September 2007

<p>Democratic presidential contender Bill Richardson discusses his accomplishments as Governor of New Mexico and what he would do if elected President.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Iraqi people may now have the two fingers which which they hold cigarettes, severed.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">It isn’t every day we read about the results of a campaign of oppression, social control, hatred and torture.&nbsp; Such, however, are on view in Al Qaeda controlled Iraq, where smoking warrents amputation. </span><br />
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<p>So powerful has the health lobby become that all those running for President of the United States, from both parties, feel themselves obliged to genuflect before the altar of hygiene and safety.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana">Fraud existed since the first random conglomerations of humans appeared on Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. That is because deception is part of our nature. We use it is because, when coupled with fraud (and some intelligence), it actually pays off quite well and, at times, it is a tool for survival.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p><em>&quot;Competition and a partial smoking ban continued to batter the Atlantic City casinos, causing revenue to decline 5.9 percent in August, typically one of the strongest months of the year.&quot;</em></p>

<p><em>&quot;Conroy says angry smokers have canceled $3 million worth of bookings since July 5, the day Regent announced it would ban smoking in cabins and on balconies. This despite the fact that smoking still will be allowed in casinos and designated areas of bars.</em>&quot;</p>

<p>Tabcorp Holdings Ltd., Australia’s largest gaming company, had a 12 percent fall in second-half profit after the introduction of smoking bans cut earnings from casinos.</p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana;">It is all over the news. The famous British pub super-chain Wetherspoon is hurting because of the smoking ban. We at FORCES are, of course, not surprised by this because we know that smoking bans hurt trade and economies all over the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: Verdana;">In the latest issue of Econ Journal Watch, economist David Henderson dissects and rejects the claims of anti-tobacco researchers Benjamin Alamar and Stanton Glantz that smoking-bans are good for the restaurant business.<o:p></o:p></span></p>