Free Republic

Smoking can kill you. That's why I don't smoke, and it's why you shouldn't, either. There. I've just done the only things that should be done in a free society to stop people from smoking: I've told you that it's dangerous, I've urged you not to do it, and I've even set a good example. If you'd like other people to be healthy, you should also discourage smoking, too. But if you'd like to be free, and you'd like your neighbor to be free, that's all you should do. It isn't my business to come into your home or business...

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times featured stories over the last week about class and mobility in the United States. Despite drawing on largely different research, the conclusions of both features were the same. Overall class mobility has been coming to a screeching halt. According the Journal, "... Americans are no more or less likely to rise above, or fall below, their parents' economic class than they were 35 years ago." The Times quotes similar data, while also pointing out that at the same time the gap between rich and poor is increasing. From 1979 to 2001,...

In a move opponents are labeling an invasion by the nanny state, the state Senate's Health Committee expects to take up, and probably approve, legislation this week that would raise New York's smoking age to 19. The bill, sponsored by Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican of Long Island, was introduced April 18. The chairman of the Senate committee, Kemp Hannon, another Long Island Republican, confirmed that the legislation is on tomorrow's agenda and said he thought the bill would be approved by the committee, at which point it could be brought to the Senate floor. Mr. Fuschillo's legislation would...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women whose mothers smoked while they were pregnant have a reduced likelihood of developing breast cancer, according to a new study. However, "This observation certainly does not suggest that smoking is beneficial," Dr. William C. Strohsnitter told Reuters Health. "The very small reduction in breast cancer would be offset by the large number of other diseases caused by cigarette smoking."The reason for the finding may be connected to estrogen, which is linked to breast cancer risk. "Clinical studies show that maternal cigarette smoking reduces pregnancy estrogen levels," Strohsnitter, of Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, and...

Michigan resident Julia Sidebottom inhaled sharply when she opened her mailbox earlier this year and was greeted with an unexpected and unwelcome bill from the state for $4,753.89 in unpaid cigarette and sales taxes.For several years, Sidebottom's boyfriend purchased cigarettes online at www.esmokes.com, one of 13 online cigarette retailers from which Michigan recently subpoenaed customer lists. She said the bill caught her completely off guard."It never even crossed our minds," said Sidebottom, whose 57-year-old boyfriend suffers from Alzheimer's and has granted her power of attorney. "I search the Web all the time for the best deals on everything. Never in...

 Silk's not just blowing smokeDennis Duggan  May 3, 2005 Retired cop Audrey Silk puffed on a Parliament in her Cape Cod-style home in Marine Park and said she is running for mayor because Michael Bloomberg is a "Puritan who has taken the gusto out of New York City." "How many of those do you smoke every day?" I ask.  "I hate that question," she said in a mind-your-own-business voice. Silk knows she's the longest of long shots as the candidate of the Libertarian Party, which was burned in 1994 when it chose radio talk show host Howard Stern to run...

PORTLAND - Overnight visits by tourists to and within Maine were down last year, but revenues were up - and that spells trouble, Maine's top tourism official told a statewide meeting Friday. Dann Lewis, director of the state tourism office, warned the Governor's Conference on Tourism that the broad perception of Maine as a good buy for the travel dollar has collapsed. "The perception that Maine is a travel bargain has disappeared over the last five years," he said.What the tourism industry calls the price-value ratio has been "out of balance" in recent years as innkeepers have raised rates, Lewis...

Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, suggests hiking taxes on beer, wine, bar drinks and cigarettes, boosting the meals and lodging tax during the months of May through October, establishing a soft drinks tax and raising the income level at which the highest marginal rate would apply.

DENVER - A statewide smoking ban got preliminary approval in the state Senate Wednesday but the measure still faces some stiff opposition before it becomes law. It is also less restrictive than its proponents might like. The proposal would ban smoking in most restaurants. But when it was originally proposed it would have banned smoking in bars and office buildings as well.Supporters like Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, say the measure that passed is a step in the right direction. He said he wants all restaurants in the state to compete under the same rules, pointing out that smoking is already...

Italy's new health minister said he wants more public smoking areas, sharply reduced under a new ban, and slammed what he called a trend towards obsessive health policies, in published comments."There is a real threat that we are heading towards a therapeutic society ... a medical tyranny of doctors and a minister who are the only ones allowed to say what constitues 'good living'," said Francesco Storace in an interview with Corriere della Sera.A smoker himself who is "trying to quit", Storace said he would examine whether it was possible to boost the number of smoking areas, which were slashed...

SPRINGFIELD -- Health groups won a key battle in the state Senate Monday as lawmakers voted to allow all Illinois towns, rather than a select few, to decide where to allow smoking. Since 1989, when the state approved the Clean Indoor Air Act that permitted smoking only in designated areas, 20 municipalities were allowed to keep their stricter no-smoking laws that were enacted previously. The rest of the state functioned under the milder state law written partly by the tobacco industry. Though opposed by retailers, restaurants and gas station operators, the measure backed on Monday in the Senate vote would...

This Bad Bargain Must Go Up in SmokeRecently a federal appeals court finally brought some sanity to the issue of the U.S. government's being able to sue tobacco companies for allegedly burying the truth about cigarettes being harmful. Forgotten in all of this, of course, is the fact that cigarette packs have carried health-warning labels on them for 40 years. The judges ruled that the federal government cannot force the tobacco companies to hand over $280 billion of profits they earned while allegedly misleading us about their products' impact on people's health. The suit was born of Washington's envy over...

State health officials and several lawmakers are pushing to close loopholes that allow smoking in clubs and workplaces. The proposed legislation pleases many bar owners, who say they've lost customers to private clubs since Maine took the smoke out of taverns in 2004. It also suits groups such as the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, who claim many Mainers are exposed to secondhand smoke at work despite groundbreaking legislation passed by the Legislature 20 years ago. "Even here in Maine, workplace smoking remains an issue," said Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health. "Our...

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Bar and restaurant owners upset over the newly enacted smoking ban sued the state Wednesday, saying exemptions to the law make it unconstitutional.The law temporarily exempts small bars with fewer than 10 employees and nonprofit groups that meet certain requirements. The state's two gambling facilities are permanently exempted, meaning smokers will be able to light up there, but not in most bars and restaurants.The suit was filed in Newport Superior Court by five businesses who said they have been hurt by the ban, according to the Web site of the Providence Journal. The suit claims the exemptions...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The federal trial begins today in the lawsuit brought by members of the Narragansett Indian tribe, who say their civil rights were violated when state troopers closed the tribe's tax-free smoke shop in 2003.Narragansett Tribal Council member Paulla Dove Jennings, her son, Adam Jennings and Keith Huertas, manager of the shop, are suing.They say several state troopers did not identify themselves or show a warrant when they raided the smoke shop on July 14th, 2003 -- two days after it was opened. They also say the troopers assaulted and injured them.A federal judge has since ruled...

Republicans in the Colorado Senate have stalled - at least temporarily - the effort to ban smoking in public places statewide.Senate Minority Leader Mark Hillman of Burlington said all 17 Republican senators are opposing the bill because it infringes on personal freedom and property rights."I don't smoke, and I think it's disgusting," Hillman said. "But I'm sick and tired of all these nannies running around telling people what to do."The bill's sponsor, Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, said he has delayed his plan to introduce the bill."I don't want to paint myself into a corner by introducing it in the...

AUGUSTA, Maine -- A bill to ban tobacco ads in stores where children could see them does not appear to be making progress in Augusta. State Rep. Stephen Bowen’s bill would have banned any tobacco ad a child could see.Testimony before the Health and Human Services Committee Thursday showed the law was unlikely to pass constitutional muster. Bowen said people should be able to take their children into a store and not have to pass the ads. He said he’ll find another way to get the ads out of view.

  March 18, 2005 Preemption Watch Weekly Summary of New U.S. State Bills (3-18-05)In the continued fight to prevent preemptive legislation before it can be passed and to overturn preemption in states where it is already in place, ANR is tracking pending legislation relating to states' smokefree air policies. Not all state bills relating to smokefree air are preemptive, however a bill can become preemptive at any point in the legislative process. It is therefore important to track even the best bills throughout the entire legislative session. Below is a listing of state bills that have been introduced in...

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Anti-smoking advocates came to the State House on Wednesday to ask lawmakers to increase Maine's cigarette tax by $1.50 cents a pack, which they said would give Maine the highest cigarette tax in the nation.

WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration could regulate tobacco products under legislation revived by a bipartisan group of lawmakers Thursday. The proposal renews a push for tobacco oversight that was blocked last year in the House. Under the bill, the FDA could regulate the sale, marketing and advertising of tobacco products, and could require companies to list all ingredients added to cigarettes and other forms of consumer tobacco. The legislation was brought back in the Senate by last year's sponsors, Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who reintroduced the bill on Thursday. The Senate approved it last year,...