Free Republic

NAUGATUCK -- A public works employee who refused to ride in a snow plow in which another employee was smoking will not receive payment for that day. On June 30, the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration did award Robert Riley four hours of pay at his normal rate, which is required by contract every time a worker is called into work overtime. "I felt it was a very fair hearing," said Susan Hurlburt, the borough's director of human resources. Riley's grievance claimed that he should receive nine hours of double-time pay because a supervisor told him if he did...

A MYSTERY tobacco crusader has been visiting pubs in the south of the country. The phantom smoker, who goes by the name of Wandering Minstrel, has unleashed a campaign of defiance against the anti-smoking crackdown by visiting pubs nationwide, openly smoking - and then leaving his calling card. He launched his campaign in Cork but his defiance has now taken in other counties. The Wandering Minstrel immediately leaves a premises once instructed to put out his cigarette. While the campaign was initially greeted with grudging admiration by publicans, the heavy fines threatened against all premises breaching the regulations has sparked...

Pub Owner First to Be Fined Over Smoking Ban Wed Jul 21, 7:25 AM ET Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo! DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish publican became the first bar owner in the country Tuesday to be successfully prosecuted for breaking the government's pioneering smoking ban, court officials said. Padraig Folan, owner of the Ti Hanrai pub in the village of Lettermore in the far west of Ireland, was fined 1,200 euros ($1,500) and ordered to pay 500 euros in costs for failing to enforce the ban. Ireland introduced the law in March, becoming the first country...

Larry Isaacson's nose is so sensitive to perfume that he gets woozy, loses his appetite and can develop an itchy rash that blooms behind his ears when he is exposed to it. So when a colleague recently slathered on perfume that emanated well beyond her personal space, Mr. Isaacson found himself employing his usual tactics. They include avoidance, which means standing several feet away from the cloud and holding his breath until it passes. If trapped in close proximity for an extended time, he breathes through his mouth. And his most passive tactic, which sometimes works best: waiting for someone...

"The Swedish organization A Non Smoking Generation covered Stockholm in posters claiming that smoking stunts penis growth and that cigarette filters are filled with mouse excrements, along with other lies aimed at getting kids to stop smoking," Agence France-Presse reports: "We wanted to raise awareness about how the tobacco industry always promotes its products--through lies," head of the organization Anne-Therese Enarsson told AFP. "Our lies are so exaggerated that we hope they will make people stop and think, and then come to our website to find the truth," she added. One wonders if it's occurred to ANSG that their lies...

Lawmaker wants smoke-free Pa. bars and restaurants Tuesday, July 20, 2004Pittsburgh Post-Gazette An influential state senator is proposing to extend smoking bans into Pennsylvania’s bars and restaurants. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery County, today announced he would push for legislation that would follow a pattern set by seven other states, including California and New York. A press release from Greenleaf said business is actually up in New York City bars and restaurants. In Florida, where smoking is banned in restaurants but not bars, restaurant business increased, Greenleaf said. __________________________________________ More details in tomorrow’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Senate plan ties FDA regulation to eliminating quotasBy NANCY ZUCKERBROD Associated Press WASHINGTON - The Senate approved a plan Thursday to put new restrictions on cigarette makers and pay tobacco farmers $12 billion to give up federal quotas propping up their prices. An unlikely alliance of anti-smoking advocates and tobacco-state senators teamed up to secure the 78-15 vote to combine a 10-year buyout for tobacco growers with new Food and Drug Administration powers. The measure was added as an amendment to a corporate tax bill and broke weeks of deadlock over how to proceed with negotiations on that bill....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate overwhelmingly approved a landmark tobacco deal on Thursday to give the Food and Drug Administration long-sought power to regulate cigarettes and give $12 billion in aid to tobacco farmers. Though hailed as a breakthrough by public health groups, the measure faces an uncertain future because it was approved as part of a massive corporate tax bill that must still be reconciled with the House of Representatives's version. Those talks are expected to be long and complex. The lopsided 78-15 vote will strengthen the Senate position in those negotiations, and many lawmakers who want greater public...

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - A lone Galway pub has thrown down the gauntlet to the Irish government over its 3-month-old ban on workplace smoking - by inviting customers to rebel and light up. "We're taking a stand," declared Ciaran Levanzin, co-owner of the Fibber Magee's pub in the central Eyre Square of Galway, where ashtrays returned to tables Tuesday and customers were encouraged to puff away. It marked the first deliberate effort by any of Ireland's more than 10,000 pubs to defy the ban. The measure has been almost universally observed - and, in a country where 70 percent of...

ONCE they plied Hollywood stars with free cigarettes and paid producers to feature their brands. From Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep to Sean Connery as James Bond, smoking in films often seemed sexier than most Hollywood love scenes. Now cigarette companies are lobbying Hollywood studios to remove shots showing characters smoking their products. In Paramount Pictures’ film Twisted Samuel L Jackson, the film’s star, is clearly seen lighting a Marlboro at a key moment. In the past Philip Morris, the world’s largest tobacco firm, would have welcomed such free advertising. But no longer. The company’s vice-president,...

Anti-smoking advocates would like movies that portray smoking to carry an R rating. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) doesn’t care for that idea much. The organization’s resistance might have something to do with the fact that R rated movies as a rule aren’t as profitable as those with softer ratings. Or maybe it’s worried that if a concession is made to one bunch of self-appointed do-gooders, it’ll have to do it for others. So what does one group, such as the anti-smoking activists, do when another group, such as the MPAA, won’t get with the program? Run to...

Friday's National Non-Smoking Day turned out to be a non-event for several for smokers The Royal Gazette caught up with. One smoker, who did not want to be named, said she had "no idea it was going on", and "was not sure if she would not have smoked if she had known". The Hamilton office worker who was outside smoking said that she "did not think it would have made a difference." Another man said he thought it was "a stupid idea because people should have choices. They have choices for everything else, we should have choices if we smoke...

OSLO, Norway - Ireland’s pioneering ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants seems to be helping some addicts to kick the habit and may be promoting a new way to meet people, Ireland’s health minister said on Tuesday. Micheal Martin, visiting Norway which in June becomes the second nation in the world after Ireland to outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants, said the Irish ban was working well since its launch at the end of March. The nationwide laws, inspired by bans in places such as California and New York City, are meant to protect waiters and other workers from...

Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Invecchiamento, Universita La Sapienza, Roma. Cigarette smoking has been clearly linked to the most common causes of death in the elderly and contributes to the higher death rate and disability rate associated with many chronic illnesses that are common in this age group. The combination of smoking along with other risk factors like hypertension and diabetes increase high frequency disease, and disability as well as adding to an increase in mortality rate. In order to verify if a healthy lifestyle really favours longevity and how much smoking is incompatible with extreme longevity, we investigated the prevalence of...

<p>May 13, 2004 -- AUDREY Hepburn did it. So did Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Nicole Kidman and, famously, Olivia Newton-John. But you'll never see another movie star smoke on screen if the anti-smoking lobby has its way.</p> <p>Critics of the tobacco industry want Hollywood to treat on-screen smoking the same way it treats indecent language and nudity - with an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).</p>

A students' union is lifting its new restrictions on smoking after losing more than £26,000 in bar takings in 13 days. Leeds University union imposed a ban on lighting up in its buildings before 7pm for a month-long trial. It runs five bars and three nightclubs across three sites and provides entertainment for about 33,000 students. The ban came into force on Feb 16 with smoking forbidden through the night in The Terrace bar and part of The Old Bar on the Leeds campus. The nightclubs were unaffected. Almost 100 complaints were received from smokers, but officials were finally persuaded...

Toledo bar owners find loophole to let patrons light upTOLEDO — James Pierson sat at the corner of the bar with a cigarette in his hand and a court summons in his coat pocket.The retired autoworker was charged about a month ago with violating the city’s ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.That wasn’t stopping him from a beer and another cigarette."In reality, I’m breaking the law right now," said Pierson, 62, of Temperance, Mich. "Everybody should stand up for their rights."Defiant smokers and tavern owners in cities where smoking has been outlawed are rising up to protest, staging "smokeins"...

BOSTON -- The push for a statewide smoking ban hit a snag in the state Legislature yesterday when a senator successfully blocked the formation of a committee charged with drafting a compromise version of the legislation. Late last year, the Senate and House of Representatives both passed slightly different versions of a statewide ban on smoking in the workplace. Last week, House leaders appointed several state representatives who will meet behind closed doors with their Senate counterparts to hash out the differences between the two bills. The Senate was poised to name three senators to serve on that "conference committee"...

Cigar-loving Arnie plans a 'smoking plaza' at state capitol By Oliver Poole in Los Angeles (Filed: 17/02/2004) Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's cigar-smoking governor, is to tear a roof off the state capitol so that smokers can enjoy their vice inside the legislature. The Austrian-born actor, elected governor last November, is facing protests for deciding to turn a courtyard in the building into a "smoking plaza". It will include a drinking area. Part of the roof will be removed to get round a California law banning smoking in offices, bars and restaurants. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan has angered the anti-smoking lobby The governor's...

<p>February 16, 2004 -- KAPPA Beta Phi, whose motto is "we sing, we dance," should now be changed to "we sing, we dance, we smoke" - after recent published reports outed the esteemed society's blatant disregard for Mayor Bloomberg's silly smoking ban, and in his presence no less.</p>

Invoking the words of Ronald Reagan and the Founding Fathers, members of the Senate agriculture committee said they were upholding personal freedoms by unanimously approving a bill that would outlaw local smoking bans. By a 10-0 vote, lawmakers embraced Sen. Dan Seum's proposal, which would prohibit cities from banning public smoking in areas other than local government buildings. Under the bill, cities could require businesses to post entrance signs that state their smoking policies, giving adults the choice whether to walk into a smoky environment, the committee members said. Several supporters described the bill as "common sense." "It's a compromise,...

<p>NEW YORK -- Carnival is ending its smoke-free cruises aboard the Paradise.</p> <p>The 2,052-passenger ship has operated since its introduction in 1998 as a smoke-free vessel, cruising from Miami to the Caribbean with a zero tolerance for cigars and cigarettes among both passengers and crew.</p>

Four former U.S. surgeons general offer a plan to reduce smoking that includes a $2-per-pack tax. WASHINGTON - Four former surgeons general on Tuesday unveiled a plan to reduce smoking that included a $2-per-pack tax they predicted would prompt at least five million smokers to quit. They also called for a nationwide counseling and support line for smokers trying to quit, an idea that immediately was put into practice by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Thompson said more than $25 million would be dedicated for the toll-free, national ''quitline'' that will be established by year's end. States also...

Citing livelihood, musicians announce opposition to city?s ban on smoking BY ADAM WALLWORTH Northwest Arkansas Times Posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2004 The recently formed Bands Against the Ban officially announced its opposition to the pending ordinance that would ban tobacco smoke in Fayetteville restaurants and places of employment. Earl Cate of the Cate Brothers and Jed Clampit expressed Tuesday the concerns of 28 local musicians and bands over the potential impacts of the ban if it is approved by voters Tuesday. Clampit expressed his concern that the ban could have a detrimental economic impact on many of the places...

Couple demands halt to neighbor's smoking Restraining order sought over nuisance to health By Phil Trexler Beacon Journal staff writer Robert Zangrando has had it up to his chest, nose and eyes with his neighbor's smoking and he's taking her to court to get her to quit. Zangrando, a retired University of Akron history professor who lives in Stow, was in Summit County court Thursday with his wife and lawyer. Together they are seeking a restraining order against his next-door neighbor, Nicole Kuder, 28, that would prohibit her from smoking outdoors within 30 feet of her condominium. Zangrando, 71, and...

<p>CASTLE HAYNE, North Carolina (AP) -- Dan Norris makes no bones about smoking's dangers. The logo for his Grim Reapers cigarettes -- a black-hooded death's head -- is like one big surgeon general's warning.</p> <p>Even his company's name makes a statement: Poison Inc.</p>

Join the FR smokers lounge bump list...click on the logo Welcome Friends, foes and associates to the completely remodeled Free Republic...Smoker's Lounge Here you will find a comfy place to smoke, drink, joke or whatever. We always have a great time, so sit back, relax and...Smoke 'em if you got 'em shsshshsshsshsshssh shsshsshsshsshsshshsshsshsshshsshshsshsshsshssh shsshsshsshsshsshshsshsshsshshsshshsshsshsshssh shsshsshsshsshsshshsshsshsshshssh aaaaa,:`___________________________||`,:'.",`.;'`,:'.',`: <--------Life is good! A very special thank you to Registered for providing us with this fine logo....we will bear it with pride.

The bandwagon of local smoking bans now steamrolling across the nation - from New York City to San Antonio - has nothing to do with protecting people from the supposed threat of "second-hand" smoke. Indeed, the bans themselves are symptoms of a far more grievous threat; a cancer that has been spreading for decades and has now metastasized throughout the body politic, spreading even to the tiniest organs of local government. This cancer is the only real hazard involved - the cancer of unlimited government power. The issue is not whether second-hand smoke is a real danger or a phantom...

ALBANY - State lawmakers, bar owners and the tobacco industry have stepped up efforts to weaken the state's new ban on smoking in most public places before it takes effect in July. Legislation was proposed Thursday in the Assembly and the Senate, including by a couple of dozen lawmakers who two months ago voted for the crackdown on smoking, to provide a series of exemptions from the law for bars and restaurants that say the measure will gut their businesses. The bill emerged several days after bar owners across New York temporarily shut down their lottery machines to protest the...

<p>Chris Christensen, manager of Marquard's Smoke Shop in downtown San Francisco, isn't too worried that 192 nations have unanimously adopted a global treaty aimed at curbing tobacco use.</p> <p>Nor is he terribly concerned about a provision of the treaty banning all "tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship," even though his shop, which has been in business for almost half a century, is festooned with cigarette ads and promotions.</p>

<p>Albany -- New York lost more than $500,000 in lottery sales after hundreds of bars and restaurants unplugged their lottery machines to protest the statewide smoking ban in businesses, officials said Thursday.</p> <p>The protest was meant to deprive the state of revenue from the Quick Draw game and publicize bar and restaurant owners' concerns that the smoking ban will hurt business, said Scott Wexler of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association.</p>

Nonsmokers on the move Pueblo vote buoys alliance for bans in Denver, other cities By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News May 22, 2003 Buoyed by an emphatic victory in Pueblo, Colorado's smoke-free advocates are turning to proposed nonsmoking ordinances in Denver and other Colorado cities, an organizer said Wednesday. "We're hoping the Denver City Council will act on this soon," said Chris Sherwin, executive director of the Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance, CTEPA. Similar ordinances may be appearing soon in Greeley, Broomfield and Grand Junction, said Sherwin. The Denver law would prohibit smoking in restaurants but allow it in...

Voters embrace ban on smoking Foes of Pueblo's no-puffing ordinance dealt a crushing blow By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News May 21, 2003 PUEBLO - Voters issued a resounding "no" Tuesday to smoking in all bars and restaurants, culminating a bitter six-month battle that divided this normally mild-mannered southern Colorado city. Fifty-nine percent of voters approved the ordinance that bans smoking in all restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, bingo parlors and other public places. The vote was 11,568 to 7,909, and the ban will go into effect when the votes are ratified, probably Friday. The voters also spared three of four...

=============================== NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org =============================== For release: May 21, 2003 =============================== For additional information: George Getz, Communications Director Phone: (202) 333-0008 E-Mail: pressreleases@hq.LP.org ================================ Global tobacco treaty will curb freedom, but not smoking, Libertarians predict WASHINGTON, DC -- The international anti-tobacco treaty that the U.S. government has suddenly embraced won't reduce smoking in other nations by one iota, Libertarians predict, but it will infringe on the right of adults everywhere to smoke. "This treaty proves that politicians and bureaucrats are hopelessly addicted to running other people's lives, no...

<p>More than two months after New York City prohibited smoking in restaurants and bars, the effort to impose a similar ban on this side of the Hudson River is running into trouble in the New Jersey Legislature.</p> <p>Facing determined opposition to the proposed ban from restaurant and tavern owners, Senate leaders delayed a scheduled vote yesterday on the proposal to prohibit smoking in most indoor public places in New Jersey. An Assembly committee approved the measure in February.</p>

State smoking tax boost proposed Perry, others in GOP dismiss Strayhorn plan for $1 extra per pack05/20/2003 By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN – Breaking ranks with other Republicans on raising taxes, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn on Monday endorsed a $1 boost to the state's 41-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes. "This is a revenue stream that I firmly believe the people of Texas will support," Mrs. Strayhorn said, citing polls that show seven in 10 Texans favor the increase. Despite the state's $9.9 billion budget shortfall through the coming two years and the nation's 33rd-lowest cigarette tax,...

INHALING other people’s tobacco smoke has no effect on heart disease or lung cancer risks, according to a new study. The results cast doubt on moves to ban smoking in public places and suggest that much of the fuss about passive smoking may have been misplaced. Two American scientists reviewed evidence from a long-term study in California that enrolled nearly 120,000 adults and monitored their health for nearly 40 years. The study began in 1959, when the risks of smoking were less well understood. James Enstrom, of the University of California in Los Angeles, and Geoffrey Kabat, of the University...

<p>May 12, 2003 -- Business at New York bars and restaurants has plummeted by as much as 50 percent in the wake of the smoking ban - and the drop has already sparked layoffs and left some establishments on the brink of shutting their doors, a Post survey has found.</p>

<p>BOSTON EXTENDED its ban on restaurant smoking to bars less than a week ago, and already the pressure is on the Legislature to do what it has never mustered the gumption to do: ban smoking in workplaces statewide.</p> <p>Now lawmakers might finally take this step, both because Boston's brief experience has shown that night life does not end with a smoking ban and because some city bar owners want a level playing field to keep smoking pa trons from fleeing to cities that permit it in bars, such as Quincy. A state law would be a belated recognition that no Massachusetts worker should have to tolerate secondhand smoke - a risk factor in cancer and heart disease - as a condition of employment.</p>

ith great fanfare this month, New York City set out to hunt violators of its new indoor smoking ban. So far, only two establishments have been bagged.The first is the august Hotel Pierre. The second is Señor Swanky's.At the Pierre, a Fifth Avenue institution, the rich and well-born swirl martinis at the cocktail hour.At Señor Swanky's, a Columbus Avenue burrito joint, the regulars swill frozen margaritas at the salsa-stained bar.This is the democracy of the cigarette.The staff of Señor Swanky's has taken full responsibility. "Some lady came in last week and got a drink — a margarita, I think —...

<p>May 10, 2003 -- The city has nabbed the first violators of the new smoking ban - but they're already behind bars.</p> <p>City officials revealed yesterday that 17 jailbirds in city correctional facilities were caught puffing during the first month of the ban. The nicotine-addicted inmates are the first known offenders of the smoking ban.</p>

THIS IS A STORY of one of the greatest heists in modern American history. Five years ago a small group of trial lawyers became fabulously wealthy off of other people’s pain and suffering, and it looked like they got away with it. But maybe not. I am referring to the 1998 tobacco litigation agreement reached between states and tobacco companies. This famous legal settlement required the tobacco companies to reimburse states nearly $250 billion over 25 years for the smoking-related health care costs incurred by state-financed Medicaid programs. In that deal, a small gang of several hundred trial lawyers walked...

<p>President Bush has proposed a tax cut of $726 billion over 10 years to spur the economic expansion. The Senate has voted to cut it to $350 billion. Bowing to Senate pressure, the House allowed for a $550 billion tax cut in its budget resolution, and the president reluctantly agreed.</p>

<p>In recent court filings, four law firms, led by Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels of Boston, asked a Superior Court judge to enforce a contract that called for the lawyers to be given 25 percent of whatever proceeds Massachusetts received in the case.</p>

This is a story of one of the greatest heists in modern American history. It is a story of how billions of dollars were transferred from taxpayers to a small group of avaricious trial lawyers. Five years ago these trial lawyers became fabulously wealthy off of other people’s pain and suffering—and they did it with impunity. That is, hopefully, until now. I am referring to the 1998 tobacco litigation agreement reached between states and tobacco companies. This famous legal settlement required the tobacco companies to reimburse states nearly $250 billion over 25 years for the smoking-related health care costs incurred...

Tobacco bonds took a hit from Standard & Poor's yesterday - a bad sign for those hoping to borrow against tobacco settlement payments to close New York's $11.5 billion budget shortfall. The rating agency Standard & Poor's joined Fitch and Moody's in downgrading the nation's $18 billion in municipal tobacco bonds. It lowered them across the board, citing "adverse litigation environment within the tobacco industry" and weak cigarette sales in the first quarter. The bonds are backed by installment payments flowing out of the $246 billion in settlement agreements signed by tobacco companies and the states in the 1990s. As...

New rules that restrict smoking in thousands of Oklahoma restaurants and indoor workplaces were signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Frank Keating, who said excessive tobacco use keeps the state unhealthy and poor."These rules are fair. Secondhand smoke shouldn't be wafting over our children," Keating said at a state Capitol news conference. The anti-smoking regulations take effect Monday, but state Health Department leaders said full compliance will not be enforced until later in the summer. The Oklahoma Restaurant Association plans to file a lawsuit today in Sapulpa to block the regulations. "This is a glaring example of why citizens often...

SACRAMENTO – A potentially landmark measure to raise California's legal smoking age to 21 narrowly survived its first public hearing yesterday as a swarm of tobacco lobbyists silently looked on. The unexpectedly close vote in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee served notice that, despite assurances from industry leader Philip Morris, tobacco companies are likely to put up a fight against the high-profile legislation. "There was a decision made not to formally oppose the bill, but to work the hell out of it in the shadows," said Assemblyman Paul Koretz, a West Hollywood Democrat who recently introduced the measure,...

White commercial farmers in Zimbabwe have lost much of this year's tobacco crop due to theft by operatives loyal to dictatorial President Robert Mugabe, only to see it sold to U.S. and other international firms for pennies on the dollar, say sources inside the African nation. According to sources in Zimbabwe and neighboring South Africa, dozens of white-owned commercial farms have been raided of their entire tobacco harvest, lost to "war veterans" – roving bands of black Zimbabweans, some of whom fought for independence from colonial rule in the 1980s, who are loyal to Mugabe and who take over the...

he nation's biggest tobacco companies suffered their first defeat in a secondhand smoke case this week, and they said yesterday that they would use the setback to challenge a critical ruling governing the $349 million settlement they struck with the nation's flight attendants nearly five years ago.On Tuesday, a Miami jury awarded $5.5 million in compensatory damages to Lynn French, 56, a flight attendant who does not smoke but has chronic sinus problems from spending more than a dozen years in smoky airplane cabins.She is one of 2,800 flight attendants with similar cases against the tobacco industry under unusual...