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Here are pages and pages of "charitable grants" (read: Tax Deductible!) made by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support "anti-tobacco" groups - those folks that show up at town council meetings, state legislatures, and BLOGS. (Hey, maybe YOU are the "tobacco troll" on this site? )
Active grants - Programs and grants - programareaname - Program areas - RWJF (http://www.rwjf.org/programareas/grantlist.jsp?pid=1141 - broken link)
Here's just ONE - the 7th item on the first page of this link:
Moreover, Robert Wood Johnson CREATED "Tobacco Free Kids" ... so you can put all those vainglorious ideas about "concerned citizen action groups" to rest!
You "purists" are being played like a baby grand by CORPORATE BIG SHOTS - who make OBSCENE Sales PROFITS each and every time they manage to pressure a STATE into a smoking ban! (Nicorette, Nicoderm sales go way up when the SEGREGATION begins!)
And BTW, a smoker is only 17% as likely to achieve a quit with one of these J&J products, as they would by means of "cold turkey!"
So if you're a smoker trying to quit, Don't be a SUCKER for their $85 a week UNTAXED cessation products! You will only enrich those who managed to steal your dignity, and make you a "second class" Citizen!
And, oh yeah: Fatties Beware! If you peruse the pages of these grants, you will find YOU are NEXT on their "hit list." (They've got some "diet pills" they'd like to sell ya!)
Until smokers can understand the fact that when they smoke (unlike drinking)they either irritate, p*ss off, anger, bother (insert word for bad here) most everyone around them, threads like this don't mean much.
This will confuse you. I am part of a spearhead against the alcohol ban that was put into place on our beaches and parks by our City Clowncil. It is going to vote and we want to make sure the continued ban doesn't go into place. It was enacted because of 1 riot that took place in the only spot on the beach that is a problem. The Police could have done their jobs and stopped it in advance by checking for underage or intoxicated people but they did not. The PD wants a blanket ban which is wrong.
Don't punish the whole punish the few.
You see, the differences are someone can drink without spraying someone with it sitting next to them. Smoking is one thing that you share with everyone around you.
And that is wrong.
Punish the few, don't punish the masses. Smokers are not the majority, by a long shot.
Furthermore, I am ok with someone opening a club for smokers. Our Casinos allow smoking and they have many polls that show a lot more people would go if they had a smoke free casino. I don't want them all converted but it would be nice to have 1.
thats a good definiton for mob rule.........majority rule over the minority.
Public places are for everyone including smokers,the compromise was smoking sections under the same roof..........that wasnt good enuf they wanted a blanket prohibition on everything...........doesnt it scare you a bit where this can lead too...............nobodys rights or liberty is safe in the present prohibitive political state of affairs.........whether we like or hate baggy pants it shouldnt be illegal...........a judge just found those laws to be unconstitutional too...........maybe theres hope yet for a turn around of politically correct thinking...............
Crembrulee said: "I disagree with smoking being a huge cause of cancers, b/c there are way less smokers in the U.S. then ever before. And what I don't like about the smoking laws is, these people are never satisfied. They want more and more...and want to control the way other's live their lives."
You got That right!
And: "I wish these people who lobby against smokers would energize they're time and money on the real causes of cancers.
Accidents from chemical plants...land fills...all the chemicals in the foods and water we injest in our bodies, etc."
AMEN, Sister! Add to that, ASPARTAME, fluoridated toothpaste, Genetically Modified (GMO) foods (that we are not even ALLOWED to KNOW we are EATING), household chemicals ... the list goes on and on.
So ask yourself this - - why is this ONE issue so Well funded, that you are constantly hearing about it? TV advertising is not cheap! Ya think someone is making some BIG BUCKS off of scaring the general public into believing their friends and co-workers are DANGEROUS to their own health? (Hint: Ever hear of Nicoderm or Nicorette?)
Last I knew, this country was supposed to offer "EQUAL PROTECTION" under the law! Moreover, we are a "Republic" - not a Democracy. Under a "republic" the rights of MINORITY groups are to be just as respected as those of the majority. Anything other than that is "mob-rule" Democracy!
Culling every smoker from every public place - bars and restaurants, streets, parks, beaches is most certainly NOT indicative that our rights to that "equal" protection are being upheld!
I'm wondering, if perhaps a person could open a small bar, for Smoker's only? No non smokers allowed....if that could fly?
1AngryTaxpayer: Hmmm, some underage drinkers were on a beach in RI last Memorial Day - they were throwing the "F" word around liberally. Drinking was allowed on this beach. When I lit a cigarette - the lifeguard rushed over to me to tell me that "under a new town council law passed last winter" I would have to remove myself to the baking parking lot - out of sight of the beach! I asked him if I could get my $12 admission fee back, too? Or have it pro-rated?
My MOTHER - a dedicated NONsmoker, wanted to know WHY they didn't ENFORCE the STATE LAW against underage drinking ... but smoking would be "dealt with" tout suite! "As long as they have a covered container - it's not our business." This is clear favoritism - your bad habit is more "favorable" than mine... even if you are not LEGALLY allowed to imbibe! Moreover, in the open air - there is absolutely NO compelling health "risk" to anyone. Again it's condoning one personal behavior over another.
1AngryTaxpyer - As for quitting to avoid taxes - I don't MIND paying a FAIR SHARE of taxes - I don't think it's right to UNFAIRLY OVERTAX people, and your blog name would seem to indicate you might AGREE with me on that!
Wasn't there actually some kind of a Revolution started on the premise of "No Taxation WITHOUT Representation"? Smokers are the most UNDER represented people on the planet right now!
Last edited by MsProgressive; 09-17-2008 at 02:30 PM..
I'm wondering, if perhaps a person could open a small bar, for Smoker's only? No non smokers allowed....if that could fly?
You have to understand the anti-smoking lobby wants a total ban,basically prohibition on tobacco.Depending on the political atmosphere in your state or local you may or maynot get exceptions to the golden rule NO SMOKING ANYWHERE. Just to warn you a FEDERAL NATIONWIDE SMOKING BAN will be forth comming if obamma wins,if mccaim wins it depends on how congress stacks up.Right now its a 54% chance the repubs will retake congress and that will kill the anti-smoking lobbys political run....pelosi and reid stay on board with mccain.there will be a federal ban.......
You have to understand the anti-smoking lobby wants a total ban,basically prohibition on tobacco.Depending on the political atmosphere in your state or local you may or maynot get exceptions to the golden rule NO SMOKING ANYWHERE. Just to warn you a FEDERAL NATIONWIDE SMOKING BAN will be forth comming if obamma wins,if mccaim wins it depends on how congress stacks up.Right now its a 54% chance the repubs will retake congress and that will kill the anti-smoking lobbys political run....pelosi and reid stay on board with mccain.there will be a federal ban.......
I don't think it'll fly, b/c the government and state get so much in the way of taxes, on cigs...but nothing would surprise me...really.
I don't think it'll fly, b/c the government and state get so much in the way of taxes, on cigs...but nothing would surprise me...really.
as ms progressive was saying, they want our taxes but they dont want us = taxed without representation...........meaning we should have pro-smoking representatives with a real voice and a place at the public table.
its true that our right to assemble as smokers has been violated by the law..............hey they give handicap a parking spot right in front of the door...do smokers need to be given special privledge rights as a minority.....trust me the taxes we have paid could pave america or build smoker only venues on every street corner in america.........but like I said these zealots are driven by hate and control.........look for the worse to come out and it isnt just smokers their after its EVERYTHING.
I'm wondering, if perhaps a person could open a small bar, for Smoker's only? No non smokers allowed....if that could fly?
NOT under your PRESENT new Law! Most States that pass smoking bans pass "blanket" bans, (which the "antis" WRITE for them!) where not even PRIVATE CLUBS can allow smoking! (It's called "leveling the playing field" for restauranteurs!) Hell, here in New Jersey, they even tossed elderly NURSING HOME PATIENTS to the street from their own HOMES!
Yes my dear, your idea would look something like this:
Bar A posts a sign outside its door: "Smoking Allowed"
Bar B next door posts a sign: "Smoking Prohibited"
It would be the OWNERS' CHOICE - not a "Mob Rule" EDICT.
Actually, the smoking/non-smoking sections WORKED. Requiring better VENTILATION SYSTEMS by a State Law might have made everyone happier - but THAT would not have sold much Nicoderm for J&J!
The problem with no smoking sections is that the smoke wasn't smart enough to stay in the smoking sections.
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