This weeks smoking related threads.

Townsend backs 36-cent increase in Maryland cigarette tax
Cigarette tax hike pushes sales down, but drives revenue up
On TV, twins make pact to quit smoking
Hollywood's Responsibility for Smoking Deaths
Meathead's Proposition 10 Needs Smokers
Most smokers likely wouldn't dodge levy
Smokers - common sense questions
Dahan: Anti-Smoking Law Has Failed
A cigarette in hand onscreen is just a gun aimed at a kid (give me a break alert)
Slam the brakes on fast food before health problems get any worse (binge & purge alert)
(Delaware) Smoking ban fires up opponets
BEACH BUTT PATROL
State says lawyers continue to avoid answering questions about tobacco fees ($3.3 Billion $ fee)
Anti-smoking crusade is noble but misquided
Butting in
Forget the War on Terror - Smokers are the Real Threat
Smokers Bristle Over Cigarette Taxes, But generally tolerant of restrictions on smoking in public
The End of the Smoky Bar
Smokers Steamed Over NYC Smoking Ban
Smokers don't want tax dollars up in smoke

The Lounge is open! Early even.

JaJ, your usual host will not be here for a quite a bit of today.
Your alternate hosts, Gabz and possibly kcpopps, will fill your libation orders and dispense the normal bartenderish advice.

I will try to get back online in Vegas and put up a FRiva update sometime this afternoon.

Good morning, Joe! Are you in Vegas now? I hear it's mighty hot out there!

Wow! I came on to check my e-mail before work, and what do I find? Please do try to update those of us stuck at work on Vegas, Joe! I've got to run, but I am bookmarking for later this afternoon.......

Good Morning, She! I've got to leave for work, but I hope to see you later this afternoon, if I can get off a little early......

Ohhh, I am soooo jealous that you are going to FRiva. I think I will go behind the bar and pour myself a Bloody Mary.

Have fun Joe, and give updates for those of us that are home. :-)

can i whine about that too? waahhh!

Good Morning Everyone!

Looking forward to a LV report from you later. Hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Besides the Freeper conference, today's date has another significance - it's the 25th anniverasary of the day ELVIS died. My wife and I are headed downtown, here in Kansas City, to do video/photography coverage of the 15th annual 99.7 KY ELVIS Parade! It has gotten to be a pretty big event and is a lot of fun.

I'll check back here when I get home in mid afternoon to see how you're all doing without JaJ, our favorite bartender.

I collected a bunch of new quotes I liked this week. I'll leave one here:

When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to it's subjects, this you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motive.

Robert Heinlein

Have a good TGIF everyone.

Have a good time JaJ!!!

Good grief you guys are REALLY early this morning!!!!

Nothing like a little hair of the dog first thing in the morning!

Hey Everybody!!!

here's the toll-free number for the NYC tourism Office: 1-800-225-5697.

A friend of mine in NYC has these suggstions for out of towners calling the Tourism Office:

1. Out of towners: Within the next week, call our Travel & Tourism office during EDT business hours. Toll free. 1-800-225-5697. Be, at your whim, a person thinking of visiting NYC this fall with his/her family or a person thinking of having a small business convention here either this winter or in early '03. Be very worried, however, about the rumor you've heard about a possible CA-style ban which would alter those plans. Is it true? (It's so unbelievable you had to call to check.) Let them know such a ban would stop you from coming. Even their uncertainty about if/when it would take effect is enough to make you forget the whole idea.

And I am in desperate need this morning!!!! (just kidding)

Just gonna stick my head in the door and say Hi to everyone. Going to be busy all weekend,but I'll be in for a little while this evening. And to all the lucky and hardworking people in LV,congrats! It's a nice place.

Even if busy - i hope you have a good weekend!!!

How about a little joke then? Why is getting a new girlfriend like enlisting in the army?

You get new clothes, you get a new haircut, and all imformation is on a strictly need-to-know basis.

Oh, GOOD GRIEF!!!!

Hi Joe.

Glad to see the lounge is open early. Make mine a mocha cappuccino with a shot of brandy.

For those who missed my Gin Taste Test last week, it can be found at Post No. 27 at
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/focus/chat/730454/posts?q=1&&page=1

Here are a couple of jokes for all.

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The Parking Ticket

I went to the store the other day, I was only in there for about 5 minutes and when I came out there was a damn motorcycle cop writing a parking ticket.

So I went up to him and said, "Come on buddy, how about giving a guy a break?"

He ignored me and continued writing the ticket.

So I called him a "pencil necked nazi."

He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having bald tires!!

So I called him "horse shit".

He finished the second ticket and put it on the car with the first.  Then he started writing a third ticket!!

This went on for about 20 minutes, the more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

I didn't give a damn.

My car was parked around the corner... 

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And, for a site of the week???

I think you might find this interesting.

http://www.blogjam.com/ashe/

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