From the View from Cullingworth, a graph that says everything:
Since the 2007 smoking ban, UK adult male smoking prevalence hasn’t fallen at all, and female smoking prevalence has hardly fallen either.
All we have are bankrupted pubs, a broken society, and a great deal of anger.
It’s time Public Health left smokers alone, and stopped fighting phantom epidemics like the “tobacco epidemic”, and started concentrating on real ones.
The first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in a patient in the United States.
Experts said they were trying to contact people who had contact with the unnamed patient in Texas over a period of several days when he could have been infectious.
The man, who was not a healthcare worker, arrived in Texas on a plane from Liberia on Sept 20 to visit members of his family.
According to one report he may have contracted the disease from an infected fruit bat.
He showed no symptoms when he arrived and only started to become sick four days later. Two days after that, he sought medical care.
On Sept 28 he was placed in isolation at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, tests were carried out and Ebola was diagnosed.
I’m amazed that somebody can fly in from Liberia, and seemingly just get off the plane, and walk away.
Makes you wonder how many other cases of ebola have already flown in, and are still flying in.
And “experts” are trying to contact people!
…
And while Public Health is under scrutiny, H/T Dick Puddlecote for this video:
Frank Davis 
“Experts said they were trying to contact people who had contact with the unnamed patient in Texas …”
No doubt these “experts” are of the Public Health variety, because they clearly haven’t thought this through. After all, they’re not going to get very far if they don’t give the poor b*gger’s name, are they? I can just see the poster campaign now – “Have you had any contact with a man whose name you don’t know? If so, then please call xxxx immediately!” Methinks they might get a rather bigger response than they anticipated …
Jax Id say they want an epidemic to break out…………for a variety of reasons.
To implement emergency powers for one.
The easiest way to curtail any possible epidemic is simply shut down all trans Oceanic international flights. That’s all thatd be needed to be done an then shipping would be the secondary target of ingress to be alienated. Then itd be contained.
I’m glad you’re not running things. That would mess up a multitude of things, for no good reason.
Carol that’s exactly the way it was done before. Cant you remember in the 1960s when they quarantined entire cities like Jackson Ms over a flu and Rubella Measles out break for 7-10 days. I remember I was quarantined as a kid with my dad and the health dept tagged every household with a sign on the doors ”UNDER QUARANTINE”
The cops patrolled and churches delivered food stuffs and grocery stores to people.
They had even shut down the airport. Train stations and the like.
It works. Its as communistic as anything I ever saw too.
That’s not the way they trace contacts, for example with VD. They ask the patient where they went and who they had personal contact with. They never put out a poster with the patient’s name, asking whether anyone saw him. That’s for wanted fugitives, for crying out loud.
Carol’s right. The one thing epidemiology is actually good at is tracking actual epidemics –(Legionaire’s Disease, for instance) therefore the term epidemiology — and we wish they’d stuck to the original purpose. I guess we still have to hope it can’t be passed by casual contact –to a store clerk, for instance, or through one of those buffet-style restaurants (did he sneeze on the salad? ) in which case tracking would be near impossible. They’re saying it can’t spread that way but, for many reasons, there’s reason to doubt them. But in any case, unless he was 9 feet tall or had unmistakeable distinguishing marks, publishing his picture would do nothing except cause violence against a lot of other people with even vaguely similar looks and his name would mean nothing to the person who next ate the sneezed on salad.
They would easily find the store clerk. And it would also be easy (and fairly effective) to broadcast a warning that people who ate at a certain place on a certain day may have been exposed, and find the people long before they became symtomatic.
Ebola is in the US. Here’s how health officials will contain it.
Guardian: First Ebola case diagnosed outside Africa being treated in US hospital
CDC: U.S. Ebola Case Diagnosed
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has continually maintained that Ebola is unlikely to spread in the U.S. because public health systems are much stronger than they are in West Africa, where nations are overwhelmed by the virus’ spread and force. At this time there is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, and fear has spread across the world as citizens watched soaring rates of the disease in West Africa. Three thousand people have died, and the World Health Organization expects the numbers to continue to grow.
Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, says there is “no doubt” health officials will control this case of Ebola so it doesn’t spread widely in the U.S.
First off Ebola really cant survive outside the tropics. The winter will kill the virus by itself.
Huh? The virus only survives for long inside animals. If they survive long enough to pass it on, it survives.
Id just about bet the government put the man on a plane and sent him here on purpose.
Experimental Ebola drug cured 100% of monkeys tested
Experimental Ebola drug cured 100% of monkeys tested
http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/29/...
Experimental Ebola drug cured 100% of monkeys … Liquid nitrogen bubbles on the leaves of the nicotiana benthamiana plant, which is a close relative of tobacco…
Iowa Gaming Association President Wes Ehrecke said later Tuesday that the 18 commercial casinos in his organization provide “state-of-the-art ventilation” to minimize the smoke. He said they also have smoke-free restaurants, shops and meeting spaces, and most offer smoke-free gambling areas. But he said banning all smoking from Iowa state-regulated casinos would make them lose customers to tribal casinos and other states’ casinos. “States who have banned smoking in their casinos have seen revenues drop up to 30 percent,” he wrote in an email to the Register. “That would mean a decrease of gaming tax revenue to be allocated by the Iowa Legislature of $60 million to $90 million.”
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2014/09/30/terry-branstad-pessimistic-about-banning-smoking-in-casinos/16494845/?sf31804238=1
Gov. Terry Branstad reiterated Tuesday that smoking should be banned from casinos, but he warned public health advocates not to get their hopes up.
“I’m a realist. I can tell you you’re up against one of the most powerful and prosperous industries,” he said of the casinos. “…They have a huge amount of clout. They have a lot of money. They have a lot of impact.”
The Iowa Legislature exempted casinos in 2008 when it voted to ban smoking from most workplaces, including bars and restaurants. Since then, casinos have beaten back all attempts to expand the ban. They contend that they would lose significant business if they banned smoking, which would cause the loss of jobs and state tax revenue.
Branstad recalled how he tried a few years ago to have legislators change a tax law affecting casinos. “I got clobbered,” he said. “The casinos beat me.”
Branstad, who was not governor when the smoking ban passed, was responding to a question at a health care forum at Des Moines University. The question came from Stacy Frelund, government relations director for the Iowa Heart Association. Frelund recounted how previous proposals to ban smoking in casinos have died in the Iowa House of Representatives, which is controlled by Branstad’s fellow Republicans. She asked if he would help push the House to pass such a bill in next year’s session.
The governor said he would continue to speak out on the subject, and he said the public supports banning smoking in casinos. But he added, “I’m not optimistic.”
Frelund said afterward that it’s unfair for casino employees to face the health risks of working in smoky environments when workers in other businesses have been spared. She said other states, including Illinois, have banned smoking in casinos, and she expressed hope that Iowa would join them someday.
Frelund said she appreciated Branstad’s support but wished he could persuade legislators to change their votes. “He’s not our problem,” she said, agreeing with him that the casino industry holds tremendous power in the Statehouse. “It’s like fighting the 500-pound gorilla.”
In an interview after the forum, the governor said some people falsely think he can order legislative leaders around. “Just because they’re the same party doesn’t mean that I can necessarily get their support on everything,” he said. He predicted that the most likely way to pass a casino smoking ban would be to include it in a bargain with the industry.
“If there’s something they really want, maybe it can get done,” he said. But he said he wasn’t sure what that bargaining chip would be.
Iowa Gaming Association President Wes Ehrecke said later Tuesday that the 18 commercial casinos in his organization provide “state-of-the-art ventilation” to minimize the smoke. He said they also have smoke-free restaurants, shops and meeting spaces, and most offer smoke-free gambling areas. But he said banning all smoking from Iowa state-regulated casinos would make them lose customers to tribal casinos and other states’ casinos. “States who have banned smoking in their casinos have seen revenues drop up to 30 percent,” he wrote in an email to the Register. “That would mean a decrease of gaming tax revenue to be allocated by the Iowa Legislature of $60 million to $90 million.”
A spokeswoman for Iowa House leaders declined to comment on the issue.
The casino-smoking issue was one of the few negative notes in Branstad’s appearance. He spent most of his time at the forum touting his administration’s health care successes, including passing a version of an expanded Medicaid program and making progress toward his goal of making Iowa the healthiest state in the nation.
His Democratic opponent, Jack Hatch, is scheduled to make a similar appearance at Des Moines University at noon on Oct. 10. Democratic congressional candidate Staci Appel is to make an appearance there at noon Friday. Her Republican opponent, David Young, is slated to speak there at noon Oct. 13.
Senator David Leyonhjelm thanks smokers for keeping up habit, says generosity via taxes ‘truly staggering’
By political reporter Anna Henderson
Updated 1 Oct 2014, 2:08pmWed 1 Oct 2014, 2:08pm
David Leyonhjelm
Photo: Senator David Leyonhjelm says Australia’s smokers’ “generosity to the nation’s Treasury is truly staggering”. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Related Story: Smokers to pay more as tobacco taxes rise
Map: Australia
A crossbench senator has thanked Australia’s smokers and attacked successive governments for increasing tobacco taxes in a speech in Federal Parliament.
Liberal Democratic Party Upper House representative David Leyonhjelm voiced his gratitude to smokers for the $8 billion they provide in tobacco taxes each year.
“Your generosity to the nation’s Treasury is truly staggering,” he told the Senate.
Channelling the catchphrase of South Park television show character Mr Mackey, Senator Leyonhjelm told Parliament we can agree that “drugs are bad, mmmkay”, and it is probably also fair to say that “regressive taxes are bad, mmmkay”.
The Liberal Democratic Party is a libertarian party that promotes a smaller role for government and the right for individuals to pursue their activities.
The party has made similar statements about smokers in the past.
In his speech Senator Leyonhjelm argued the tax on tobacco hits the poor hardest and makes the Government’s tax increase “all the more perverse”.
“It means, for example, that social planners who want to redistribute money from the rich to the poor need to increase both welfare payments and income tax rates to achieve their goals,” he said.
Senator Leyonhjelm has bemoaned the likelihood that Labor and Coalition tax hikes will make Australian cigarettes the most expensive in the world.
The former Labor government set in place four increases in tobacco taxes to push up the price by 12.5 per cent each year over four years.
Two of the increases have already been applied, in December last year and earlier this month.
At the time, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd argued the increases were necessary because tobacco-related diseases cost more than $31 billion to the national economy annually and cause 15,000 deaths each year.
The Federal Government’s Quit Smoking website lists the habit as the largest cause of death and disease in the country.
It estimates 50 people die from tobacco-related illnesses each day in Australia.
Smoking small consolation for prisoners: Leyonhjelm
Senator Leyonhjelm also criticised bans on smoking in public places and institutions, including prison.
“That’s right, people in cages who have lost most or all of their rights are denied even this small thing,” Senator Leyonhjelm said.
“Yes, prison is meant to be punishment. But the widespread tendency to see prisons as comfortable budget hotels bespeaks a fundamental failure to grasp just what gaol means.
“Rehabilitation means not committing further crime, not being trained to live according to somebody else’s values.”
Senator Leyonhjelm also spoke about the incidence of smoking in the Indigenous community, saying restrictions on how some Indigenous Australians spend welfare money shows “racial paternalism lives on”.
“The same people worry and worry about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rates, with about half of Australia’s Indigenous population being daily smokers,” he said.
“Aborigines on income management, like prisoners, are also denied this small consolation.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-01/smokers-generosity-to-nation-truly-staggering-senator-says/5782166
“All we have are bankrupted pubs, a broken society, and a great deal of anger.” But in their eyes, these are GOOD things, not bad things, because they hurt US, but not THEM! So, you still don’t get it. Maybe this will help you understand – a satirical look at Obama’s policies, expressed in an imaginary speech to Skull & Bones (with shades of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion hovering in the background).
“George, John, gentlemen: we come together at a crossroads between annihilation and environmental collapse; between disorder and disintegration; between fear and certain impending death for the ignorant mass of humanity, all engineered for the sake of our chosen few’s ascension…”
It is the purported task of all great religions to accommodate devout faith within a modern, multicultural world. In reality, empire aligned nations will insist children – anywhere – can and should be induced to hate other people.
Thanks, Carol. Teaching tools:
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787994073.html
I found an actual sample of that pathetic book, on nutrition. THAT is supposed to be for adolescents and young adults?
Click to access Puzzles-Complete-Version.pdf
Here’s the crap that teacher uses on tobacco:
http://teacherweb.com/NY/FultonCitySchool/Stadtmiller/apt16.aspx
I think most of us here get it. Unfortunately, most of the public don’t.
But in their eyes, these are GOOD things, not bad things,
I’m assuming that, in most normal people’s eyes (if not in the eyes of antismoking zealots), these remain bad things.
From the Ashes of oblivion a single cell survived and from it a new civilization a Billion years from now evolved into another quango of mass destruction called mankind.
Hense even thru evolution we just fucking keep coming back,again and again doing the same shit over and over again until its all destroyed and it begins anew…………..
Carl Sagon I think is what he meant when he said I will see you again in the future!
I look in on Plato’s Cave occasionally. Today’s shadow reading by the occupants is starting to morph into a discussion on the benefits to the NHS of cheap fags and booze:
http://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2014/10/01/will-ukip-overshadow-camerons-big-day/
XX “He showed no symptoms when he arrived ”
I’m amazed that somebody can fly in from Liberia, and seemingly just get off the plane, and walk away. XX
What do you not understand about “showed no symptoms????”
What do you think they should have stopped him for?
Being in possession of curly hair and nigger lips in a public area?
What do you think they should have stopped him for?
If it was down to me, I’d be placing in quarantine anyone flying in from a country where an Ebola epidemic is raging.
I certainly wouldn’t have an open door policy.
This quarantine is rather expensive and does not include flights from “safe” countries to which anyone from an Ebola affected country has flown to to catch the plane landing here.
As Prof Grieshaber wrote:
The progress of the epidemic so far: The so-called “patient zero” was ascertained retrospectively for December 2013 in Guinea, West Africa. From February 2014, the first cases of Ebola fever in that country were made public, whose Ministry of Health then, on 23 March 2014, officially informed the WHO of an outbreak of Ebola fever. At this point in time, 49 cases of the disease were known, of which 29 ended in fatalities.
By June 2014, the epidemic had spread to two other countries, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The death toll was estimated by the WHO at that time to be 350. Since then, the virus has been spreading more and more rapidly, and when the WHO on 08/08/2014 finally forced itself to declare the disease as an international emergency, the spread was already too far advanced to still be able to stop the catastrophe.
In the meantime we read about these measures taken:
US medical officials are working to identify all those who had close contact with the man while he was sick and infectious.
Once all those people are identified they will be monitored for 21 days to see if they develop feverish symptoms. If they do, they will be isolated as well.
In the meantime they are free to go to work, shopping, bars, gym.. anywhere?
Sure, Ebola will burn itself out – at a great cost, though!
It is beginning to look like that our cash-strapped governments will have to cough up some serious cash; the BBC announced this morning that a financial donor and party member of the conservatives has defected and joined UKIP.
We live in interesting times; is there a country in which the number of very disgruntled people is not growing?
It appears southern Europe just went bankrupt again and Draghi needs Germany to quickly buy up the Junk Bonds before everything defaults. Then the reissue new Junk Bonds some fool will buy and meanwhile the german banks dump the junk bonds into the wasteland of Junk worthless stocks and bonds known as the derivatives market………….Then Japan goes into meltdown over who knows what……………Then out of the blue Hong Kong demonstrations are being blamed on the CIA like in Ukraine which we have proof of” . The we have the Chinese government Hackers being blamed for fucking with the Futures markets on orders and yanking the orders and creatin a contagion in world economics……….
Lord what the hell have these NAZI Nannys created………………
I don’t know who said it………………Nothing is ever what it seems to be.
Stocks & Treasury Yields Are Collapsing | Zero Hedge
Yesterday’s late-day weakness in stocks is continuing as US equities open this morning led by a collapse in Dow Transports and further weakness in Russell 2000. Treasury yields are also plunging with 10Y at 2.435% (back below the…
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-01/stocks-treasury-yields-are-collapsing
Little things please little minds I must confess, but there are fun and games on Dr Siegel’s blog.
Caused by a commentor calling him or herself Tom Baker.
http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/curt-schilling-announces-he-is-victim.html
I’ll admit that it did take me a minute or two.
Tom Baker played the Doctor from 1974 to 1981
“The Fourth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Tom Baker for seven consecutive seasons and remains the longest-lived incarnation of the Doctor in the show’s on-screen history, counting both the classic and modern series.
Further to this, he is considered to be the most recognisable and iconic incarnation of the Doctor both in the United Kingdom and internationally.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Doctor
Indeed he is.
So he’s or she is a Doctor, the question is Dr Who? : )
Ok, I’ll shut up now.
I haven’t been drinking either.
Its either Rollo or Repace Im thinking
Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg and the Revival of American Eugenics
By Gary DeMar / 1 October 2014 / 5 Comments
Read more at http://eaglerising.com/9158/supreme-court-justice-ginsburg-revival-american-eugenics/#JjZfsW2t40qKLxOI.99
The first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in a patient in the United States.
Experts said they were trying to contact people who had contact with the unnamed patient in Texas over a period of several days when he could have been infectious.
Presumably the man flew into Texas via how many airports? Although he appeared well and healthy, he had already been infected with the virus. On this journey he will have bumped into many people and may have put down a headache to the distance(s) travelled.
I’m amazed that somebody can fly in from Liberia, and seemingly just get off the plane, and walk away.
I would be very surprised if the man was on a direct flight to Texas. It makes sense to look for the cheapest option when booking a flight – unless, of course, you have money to throw out the window.
Any airport that has incoming planes from any of the Ebola affected countries where people either get off or go to another terminal to catch another flight, lets people, that includes aid workers returning, get off the plane and walk away.
To screen EVERYONE at ANY airport on entry would be extremely costly. From what I gather since Bill Gates has been said to have pledge a substantial donation to the WHO to help fighting the disease, the WHO is heavily investing in the fight against tobacco, sugar, salt etc. and there simply is no money left to deal with little things, such as Ebola.
Makes you wonder how many other cases of ebola have already flown in, and are still flying in.
We can only sit back, open a beer/wine/whiskey etc. and light up a cigarette or two and not allow panic to set in. Although there have been reports of very promising vaccine(s), trials have to be rushed in order to make them available to the population. (However cold the Winters are, our bodies maintain a pretty constant temperature in which the virus thrives.)
Then, how long will it take to produce a sufficient amount of such a vaccine? To whom should the first batch be given?
Next; the virus is transmitted by body fluids. How many young African girls (from e.g. Nigeria) take a horrendous journey to land in densely populated countries, e.g. Italy only to find that for them the only viable means of getting money is prostitution?
There are many, many different opportunities to spread this virus world wide whilst our WHO is busy with ‘more important things, such as non-communicable diseases’.
And “experts” are trying to contact people!
I did stumble across this, too!!!
Supreme Court Poised For A Do-Over On Obamacare
http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml
ROFLMAO……………
ObamaCare Slush Fund used to buy local smoking bans
Gautier Alters Anti-Smoking Ban
Gautier’s new smoke free ordinance has now gone up in flames. At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, officials voted to alter the ordinance to allow smoking in restaurants and bars.
Some business owners say the ordinance, adopted just last month, forces them to lose business from their smoking customers. Director of the Jackson County Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition, Kelly Lamb, says getting rid of the ordinance will cost the city thousands of dollars in grants. The city will no longer qualify for cash awards from BlueCross BlueShield.
Lamb says, “It’s a $50,000 grant that can go straight into the city, that can be used for walking trails, for schools, and then after you have been awarded that, it opens the door for you to be eligible for many other BlueCross BlueShield funding.” Officials voted five to two to change the ordinance.
wxxv25dotcom/news/local/story/Gautier-Alters-Anti-Smoking-Ban/Cb_7IdEZlE-_RpI6tmjuVAdotcspx
When 50 grand is told to take a hike and freedom restored the Prohibitionists must be shaking in their smokefree Utopias