S. 1403 "The Tobacco Prohibition Act of 2011"

S. 1403 "The Tobacco Prohibition Act of 2011":

 The bill also leaves a clause to go after any unnamed nicotine products that smokers may try to switch to, and tax that item to match the cost of cigarettes, eg. nicotine gum and other quit smoking aids. People who make a couple of hundreds a week will be extorted for hundreds of dollars a day as an increasing number of couples have one low wage income between the two of them. 

Go to popvox and tell the people you elected how you feel about this.

Because I Can,Because You Should

Good bloggers talk about why you need to sign the petition to review smoking ban in the U.K.

http://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/more-bits-and-pieces/

http://dickpuddlecote.blogspot.com/2011/08/speck-in-one-eye-plank-in-another.html

http://underdogsbiteupwards.blogspot.com/2011/08/reason-to-sign.html

http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/2011/08/shisha-defiance-and-petitions.html

http://pro-choicesmokingdoctor.blogspot.com/2011/08/e-petitions.html

http://nothing-2-declare.blogspot.com/2011/08/sign-this-petition-to-amend-smoking-ban.html

http://patnurseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/support-fairness-and-choice.html

http://angryexile.blogspot.com/2011/08/your-chance-to-have-your-say.html

I read all of these.
(To clarify I read all of these blogs on a daily basis)
Sign the petition,even if nothing comes from it you can't say you saw an opportunity to try and affect some sort of change and let it pass you by.
There's a link to the petition in my sidebar.

Victims of Smoking Ban Cut Off Politicians

Victims of Smoking Ban Cut Off Politicians [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:

"“We'll let the top officials in to symbolize how the ban hurts the little guys but not big guys,” Mace explained. “That would be consistent with smoking ban"


I am really proud of these guys,they are really trying to take a stand on this.
Everyone who cares about something should do the same before they mistake our quiet acceptance as agreement.

DeRidder Council reaches anti-smoking compromise

DeRidder Council reaches anti-smoking compromise - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

City Council Member Elizabeth Granger is herself a young mother. She proposed the ban on smoking in city parks--- in order to help reduce tobacco exposure to children. "You just can't argue anymore with the statistics and second hand smoke." But she ran into opposition from smokers and even non smokers who felt local government was going too far telling people what they can and cannot do. Then they reached a sort of compromise.

Tobacco users can puff and chew as long as they do it in the parking lot and not the park. Said Granger, "It accomplished exactly my original goal which was to protect our children, in the playground area from the effects of second hand smoke."

This is a compromise?

Street smoke ban unlikely in Blackpool

Street smoke ban unlikely in Blackpool - Local - Blackpool Gazette

But Fylde Euro MP Paul Nuttall has criticised the move.

He said: “We have already seen the dreadful impact the smoking ban has had on the pub trade resulting in hundreds of pubs across the country shutting down.

“If this idea becomes reality it will mean no more going out for a walk and having a smoke.

“I do not believe there is any evidence to show anyone, young or old, has been adversely affected by second hand smoke in the open air.

“Education is needed to deter people from smoking – not heavy handed rules from bureaucrats who want to dictate every aspect of our lives.

Bravo Blackpool.

I really liked this article,but reading it some silly thoughts occurred to me.

Who will be doing the educating?
The state,ASH,NHS,other assorted government funded charities?

Some naive part of me hopes someday we will look back on all the damage done by the banning of smoking indoors,outdoors and in cars, your own private balconies ect and be appalled by it.

A part of me looks at history and believes that someday,somehow all this nonsense will be overturned and people will go back to living lives again in society,not a society made up of smokers and non smokers.

I hope it happens before I am so old it no longer matters.

Lawmakers banned from Michigan bars

Lawmakers banned from Michigan bars - WNEM TV 5 - Saginaw, Flint, Michigan News and Weather

Bars will be posting signs on their entrances, and providing workers photographs of lawmakers to identify them should they, the lawmakers, choose to ignore the ban. Owners have indicated they will have lawmakers charged with trespassing on private property under MCL Sec. 750.552. One Alpena bar owners said, "politicians will learn pretty quick that our bars are private property [if they choose to ignore the ban and enter]."

Over the past month, PPPRM said it has received over 1,000 individual letters from Michigan bar workers and hospitality support industry workers opposed to the law. Those letters will be delivered to lawmakers when they return to work, the group said. 

I have a stupid grin from ear to ear.
For some reason this just makes my day.

Tobacco wars: Government has bigger problems

Tobacco wars: Government has bigger problems | New Hampshire OPINION01

New Hampshire, by the way, has one of the lowest percentage of smokers, according to the Bureau of the Census, yet the American Lung Association says it’s among the states that spend the least on tobacco control and prevention. How about that.

I spend alot of time on forums or at least  I used to.
One of the things we did was quote stuff we were sure would be deleted by the original poster and we would repost their post with a simple QFT  in the comment window.
For me this blog is alot like those forums.
This is a place where I stick interesting stories and bits and pieces of truth so that in the end I will have some sort of record of the absolute insanity that we all live through.
I don't make too much of this opinion piece except the very last bit,which I stuck here as a testament to the idea of non interference into the lives of others.