The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter: Issue # 333

The United Pro Choice Smokers
Rights Newsletter

June 17, 2005 Issue #333

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

In China, cigarettes are a kind of miracle drug. By Geoffrey York. Reduce the risk of Ulcers, Parkinson's disease, relieve schizophrenia, boost your brain cells, speed up your thinking, improve your reactions and increase your working efficiency.

As Cigarette Taxes Rise, New Study Shows Revenue Estimates Failing as Customers Go Underground. By Bill Ahern. “All excise taxes on particular products are obsolete,” says Wagner, “but because government is always slow to change, they will die a slow death. In the meantime they will cause a great deal of harm, both to taxpayers and to the state governments who rely on them.”

Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct. Degrees of Deception Vary in Poll; Researchers Say Findings Could Hurt the Field. By Rick Weiss. "The fraud cases are explosive and can be very damaging to public trust," Martinson said. "But these other kinds of things can be more corrosive to science, especially since they're so common."

RICO Update. Tobacco witnesses were told to ease up. Justice Department sought softened sanctions. IG Asked to Investigate DOJ Tobacco Reversal. Why There May Actually Be a Good Reason For The Justice Department's Last-Minute About-Face.

Beware Hollywood! Bollywood reacts furiously over smoking ban in movies, and on television. Tomorrow the minister will say you don't show him drinking... Then... India’s onscreen tobacco ban goes up in smoke.

Cancer Society fined for lack of disclosure in anti-smoking ads. And WA Fines to American Heart Association and Breathe Easy Washington.

Criticism of the Maryville Smoking Ban Report. By David W. Kuneman. When comparing the Missouri Department of Health’s report of the study, which was evidently prepared by the pro-ban group, Citizens for a Smoke Free Nodaway County, to the Maryville ordinance, and other evidence of economic activity in Maryville, two discrepancies and several issues are evident.

Filter for a new type of cigarette. A popular reduced-exposure cigarette is the kind of earthquake that many in the public health field have anticipated, like a team of worried geologists, for several years.

Smoking and obesity 'age people' Being overweight and a smoker makes a person biologically older than slim non-smokers of the same birth age, UK and US researchers have found.

We Are Everyday People:

Tobacco Road. By Chuck Muth. Well...duh. Consumers order everything (online) from books to electronics to skimpy women's under-britches in order to skirt the high cost of state sales taxes.

Milk, The Fat Food. By Tom Oyler. Well, Well, and the BS continues.

David Hockney objects to smoking bans. Hockney also has been a frequent visitor to New York City, but he no longer plans to stay very long in the Big Apple because of New York's strict anti-smoking ordinances.

Terry's Tidbits. Fun With Nazis - Serious Business. Here’s exactly what we are talking about when we use the term Nazi...

From The Mailbag:

CT: The governor vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have banned most soft drinks and junk food from CT schools.
DC: Should Keep the Freedom In Smoke-Free. By Marc Fisher. A city that thrives on the art of the deal and the celebration of democracy is in no position to traffic in bans and absolutes.
FL: Women Vs Lakeland. By Kimberly J. Hanson. Isn't it ironic that this is the same sort of attitude that human rights activists are attempting to eradicate in the Middle East?
FL: No no-smoking exemption for Sloppy Joe's.
IA: Smoking ban by hospitals to cover even parked cars.
IL: The Tillery and Cooper Vs Huck's and R.J. Reynolds Vicious Cycle.
IL: Springfield Ordinance to be proposed if governor signs bill.
IL: Bill lights up debate over smoking in Illinois bars, restaurants.
IL: Letter to Governor Blagojevich. Veto the Illinois Clean Air - Home Rule Amendment! This is IS about personal freedoms, it is NOT about health!
IN: Crawfordsville Ordinance goes up in smoke. Zumer instead advocates requiring establishments that allow smoking to post a warning sign on the front door.
KS: Changes are on tap for the city’s smoking ban after a Lawrence bar owner in April successfully defended himself against a series of charges related to the ordinance.
KY: Lexington-Fayette County businesses Failing as a Result of Smoking Ban.
LA: Mandeville bans smoking.
LA: Governor abandons cigarette tax hike.
ME: Panel OKs $1 tax hike on cigarettes.
MN: Diary Of A Disaster Page 2.
MN: Bars find smoking ban loophole.
NH: Smokers, Phone Users, Drivers Will Help Fund State Spending. Cigarette Tax Increase In Senate, House Budgets.
NY: Ash Fray In City's Projects. Thousands of New Yorkers living in public housing could soon be banned from smoking in their apartments. Pataki said he is not comfortable with the state telling people what they can do legally behind closed doors.
OH: Grove City fate of local smoking ban still up in the air.
OH: Toledo Mayor Jack Ford Suspends Chief of Staff Jay Black.
OH: Smoke-free campaign outspent Columbus bar owners.
TN: Cigarettes & Sour Grapes. Tobacco group points finger at R.J. Reynolds for increased costs; RJR plays “equity” card.
TX: Brownsville. Survey gets slow response, mixed reaction.
WI: Tavern League moves ahead with 'Smoke Free Dining Act. It would prohibit local governments from imposing a ban on smoking in the bar areas of taverns and restaurants.
WV: A fat pandemic in W.Va.? By Dimitri Vassilaros. "It's the plump plague! Run ... um, waddle for your lives!" "It is definitely a waste of taxpayer dollars" said Ables, president of FORCES West Virginia.
WV: Wheeling Doctors "Tired" Of Media War Over Smoking Ban.
WY: To smoke and to smoke not. By John Allgood. "A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves."
Ireland: Smoking ban has increased litter.
Scotland: Hotel Bans Anti. An Orkney hotel owner has barred Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace - after the MSP backed a smoking ban in pubs.
UK: Loss of tobacco suit means 120 other cases will be dropped.
Canada: Smoke-Free Ontario Act. Yet another blow to struggling hospitality industry.
The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter. All the Canada news.