September 21, 2006 [15:30 GMT] - Smokers, beware when traveling to India! - French reporter roughed up for lighting up - On lighting up a cigarette recently, a vacationing French reporter was physically assaulted by local officers in India. As of this news report, the journalist and his wife were still waiting to get their passports back in order to leave the country. The officers who jumped on the man after he lit up claim they thought he was a terrorist (sure). "Just before boarding I wanted to smoke and lit a cigarette. But suddenly this officer came and slapped me. Some others roughed me up and hit me on my legs," Ugin alleged. No doubt the American anti-smoking movement will find it gratifying that their message is taken so seriously in countries where the authorities feel a little less constrained than they usually do in the States.

March 22, 2004 - Anti-smoking Councilman Blames The Victim -  A Pueblo bar owner says the smoking ban that forced his female employee outside is directly responsible for her rape.  When the woman went outside the Irish Brew Pub for a cigarette break last month, a 33-year-old man attacked her, dragged her into an alley and raped her.

Owner Ted Calantino says people like his employee wouldn't be exposing themselves to dangerous situations if it weren't for the recent smoking ban.

Bill Sova, anti-smoker and rape apologist

City councilman Bill Sova's response to this deplorable incident is to label Calantino's outrage over his employee's rape as somehow "inappropriate."  Sova, an ardent supporter of prohibition, then goes on to lay the blame on Calantino for not providing a secure work environment.  Calantino, Bova advises, should hire security and install extra outdoor lights to make sure such a deplorable event never reoccurs.

Calantino is expected to hire more security and install an expensive outdoor light system to protect his workers who used to be able to smoke indoors in comfort and safety.  He's expected to pay for all this even while his business is declining because of the smoking ban.  Had Pueblo not stuck its nose into places where it wasn't needed, the unfortunate woman would not have been raped and Bill Sova would not find himself in the awkward position of blaming those victimized by his bad public policy.

Bill Sova is the face of anti-tobacco.  A self-righteous demagogue who imposes his narrow moral view on others while refusing to take responsibility for his actions.  The rape victim should get a lawyer and sue the city of Pueblo.

November 10, 2003 - Hypochondriac On A Rampage - "I just can't stand smoking," Ward said, adding half his family has died prematurely due to cigarettes. "(Second-hand smoke) makes me short of breath and it gives me headaches."

Though he hasn't been diagnosed with any respiratory disease, Ward said he possesses a "chemical sensitivity." A strong perfume could cause him the same problems as lingering smoke.  Ward said buses most often smell like ashtrays after sitting idle and void of riders at a stop, though he has seen drivers light up while driving with passengers. He's been complaining to CityLink administration over the last four years.

Don Ward is "a self-described eccentric." Don thinks, just thinks, a bus driver could have been smoking, before Don got on his bus the other day. He wants the driver punished. How does the transportation service management respond? There will be an immediate investigation. The driver may face written warnings, suspension, or termination.

Don Ward plans further complaints in the future. He doesn't like most of his fellow passengers. Ridership should be limited to soft-spoken persons who never curse. Furthermore, he says the smell of someone wearing cologne threatens his health, just as much as the smell of someone who has smoked. 

Wait till the transport service gets wind of that. They could save a lot of paperwork by firing all their drivers right now. Give the bus keys to Don Ward. Don could establish a route running by Mike Bloomberg's, Ev Koop's, and Henry Waxman's houses. The unemployed drivers, can join the rest of us vulgar stinkers, in migration to Belize. Things aren't quite so "eccentric" in Belize.

November 5, 2003 - Mayor Bloomberg Flips Out - Bloomberg also compares the number of deaths caused by secondhand smoke to the number of people killed in the World Trade Center collapse.  Doubling his previous estimates, the mayor says that 2,000 New Yorkers die each year from secondhand smoke.

"Think about all the press attention to 9/11," he says. "That number of people die every year in the city from secondhand smoke.

Consumed with hatred for smokers, Mayor Bloomberg compares them to the rabid murderers who rammed two jets into the World Trade Center.  Rather than face the fiasco that his smoking ban has brought to innocent people he doubles the unsupportable number of deaths caused by secondhand smoke yet cannot site the name of one of these thousands supposedly killed by smoking New Yorkers.  Invested in pimping for the nicotine cessation distributors he justifies his prohibition by slandering millions of citizens who are still reeling from the disaster of September 11, 2001.

Each year of his reign brings more embarrassment to America's largest and most important city.  He appears to be a man who has totally lost his tether to reality.  His hatefulness is repugnant but far worse for the image of his city is his total transformation into a clownish buffoon.  He actually sounds crazy.  Instead of the buoyant optimism that used to define New York City, Mayor Bloomberg brings a negativity that is toxic.  New York has persevered through horrific bad times and it will survive Michael Bloomberg.  The question, however, is why should it keep this lunatic in office?

After Bloomberg bulldozed through his smoking ban a long-time tobacco critic blasted his contention that secondhand smoke is harmful to nonsmoking customers at restaurants and bars. Although she was not the only credentialed expert who blew holes through the "science" behind the secondhand smoke scare, her words are important because she, as an individual, despises smoking and, as a resident of the city, is quite happy not to have to be exposed to low-class smokers.