TOBACCO
NEWS FROM CANADA July 2003 Comments by Warren Klass Dateline-Thunder Bay, Ontario
Evans took issue with fusing "public "and" work" places in the same question, and accepted the appeals of both Pub and Bar Coalition of Canada(PUBCO)and Thunder Bay resident Thomas Laprade. That means electors will instead see two questions Nov.10 "Should the Council of the City of Thunder Bay pass a bylaw prohibiting smoking in any enclosed place to which has access as a right?" "Should the Council of Thunder Bay pass a bylaw prohibiting smoking in workplaces?" If at least 50 percent of eligible voters answer the question, the plebiscite results will be binding on council. Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, July 24, 2003
set to push this through, just like they did in countless communities throughout Canada. Opposing the plutocracy was one individual. One determined individual, single-handedly was not going to let this pass without a fight-Thomas Laprade. Thomas organized. Thomas wrote letters. Thomas lobbied. Thomas made himself a real pain in the ass to the anti-smoking nuts. After a Herculean effort organized by Thomas, City Council relented and agreed to a plebiscite with a ridiculous question the anti-smoking nuts couldn't lose. The anti-smoking nuts ran full page ads, rented expensive billboard space, the media ran lie after lie about second-hand smoke. The anti-smoking PARASITES have a $480 million publicly funded war chest to draw upon. Thomas with help of a PUBCO lawyer appealed this farce and won. There are now two questions, but most importantly the plebiscite will not be binding without a 50% turn out on November 10. I urge ALL Thunder Bay smokers to BOYCOTT THE NOV.10 PLEBISCITE. WITHOUT A 50% TURNOUT, THERE IS NO SMOKING BAN. Dateline-Moncton,New Brunswick
There is a progression of lies perfected by the anti-smoking PARASITES use to impose smoking bans. First is a phoney poll that claims to show a 70%+ acceptance. Then comes the lies about second-hand smoke put out by "credible" authorities such as Health Canada (see next story) and the medical community. Then there are testimonials from certain hospitality owners who claim business booms after a smoking ban. And finally comes the paid spins and distortion from the University of Toronto's spin-meister Roberta Ference to assure everybody that smoking bans are great for business and any losses can be attributed to September 11. And of course, the not too subtle editorializing in news stories that smoking bans are both "progressive" and "inevitable" just like the classless society or the workers paradise. All of this is simultaneously being played out now in Moncton, New Brunswick. The New Brunswick Journal-Telegraph has allowed itself to be turned into the dupe and shill for the anti-smoking PARASITES. Is there even any point anymore in telling the truth? Smoking bans are job and business killers. No amount of spinning from the likes of Roberta Ference is going to change that. What Prof. Ference does is use Meta-statistics. Fast food, and take out revenue are lumped together, which show increases after smoking bans with sit down restaurants which take the brunt of smoking bans. Voila. No overall loss in business is spun to a bunch of morons in the media who are hard pressed to cover fires. Dateline-Ottawa, Ontario
Health Canada asked about the origins of Forces and my role. I explained that Forces began in San Francisco in 1996.The original Forces site attracted 40-60 hits a month. Now Forces attracts over 1 million hits a month, and is by far the largest smokers rights movement in the world. We are all strictly grass-roots volunteers who receive no Tobacco Company funding. Forces International exists because of a few small donors. I was asked about my role in Forces. I explained that I started out a few years ago as President of Forces Manitoba, and with Pat's retirement I took over as President of Forces Canada, about 6 months ago. I was asked why I repeatedly called Health Canada LIARS. I quoted Lillian Hellmann's famous denunciation of Mary McCarthy:" Everything she wrote about me is a lie, including the words" the" and "and"." I said the biggest lies of Health Canada involve second-hand smoke. There is not one iota of evidence to substantiate the claims of 1,000 deaths a year from lung cancer and heart disease being caused by second-hand smoke. Lung cancer in non-smokers has 40 causes. Heart disease has 300 causes. I brought up the recent British Medical Journal Study that examined hundreds of thousands of Californians over a 40 year period and found nothing. I was asked whether Forces had the BMJ study on its Internet site. I assured the interviewer we did. Not only is the BMJ study in the Forces evidence archives, but we included numerous learned commentaries about it. I also stated that the Forces evidence archives contains virtually every study ever conducted on second-hand smoke. I brought up that I considered it a lie to say 45,000 Canadians die from smoking each year. These are computer generated models. The average age of these 45,000 is 77-78vs 79 for 7th Day Adventists. I considered the Heather Crowe campaign of Health Canada's to be a lie. The first two doctors who examined Mrs. Crowe dismissed her claim that second-hand smoke caused her lung cancer. (There are 40 causes in non-smokers). Stephen Hartwell of Smokers Rights Canada pointed out that Mrs. Crowe worked for long periods in the mining country of Northern Ontario, which is Canada's lung cancer capital. I complained about the $480 million Health Canada spends yearly to fund Canada's PARASITE INDUSTRY. I hoped to make this an election issue in the next Federal Election. I reminded the interviewer that more people smoke in Canada than vote Liberal in Federal elections. I reminded him that smokers in Nova Scotia threw out former Health Minister David Dingwall. I said that current Health Minister, Anne McLellan won her Edmonton riding in the past two elections by only a handful of votes. I said I sincerely hoped that Paul Martin would clean house at Health Canada. I was asked if Forces made an official complaint to Health Canada. I said that my predecessor, Mrs.Pat Hagen of Delta, B.C. repeatedly made official complaints to Health Canada. These were totally ignored until Pat had a letter published in a suburban Vancouver paper. Then she received correspondence from Health Canada stating that authors of the bogus claims" were entitled to their opinions" and a personal note from then Health Minister Allan Rock. I was asked if there was one aspect of Health Canada's "Tobacco Control" program I approved of. No. I said this was" the Lalonde Doctrine out of control." The Lalonde Doctrine, named for the Trudeau era former Health Minister Marc Lalonde, Canada's answer to Inspector Clouseau, states that the role of Health Canada is to push for smoking restrictions and bans. Even when the evidence is non-existent the message to the public should be "loud, clear and unequivocal." I said when Health Canada mandated the grotesque warning labels on cigarettes, Forces posted these on its web site and logged a million hits. Kids were buying cigarettes to get the grossest levels to trade like Pokemon trading cards. I said Health Canada's "De-Normalization" strategy was indistinguishable from Nazi Germany. By 1939 Germany had recorded the highest level of smokers in history-50%-following a"De-Normalization" strategy. I concluded by saying that if tobacco is as bad as Health Canada claims then ban it. If they don't want to ban it then leave consenting adults alone to make their own decisions.
Dateline-Quinte West, Ontario
One hospitality owner told the Trentonian: "We thought the matter was over and done with, at least until a new council is formed (after Novembers municipal election). Obviously there are some people who don't want to give the issue up." How else can a Liberal Government created $480 million dollar PARASITE INDUSTRY justify its expensive existence except by tormenting smokers, killing jobs, destroying small businesses, killing charities, all the while lying about everything from the effects of second-hand smoke to the economic impact of smoking bans? This is the legacy of the LIBERAL PARTY that Ontario imposed on the rest of Canada, and the very same LIBERAL PARTY, Ontario will undoubtedly vote in Provincially in the fall. Dateline-Toronto, Ontario
A loyal Forces Canada reader from Loserpeg sent me a terrific column by George Jonas that appeared in Wednesday's National Post about Gun Control. He wrote me that if you change the words from Gun-Control to Tobacco-Control its virtually identical to the Liberal Government's "Tobacco-Control" policies. For disclaimer purposes I have neither owned or even fired a gun, and have no intention of doing either. But this Billion dollar Liberal Government boondoggle dwarfs even the $480 million the Liberal Party pissed away on Tobacco Control. Note the similarities. The world's first and foremost gun control advocate was none other than Hitler. On March 18,1938"The Law on Weapons" ended private firearms ownership in Germany. The pretext given was controlling crime. Hitler it is often forgotten was a real 90s guy. Besides gun control his other hobby horses included: tobacco control (virtually indistinguishable from modern Canada), environmentalism, vegetarianism, a PETA-like animals rights movement, organic fetishes, etc. The encapsulation of this can be seen at Dachau, where inmates were forced to make organic honey. Animal vivisections were banned. Concentration camp inmates were instead used from 1933 onward. But I digress. Here are some excerpts of George Jonas' fabulous column in Wednesday's National Post entitled The issue isn't gun control but state control: "...its piffle compared to the harm done to a free society by changing the legal environment itself. Legislation of this type cannot be maintained and enforced without injury to all kinds of other rights, from privacy to property. Such laws usher in a police state.” Which I fear is the real purpose of the gun laws... The very provisions that outrage critics of the legislation-such as searches without warrants (called “inspections") on gun owners homes or requirements to respond to questions about their love lives or marital relations this is no joke) - are music to the ears of social engineers who favor the coercive state. Their goal isn't crime control at all. Even making private gun ownership so onerous as to discourage it is only secondary. The social engineers main goal is to expand and legitimatize state intrusion and reduce areas of privacy and personal sovereignty. "The better view, I think holds that freedom is indivisible, and its defense isn't predicated on one's empathy with the particular freedom that is being restricted or that particular human right that is being denied by the state. The issue isn't gun control but state control-obtuse and arbitrary state control, state control run amok." Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
A regular Forces Canada reader sent me some stories out of England where a similar proposal to ban smoking at "Football" (soccer) games was met with strenuous protests. The anti-smoking nuts in England backed down faster than the Hamilton defense. But this is Canada where we just whine, bitch but accept our rights being taken away. The Edmonton Journal reported that smoking or minors were banned from an outdoor food tasting festival, even though smoking was technically allowed. The organizers admitted to being guns-shy. The Grope and Flail reported on an attempt to ban smoking at the University of Alberta, as part of a new health kick. The proposal calls for the sale of cigarettes to be banned. The Grope and Flail never made clear over whether the anti-smoking proposal was an indoor ban or both an indoor and outdoor ban. Food is not exempt from the social engineering at the University of Alberta. One student complains that the proposal includes banning fried chicken and replacing it with carrots. Students quoted by the Grope and Flail are promising vigorous protests and civil disobedience. Bring back the sixties! Finally there was a terrific column in the National Post Tuesday, by Colby Cosh, datelined out of Edmonton entitled "Health officers are not art critics." The thrust of the column is about health officers blaming the T.V. show "Sex in the City" (sorry I've never seen it) for the syphilis "epidemic" sweeping Canadian cities. The syphilis "epidemic" is (count ‘em) 17 cases in Edmonton, and 22 cases in Winnipeg, out of populations of about 650,00-700,000 people. Apparently the show is about the sexual antics of single women ,so naturally it is being blamed by the very same Health nuts who bring in smoking bans for the syphilis "epidemic" affecting primarily homosexual males. By the way the very same Health Racketeers who blame the syphilis "epidemic" on Sex In The City, also blame Hollywood movies for the "epidemic" of teen smoking. My 13 year old son informed me that virtually every kid in his class, who was forced to watch some propaganda film about the evils of smoking would have smoked a cigarette after watching the propaganda. He also told me that kids are laughing at the anti-smoking TV commercials, especially one involving a die in at a Tobacco Company. (I've never seen it). He also told me that Forces is banned or blocked or whatever they do at his schools computers. Forces has never encouraged any kid to smoke. Again I digress. Here are a few excerpts from Colby Cosh's column in Tuesday's National Post: "The simultaneous efflorescence of imbecilic smoking bylaws throughout Canada is the unacknowledged handiwork of medical officers of health, and it demonstrates their institutional contempt of the citizenry." In our deference to medical authority, we all provide our own instinctive answer: He is a doctor and, thereby omni-competent. Doctors have always been prone to confusing themselves with God, but only governments actively encourage the error by creating sinecures for crusading" health officers" -- and note if you will, the militaristic aura of their title. The majority of doctors have nothing resembling a broad liberal-arts education, but their knowledge of physiology and illness somehow seems to have become the essential credential for approaching questions like, "What is the nature of Arts influence on man?" "One almost feels ...that the enlightenment was left incomplete. is we merely trade priests in black cassocks for ones in white lab coats?" Dateline - Calgary, Alberta
LIE #1 -"There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke." On this one Miss Bowditch quotes Health Canada. Either Miss Bowditch is unaware or chose to ignore the "Lalonde Doctrine" at Health Canada. Named for Canada's answer to Inspector Clouseau, Marc Lalonde who managed to make a mess of virtually every department he ran under Trudeau, the Lalonde Doctrine states that state regulators should not wait for solid evidence of risk before imposing increased regulations or bans. Even when evidence is uncertain or ambiguous health messages to the public should be"loud,clear and unequivocal." Forces International calls the phoney second-hand smoke scares" The Hoax of the Century." The first law of Toxicology is" the dosage makes the poison." Toxicologists have quantified virtually every substance for its" threshold level." For example a cup of coffee contains 19 Carcinogens and 1,000 chemicals. But this does not mean a cup of coffee is harmful. IT’S The DOSE THAT MAKES THE POISON. Toxicologists have quantified "threshold levels "of second-hand smoke. Here is a small sample of the "Threshold levels" required: (assuming an 8-12 sealed, non ventilated room) Toluene-cigarettes required to reach Threshold Level-1 Million Per Hour Polonium 210-cigarettes required to reach threshold level-750,000 Per Hour 2-Toluidine-cigarettes required to reach threshold level-290,000 Per Hour Benzo(a)Pyrene-cigarettes required to reach threshold level-222,000 Per Hour Without belabouring the point the lowest is Benzene where "ONLY" 1,290 cigarettes per hour and Hydroquinone where ONLY 1,250 cigarettes per hour in a sealed non-ventilated 20 square foot room are required to reach Threshold levels. Even the lowest level compounds found in second-hand smoke would require 300 smokers, smoking 62 packs per hour in a 20 square foot, sealed non-ventilated room to reach threshold levels. This is how totally absurd the "no safe level of second-hand smoke" argument is. LIE #2 -"Smoking bans are required to protect the health of hospitality workers." The longest most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the prolonged effects of exposure to second-hand smoke by non-smoking hospitality workers was conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy's Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennesse. Researchers in Oak Ridge using state of the art testing equipment spent years replicating prolonged exposure of second-hand smoke on 173 non-smoking bartenders, waiters and waitresses. Guess what this peer reviewed study-the longest, most comprehensive in history-came up with? NOTHING! No Lung cancer. No heart disease. No asthma. No bronchitis. No pneumonia. No inner ear infections. No leprosy. No heartbreak or psoriasis. NOTHING! What the Oak Ridge study found was contrary to the anti-smoking LIARS who claim hospitality workers are exposed to the equivalent of 36 cigarettes per 8 hour shift, they are actually exposed to the equivalent of 2-3 cigarettes a YEAR. The Oak Ridge Study also found that the level of "respirable suspended particulate matter" which includes second-hand smoke is LESS than one sixth of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administrations allowable limits. The Oak Ridge researchers also accused the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) of using studies with spiked levels of second-hand smoke to push for smoking bans. Miss Bowditch and her like minded ilk in the media should do their homework and research a topic properly, instead of being played for dupes by a bunch of Liars at Health Canada. Dateline - Ottawa, Ontario
Here are some excerpts from Health Canada on how to smoke pot: (Honest I couldn't possibly make this up)" Smoking should be gentle and should cease if the patient begins to feel disoriented or agitated...naive smokers should take great care and be supervised. If disturbing psychiatric symptoms occur at the prescribed dosage, the patient should be closely observed in a quiet environment and supportive measures, including reassurance should be used." Some advice: skip all this garbage from Health Canada and put on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon when you hoot and you'll be fine. However, Health Canada does not recommend the smoking of Pot. Rather it recommends (again I'm not making this up) ingesting pot orally in cookies or RECTALLY in the form of a suppository. I could think of a few things I'd like to shove up Health Canada's ass, but that's another story. Assuming you are one of those who chooses not to shove pot up your ass, I would recommend you go to your local video store and rent or order the 1960's classic "I Love You Alice B. Toklas" starring Peter Sellers and Leigh Taylor Young (The first Mrs. Ryan O'Neal). I don't know about cookies, but in the movie I Love You Alice B. Toklas, apparently if marijuana is put in brownies it packs a hell of a wallop. I have to confess that I never tried these kind of brownies, but Peter Sellers and Leigh Taylor-Young looked pretty stoned. Health Canada recommends soaking marijuana first in alcohol to give it a better buzz. This is a new one, I've never heard before, but I've never heard of shoving pot up your ass either. Health Canada also warns that smoking pot is more dangerous than cigarettes. No kidding. For months I've pointed out that a bunch of know-nothings in the media (inevitably anti-smoking loudmouths) have spread the myth that pot is harmless. B.C. Bud contains 10-20 times the amount of Carcinogens and tar of cigarettes. I just received an e-mail from a stoner who points out that" Health Canada Medicinal Marijuana" which they are selling for $5 a gram contains only 2% THC. The Stoner points out that this is about 5 times as expensive as street pot. He points out that you'll probably get lung cancer trying to get high, never mind go broke, smoking joint after joint of Health Canada pot trying to get stoned. Dateline - Moncton, New Brunswick
Regular Forces and Forces Canada readers are aware of the British Medical Journal study based on 40 years of data, and hundreds of thousands of subjects, put an end to these myths, everywhere but at Health Canada. Besides the recent BMJ study there is a mountain of studies at the Forces evidence archives, that prove to a virtual metaphysical certainty that this is The Blood Libel of Liberals. "Second-hand smoke is the largest source of indoor air pollution containing 4,000 chemicals,50 of which are cancer causing agents." In the Calgary dateline (see above) I demonstrate how Health Canada ignores the first law of Toxicology:" Its the dosage that makes the poison." Naturally Health Canada does not say a word about ventilation. I wonder why. Dateline - Aylmer, Ontario
The Red Star points out due to the sandy soil, high cost of machinery, and a glut of commodities, farmers affected can not suddenly switch crops. More collateral damage from the anti-smoking nuts. Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
These are the heroes who freed a continent." Ronald Reagan. "These individuals have served our country and deserve to have the right to decide what they want to do with their own facilities." Edmonton City Councillor Stephen Mandel quoted Wednesday in both the Edmonton Sun and Edmonton Journal. Both the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun on Wednesday profiled the plight of Edmonton's Legions since the smoking ban was imposed July 1(Black Day in July). City Council by a 6-6 vote refused to exempt legions from the smoking ban. George Lastwoka, first Vice President of the Jasper Place Legion told the Edmonton Journal:" We've lost over 65 per cent." Jean Atchison of the Kingsway Legion told the Journal:" We're going down to the point where we'll eventually have to close because we can't support our community projects such as the cadet units, the youth groups and other charities we support. "Aitchison told the Edmonton Sun that business has dropped 30%". Both have had to lay off staff. Both have said ALL Legions in Edmonton will soon have to close their doors because of the smoking ban. The Strathcona Legion reported similar experiences in a story Friday in the Edmonton Sun. One of my sons is in Army Cadets. My other son will be joining a Cadet unit in the fall. As a parent I can attest from first hand experience how difficult it is to raise money to keep the Cadets going, and the integral role played by the Legions in raising money for the Cadets. As I've said previously, as someone who went to a City Council meeting in Winnipeg to lobby for an exemption for Legions-which are Private Clubs-seeing the aging Veterans with their medals pleading before a bunch of ideologically deluded nobodies on City Council is the starkest contrast between Good and Evil since Picasso's painting" Guernica." In other Tobacco News from Edmonton, in the few licensed premises where one can actually smoke in Edmonton, as a new act of harassment city council has banned smoking before 10 AM-when liquor is allowed to be served. This is despite the Alberta Liquor Board allowing licensed premises to open for business several hours earlier. This means you can have breakfast at a bar at 8:AM,but can't light up until 10:AM. One owner of a coffee bar was quoted by the Edmonton Journal as saying that before he switched over to a licensed bar that allowed smoking, he tried to go smoke-free for 8 months. He told the Journal he "got hammered." Dateline-St.John's, Newfoundland
One of the unfortunate stereo-types in Canada has been to portray Newfoundlanders as not being too bright. A Canadian Press story out of St.John's on Wednesday tends to confirm this stereo-type. The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association has called for Newfoundland to be the first Province in Canada to have a Province-wide smoking ban. Dr.Susan King, the head Quackette,of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association told the Canadian Press:" In Newfoundland and Labrador exposure to environmental smoke causes about 112 deaths per year." Where is the EVIDENCE for this tautological claim? To Newfoundlanders-"Tautological" means an assertion with no evidence to substantiate it. To Newfoundlanders-show the rest of Canada you're not a bunch of gullible morons and demand EVIDENCE from these Quacks and Quackettes. Dateline-Clinton, Ontario
The unelected, unaccountable Liberal Party appointed hacks and bagmen from the Ontario Supreme Courts have imposed same sex marriage in Ontario. Its inevitable what would follow would be same sex divorces. A couple of weeks ago, the Grope and Flail reported on the world's first same-sex divorce. After a couple of weeks of marriage one partner filed for divorce and is asking for $2,500 a WEEK in support payments. The very same unelected, unaccountable Liberal Party hacks decided marijuana should be legal in Ontario. In Saturday's National Post, in a story out of that hotbed of potheads, Thornhill, Ontario, reported two punks on bicycles stole some pot from a 20 year old girl. She phoned police to report the theft. The police are treating this as an ordinary theft case. What happens if police actually catch these two young hoodlums and retrieve the pot? They have to return it to her. Lawyers in Ontario have made it clear to police that if they confiscate marijuana they will be sued for theft. What happens when elected representatives vote down an anti-smoking bylaw? According to the July 16th edition of the Clinton News Record, find some unelected unaccountable, appointed bureaucrats to impose one. The story from the Clinton News Record was so unbelievable that I sent a copy of the story to a Forces Canada reader from Huron County for confirmation. Its true. Outside of the media spotlight, unaccountable, unelected Bureaucrats are imposing their agenda-going over the heads of elected representatives. Even more outrageous is they are even planning on banning smoking in people's OWN HOMES! And we all cling to the illusion that Canada is a democracy. Ha! For a fuller understanding of what's going on in Huron, County, Ontario. please click on this terrific link. http://www.marmora.org/political_corruption . Dateline-Whitehorse, Yukon
I only hope that people in the Yukon are smart enough to see through all the lies and phoney propaganda of the anti-smoking nuts. If there is a plebiscite in Whitehorse, I hope all smokers go to the polls and vote this down. Don't fall for the LIES of the anti-smoking nuts! Dateline-Saskatoon, Saskatchwean
Smoking bans don't come out of the blue. There is a progression of lies from Canada's $480 million dollar public funded PARASITE Industry. They always start with a mysterious poll that shows a "substantial" public approval of smoking bans leaked to a gullible and willing media. Such is the case now in Saskatoon. Monday's Star-Phoenix reported on a story that shows a "substantial" majority of residents in favor of increased smoking restrictions. Numbers are never quoted. The exact question is never quoted. And who pays for these polls is never made clear. Pubco has demonstrated that if a question is asked in a different way, the results are radically different, especially when the issue of ventilation is raised. The abuse of polls is the modus operendi of the anti-smoking nuts. Coming soon to the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix a well orchestrated letter writing campaign. The themes are the ranting of a bunch of hypochondriacs, without one iota of evidence about how second-hand smoke bothers someone's asthma. Cigarette smoke contains no allergens. The ranting of some goofs about how they never go to restaurant/bars because of second-hand smoke. Never mind after the smoking bans are put in none of these idiots ever patronize these places anyway. And a huge disinformation campaign of lies about the effects of second-hand smoke, and how wonderful smoking bans are for business. Be prepared Saskatoon-this plague of liars is descending on you soon. Dateline-Vancouver, B.C
Paul Sullivan is even by the standards of the Grope and Flail one of the media's most vitriolic anti-smoking nuts. Naturally Monday's column "Reefer madness" is a call for medical marijuana, legalization or God knows what. Paul Sullivan joins a long list of anti-smoking loudmouths in the Canadian media who never tire of spreading lie after lie about tobacco, but sing a very different tune when it comes to marijuana. Some other noted geniuses on this question include: Linda (Nurse Rached) Williamson of the Toronto Sun, Bill (The Mensa) Kauffman of the Calgary Sun, and the always intellectually consistent Mindelle Jacobs of the Edmonton Sun. All push for waging holy war on cigarette smokers, but pot is ok. Forces Canada has always stayed neutral on the marijuana question. I get all kinds of e-mails from older Canadians who never smoked pot. I also get all kinds of e-mails from younger stoners. My position on the difference between cigarettes and marijuana has been" Rich people in Canada smoke pot. Poor people in Canada smoke cigarettes." The pro-pot /anti-smoking nuts all believe pot is harmless. These mensas, who seem to have had a few too many tokes themselves, never exactly explain how if B.C.Bud contains 10-20 times the carcinogens and tar of cigarettes, its harmless. They never tire of telling us that there has never been one single death linked to pot smoking. There has never been a single death etiologically linked to cigarettes either. The argument against cigarettes involves people in their late 70s.The whole smoking causes the "premature deaths of 45,000 Canadians annually" argument involve the average age of smokers deaths-77-78 vs. if you happen to be a 7th Day Adventist. The outer age of pot smokers is people in their 50s.Even people in their 50s who smoked marijuana in the 1960s did not smoke the kind of pot available now. There is no way of knowing what smoking B.C.Bud, which as I say contains 10-20 times the carcinogens and tar of cigarettes, for 60 years will do to someone's lungs. What eating all that junk food and listening to all those Pink Floyd records will do to someone's brain is a whole different question. But I digress. Personally speaking I believe that pot is more harmful than cigarettes and much less harmful that alcohol, but speaking strictly as an individual and NOT as a spokesman for Forces Canada, pot should probably be legalized-because the alternatives are even worse. Note the hypocrisy of Paul Sullivan on this question. Sullivan writes:" According to one survey, Alberta teens are more likely to smoke marijuana than cigarettes.42 per cent of grade 10-12 students have tried marijuana while only 24.6 tried cigarettes." To Sullivan this is reason enough to legalize marijuana. If 42% of teenagers smoke pot why no calls for a multi-million dollar strategy from the anti-smoking nuts driving kids crazy about the dangers of pot? Why no de-normalization campaigns? Why no calls to ban depictions of pot smoking in movies? The hypocrisy of Paul Sullivan and his media ilk is just breath taking. Dateline -Thunder Bay, Ontario
On Monday Thomas had a letter published in the Winnipeg Sun. Here is what Thomas wrote under the headline Blowing Smoke: "Any politician who uses the excuse that he wants to hold a plebiscite on the smoking issue is actually using the demise of the hospitality sector as a stepping stone to his re-election. The demise of the hospitality sector is almost guaranteed by way of a plebiscite because the massively funded lobbying campaigns of the anti-smoking organizations will ensure a vote in favor of a ban. Unless you want to mandate fair and equal spending by both sides on this issue? The role of a democratic government is not only to represent the wishes of the majority, but also ensure that the rights of minorities are protected." - Thomas W. Laprade, Thunder Bay,Ont. Dateline Orangeville, Ontario
"In addition to the drop in attendance, the patrons are spending about 10 per cent less than they would have before the bylaw because they are outside during breaks. "We estimate that 65 to 70 percent of bingo players are smokers. "Here is the list of groups who relied on the bingo to raise money: Dufferin-Peel Skating Orangeville City Council has made it clear that they have no intention of replacing the losses suffered by smoking bans. Maybe these groups should try the Orangeville Banner who never tired of telling readers how wonderful smoking bans are for business. Or maybe these affected groups should ask the anti-smoking nuts, who receive about $480 Million a year to tell morons like the Orangeville Banner how great smoking bans are for communities. To the Citizens of Orangeville-where are all the anti-smoking nuts who assured everyone how wonderful these smoking bans are? They never have to live with the consequences of their lies. They never tire of playing small town city councils and media for suckers. Dateline-Toronto, Ontario
Briefly here is the encapsulation of the story: in the early 90s the Liberal Government massively raised cigarette taxes (in no small part to pay the $480 million the anti-smoking PARASITES receive annually), and RJR LEGALLY exported cigarettes to the U.S. that made their way onto Indian Reservations that straddle the U.S.-Canadian border. Naturally these were smuggled back into Canada. Imperial Tobacco (B.A.T) who supply about 90% of Canadian cigarettes were not charged. The Indians who did the actual smuggling were never charged. Charging Indians would alienate the Canadian Plutocracy who use their flunkies in the Liberal Party to wage war on poor Canadians. Only RJR was charged with legally exporting cigarettes to the U.S. Former Liberal Health Minister Allan (The Crock) Rock after prompting from the anti-smoking nuts pissed away millions suing RJR in AMERICAN Courts. Naturally, virtually every court in the U.S. including finally, the U.S. Supreme Court threw this out-after Rock the Crock pissed away millions on legal fees. The Anti-Smoking nuts then lobbied the Liberals to take the suit to Canadian Courts, figuring with all the Liberal appointed Judges-hacks, bagmen, and dumb affirmative action broads-they might have a better shot at a shakedown. Believe it or not apparently there are limits to the tripe even Liberal appointed hacks, bagmen and dumb affirmative action broads would swallow. The mouthpiece of the Anti-Smoking Nuts, the Grope and Flail carried the latest non-story on the front page Saturday. Uber Parasite Gar Mahood got a polite brush-off from the Federal Justice Minister. Here is a brief excerpt from Saturday's Grope and Flail: "A recently formed coalition against tax evasion, spearheaded by the Non-Smokers Rights Association, wants to know why Federal Justice Minister Cauchon is reluctant to file a lawsuit to recover lost revenue. "A coalition of 27 health organizations, health professionals, and churches wrote to Mr. Cauchon in January demanding that the tobacco industry be held accountable for its role in the 1990s black-market enterprise, Mr. Mahood said." Virtually every Court in the U.S. culminating with the U.S. Supreme Court threw this out as a joke-after pissing away millions in legal fees. Perhaps Gar should get his beloved Church Groups to explain eschatology to him. By the way this is not the first time in history that Churches have joined anti-smoking nuts to push an agenda. As far back as 1897,the German 7th Day Adventists labeled smoking" a Jewish Vice." On January 1,1939,the head of the Catholic Church in Germany, Michael Cardinal Faulhaber, in a nationally broadcast New Year's message to the German people told them how "lucky" they were to have a regime dedicated to stamping out "nicotine and alcohol." Cardinal Faulhaber's praise of the Nazis came weeks after both Krystalnacht and the takeover of Czechoslovakia. In other news from "The Big Lemon" (Toronto) both Canadian Press and the National Post are reporting the demise October 1 of Canada's Formula 1 racing team because its sponsored by Players (Imperial Tobacco/B.A.T). The cost of sponsoring a Formula 1 team is $22 million (U.S.). So far there has not been another sponsor found for the Canadian Formula 1 team. Noted anti-smoking loudmouth/Parasite Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society told the National Post in words that bear an uncanny resemblance to Hitler's, when he banned similar sponsorship: "Sponsorship is a means of conveying a positive lifestyle image for a highly addictive dangerous drug. Tobacco companies have used sponsorship as a means to evade restrictions on advertising-to use people, and to be placed in locations where children frequent." Racing car driver, Alex Tagliani had a different take. He told the National Post:" There are so many things that are not good for society. Are you going to try and save the world and make sure that nobody is going to do anything." He called the Federal law "bullshit." Why its alright for beer companies to sponsor Formula 1 racing and not tobacco companies is beyond me. Or soft drink companies. In future lets all check with Rob Cunningham, and the rest of his gang of Parasites so they can tell us all how to live. Dateline-Spruce Grove, Alberta
One restaurant owner quoted by the Journal was relieved Spruce Grove was not following Edmonton, "in cutting their own throats." Dateline Calgary, Alberta
"You can't smoke inside the chuck wagon barns because its a fire hazard. You can, however, light up 20 feet from the barn doors, right next to a massive pile of dry, discarded, and highly flammable straw. "You can't smoke on the tarmac at the rodeo" because its an outdoor patio", unless you smoke at the north end. "But you can smoke on the track while driving a chuck wagon. "You can't smoke on any of the Stampede's patios, but you can go inside the adjoining Cantina and inhale there. Or, you can hop the rope around the patio and light up on the other side-but you can't take your drink with you (Unless you want to smoke outside the rope and lean over and guzzle your drink). "You can smoke anywhere you want along the midway-just not within three metres of an entrance... "Despite dozens of City of Calgary non-smoking bylaw signs, several people including chuck drivers, were smoking inside the barns Friday." I think its fair to say its not just the cows that are mad in Alberta. Dateline Edmonton, Alberta
If we are going to roll back some of these anti-smoking bylaws sweeping Canada, our only recourse is a boycott. If we don't boycott those indoor venues where you cannot smoke-the anti-smoking nuts have a propaganda windfall and bans spread. The other day, I reported how the anti-smoking nuts in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia were crowing how easy it was to impose smoking bans-despite having Canada's highest proportion of smokers. In Wednesday's Edmonton Journal it was the turn of some of Victoria B.C's anti-smoking nuts to offer lessons to Edmontonians how to withstand the ban. I am not going to bore you with their lies, but they told the Edmonton Journal that smokers cave within a month. Here is what Dianne Stevenson, regional manager for tobacco control with the Vancouver Island Health Authority told the Edmonton Journal: "In the first week, its difficult to judge, and unfortunately we always hear the negative...Its going to take them a couple of weeks or maybe a month to educate their customers." There are quite a few differences between Edmonton and Victoria. The weather. Victoria has a year round patio season. Even patio smoking is banned in Edmonton. Victoria is isolated. Edmonton has venues close where you can smoke. And numbers. Victoria has the fewest proportion of smokers in Canada. The anti-smoking nuts claim business is up in Victoria since the smoking ban. From first hand observation, and reports, I think its safe to assume that the congenital liars are once again lying. Here are a few excerpts from Wednesday's Edmonton Journal on the boycott and its effects: "Three councilors have vowed to try to reverse the city's smoking bylaw, which they say threatens the livelihood of struggling restaurateurs. "Councilors Stephen Mandel, Ed Gibbons, and Karen Leiborici will back a motion at next week's council meeting to add a grand fathering clause to the bylaw. "Guys are going out of business", Mandel said," It's just not fair." "Our business is absolutely dead." said Rose Sahunta,who with her husband runs a small coffee shop in the downtown Teles Plaza. "If this doesn't change within the next month or two months, I'm going to have to close my doors, because I don't have the money in the bank to keep me going indefinitely." "Sahunta spent Monday phoning council members, telling them of her plight. "Since the smoking bylaw took effect July 1,business has plummeted to $150 a day from $400." Both Wednesday's Journal and Edmonton Sun wrote of the effects the boycott had on J.B's Restaurant at 3633 118 Avenue. Owner Sam Torbeih told the Sun: "Its killing me. Honest to God, two weeks and we're going to have to close our doors." He claims business which is mainly blue-collar is down 60-70%. He told the Journal that he plans to lay off half of his 18 staff next week. Mr.Torbeih told the Journal:" I paid $14,000 between property and business tax. I've already lost that in two weeks." But didn't Edmonton Mayor Bill Smith and all the anti-smoking nuts assure everyone ad naseum that smoking bans don't hurt business? It sounds like Mayor Smith was misled by the anti-smoking liars. Dateline-London, Ontario
One hospitality owner told the Free Press: "I've lost six customers already and its only 1:30.How are you supposed to pay the bills?" At the Richmond Tavern on Dundas Bar staff said business dropped by at least 60% yesterday." Normally there's 30 people in here at this time." said bouncer Craig Marshall, surveying the eight late afternoon customers." I am not proud calling for boycotts, but if we give in we are looking at Province wide bans. Ontario Liberal leader Dalton whatever his name is has promised/threatened BOTH a province wide ban and a $10 per carton tax increase-for starters in Ontario. Manitoba is also considering a Province wide ban. If you weaken and give in smoking bans stay and spread! Dateline-Vancover,B.C.
A Public Service Announcement from Forces Canada: these are cigarettes not joints. You can inhale them but don't toke them like a joint. This is the crux of the anti-smoking nut argument. Smokers are using Light and Mild cigarettes like joints. By the way, has anyone else noticed how quiet the anti-smoking nuts have been about the "de-criminalization" or legalization of marijuana-or whatever the hell the Liberal Government is planning? In case anybody is wondering, B.C Bud apparently contains between 10-20 times the carcinogens and tar of cigarettes. I wonder why the anti-smoking nuts are so quiet about "harmless" marijuana. But I digress. Besides the anti-smoking nuts going to the Competition Bureau in Ottawa, Kenneth Knight, the p---- whipped husband of noted anti-smoking nut, Heather Mackenzie of something called Airspace Action on Smoking and Health (not to be confused with Less Hagen's ASH) is suing Imperial Tobacco over Light and Mild cigarettes with the avowed intention of bankrupting B.A.T. (Forces Canada archives,May21,2003.Dateline Roberts Creek. B.C). Both Heather Mackenzie and Kenneth Knight-Mr.. Heather Mackenzie are under court order to shut up. Into this theatre of the absurd, the Vancouver Sun wrote a great article about this Light and Mild controversy. Here are excerpts from an article entitled "Its Ottawa's meddling that has misled smokers" from the July 7 edition: "Dr. Robert Cushman, one of those do-gooders, says that although light and mild cigarettes may contain less tar or nicotine, smokers may drag harder and longer, causing the same illness as normal cigarettes do. "Even assuming Dr Cushman is correct (that's not entirely clear) the question is, who's responsible for the creation and selling light and mild cigarettes to Canadians? "Its not Big Tobacco. Its the busy-bodies in Ottawa. "The feds have insisted that tobacco firms produce and market light and mild cigarettes since 1966. "By 1968,Ottawa took the first steps towards convincing smokers that they should switch to low tar cigarettes or those with less nicotine. "Paul Pare, a representative of the tobacco industry, appearing before a parliamentary committee in 1969,questioned the scientific validity of implying that there were any "health" properties to light and mild cigarettes. He was ignored... "The whole fiasco, of course started two years ago because of yet another ill-advised crusade by then health minister Allan Rock. "He claimed, just as Dr. Cushman is claiming now, that light and mild is confusing smokers and leading them to believe that these products, are less harmful to their health. "If that's the case, the blame for misinformation or deceiving smokers should properly be placed at the feet of the federal government, not the tobacco industry. "And the anti-tobacco lobby, which is funded generously by tax dollars from Ottawa should sue the feds for misleading smokers for the past three decades."
The following is a Tale of Two Cities. London, Ontario has joined Edmonton and Fredericton in not patronizing venues where smokers rights are not respected, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (next story) where a bunch of sheep have laid down for the anti-smoking nuts, and in the process handed the anti-smoking nuts a huge propaganda victory. Way to stab your fellow Canadians in the back Cape Bretoners! Here are a few excerpts from Monday's London Free Press (Smoking ban a drag for business): "Where there's no smoke, there are fewer patrons. that's the opinion of a number of restaurant/bar owners and bingo operators in London after the first week of a no smoking bylaw in London. "Its bloody dismal" Richard Geer, manager of Jack Astor's Bar and Grill on Wellington Road, said yesterday..."We're feeling the pinch from two to five and from nine to close." "The city can claim all it wants that it won't affect dinner and lunch, but it affects the crowd" Greer said. "Irene Choi, manager of the Poocher Arms at Queens and Richmond, has also seen a drop in business. "I would say it has cut business in half...It cuts into profits and not only affects me, but the people who work with me." Also from Monday's London Free Press, it seems that the smoking ban is impacting the local charity bingo. City Council is being asked to reduce the licensing fee for the Bingos to $75 from $141 due to declining numbers. In Tuesday's London Free Press, columnist, aspiring Mensa, and noted anti-smoking loudmouth Chip Martin wrote another column about smoking. Chip has not written anything on this topic for the past few months. Here are a couple of lowlights from Chip's latest: the City of London was technically in violation of its own anti-smoking bylaw because it didn't order the no-smoking signs in time. Chip also mentions the case of London City Hall employee, Randy Perry, who not only deliberately flouted the law by smoking in a bar, but asked the manager to call police to issue him a ticket so he could challenge London's smoking ban as an infringement of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I hope Mr. Perry wins and I am offering him my prayers but I think he's being incredibly naive if he thinks Charter protection applies to smokers. The Ontario Judiciary is the dumping ground of Liberal Party hacks, bagmen, and a few affirmative action broads with IQs around room temperature. If Mr. Perry were: a Homosexual who wants to make a big existential lifestyle statement, a pot smoker, an illegal immigrant, a potential terrorist, etc- then he would have no problem finding some Ontario Judge reading something into the Charter of Rights. If you're a smoker, I don't think your odds are very good given all the Liberal Party Prize Packages dumped on the Ontario Judiciary. Dateline-Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
If you think I'm kidding about the anti-smoking nuts exploiting sheep in Cape Breton for propaganda, here is an excerpt from a story carried by Broadcast News on Monday announcing a complete ban: "The chair of the Guysborough-Antigosh Health Authority, Coleen Cameron, says in a region that once had one of the highest smoking rates in Canada, it sends a strong message to the rest of the country." For those impacted by smoking bans-do you want to be like smokers in Edmonton, Fredricton, and London and fight back by boycotting places you can't smoke or do you want to be a bunch of sheep in Cape-Breton? The choice is yours. Dateline-Ottawa, Ontario
The correspondent sent me this from The Great Canadian Theatre Company web site: "Smoking on Stage: When the new smoking bylaw came into effect, we spent time trying to see how it affected the theatre, namely what goes on the stage. GCTC will use herbal cigarettes on stage. For artistic purposes, it is important that when the script calls for it, that cigarettes be lit. We have been visited by bylaw officers and were advised that non-tobacco products were acceptable. We are sorry if this offends some of our patrons." The correspondent writes:" After reading this I can only assume that the
Municipal Act of Ontario only allows councils to prohibit smoking of Tobacco
in public places, then it would be just fine to smoke herbal cigarettes.
Taking this one step further if patrons were smoking legally these cigarettes-it would be impossible for the owner of a bar to enforce the As I say, I've never heard of herbal cigarettes before. Is this a loophole around smoking bans? Who knows? I have heard in venues like Vancouver and New Glasgow, Nova Scotia that smoking marijuana is not illegal because the bylaws are called "The Tobacco Control Act." Dateline - Vancouver. B.C.
Twice in the past few years the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the transparent shakedown of Tobacco Companies for the so-called cost of treating sick smokers was unconstitutional. Of all the lies and myths spread by the anti-smoking nuts, this is one of the most pernicious. First most disease is etiological. Second of all there is a mountain of evidence that smokers (especially in Canada) pay far more in cigarette taxes than they ever receive in benefits. For example in 1986,before the huge tax hikes, Canadian smokers contributed 4.3 Billion over what they received in health benefits. (Source: Smokers Burden On Society: Myth And Reality In Canada, Canadian Public Policy Vol.XVIII,Number3,September,1992). Here is a tiny sample from the voluminous evidence on this question from noted enemies of smokers: "On balance smokers probably pay their own way at the current level of taxes on cigarettes...In contrast drinkers do not pay their way: current excise taxes on alcohol cover only about half the costs imposed on others." The Taxes of Sin: Do Smokers and Drinkers Pay Their Way? Journal of the American Medical Association,March17,1989.Got that? In 1989,before the huge tax increases in the U.S, JAMA was reporting smokers pay their own way. "If people stopped smoking there would be a saving in health costs but only in the short term. Eventually smoking cessation would lead to increased health costs." The Health Costs of Smoking. New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 337,#15.October 9,1997.Get that one? No wonder the wonderfully altruistic Medical Associations are so interested in us quitting smoking-more money for Doctors. What I quoted was only a very small sample of the voluminous evidence available on this question. The big drain on the health system is not smokers but non-smoking hypochondriacs. As I stated, twice the B.C. Supreme Court threw out the B.C government's attempted shakedown as unconstitutional. According to C.B.C. Vancouver and Yahoo Finance the B.C. Government is trying this shakedown for a third time. After pissing away millions on two failed attempts, the B.C. Government is set to piss away more millions on a third attempt. The Cancer Society and the anti-smoking nuts are filling the Internet with press releases praising the B.C. Government. Margaret Wente compares Vancouver to a Marylyn Monroe character-beautiful but dumb. A much better analogy would be a sardine washed on up shore. It shines, but it stinks. Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
"Less than a week into the city's tough new smoking ban, Mayor Bill Smith is talking about re-examining the controversial bylaw if it hits businesses too hard. "Like any bylaw if it can be shown in a period of time that this has done undue harm, then I think that any reasonable council needs to try and assess that but certainly we need to give this enough time" Smith said Friday... "The mayor acknowledged some restaurants are losing customers. "What we're seeing is the fact that where there was smoking, it attracted a lot of people who wanted to smoke" Smith said. "Perhaps some of these establishments gained a lot by having specified smoking allowed. Now that there's no smoking, that's kind of filtered down." Also in Saturday's Edmonton Journal is a profile of a Pool Hall/Bar and how the ban impacted business. Q Club saw sales plunge 35% in the first days of Edmonton's smoking ban. Believe me it gives me no pleasure to call for boycotts, but do we have a choice? Dateline-Calgary, Alberta
The anti-smoking nuts, are a different breed of religious cult. The anti-smoking nuts are big on imposing their agenda on everyone. Here is an excerpt from Thursday's Calgary Herald: "Despite general awareness about the harmful effects of smoking, an estimated 22,500 teens start the potentially deadly habit every year in Alberta, says the Calgary Health Region. "A huge population of youth are seeing their screen idols smoking" says Anne Fraser, youth project co-coordinator with Tobacco Reduction at CHR. "We need to focus on denormalizing tobacco use." Just a reminder to those that denormalize -- the denormalization strategy was tried in Nazi Germany and ended up with the highest rate of youth smoking in recorded history. Once again some highlights of Hitler's denormalization strategy: high tobacco taxes, draconian indoor smoking restrictions, criminalizing youth smoking, banning depictions of heroic characters smoking in movies, moronic propaganda campaigns on the evils of smoking, a huge, expensive bureaucracy of PARASITES to co-ordinate youth anti-smoking campaigns and (my favourite) compelling Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls to take "smoke-free" pledges for Hitler. But the Alberta denornormalization campaign and its results are very different from Nazi Germany, aren't they? At least kids in Alberta are not taking smoke-free pledges for "occasional smokers" Ralph Klein or Anne McLellan - yet. Dateline-Fredericton, New Brunswick
The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal reports: "...on the first day under the new bylaw, bar and restaurant owners were already to feel somewhat of a burn. "Normally we'd have three or four people at the poker machines right now" said Vicki Wood, front end manager of Ringo's Grill, pointing to VLT machines that lined the brick wall... "...some customers say they will go to nearby New Maryland to play VLTs because there is no bylaw there that prohibits smoking." Dateline - Vancouver, B.C
You can imagine my shock when someone sent me a copy of Peter McKnight's column from the Vancouver Sun on the reaction of the British Medical Journal article by the anti-smoking nuts. Here a few excerpts from Mr. McKnight's column entitled "Anti-smoking lobby steams over report": "But all contrary scientific evidence, no matter how convincing, must be dismissed by the anti-smoking lobby, which now resembles a religious cult more than a community of scientists. "The cult also unquestionably accepts any dubious evidence that suggests the deadliness of second-hand smoke. "For example, anti-smoking lobbyists will never tell you the British Medical Journal study isn't such a maverick-many studies fail to find a correlation between passive smoking and mortality. "But they're often manipulated through statistical trickery-treachery really-which turns insignificant results into significant ones, thereby producing the stunning statistic that second-hand smoke results in a 20 to 30 percent increase in the risk of lung cancer and heart disease. "Its only through the suppression of contrary evidence and the promotion of the confirmatory of dubious evidence that the anti-smoking lobby has been successful in re-making the culture in its own image." Dateline-Edmonton, Alberta
The first reports coming in from Edmonton are very encouraging. Wednesday's Edmonton Journal quotes Rob Helgason the manager of Kelsey's as saying:" I haven't seen a single smoker come in today." Helgason said there are usually 20-30. At the downtown Home style Donair the owner was quoted as saying that five regular customers turned around and walked out when told they couldn't smoke. Also in Edmonton, in Wednesday's Edmonton Sun, columnist Kerry Diotte reported that the hospitality industry has put together a $300,000 war chest to defeat the anti-smoking Mayor and City Council. Two requests to Edmontonians: please keep refraining from patronizing establishments where you can't smoke, and even more importantly go to the polls and vote and end this nonsense once and for all. Dateline-Calgary, Alberta
Wednesday's Calgary Herald editorialized about this lunacy. An excerpt: "All Calgarians smokers or not should be alarmed at two things. First the mentality of social control that has been metastasizing among some of the aldermen for years and second the dysfunctional government these struggles produce. "The bylaw is a poor compromise and leads ultimately to a retristiction on personal liberties." Dateline-Tillsonburg, Ontario
"The public has spoken and the message is clear. "A clear majority does not want to see a smoking ban in Tillsonburg." Dateline-Toronto, Ontario
I had a complaint from a reader about some of the language used on Forces Canada. I said in response that Forces Canada goes out of its way not to be gratuitous in its use of profanity. I use ---- for the real dirty stuff, but allow the real words to be expressed for the milder stuff. If anyone is offended I apologize. I am trying to talk to Forces Canada readers in a realistic manner and not to titillate. The specific complaint, however did not include anything that I wrote but, rather, for allowing correspondent Wayne from Saskatchewan to say. The complaint was of his use of the words" For Christ's sake" and "Jeez." I wrote back that in the words of the great Protestant Theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, the point of religion was to make one human not pious. The language used in Forces Canada is cleaner than language often used in mainstream papers like The Grope and Flail, and National Post. It is certainly cleaner than language used on T.V, Cable T.V, and movies. I tend to think of myself as a Metaphysical Moralist. But if you are a Blue-Nose do not tune in today because you will be offended by the following submission. A few days ago in a Datelined story out of York, Ontario I accused the Ontario Health Ministry of "pissing away" $494,000 on a poll to contact the Chinese and Italian communities on their attitudes to smoking. In hindsight" squandered" would have been a better word. A few days a go on the radio as President of Forces Canada, I accused the Medical Community of" making a complete ass of themselves on the smoking issue." In retrospect, I probably should have said:" The Medical Community performed a complete rectal cranial inversion of themselves on smoking." Speaking of squandering/pissing away taxpayer money on smoking campaigns, the latest comes from the Toronto Red Star in Sunday's edition. It seems that Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement gave an untendered $1.2 Million dollar grant to one of his supporters. This latest $1.2 million is earmarked to be squandered/pissed away on the umpteenth campaign to warn youth of the dangers of smoking. Does anybody out there really believe that an Ontario/Canadian teenager has not heard the anti-smoking message about a Billion times? What got the Red Star's attention on this particular exercise, beyond this being an untendered contract, was that the recipient of this blatant patronage had-HORRORS-some tangential relationship to Tobacco Companies. It seems that John Danson of something called "QCIC (Quality + Continuous Improvement Centre) lists as clients Rothmans/Benson Hedges (Phillip Morris A.K.A Altria Group). I have a great suggestion, instead of continuing to give millions to the anti-smoking nuts, whose major accomplishment is to get kids to start smoking, why not give the millions to the major Protestant Ascetic Groups who have a very good track record with their "smoking is sin" campaign. Very few Mormons, 7th Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mennonites, etc smoke. Why not give these groups millions so they can spread the good news that:" Smokers Are Jokers" and "Flush Your Sin Sticks Down to Hell" campaigns. Why even bother secularizing the very Healthist/Ascetic message not to smoke, drink, gamble, take drugs, sloth, engage in gluttony obesity)? They live a few months longer on average than the rest of us sinners. Dateline- Winnipeg, Manitoba
"But the provincial all-party working group looking at the issue of "environmental" tobacco smoke has received recommendations to eventually make all smoking in workplaces illegal, incredibly, whether that work takes place outdoors, in enclosed space, or outdoors. This is an unnecessary and unwarranted intrusion into private business and the relations between employers and workers... "...the labor minister's advisory council has bought into the government's line that it is necessary to "denormalize" cigarette smoking, by targeting smoking in public places and forcing retailers to hide their tobacco products from the view of customers. The agenda works off the concept that the less people see of smoking and cigarettes the less likely they are to pick up the habit. This is theoretical only ,since smoking rates among teens, particularly girls, have been increasing in recent years..." My nemesis Radio Talk Show host, Charles Adler once said "Thinking at the Free Press is an oxymoron". Black Day In July
"Black Day In July. Black Day in July On this special Forces Canada edition of Canada Day, 2003 -- Black Day In July, I am going to digress a bit from the usual format to allow two Canadians to express their thoughts to their fellow countrymen. One is from a man in Saskatchwean, the other is from a correspondent in Ontario. To preserve their privacy I am not including their last names or towns. I just have one brief comment before I give you the thoughts of Wayne in Saskatchewan and from a correspondent in Ontario, for those of you impacted by smoking bans for the first time in places like Edmonton, Alberta and London, Ontario, in the immortal words of former Baseball great Yogi Berra, I hope that" the crowds stay away in droves." If you continue to patronize venues where your rights are not protected there is no chance of turning this around, the anti-smoking nuts will have a propaganda windfall, and the bans will spread. HAPPY BLACK DAY IN JULY CANADA Dateline-Saskatchewan
Hi Warren: I must say its nice to see smokers starting to band together. What's prompted me inquiring is the lack of press that smokers groups seem to be getting. Its almost as if the anti-smoking lobby et al,are making sure that any science that contradicts the mythology of the ETS "facts" and the voodoo numbers of Cancer deaths (in Canada and worldwide) is being suppressed. I am sick and tired of all these stats that the anti-smoking lobby have been using to brainwash Canadians about smoking. Especially the misleading numbers Tobacco Manufacturers are being forced to display on cigarettes. I have no love lost for these people and am trying to get folks together
here to stop (or at least slow) the progress of an impending city council
bylaw to ban smoking in ALL public places. I have, and will continue to believe that these numbers are all hogwash, that the anti-smoking lobby are
still using to justify pressure on upward taxation of smokes, bylaw creation, and outright social discrimination. There is still no concrete
"smoking gun" proof that cigarettes and smoking, actually cause all these
deaths and predicted future deaths. Now don't get me wrong, I do know that
smoking isn't healthy, but then neither is living right next to the Weyhauser discharge pond, nor living near the Pig barns of some I mean, for Christ's sake! Stand next to a city buses it spews black thick diesel smoke into the atmosphere, or how about Oil refinery row in Edmonton? Sherwood Park has the greatest single increase in Asthma and Asthma related complications in North America!!! Do I need to mention smog alerts in the greater Toronto area, Ottawa area, etc, etc. Why are these numbers suppressed and the effects downplayed??? Asphalt companies? Ever see those pavers on hot summer days? they pollute a far greater area than my smoke does on a given day. My question is this: Is it too late? Has all the momentum and money gone to the other side on this? If this was a fair society, and a democratic one, smokers rights groups should be allowed federal subsidized funding like the anti-smoking groups are, but they aren't? Money is the deciding factor and we as smokers need to band together financially, because with money is power. There is some room for a Judge in B.C. who refused to quit smoking. She was given special ventilation services to for her offices to allow her to continue smoking, those concessions should be exploited to cover the rights of ALL smokers, and the only way to win, apparently, is through the courts, because we aren't going to have an in with government as long as the federal Liberals feel the wave of political correctness through the rights of Non-Smokers. Poll after poll indicates to the feds that they are on the right track, somehow we have to become powerful enough to derail the train. The only way to do that is to have a court ruling that our rights are truly being trampled on, that we are being forced into dangerous environments to indulge in a legal product(-30C weather outside to smoke, pouring rain, searing heat, or illegal venues just to have a smoke). I am a firm believer that the anti-smoking lobby is using grey, misleading statistics, blatantly false numbers, and outright lies, but how do we convince lawmakers or courts that we are TRULY being discriminated against when we are all told that we just have to quit? Anyhoo, I've rambled on enough, in a nutshell, I'm alone here in Saskatchwean, but I've been stewing for 2 years now, ever since the price of smokes went to 10 bucks+ here. I've had enough. I don't want to quit now solely to spite these Nazi anti-smoking groups. I always believed that excessive taxation was unconstitutional, add to that the complete humiliation I'm forced to endure when standing outside in -30 Weather, and the fact that I'm almost bankrupt to pay for my smokes!!! Common sense says to just quit smoking but its not an issue now. I see us creeping towards a dangerous ledge, something Orwell wrote in his 1984 Novel, and I see us heading towards a society that is engineered by others rather than developed by all. That is the scary scenario I see developing now. Its Smoking, Fast Foods, then what??? Sterilizing mentally or physically challenged human beings because of the drain on social budgets?? Jeez Vancouver is offering a park for Heroin addicts to shoot up!!!! Wayne in Saskatchewan Dateline-Ontario
In our little piece of Ontario, our public Health Unit &their Allies have been successful in getting our upper-tier municipal "County Council" to pass tyrannical legislation regarding smoking that can, if they choose to investigate, define my family's residence (and many others) as a "workplace "and" public place". The motivation behind this type of legislation is as Sinister as the methods for its implementation and enforcement. If our "lower-tier" citizen elected, local municipal council is not among the majority of" upper-tier member municipalities (and also the population they represent)" in its Vote of Opposition, they and citizens they represent here will be stripped of the accountability provided by parliamentary democracy, as is happening elsewhere. It has proven inevitable and unstoppable for ALL "multi-tier" Municipalities. It is horrifying to watch as an appointed representative like ours (usually the Reeve) from a citizen elected "lower-tier" municipality vote against their own council and vote against their own council and citizens at the highly -unaccountable Council of the "upper-tier" level of Municipal government that is funded by our taxes. We are actually paying for their legislation and enforcement that will bring about the destruction of our businesses and families. Similar tyranny is occurring elsewhere-the key political control-seeking instigators have global connections. All business owners and their customers will have no Freedom of Choice, at home or at work this legislation will also allow for prosecution of home-based business owners, their family members and customers! We have a severely developmentally handicapped, adult child at home who has self-employed "contract" workers providing in-home support for many hours each day, every day. Our family members AND our child's support workers will be liable for fines because this legislation defines "EMPLOYEE" as including volunteers and self-employed workers-therefore-NOBODY (any family members, visitors, or support workers) would be allowed to smoke in our home or vehicles, boat, etc, when our support workers are supporting our adult daughter, under this legislation. Our support workers (including the non-smokers!) are as terrified by this legislation as we are. If we smoke in our own home during the daily hours that a support worker is here, we can be prosecuted. Under the conditions of this bylaw, if we are not with the support worker" in charge" and one of them was caught smoking, it would be them that could be prosecuted. None of us could pay the fines dictated, per offense, even if we were willing. We all know these "Nazi Mind Set" types do with their most vulnerable and "useless" citizens, once they "take care" all the others they consider" undesirables." The same condition would apply to any citizen, in their home, who had any other home-based services or supports: home improvements, nannies or babysitters, or any of the services provided by Community Care, Red Cross, Hospice services, or VON, live in maids or butlers, etc, the list is endless. All the people who receive assistance in their homes AND all who visit ,support or provide them with services could, by means of this legislation be prosecuted. Multiply the possible scenarios by hundreds or thousands and this pretty much spells out citizens future under "Nazi-Like Dictatorship" if this Evil Trend continues. No Freedom of Choice for ANYONE at Work or at Home! As well, NO protection or recourse from further" persecution legislation" will be available to citizens, as our current form of government by Parliamentary Democracy will have been eliminated by the time they move to the next "item" for "protection" of their EVIL AGENDA for control! Terrorize, Divide, Conquer is the Evil One's time honored methodology for success and his followers are doing well by him. The Price for "protection" from all their "proven" Health & Safety "dangers" to ourselves and our fellow citizens is Freedom and the Unconditional Love necessary for its defense. Unfortunately, our current National&Provincial governments do not appear concerned about OUR (and their own) demise at their hands. One of Many Terrorized Ontario Citizens &Parents There you have an indelible portrait of what this country has become. From both Saskatchewan and Ontario a portrait emerges. I only hope that at the next election we can have a huge Kulturekamf to expel the yahoos from the temple-AND TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY-and send the Liberal Party, the Media, the Anti-smoking nuts, packing. Until then-Happy Canada Day. Happy Black Day in July. |
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