an overwhelming majority of smokers in Timmins are Franco-Ontarians. The French would be disproportionately impacted by the smoking ban. Dateline Iqaluit, Nunavut
Pardon the pun but I don't think the Nunavut anti-smoking campaign has a snowball's chance in hell. Dateline Timmins, Ontario
When one mentions Nazi medicine there is the image of Mengele performing experiments on concentration camp inmates. But Mengele and his ilk were only a very small percentage of Nazi Doctors. Far more common were Nazi Doctors (Doctors constituted the largest percentage of Nazi Party members. Lawyers were second), who nagged patients to quit smoking. Doctors who pushed for "smoke-free" hospitals. Doctors who engaged in duplicitous propaganda about primary and second-hand smoke. The following two stories are about Doctors who would have been right at home in Nazi Germany. In a story datelined from Timmins, Ontario, the Toronto (Red) Star tells about the antics of Timmins chest surgeon, Dr.Claudio de la Rocha. It seems that if you smoke, this quack will not operate on you. If you smoke according to de la Rocha, you can go to Thunder Bay or Toronto for your operation. He is the only chest surgeon in Timmins. Even in Nazi Germany, Doctors were not allowed to refuse to treat smoking patients. Nazi Germany unlike Ontario had standards. The Ontario Medical Association said Dr. de la Rocha is with his rights to refuse to treat smokers. Put aside for a moment that Canadian smokers are paying around $10 a pack, the rationale is to pay the cost of treating sick smokers. Canada, like North Korea and Cuba are the only countries where there is a "single payer monopoly." This makes a mockery of our beloved Canada Health Act. Last year when a similar story appeared in Winnipeg, I asked Forces Canada readers to rip up their organ donation cards, and refuse to donate blood until our rights are guaranteed. Dateline Halifax, Nova Scotia
What a shame Hitler isn't alive to see his medical vision of a "secure and sanitary utopia...a smoke-free Germany" being implemented in Canada. Dateline Saskatoon, Saskatchwan
Dateline Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that the Manitoba Lung Association is
spending $113,000 to bring in an MTV style "Not On Tobacco"
program. Like $50,000 come from the Feds, ya know, and like $50,000 comes from the Province
and like $13,000 comes from well meaning suckers who bought Easter Seals, ya The karmic inevitability of all these programs cooked up by the anti-smoking nuts is they backfire. If "Big Tobacco" had paid the anti-smoking nuts to get kids to smoke, they couldn't have done a better job. Like if you think I'm kidding, like check out the Forces evidence archive. Dateline-Toronto, Ontario
This has all changed since Izzy Asper (Canwest Global) bought the National Post. Since the Canwest takeover the National Post has been very silent on the smoking issue, while other Canwest-Southam papers like the Edmonton Journal, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Halifax Daily News can be counted on regularly to parrot the propaganda of the anti-smoking nuts. Compared to when Conrad Black owned the National Post its smoking commentaries are half-assed. On Wednesday the National Post had an editorial "A Farewell to Ashtrays" that opposes Toronto's new proposed smoking ban for the most insipid reasons. It isn't "decent" to have Toronto restaurants have to spend inordinate amounts of money to comply with the last edicts of the anti-smoking nuts, and more money to dismantle smoking rooms etc without compensation. No kidding. Under Conrad Black, the National Post would have come out with guns a blazing on this transparent social-engineering. Even when the National Post gives a forum to Pierre Lemieux it buries his magnificent essays in the Financial Post section, not in the far more widely read opinion page. What accounts for the new editorial stance at the National Post? Izzy Asper is a prominent Liberal. Izzy used to be the leader of the Liberal Party of Manitoba. When the Ottawa Citizen wrote an editorial calling on Chretien to resign, the editor was fired. Global TV runs tons of these very expensive anti-smoking ads financed by the Federal Government. The Liberals control TV license renewals. But in one of the most ridiculous stories to come out of Winnipeg (Canwest is headquartered in Winnipeg) Liberal "Culture and Heritage" Minister Shelia Copps is considering putting in something like 100 million dollars of taxpayer money into some sort of "Museum of Tolerance" dreamed up by the Aspers. Here are a few of the other brilliant decisions of Shelia Copps: a taxpayer financed hard-core porn movie entitled "Bubbles Galore", taxpayer financing of Winnipeg "ARTIST" Diane Thorneycroft's exhibits of 6 (count'em) dead rabbit carcasses, and hardcore S&M photographs, making Forces Canada remove the Canadian flag from its site. Pierre Lemieux put the tab for Canada's propaganda campaign against smokers (a huge percentage goes to Canwest) at $200 million. Forces Canada has been given the number of $480 million. So what's another $100 million pissed away on a "Museum of Tolerance"? (Apparantly another Holocaust Memorial with a few other token aggrieved groups getting into the act). Just for the record, I happen to be Jewish, and I lost 500 relatives in the Holocaust-and I still think its a stupid pissing away of public money. Walkerton, Ontario
According to The Record, its smoking, of course. Here are the exact words of "Warden" (I couldn't possibly make this up) Ralph Kreutzwizer on citizens under 19 at Walkerton restaurants:" If they're caught with minors in there we will revoke our license that we issued to allow smoking in there. If its revoked, they're going to have to become smoke-free. We've been told that the Legions are allowing smokers to go from the lounge into the dance halls." I have to wonder what kind of "Warden" is in charge of Walkerton. Is Herr Kreutwizer the "Warden" of a Zoo, a Jail, a lunatic asylum, a concentration camp, or all of the above? Dateline-Huron, Ontario
Lillian Hellman once described fellow writer Mary McCarthy by saying: "Everything she wrote about me is a lie. That includes the words 'the' and 'and'." Lillian Hellman could be describing the veracity of truth of the anti-smoking nuts. Dateline-Dryden, Ontario
Who would have believed that we would be seeing all this lucid, cogent thinking out of Ontario? Dateline-St. John New Brunswick
A couple of years ago, a columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press wrote a column about pot smoking in Vancouver. It seems in head shops one could smoke joint after joint, but if you wanted to smoke a cigarette you had to go outside. The proprietors were quoted as saying that they didn't "need the hassle from the cops." The maximum fine for smoking a joint in Vancouver is $50.The fine for indoor cigarette smoking in Vancouver is $100. The Edmonton Sun is reporting on the opening of the Cannabis Cafe in St. John. This is the same St. John that recently turned down a smoking ban. A City Councilor infuriated the anti-smoking nuts by saying lung cancer is multi-causual. Imagine a city where you can smoke what you want where you want. Bravo St. John. Dateline Edmonton, Alberta
At least Edmonton -- unlike say Winnipeg -- is fighting back. FDR once said" It is better to die on one's feet than to live on ones knees." Our prayers are with the freedom fighters in Edmonton. Dateline Winnipeg, Manitoba
Hizzoner was not moved by pleas from the Legions whose members are too old and crippled to go outside for a cigarette in winter. These heroes fought fascism that forced the likes of Glenn Murray to wear Pink Triangles. These heroes also fought the fascists who called second-hand smoke "a Jewish Plot to poison the Aryan race." This is the thanks they get from the likes of Glenn Murray. The only principled stand Glenn Murray ever undertook -- besides his public support of Saddam Hussein -- was going hysterical in front of the police when his boyfriend was given a traffic ticket. And you wonder why I call this "LOSERPEG." Dateline Fredericton, New Brunswick
Get ready for the usual bombastic diatribe from Gar Mahood and Canada's legion of anti-smoking nuts in the Grope and Flail. "How can Theatre New Brunswick accept blood money from a (computer generated) killer of over 45,000 Canadians (average age 77)every year. Blah,Blah,Blah,blah." Dateline- Midland, Ontario
I can't stop sobbing at that heartfelt plea. Dateline - Ottawa, Ontario
So far the "winner" is an ad about second-hand smoke and asthma. There is a mountain of evidence about this at the Forces evidence archive. But as a personal observation for Canada's Hitler Youth is tobacco smoke contains no allergens. There are thousands of causes of asthma. Second-hand smoke is not one. According to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association some 25%of asthmatics are smokers. Be assured ALL 25% were asthmatic BEFORE they became smokers. I have been an asthmatic for over 40 years and a smoker for over 30. Dateline-Calgary
To their credit the Calgary and Edmonton Police announced that they were not going to go out of their way to enforce the new law. In 1944 Hitler criminalized youth smoking and that backfired too. Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
Bill Smith made a public plea for Edmonton smokers not to "punish" the Edmonton hospitality industry. I got news for Hizzoner, it ain't smokers who are "punishing" the hospitality industry-its politicos. Abraham Lincoln once described the case of a kid who murdered both his parents and asked the court for mercy because he was an orphan. Bill Smith's plea is on this level. Dateline Winnipeg, Manitoba
Two prominent columnists from Winnipeg's newspapers, Lindor Reynolds and Laurie Mustard-dumb and dumber-naturally supported this. Lindor Reynolds of the Free Press entitled her column "A No Brainer. "The copy editor must have made a mistake. It should have read" I Wish I Had a Brain" (Wizard of Oz). Mrs Reynolds spends much of her column quoting a 13 year old kid that sounds like something one heard from Hitler Youth. I have a 13 year old kid too. My 13 year old kid said" Why don't the anti-smoking nuts shut up and mind their own business?" Good question son. And dumber. Sun Columnist Laurie Mustard proposes an outdoor smoking ban too. This Mensa was once fired at C.B.C. for stupidity. And you wonder why I call it "LOSERPEG." Dateline-Sydney, Nova Scotia,
By an odd co-incidence Heather Crowe's Traveling Salvation Show is now in Halifax. This is the Ottawa waitress who claims-without one iota of evidence-that her lung cancer was caused by second-hand smoke. There are 40 causes of lung cancer in non-smokers. Living near a steel mill is one. Second-hand smoke ain't one. < Back To "I read the news..." > |
TOBACCO
NEWS FROM CANADA
April
28 - Many of you have e-mailed me to request a Forces Canada comment about the
big news out of Toronto. The World Health Organization's (W.H.O.)
warning to avoid Toronto because of the SARS epidemic. What does this have to do with
smoking you might ask?