February 2012

<p>As a new state ban on smoking on outdoor platforms and concourses of the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North takes effect this week, supporters expect the strongest enforcement of the law to come from an unusual source: passengers. </p>
<p>The next time someone lights up on the platform, they can say, &quot;Hey, idiot, don’t you see the sign over there?’ That’s very empowering for them and that’s social pressure. That’s how society works.&quot;<br />
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Really?&nbsp; Someone should not put their nose in other’s business because they may not like the response they get.</p>

According to the World Health Organization, alcohol kills more than 2.5 million people annually, more than AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis.<br />
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In a commentary appearing today (Feb. 15) in the journal Nature, Sridhar argues that the WHO should regulate alcohol at the global level, enforcing such regulations as a minimum drinking age, zero-tolerance drunken driving, and bans on unlimited drink specials. Abiding by the regulations would be mandatory for the WHO’s 194 member states.<br />
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WHO has no elected officials, and is responsible to no one.&nbsp; That doesn’t stop them, they are still coming after tobacco and now alcohol. If you thought you escaped from the health police because you didn’t smoke think again.&nbsp; You are next.<br />
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In his latest column, Edmund Contoski details why solar energy is inefficient, and how the government’s bolstering of &quot;green energy&quot; companies&nbsp; is likely to result in economic calamity.<br type="_moz" />

While everyone goes on and on ad nauseam about outdoor second hand smoke, the real culprit is dirty air.&nbsp; <br />
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Reuters Health) – Living in a crowded city or near a busy highway may be tied to a higher chance of having a stroke or losing your memory, new research suggests.<br />
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A study published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine found a higher risk of stroke after &quot;moderate&quot; compared to &quot;good&quot; air quality days in Boston-area residents, especially when traffic-related pollution was high.<br />
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And another report in the same journal documented a faster long-term decline in thinking and memory skills in women living in higher-pollution areas of the United States.<br />

<p>From the blog of Dr. Lynne Eldridge: &nbsp;&nbsp; I’m one of those fanatics who’s been standing on my soapbox saying that we need to look at causes of lung cancer beyond smoking.</p>
<p>But it’s a fairly lonely position.&nbsp; Does the general public understand that the <strong>majority</strong> of people who develop lung cancer now are non-smokers?<br />
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Doing research on never smokers, who have lung cancer does not line the pockets of Big Pharma, nor does it aid the anti-smoking movement.&nbsp; Until there is money to made no one cares.</p>

Feb 14 (Reuters) – Smoking bans in offices, restaurants and other public places don’t drive smokers to light up more at home, but in fact prompt them to impose their own extra restrictions on the habit, according to a European study published on Tuesday.<br />
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We are not buying this study one bit!&nbsp; The article also does not state where this absurd study was published.<br />
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From the blog of Eric Peters:
<p>&quot;Here&rsquo;s how it works: The government decides that whatever it is you&rsquo;re doing is &ldquo;unsafe&rdquo; &ndash; not specifically in your case, just <em>generally -</em> maybe, <em>might</em> be, <em>could</em> be &ndash; then asserts the legal authority to <em>criminalize</em> whatever it is you&rsquo;re doing. Which means, it asserts the right to arrest you at gunpoint and threaten you implicitly and perhaps explicitly with lethal violence in order to force you to submit and obey. That is, to comply with the order. Failure to do so being sufficient provocation for the unleashing of escalating levels of&nbsp; violent over-reaction. All the way to the end point of shooting you, if need be&quot;.</p>
<p>&quot;Now they&rsquo;re coming for your cigarettes&quot;.<br />
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A must read for any intelligent human being!</p>

San Diego – A City Council committee will receive a proposed ordinance this week to ban smoking in housing complexes if the smoker is asked to stop by another resident, according to documents displayed on the city’s website.&nbsp; <br />
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Do the smokers get to ban/evict the nonsmokers by asking them to turn down the music, stop smelling up the hallways with stinky food, for smelling garbage, or for simply being rude?&nbsp; Wonder how many fist fights this will cause?<br />
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The proposal comes from the San Diego Smoke-Free Housing Task Force, made up of groups such as Social Advocates for Youth San Diego&nbsp;(SAY), American Lung Association, Communities Against Substance Abuse, the Health Association and a tenant advocacy group.<br />
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Once again, we have a 501(c)3’s,&nbsp; (ALA and AHA) proposing legislation, which is illegal according to the regulations set forth by the IRS.<br />
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Many southern states have rejected the best efforts of the anti’s to ban smoking that doesn’t stop them from coming back every legislative session.<br />
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Mississippi — Several smoking ban bills are up for discussion this week in the state Legislature, but local lawmakers think the measures could be snuffed out in committee debates and never reach the Senate floor.&nbsp; State Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula, said he’s heard talk around Jackson that none of the smoke-free bills will emerge from the Senate’s Public Health and Welfare Committee.<br />
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Hurrah for the South for believing in a &quot;free market&quot; and &quot;choice&quot;.<br />
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One wonders why anyone would live in London where there are camera’s watching everything one does.&nbsp; I suppose the politicians have justified this under &quot;terrorism&quot; but I would call it Big Brother.<br />
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The anti’s never stop, and will not until there isn’t one smoker left on the planet.&nbsp; The just chip away step by step, first an indoor ban, then banning smoking in cars with children under 18, next playgrounds and the entire outdoors.&nbsp; <br />
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That’s exactly what they are doing in London, proposing to ban smoking in dozens of outdoor areas, including parks, swimming pools, playgrounds, municipally owned recreation facilities, festivals and outdoor bar and restaurant patios.<br />
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Guess that leaves the middle of the street.&nbsp; All this with no scientific evidence that smoking is harmful to people’s health.<br />