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In reference to the story "Smoking ban for bars on Legislative agenda" on Feb. 14 by John Zicconi, all I can say is "Hogwash." I own a successful bar in Greenwich Village. In 2004, we were voted the Best Lounge in New York by CitySearch. My business is down 30 percent since 2002. Since nothing has changed but the smoking ban, I can attribute this precipitous drop to nothing else. It's remarkable to read that "A New York City official on Thursday will travel to Vermont to testify that Big Apple pub receipts have increased 12 percent since the city's...

The failure of a last-chance cancer drug to significantly improve survival rates in a clinical trial was a surprise and the manufacturer says it is trying to figure out why the product didn't do better.

Please note that several cities and towns in Ohio are about to make a mistake and put smoking bans on their books. Could you please put together a State law now that smoking bans are not allowed?This would save a lot of wasted court money in the future.You see, smoking bans are not legal. NY and FL judges have already agreed that bans are not enforceable.  (Links at http://www.smokersclubinc.com )  This makes all smoking bans illegal unless your State or town wants to train you, supply liability insurance, sign you on as police AND make it a law that anyone they...

PHILADELPHIA, March 3  -- Mark Schweiker, President & CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, today voiced the Chamber's support of a City Council bill to ban smoking in virtually all public places in Philadelphia. Schweiker said that the success of smoking bans in cities worldwide and the dangers of second-hand smoke influenced the Chamber's decision.  "The facts prove that banning smoking in public places will not adversely affect business," said Schweiker. "In fact, one year after New York City enacted its smoking ban, business activity actually increased in restaurants and bars and 10,000 jobs were added. We understand...

Dozens turn out as resident presents plan to City Council GREENWOOD VILLAGE - If Stephanie Steinberg has her way, this city - where thousands of businesspeople spend their work weeks - will be 100 percent smoke-free.  The stay-at-home mother presented her ideas for banning smoking in public spaces to City Council members Monday night.  Dozens of local residents, restaurant owners and health officials packed a room to show their support or to voice concern about how a ban would decrease local business revenues.  It all started when Steinberg and her family went to California last year and ate at a...

 (Updates with judge's order) WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Government efforts to penalize cigarette makers are severely constrained by a recent appeals court ruling that rejected any disgorgement of past industry profits, the trial judge in the tobacco racketeering suit said on Monday.U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said government efforts to pursue other remedies, like funding smoking cessation programs, were also undercut by the Feb. 4 appeals court opinion that ruled out a $280 billion disgorgement.The trial has been underway since September, with the government calling dozens of witnesses to argue that cigarette makers violated U.S. racketeering laws by conspiring...

MIAMI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Southern tobacco-producing U.S. states, backed into a corner by financial woes, are breaking a taboo against raising their minuscule taxes on cigarettes. North Carolina, Kentucky and other southern states with some of America's lowest excise rates on cigarettes are defying a powerful tobacco lobby and debating hefty tax increases meant to add hundreds of millions of dollars of much-needed revenue. "States are just coming out of their worst times in years and years, and this has been a very popular strategy for raising revenue," said Sujit CanagaRetna, a senior fiscal analyst in Atlanta with the...

Ask any nanny about the perils of tobacco, and they’ll tell you that it is addictive, it kills smokers, and it poisons the air that non-smokers breathe.  They’ll tell you that it is a drain on our healthcare system, it raises insurance rates for all of us, and smoke breaks cut into productive time.          They’ll tell you that movies, music, and books that portray smoking lead our children to nicotine addiction.  Sports stars, singers, actors, and other public figures who smoke are bad influences on our kids.  They’ll tell you that people like me who fight for the freedom to...

 They had me until the Nazis marched in. Even before a Michigan company called Weyco fired four employees on Feb. 9 because they wouldn’t quit smoking -- the company hoped to save a little money on health insurance -- Smokers Club was sounding the alarm about cigarette bans. “The World Is In A Smoking War,” ran the headline on the notice e-mailed Jan. 10 from Smokers Club national honcho Samantha Phillipe. “Smoking Bans Kill People.” “This failed experiment in modifying human behavior is killing people and it has to stop now,” she wrote. “Death certificates from secondary smoke exposure are zero,...

Despite intense lobbying from anti-smoking fanatics, Elsmere’s city council kept residents’ property rights from going up in smoke by voting against a smoking ban in public places, including privately owned businesses.Proponents of a ban seized on a limited proposal by Elsmere Mayor Bill Bradford that would have banned smoking only in city buildings. However, Bradford showed courageous leadership by casting the tie-breaking vote against the plan when the ordinance presented to the council went far beyond his original objective.Opponents said such a ban would overtax Elsmere’s police department and harm businesses. Dottie Baxter, owner of JB’s Roadhouse in Elsmere...

American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares. The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.  Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) _ State lawmakers say Illinois smokers may not have to worry about shelling out a lot more money for their habit right away.Lawmakers from both parties are sharply criticizing Governor Blagojevich's plan to increase cigarette taxes by 75 cents per pack and use the money to pay for school and road construction projects.They say the tax increase would simply prompt smokers to travel to neighboring states such as Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana to buy cigarettes cheaper.They say that would hurt the economy and ensure the state doesn't take in enough money to fund the projects.Instead, they're looking...

Do people who enjoy smoking have any rights? Increasingly, the answer is no. It is essential to keep in mind that smoking cigarettes, cigars, or pipes is an entirely personal choice. No one is required to smoke. Millions voluntarily stop smoking every year. People have been smoking, and enjoying tobacco products for a very long time, but now they have been demonized and ostracized. Using the power of government, to tax, smokers are being ripped off at every level. Recently, New York City sent letters to 2,300 residents giving them thirty days to pay the taxes on the cartons of...

HALLOCK, Minn. - On Dec. 18, I attended a panel discussion sponsored by the Grand Forks Tobacco Free Coalition at the Alerus Center. After listening to the panel members and researching both sides of the issues, and having lived in California when the smoking ban was instituted there, I strongly urge the Grand Forks City Council and other agencies to take no action on the issue at this time, except to research the facts on both sides.Why? First, the health issue is seriously questionable. As the American Council on Science and Health has put it, "the role of environmental tobacco...

Concerned about the booming trade in online cigarette sales, New York state officials have begun using a variety of techniques to clamp down on the trade, saying New York City alone is losing more than $75 million a year in uncollected tax revenues because of the sales.In recent weeks, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been pushing local postal officials and private carriers to stop delivering cigarettes bought online. His office has also recently begun negotiations with credit card companies to block transactions of online cigarettes.These efforts were given added push recently as local officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol,...

A tiny upstart in the cigarette business threatens to topple a comfortable cartel engineered by big tobacco companies and their strange bedfellows, the state attorneys general.Big tobacco was supposed to come under harsh punishment for decades of deception when it acceded to a tort settlement seven years ago. Philip Morris, R.J.Reynolds, Lorillard and Brown & Williamson agreed to pay 46 states $206 billion over 25 years. This was their punishment for burying evidence of cigarettes' health risks. But the much-maligned tobacco giants have subtly and shrewdly turned their penance into a windfall. Using that tort settlement, the big brands have...

Tobacco control coordinator John Archard said the state investigated the post after getting complaints from area businesses that the VFW was stealing customers away by allowing in the public and letting them smoke.

A state lawmaker from Lansing wants to change employment rules in Michigan that allowed an Okemos company to fire employees for smoking off the job.Sen. Virg Bernero, a Democrat, said he will introduce legislation today that makes it illegal to fire an employee for engaging in legal activity outside the workplace.Meanwhile, four fired employees of Weyco Inc. are taking their story public this morning with appearances on national news shows."When this happened, I said, 'You can't do this to me,' " Anita Epolito told the State Journal on Sunday, speaking publicly for the first time about her firing.Epolito, of Haslett,...

A long time ago people either smoked or they didn't.  It was no big deal because it wasn't an issue.  The people of earth got along fine knowing they had freedom of choice without even knowing they had it.Then some really smart guys in white coats that work for Big Pharmaceutical got together and said, "Hey, we are always getting slammed when one of our drugs takes a dirt nap." "Wouldn't it be great if everyone in the world had to buy their nicotine from us?!"  "Think of the money we could make...  wow!"Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around with two working brain cells...

NEW YORK - It appears time might have run out on the hockey season. An NHL team owner who asked for anonymity said the league is expected to cancel the season either Thursday or Friday, possibly announcing it after the conclusion of Thursday's bargaining session, ESPN and Sportsnet.ca reported.......

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 31: Observing rules does not always pay and a youth from Orissa recently learnt it the hard way. Samaresh Panda, 24, an unemployed youth, was allegedly pushed out of the 2802 New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express on January 26 evening by three men near Bokaro railway station for his protests against smoking inside the compartment. The youth was left with a broken hip and scarred back. The injuries were so severe that pieces of flesh fell off his hip when he landed next to the railway track. Panda, a resident of Chakeisiani in Bhubaneswar, had recently gone to New...

China, US seek stronger military ties BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Defense Ministry and its US counterpart rounded off their first special policy dialogue here Tuesday with both voicing their satisfactions, a sign of warming ties between two militaries of the two countries. The two-day closed-door talk covered a wide range of issues, including the Taiwan issue, maritime military security and exchange programs in 2005, said a Chinese military spokesman Tu Qiming, who is in charge of the American and Oceanian affairs in the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) under the Chinese Defense Ministry. The two sides had "a very...

Three passengers threw a 24-year-old man out of a running train on December 26, 2004, after he protested against their smoking in the compartment.Amaresh Panda, who was traveling from Delhi in the Purushottam Express, had asked the three to stop smoking as it inconvenienced the other passengers. When the train left Bokaro railway station in Jharkhand at night, the men pushed Amaresh out of the train, his family said.Amaresh, who suffered serious injuries, was spotted near the tracks the next morning by two men. They got him admitted to the Bokaro Steel General Hospital.His family later shifted him to a...

Just how harmful is environmental tobacco smoke? Not as harmful as the Environmental Protection Agency or those anti-secondhand smoke commercials would have one believe, according to Roger A. Jenkins, Ph.D., consultant to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Chemical Sciences division.Jenkins presented "Human Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Is What You See What You Get?" at ORNL this week. "Some people wish I didn't have the findings I have," Jenkins said. "Others say, 'Gee, if this is true, why does the EPA continue to talk about this?' [The research] steps on people's toes, and that's exactly what I want it to...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- One year after kicking its decades-long cigarette sponsorship habit, NASCAR apparently needs a little help staying smoke-free.  Nicorette gum became the first smoking cessation product to enter NASCAR when GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare signed a sponsorship deal Thursday with Chip Ganassi Racing.  Three of its quit-smoking products -- the gum, the NicoDerm CQ patch and Commit lozenges -- will be advertised on the rear decklid of Casey Mears' car for the entire season. Nicorette will also be the primary sponsor on the No. 41 Dodge for one race in a deal estimated to cost the company $3...

The Local Government Association says it is not surprised councils want no part in enforcing Queensland's new smoking laws.Councils can volunteer to police the smoking bans on patrolled beaches, near children's playgrounds and outside buildings.But a number of them have this week revealed they have refused.The association's Tony Good says he expects most of Queensland's 125 councils will decline any enforcement role."The majority of the anecdotal feedback we're getting from members would suggest that the majority probably, at this stage, won't be opting in to the enforcement program," he said."It is understandable given the amount of resources that is...

Hide your smokes and unhealthy contraband. The tyrants of wellbeing are back.  Apparently, the Denver City Council is never too busy to intercede with some good old-fashioned social engineering. And soon enough, smoking in restaurants and bars will be banned. It's enough to make a holier-than-thou politician - with pristine pink lungs - shriek with delight. Jeanne Faatz, at this point, is the lone voice of reason on the council. She still believes in trivial things like free enterprise and property rights. She's sort of an outsider. And although she won't admit it on record, I'm certain the other council...

LONDON, January 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientific evidence on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS or so-called "passive smoking") is inconclusive and does not justify a total ban on smoking in public places, it was argued at a conference on public smoking in Edinburgh today. A more scientifically justifiable approach would be to focus on improving general air quality through better ventilation, combined with greater choice of non-smoking and smoking facilities, delegates were told. Today's conference was organized by the Scottish Licensed Trade ' Association (SLTA) to debate the issues raised by the Scottish Executive's proposed new law prohibiting smoking in all enclosed...

Skokie's smoking ban went into effect in 2003, but the ramifications were felt at Jack's Restaurant in January.Owner George Koretos eliminated the eatery's overnight shift and announced the restaurant is no longer a 24-hour restaurant. The well-known eatery at 5201 Touhy Ave., which opened in 1965, set new hours from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.Koretos said he was forced to cut the overnight shift because business at that time had dramatically declined due to Skokie's smoking banDuring a typical overnight shift before the ban took place, Koretos said, the restaurant had about 200 customers. After the smoking...

I am surprised Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson didn’t refer to the smokers as swine in a pig sty. Isn’t that, after all one of the one of the first images that comes to mind when think of a pen?  Before I am offended by “da mayor” I would have to be offended by the reference to the term smoking pens. In a city and state  that was founded by a group of people so seriously reviled for their own beliefs in years past, you would think they would be among the first to take a “live and let...

Center Conway, NH.  This failed experiment in modifying human behavior is killing people and it has to stop now. Death certificates from secondary smoke exposure are zero, while death certificates from smoking bans and making a legal product politically incorrect are rising.   Located at The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter at http://www.smokersclubinc.com are two pages proving this: The Ban Damage Page (Deaths, Injuries, Rape, and more) and the Ban Loss Database (Money and business lost due to bans).  Each week new articles are submitted to the Newsletter and the lists get longer.  Since Anti smoking advocates have convinced the media that...

Hardin County farmers lost more than $1 million in expected tobacco settlement money when a North Carolina judge ruled that, because of the buyout that ended the quota system, companies no longer must make the final Phase II payment."I'm disappointed," said Elizabethtown grower Larry Thomas. "Every tobacco farmer is, I'm sure."This news is another setback for growers and quota owners who have been coping with years of dwindling profits. "It's just another loss," Thomas said. Even the buyout approved by Congress this fall was less money over a longer period of time than some quota owners had hoped. The $10.3...

The founding fathers never envisioned direct election of the president by the people. In the beginning the people voted for state representatives and congressmen. State legislatures selected two men to represent the state in the Senate. Each state legislature selected a man (from anywhere in the country) to be president and another (not from the same state) to be vice president. There was no campaign and no presidential candidate to select his own vice president. These names were given to electors who journeyed to Washington to meet with the electors from the other states. This was the original electoral college....

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to provide new coverage allowing certain Medicare beneficiaries who smoke to receive counseling services that will help them quit the habit. "We're building on our efforts to help America's seniors help themselves to quit smoking and live longer," Secretary Thompson said. "This new benefit, focused on treating seniors' smoking related diseases, will go a long way toward reducing their risk of dying prematurely. The combination of lives lost, unnecessarily, and the cost of treating smoking-related diseases makes our...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

The world's largest package delivery company is leading a legal fight against a Maine law designed to prevent mail-order tobacco sales to underage buyers.In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, UPS and other members of regional motor transport associations challenged Maine's year-old law that requires people delivering tobacco products to make sure each named buyer signs for the package and can prove he or she is 18 or older.UPS claims that the law puts such a burden on its drivers that it has stopped making tobacco deliveries in Maine. The company's lawyers argued that the regulations should...

(Updates with remarks from the trial judge in the last five paragraphs.)WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--In a show of confidence, tobacco lawyers Thursday ridiculed the government's $280 billion civil racketeering case against the industry. "This case is in serious trouble," said David Bernick, a lawyer for Brown & Williamson. Government lawyers "do not have a consistent and sustained case of fraud," he added. The tobacco industry and Justice Department each gave 90-minute presentations Thursday summing up the evidence to date. The case, expected to last until March or April, is nearing the end of its second month. The government, for its part,...

MOORHEAD, Minn. - Nearly five months after passing the first smoking ban in this growing metropolitan region, the City Council approved exemptions for bars and walled-off bar areas. The exemptions mirror those in Fargo, N.D., where a ban approved by voters earlier this month was set to begin Friday. The ordinance, approved 5-2 Monday, adds two exceptions to the ban on smoking in all public workplaces the City Council passed in June. They allow smoking in businesses with liquor licenses that restrict minors from entering and in bar areas of restaurants -- as long as the area is enclosed by...

Today is the day we set aside each year to badger, harass and pester that marginalized subculture of Americans, the Doorway People.You know the Doorway People. They stand in doorways at work or at the mall smoking cigarettes because lighting up in mixed company has become as distasteful as nose-picking. Yes, today marks the 27th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, where modern incarnates of pinch-mouthed prohibitionists attempt to further ghettoize smokers. Now, it's not that I think smoking is good. I have friends who smoke. I wish they didn't. On average, they will...

(New Haven-WTNH, Nov. 6, 2004 11:05 PM) _ The smoky bar scene in Connecticut should be a thing of the past. A statewide smoking ban means customers aren't allowed to light up. But a News Channel 8 went undercover to spot check the Friday night scene and in some places we found cigarette smoke still fills the air. Open the door to some Connecticut bars and you still see smoke curling up from ashtrays, cigarettes dangling from customers' fingertips. Undercover video reveals it. People are still lighting up in smaller bars across the state despite a ban on smoking that...

NORTH ADAMS -- The new smoking ban at the American Legion Post 125 in North Adams has some of its members fuming over a decision they feel discriminates against smokers and violates their constitutional rights."I love this club," said Dave Witherell. "It's the best one in North Adams."As for the decision to ban smoking, Witherell, a smoker, made clear his reaction to the ban."It's an E (executive) board decision. If that's what they decide to do, I'll go elsewhere," he said.Jim McCarthy, a member and a smoker, also thought the board's decision was wrong and said that while he intends...

SACO — A new policy prohibiting city employees from smoking at work has one part-time firefighter fuming. Steven Delorge has pledged to stand in front of the Saco Fire Department puffing on a cigar for an hour every day - an activity banned under the new rules - until the policy is changed.On Thursday, the 37-year-old business consultant began what he said would be a daily protest by donning a full set of firefighting gear and lighting up outside the station in a lone act of civil disobedience."I love cigars. It's one of the top three things in my life...

Do the media give aid and comfort to terrorists by giving their violence maximum exposure and impact at times while sanitizing the perpetrators and tainting their victims at others? It is standard procedure for many media outlets to describe the perpetrators of terrorist acts - the premeditated slaughter of civilians - with a range of euphemisms, "militants" being the most common. Thus, The New York Times can headline a report on the killing of a hostage as "Iraq Militants Said to Behead a Truck Driver From Bulgaria." Similarly, terrorists killed in a military strike can be described in another as...

Two Everman police officers who asked a man and woman who were smoking to leave a high school football game Friday night ended up in a violent melee as dozens of young people converged on the scene.The two off-duty officers, who were not identified, suffered minor injuries in the ruckus, including bruised ribs and a bite on the arm, Everman police officer Elizabeth Charles said.The incident occurred during the third quarter of Everman's football game against Alvarado and drew officers from Forest Hill and Fort Worth, responding to pleas for help on police radios."It was pretty much a nightmare," Charles...

Last March, after an exhausting nine-month schedule, the White Buffaloes, a boys Danville soccer team coached by John Wondolowski, won the prestigious California Soccer State Cup. That was when Wondolowski got the news. He was out and would not be asked back to coach this season. The players needed someone to develop their skills and move on to the next level. So the Mustang Soccer League was bringing in a professional coach. The kicker? The kids on the White Buffaloes were 11 years old. Professional coaches for kids who are still in grade school? Absolutely. In the Bay Area parents...

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - In a major setback for public health groups, congressional tax negotiators on Tuesday blocked a plan to allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco, but a $10 billion package for tobacco farmers was set to be approved.Senators supported inclusion of the FDA measure in a massive corporate tax bill but House Republicans blocked them.Negotiators were not able to wrap up work on Tuesday and some anti-tobacco lawmakers said they would attempt to strike or modify tobacco provisions again on Wednesday. But statements by several negotiators suggested the odds were against them.The tobacco industry...

This sets him apart from virtually all politicians in the world. They want the public to believe the baloney they serve night and day, but they'd fear for their sanity if they believed it.Bloomberg believes everything he says as the mayor of New York. He can deliver a whopper that would make a rabbit hug a hound and walk off the stage convinced that he told the truth, the only truth, never imagining that anyone with any sense could contest it.Just the other day, he announced that the Republican convention netted the city $255 million. Netted means after costs. Before...

RUMFORD, Maine -- Skiers who enjoy a smoke in the lodge or on the lift won't be able to light up this winter at the Black Mountain of Maine ski area, where the board of directors has banned the use of all tobacco products.

OAKLAND -- On the heels of similar moves on China and Winslow, the Oakland town council will decide tonight whether to ban smoking at public places on town property. The council has still not decided if it will pass a resolution -- an advisory which discourages smoking -- or an ordinance, which will be law.China passed a law prohibiting smoking on the town's recreational land at its Town Meeting in March. The law comes with fines for offenses. Winslow passed a resolution earlier this month advising its residents against it. "My feeling is that the council will favor a resolution...

TOLEDO -- The squabble over Toledo's controversial smoking ban is back in court. This time, bar owners are complaining about the way the law is being enforced. The hearing contained some explosive testimony that an inspector was ordered to issue a false citation to Arnie's owner Arnie Elzey. The citation was later dismissed. The Northwest Ohio Licensed Beverage Association is asking Judge C. Allen McConnell to issue a temporary restraining order. It would stop inspectors from the Toledo Environmental Services from issuing citations to establishments violating the smoking ban. In court today Joseph Loeffler, an attorney for the association, says many of the citations...