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April 2004
Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
David Carradine told The Toronto Red Star:” If you don’t smoke you’re not alive. I’m a militant anti-anti smoker.” Also from Toronto and later Kenora comes the latest from the Dolton Gang. The Grope and Flail reports that Ontario is planning new taxes on both tobacco and”junk”food, as part of a new”Health”initiative-not to be confused as a tax grab. YOU HAVE A DUTY TO BE HEALTHY, HEALTH IS NOT A PRIVATE MATTER, and YOUR BODY BELONGS TO THE STATE were all slogans of Hitler Youth. The Dolton Gang’s version of Liberalism seems eerily reminiscent. Dateline - Kenora, Ontario
The Kenora Daily Miner&News is reporting that Ontario’s Attorney General is claiming that the board that claimed Sarsfield overstepped his jurisdiction, in fact overstepped its own jurisdiction, What Ontario’s Attorney General is planning is anybody’s guess. Albert Camus once described The Plague as receding for a while without going away. This description also applies to the Sarsfield saga. Dateline - St.Thomas, Ontario
In commenting on St.Thomas’ hesitancy about imposing smoking ban, London Free Press columnist, Jim Taylor demonstrates The Banality of Anti-Smoking. In the 1950s and 60s intellectuals would blab on incessantly about “the inevitability of a classless society.” The new mantra of the chattering classes is the”inevitabity of a smoke-free society.” The whole concept of”inevitability”whether it be Nazism, Marxism, or smoking bans is based on linear extrapolation-which is problematic. Inevitably powerful backlashes emerge. But I digress. In his column, Taylor avoids the usual more common anti-smoking hysterics-to some extent. He does throw in the new talking points of anti-smoking propaganda, the widely discredited Helena heart attack study, and the 15% BMJ nonsense. But the real essence of the column is that smoking bans are” inevitable.” Here is a sample of the banality of the new anti-smoking propaganda. Gone are the moronic, easily discredited claims that smoking bans don’t hurt business only to be replaced with:” Bars close all the time and most of the ones that close because of the smoking ban would have closed sooner or later anyway.” Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba
In his column Tom Oleson goes after the anti-smoking nuts. Here is a sample:”…the anti-smoking lobby abandon civility in their obsession…are like addicts in their furies. They are perhaps the worst and most dangerous addicts of all.” Dateline - Slave Lake, Alberta
The target of Health Canada’s squealers? Retailers who sell rolling papers. Keep in mind; this is supposed to be about tobacco control. As any psychedelic relic left over from the stoned age (the 60s) can tell you, rolling papers are not generally associated with tobacco-but with marijuana. It’s fair to assume that the kids in Slave Lake are smoking pot. As a public service announcement Forces Canada reminds readers of Health Canada’s dictum last summer regarding smoking marijuana. For those who want to get stoned, Health Canada recommends rather than smoking pot (I couldn’t make this up)it should be consumed in the form of a rectal suppository. In other words-shoved up your ass. Lets assume that Health Canada manages to keep rolling papers away from kids; will this stop them from smoking pot? Yeah, sure. For those not interested in rectal suppositories, pipes can easily be constructed with toilet paper rolls and tin foil. Crude, but effective bongs can be constructed from everything from Coke cans to glass jars. Smoke On The Water was a famous song in the 60s by Deep Purple that celebrated bongs. Bongs pack even a bigger wallop than rolling joints from cigarette papers-so I’ve heard. Dateline - Charlottown, P.E.I.
Dateline - St.Thomas, Ontario
The London Free Press writes:” But the Elgin-St.Thomas health unit has indicated it will not be responsible for enforcement and St.Thomas’ police have said the bylaw enforcement is not their primary responsibility.” Stay tuned. Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
Why are the young and the restless taking up smoking in huge numbers? A plot by Big Tobacco, of course. One of these BIG EXPERTS on the question told the Grope and Flail:” The tobacco industry has long promoted the idea that smoking makes you cool and independent.” No the real cool and independent types are anti-smoking nuts. Here is a partial list of the REAL COOL and independent anti-smoking nuts: The Nazis, the Taliban, The Prohibionists, the 7th Day Adventists, the Mormons, the Menonites, Reform Judaism, Non-Smokers Rights Association, Physicians For A Smoker Free Canada, etc, etc. What a COOL GROUP! It seems young lesbians tune out the message of this group. I can’t imagine why. Naturally, no article from the Grope and Flail would be complete without dragging Hollywood into this. Teenage lesbians take up smoking because lesbian actresses smoke. Like who you might ask. Ellen Degeneres doesn’t smoke. Anne Heche? Has anyone seen one of her movies lately? Ever? Who else? The BIG EXPERT quoted by the Grope and Flail also blames society:” societal prejudice against homosexuality likely drives the girls to take up the habit. ”Blah, blah, blah. If the Grope and Flail is looking for a reductionist, all encompassing, Academic, cliché, devoid of evidence-how about Lesbian girls smoke because they suffer from an unresolved oral fixation? Not to be outdone, The Toronto Red Star gave major play to two JUNK Science stories floating around the Internet. Junk science is science designed to support an ideological agenda. To even call these two stories Junk Science is even a stretch. These stories are statistical manipulation 101 Homer Simpson once said:” You can prove anything with statistics.14% of people know that.” The first story from the Toronto Red Star involves noted charlatan Stanton Glantz. Stanton managed to re-cycle the old discredited Helena, Montana heart attack study. For those of you who missed this earlier in Forces and Forces Canada this study put out by two GPs-not cardiologists-who by massive co-incidence, were the leaders in Helena’s smoking ban movement, claimed heart attacks dropped by 40% after Helena banned indoor smoking and reverted to normal levels after a Judge ruled the ban unconstitutional. This study has more problems than a used car. First of all the numbers involved were tiny. Second the time frame was six months. Third the data has never been replicated in a larger pool where smoking bans have been around a lot longer than six months. In fact a British Medical Journal study involving hundreds of thousands of Californians over a 40-year period found nothing. Sixth, the foremost expert on this question, University of Chicago epidemiologist, Dr. John Bailar demolished this argument in the New England Journal of Medicine. Bailar denounced this reliance on meta-statistics (Junk Science). He claimed second-hand smoke was” too diffuse” to cause heart disease, and added that the science was ”implausible” (no biological evidence). Seventh there are some 300 causes of heart disease. Other than that Stanton Glantz has a great case to flog to a gullible media. The other junk put out by the Toronto Red Star is the claim that non-smokers married to smokers die prematurely. No timeline, or possible confounding factors were mentioned. Without getting into the specifics of this junk, there is a ton of evidence to counter this in the Forces evidence archives. Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba
It sure is in Loserpeg. There are a couple of interesting stories from Loserpeg in Tuesday’s Winnipeg Free Press. In a front-page story, the Free Press reported that Academy Award winning playright, Ronald Harwood has backed out of his commitment to direct The Dresser at M.T.C. (Manitoba Theatre Center). Mr. Harwood won an Academy Award for The Pianist. The movie adaptation of his play The Dresser was nominated for five Academy awards. The reason Mr. Harwood backed out of directing The Dresser? Loserpeg’s smoking ban, of course. MTC even offered Mr. Harwood a separate apartment and chef as a way around the restaurant smoking ban. Mr.Harwood declined. The unbelievably eloquent Ronald Harwood had this to say to Free Press readers: “The reason for going back on my word is that I am a cigarette smoker. I have recently visited Canada and had to suffer the most Draconian anti-smoking regulations in restaurants and public buildings. I had no intention of allowing myself to be forced out into the street in winter to partake one of my great pleasures. If they (the Medical community) spent half the energy they do outlawing smoking on helping people who suffer from arthritis, then I, for one would be playing tennis again and dancing the light fantastic. The anti-smoking lobby is driven by politicians with fascist inclinations. What possible harm can there be to having a smoking section in a restaurant, or an airport, or hotel? The answer is none but the viciousness of those that outlaw smoking knows no bounds even to the extent, I have seen suggested, of exaggerating grotesquely the effects of passive smoking. I shall be 70 this year and have fought fascism throughout my adult life. I see no reason to stop that fight now.” Ronald Harwood-Forces Canada’s Man of the Year. Also from Loserpeg comes a far less edifying story. Kevin Harper, 28 is a habitual criminal. His latest charge involved assaulting a cocaine addict. At his trial, he had only one question involving his potential jail sentence:” Will I be able to smoke tobacco?” The Judge sentenced the relieved Mr. Harper to time served and two years probation. The Crown Attorney said he heard smoking is bad for you. He claims to have read it in the Free Press. The University Of Manitoba Law School, the alma mater of these prize packages was ranked 23rd out of 23 in Canada in a McLean’s Magazine survey. I read that in the Winnipeg Free Press. Dateline - Drayton Valley, Alberta
The Drayton Valley Western Review reported that as yet no decision on granting the waiver has been made. What makes this even more ridiculous is that the Drayton Valley Legion has a state of the art ventilation system and high ceilings. The pretension that this issue is about anything other than social engineering and control thus becomes non-existent. Dateline - Sackville, New Brunswick
CBC is quoting Nova Scotia smokers as making as much as two hour drives to New Brunswick for cheaper cigarettes. Business is up 40-50% in New Brunswick border communities. This being Canada, expect pressure on New Brunswick to raise tobacco taxes rather than Nova Scotia to lower theirs. Dateline - Ottawa, Ontario
The real motivation is far more cynical. These cigarettes are very difficult to keep lit. This is little more than a new form of harassment from Health Canada. See the later Regina datelined story of the latest outrage from Health Canada. If the smokers of Canada ever go to the polls and throw out the Liberal Party-a major housecleaning at Health Canada should be high on the agenda of a new government. Remember more people smoke in Canada than vote Liberal in Federal elections. Dateline - Simcoe, Ontario
These Quacks have obviously thought this through. The major beneficiaries of this would be the Big Tobacco companies. It would be a bonanza for Big Tobacco to buy out Ontario’s tobacco growers, so they could buy much cheaper imports from Brazil and Zimbabwe. If these Quacks are dreaming that Ottawa will not allow tobacco imports they are deluded. Our beloved Federal Government gets about $9 billion a year in tobacco taxes. Provincial governments make many times that amount. Lets take this fantasy at face value. Lets assume this is a replay of the Romans burning the crops of Carthage and salting the fields, then what? A $500 million a year Industry is wiped out in Ontario.14, 000 jobs are lost. Billions will go to Brazil and Zimbabwe pressuring Canada’s trade deficit and the Canadian dollar to give Big Tobacco much bigger operating margins. Spending $500 million on these PARASITES for this brilliant advice is our beloved Liberal Party at its finest. Dateline - Toronto, Ontario
Exclaim Music Magazine claims that local promoters are being undercut and thus frozen out of this genre, because it claims the tobacco companies are not in this to make a profit, but to promote its products. Dateline - Durham, Ontario
“However, they are also aware the millions of tax dollars spent on second-hand smoke propaganda have made the issue very politically sensitive. Thus they are quite prepared to pander to the health industry and cynically introduce smoking bylaws that will force scores of small business operators out of business, but bingos, casinos, racetracks, and Legion halls are a totally different kettle of fish.” Dateline - Regina, Saskatchewan
The Regina Leader-Post reported that Health Canada is funding some very naïve and gullible teenage girls to run around Regina to put up billboards that say:” Second-hand Smoke…Just as Deadly” Never mind there is not now nor has there ever been one iota of evidence to substantiate the claims of Health Canada. Voters in the upcoming Federal election can decide if the antics of the Balfour Collegiate Teen Wellness Centre is the “Eternal Recurrence” of The League of German Girls, whose slogan was:” YOU HAVE A DUTY TO BE HEALTHY.” Dateline - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Next-door Alberta has no provincial sales tax. Lately, Saskatchewan's major export has been people to Alberta. This will only hasten the exodus. Dateline - London, Ontario
Dateline - Orilla, Ontario
70% of the patrons of the Gates of Orilla are smokers. Local charities receive $1 million a year from the proceeds of charity bingos. Mr. Orser was quoted as saying that if an exemption is not granted, it will have to close. The charity bingos in both Collingswood and Midland closed because of the smoking ban. Dateline - Sarnia, Ontario
Dateline - Thunder Bay, Ontario
Dateline - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Dateline - Iqaluit, Nunavit
Claire Harrington, the executive director of The John Howard Society told CBC: ”Inmates at the Baffin Correctional Centre have been sentenced to prison time but have not necessarily been sentenced to quit smoking.” < Back To "I read the news..." > |
TOBACCO
NEWS FROM CANADA
April
12 -
The Toronto Red Star recently profiled actor David Carradine, who is
starring in the new movie Kill Bill Vol.II with Uma Thurman. It seems
that the 67-year-old Mr.Carradine is unapologetic about his smoking, and
his distaste for the anti-smoking nuts.