[SheLion]

Public property: That which is purchased and maintained by tax dollars for the benefit of all people.

Private property: That which is not purchased or maintained by tax dollars and is for the benefit of the property owner.

[SheLion]

Claims of secondhand smoke risks don't pass science test

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/4/06

Articles, editorials, op-eds and published letters in the pages of many of New Jersey's newspapers have been heavily lopsided in support of the effort to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Each article or commentary seemingly has been designed to leave the reader with the perception that the supportive evidence presented is undeniable or that no contrary findings or opinion even exist.

Any claim that exposure to exhaled or sidestream smoke poses a threat to life is "indisputable" is false. There are studies and scientists who dispute it strongly. When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed his ban would save 1,000 workers' lives, the president of the American Council on Science and Health, who vehemently opposes smoking, wrote, "There is no evidence that any New Yorker — patron or employee — has ever died as a result of exposure to smoke in a bar or restaurant." Dr. Richard Doll, the scientist who first linked active smoking to lung cancer, said in a 2001 radio interview, "The effects of other people smoking in my presence is so small it doesn't worry me."

These statements, among many others, are based on the results of studies that found no long-term health risks, and even on studies that claim to find risks, because the science is so weak.

Since smoking bans are premised on protecting nonsmokers, this nonsense to ban smoking should stop right here. It is not a public health issue. However, the anti-smoking crusaders cloud the issue by also dragging in misapplied majority opinion. It's constitutionally unethical for the majority to tyrannize the minority.

But more importantly, polling the public to determine a private establishment owner's fate is indecent. No customer or employee — each free to be there or not — should be able to dictate the house's rules. And for the "my way or the highway" anti-smokers who don't get it, we mean smokers shouldn't either. Only one person's vote counts — the owner's.

The case that workers shouldn't have to leave an environment they don't like or hours that fit their personal needs is nothing more than emotional blackmail. Slavery ended a long time ago. No one is forced to do anything they don't like.

For the lawmakers who believe economics is the determining factor, New York City's sales tax revenue for bars and restaurants did not rise 8.7 percent, as claimed by agencies Bloomberg dispatched on the one-year anniversary (March 2004) of the city's ban. Not only were the figures distorted by including places like McDonald's and Starbucks as restaurants, but smoking was banned in 95 percent of restaurants since the 1995 smoking ban law. What pre- to post-ban restaurant tax revenue comparison was there to make? In all cases (notably bars), it's a no-brainer that sales tax revenue was artificially low immediately following 9/11. To compare the post-ban year to those figures is dishonest.

In April, the New York State Department of Taxation released a much more official review of sales tax revenue. When one compares the pre-ban year to the post-ban year, bars in New York City lost more than 3.5 percent. Statewide, as confirmed by a report in the New York Post May 2, sales tax revenue "dropped or remained relatively flat since the smoking ban went into effect July 2003."

Junk science, tyranny and cooked books is pitting neighbor against neighbor and has ruined or will ruin individual livelihoods. Unbelievable. Don't do it, New Jersey.

[SheLion]

    

[SheLion]

The sign above Joyce Redford, program director for the North Shore Tobacco Control Program's door!

[jcparks]

Public property: That which is purchased and maintained by tax dollars for the benefit of all people.
Private property: That which is not purchased or maintained by tax dollars and is for the benefit of the property owner, regulated by the government.

Sorry SheLion, this line had to be corrected, or I would have been turned in for “aiding and abetting” [/sarc]

[Semper Paratus]

When everybody in Massachusetts stops smoking and buying cigarettes the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth (Legislature) will pass a non-smoking tax to make up for the lost revenue.

[stone fortress]

This is a GREAT article written by Bill Fundis of Niagara Falls. Anyone living in New York State or any othe NANNY state will relate to this (toung in cheek):

NIAGARA FALLS GAZETTE Published: March 19, 2006 08:08 pm
The treacherous journey to ... Pennsylvania
I left New York state for a while March 13, and I’m just glad I made it back alive. I was in a ruthless society, where people could smoke inside buildings, talk on their cell phones while driving, buy fireworks, stun guns and pepper spray, ride their motorcycles without helmets and even get away without having to pay sales tax on the clothes that they buy. There were probably other wanton acts being performed there that I didn’t see or realize, like letting a parking meter run out for 15 or 20 seconds, but I was just looking out for people doing the aforementioned things and steering clear of them.
Of course, I’m talking about our neighbor to the south, Pennsylvania. As I approached the Pennsylvania border, I didn’t know what to expect. I never felt so vulnerable and unsafe. New York state does such a good job of protecting me from myself that when I left that environment, I didn’t know how to act. I don’t smoke, use fireworks, pepper spray, stun guns or ride helmetless, but I wanted to, just for that day, to see if I would survive.
Going home, as I approached the border of New York state, I began to get nervous. I started to feel choked. Was I on the cell phone? Thank God I wasn’t! I made it to the border alive.
As I left those toll-free, well-maintained Pennsylvania highways, I started wondering if there was anything that I bought there that I could possibly claim on my New York state income tax form to help my state squeeze more tax dollars out of me. Unfortunately, there wasn’t. As I gladly paid my tolls at the Ogden and Grand Island toll barriers, leaving those toll-free road behind me, I knew I was back to safety. As my trailer bounced happily all over the “well-maintained” roads that I pay tolls and taxes for, I breathed a sigh of relief. I don’t have to think for myself anymore. New York state will do that for me.
Bill Fundis
Niagara Falls
Copyright

[Mears]

''We were concerned they would rule the other way," said Joyce Redford, program director for the North Shore Tobacco Control Program.

---

That's Marblehead for ya !

A few years ago the town had "Marblehead celebrates diversity" signs all over the place. Diversity in Marblehead means blond, brunette,or redhead,upper middle class or rich,and tall or short.

It was quite humerous.