I must say that I really enjoy how antismoking zealots are falling out with each other over e-cigs. It’s enough to go buy some popcorn and a few beers, and sit back watching the action with a big grin.
These are people who’ve all devoted their lives to attacking and demonising and excluding smokers (and now vapers), largely at public expense, and now they’re all attacking and demonising each other.
So H/T Dick Puddlecote for the latest spat, which is between one-time ASH boss (and thus antismoker) Clive Bates, and the four authors of an outraged letter to the Lancet, in response to the letter from a part-time waitress in Cornwall.
You really couldn’t make it up.
The authors of the Lancet letter complain of being “insulted”, adding:
anyone with the temerity to suggest that e-cigarettes are anything other than the game changing solution to the problem of tobacco will be subject to grossly offensive attacks, with growing evidence that these are being orchestrated.
I wonder what these grossly offensive attacks were? And who might be orchestrating them?
One recent example, a tweet directed at two of us, contained a picture of a noose with the caption “your days are numbered”.
I hunted around online to find the offending image, but as far as I could see pretty much all the pictures of these jokers already had nooses round their necks:
Not sure if I got the names right, or in the right order, but they’re all more or less interchangeable names and faces anyway. And nooses.
And they’re all professors of fuckwittery at one university or other.
Chump is a Professor of Decorative Pastry Mixes, Glans a Professor of Creative Smallmindedness, Micky a Professor of Reversing Slowly Uphill, and Daub a Professor of Competitive Napkin Folding. And they’re all big names in their fields, of course.
And that’s probably where their problem starts: they all think they’re Really Important People who must be Paid Attention, instead of the dickheads they actually are.
Of course, if anyone is orchestrating attacks on them, it must be the Tobacco Industry. After all, it’s never anything else, is it?
The best thing that could happen to them is for the whole damn lot to be fired from their universities, and most likely for those universities to be closed down too. What’s the point of having the places if this is what trickles out of them these days? It would save a lot of money.
So I certainly hope and pray that their days really are numbered.
Frank Davis 
Like all things Frank they come to an end. The enemy wont fight in the open anymore instead using headline by press release just about habitually. When you get them to fight they get themselves left looking like fools with but a few posts. Then out of the blue you find yourself BANNED or all your fact based posts deleted with the other posters below posts still left in tact and people scratching their heads whered it all go too.
You hardlt ever see the Nazis posts deleted only on occasion if they’ve started cursing and the like which is quite often.
Tobacco Controls days are truly numbered and I expect repeals will be the norm within 2 years or less. That’s my assumption alone and it could even be earlier as it appears even MSM groups are starting to side with us on there own grounds, But after Stossel busted their chops it went mainstream and the junk science is being questioned everywhere now pretty much.
Obama and his ilk have been utilizing every corrupt way these past years to invoke bans and outright threats of federal intervention or loss of moneys to get their way. Public health depts. threaten with more inspections and threats of lost health points if they didn’t go smoekfree.
Even councilmen are shaken down and offered bribes via community grants thru zerocare if they pass a ban or make one more stringent. Hate runs deep with these folks as does taxpayer money stolen via legislative trickery. Hopefully maybe the GOP may cut this funding in committee but Im having my doubts after the recent economics package was done.
But like all things they run out of support even from their own folks and politicians. Oh they might say we would maybe like to see it but it should be up to the local level and or businesses choise.
The latter seeming to be where we are at right now,lack of political support for more bans………
Then finally the return of sanity one state at a time and even the MSM like before making fun of those who still had bans in place.
Then it just goes away back into the shitcan of history until they show up again n about 80 years or so!
Feeling a whole lot better this after noon when I got up…………..
Not sure if I got the names right…..
Just a little astray, Frank. Allow me. At left is Mike Drab. Second from left is Marty McPee. Second from right is Stantonitis Glands. And at right is Simon Crapman.
These sanctimonious miscreants and their Public Health buddies have taken great delight in denormalizing/stigmatizing/ostracizing those who smoke. They have manufactured a derogatory smoker “stereotype”, the stuff of bigotry. It’s been an orchestrated, government-funded assault. They are fear and hate-mongers for the deranged “cause”. Smokers are now routinely accused of poisoning/killing nonsmokers, draining health funds, a burden on society, abusers/killers of children. Having that background, these four massive, haughty egos are now offended by a few “insults” on twitter regarding their latest venture into stupidity. Beggars belief. But we’re talking about prohibitionist nut cases.
… they all think they’re Really Important People who must be Paid Attention…
They view themselves a “superheroes” (the mythological good) battling the “evil” tobacco empire:
There are real superheroes living among us. This is Mike Daube, and he’s here to help save lives.
http://www.maketomorrowbetter.com.au/mikedaube/
“I’m Mike Drab. I’m a superhero from the planet Crapton. I’m here to save the Earth. Just do as you’re told”. Puhhhhh-leeeeeezz!!
Crapman commented on Joe Cocker’s passing (in a 2010 interview Cocker indicated that he had quit smoking some 20 years ago):
RIP Joe Cocker. Former heavy smoker dead at just 70
http://www.redheadfullofsteam.com/its-different-when-they-do-it-slight-return/#comment-50716
Cocker was just a “former heavy smoker”. Contrast that with Crapman’s twitter comment on the recent passing of one of his prohibitionist buddies, Nigel Gray:
<i<Nigel Gray AO has passed. Unequivocal father of global tobacco control, Inspirational across 50 yrs. Mentor to me and many others. The best.
So, antismokers die too; who would have guessed. And Gray died of pneumonia….. a “benefit” of not smoking.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pioneering-antismoking-doctor-nigel-gray-dead-at-85-20141221-12bnw8.html
Kinda blows their theory of after 10 years smokers lungs return to that of non-smokers……..or another way of putting it is Cocker was destined to get LC anyhow whether he smoked or not……….But then we don’t get any actual medical material stating if it had metamatized from another spot into the lungs. Usual PC crap.
“We are struck by the more than casual relationship between the appearance of lung cancer and an abrupt and recent cessation of the smoking habit in many, if not most, cases.
Experience is their guide, numerically speaking. Of the 312 lung cancer patients they treated during a four-year period, 182 had recently quit smoking. The report goes into detail. “Each had been addicted to the habit no less than 25 years, smoking in excess of 20 sticks a day. The striking direct statistical correlation between cessation of smoking to the development of lung malignancies, more than 60% plus, is too glaring to be dismissed as coincidental.”
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/oct/16/highereducation.research1
20+ cigarettes a day
Many Lung Cancer Patients Stopped Smoking Years Before Diagnosis
“July 14, 2010 (Los Angeles, California) — Much of what people think they know about smoking and lung cancer might be wrong, according to findings presented here at the 11th International Lung Cancer Conference.
For example, many if not most patients with a history of smoking quit decades before. In a retrospective study of 626 people with lung cancer treated at a tertiary-care facility in Southern California, 482 (77%) had a history of smoking. Of those, only 71 patients (14.7%) were still smoking at the time of their diagnosis. Of the remaining 411 patients, 245 (60%) had not smoked for a mean of 18 years, 8 of whom had quit 51 to 60 years earlier. The other 166 (40%) had stopped smoking within 10 years of their diagnosis.
“Sixty percent of our cohort developed lung cancer despite doing the right thing by stopping smoking over 1 decade ago,” according to the researchers.
These findings contradict the popular perception that most people with lung cancer are ongoing smokers who did not kick the habit until cancer symptoms appeared, the researchers note”
“In 1995, California passed one of the first antismoking laws in the nation when it banned smoking in enclosed workspaces.
This might have encouraged more people to quit smoking than in other parts of the country and might help account for the preponderance of patients in the earlier stages of cancer.”
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/725138
1995 to 2010 – 15 years to onset.
Makes you wonder doesn’t it?
The latest explanation for the phenomenon.
Lung cancers can ‘lie dormant’ in ex-smokers for up to 20 years before they become aggressive
Thursday 09 October 2014
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/lung-cancers-can-lie-dormant-in-exsmokers-for-up-to-20-years-before-they-become-aggressive-9785670.html
Then it could do the same in a non smoker too.
AGE of onset is missing.
In short: of 626 people with lung cancer, 166 (26.5%) had stopped smoking within 10 years of their diagnosis, while 71 patients (11.3%) were still active smokers, meaning that over 62% were either non-smokers (144/626 = 23%) or had been ex-smokers for more than 10 years (245/626 = 39.1%).
How convenient the lag-time hypothesis can be adjusted to the rest of the theory via this ‘dormant tumour’ conjecture.
@Rose – Re “The latest explanation for the phenomenon” – That’s the mass media version. You should know better by now than to think they tell us everything. Here’s the abstract. Unfortunately it’s in the “glamor” journal, Science, so we can’t see the whole thing.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25301630
Abstract
Spatial and temporal dissection of the genomic changes occurring during the evolution of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may help elucidate the basis for its dismal prognosis. We sequenced 25 spatially distinct regions from seven operable NSCLCs and found evidence of branched evolution, with driver mutations arising before and after subclonal diversification. There was pronounced intratumor heterogeneity in copy number alterations, translocations, and mutations associated with APOBEC cytidine deaminase activity. Despite maintained carcinogen exposure, tumors from smokers showed a relative decrease in smoking-related mutations over time, accompanied by an increase in APOBEC-associated mutations. In tumors from former smokers, genome-doubling occurred within a smoking-signature context before subclonal diversification, which suggested that a long period of tumor latency had preceded clinical detection. The regionally separated driver mutations, coupled with the relentless and heterogeneous nature of the genome instability processes, are likely to confound treatment success in NSCLC. (Swanton study)
As for “APOBEC-associated mutations” – APOBEC-mediated cytosine deamination links PIK3CA helical domain mutations to human papillomavirus-driven tumor development.
Abstract
APOBEC3B cytosine deaminase activity has recently emerged as a significant mutagenic factor in human cancer. APOBEC activity is induced in virally infected cells, and APOBEC signature mutations occur at high frequency in cervical cancers (CESC), over 99% of which are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). We tested whether APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis is particularly important in HPV-associated tumors by comparing the exomes of HPV+ and HPV- head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) sequenced by The Cancer Genome Atlas project. As expected, HPV- HNSCC displays a smoking-associated mutational signature, whereas our data suggest that reduced exposure to exogenous carcinogens in HPV+ HNSCC creates a selective pressure that favors emergence of tumors with APOBEC-mediated driver mutations. Finally, we provide evidence that APOBEC activity is responsible for the generation of helical domain hot spot mutations in the PIK3CA gene across multiple cancers. Our findings implicate APOBEC activity as a key driver of PIK3CA mutagenesis and HPV-induced transformation. (Henderson et al., also 2014)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24910434
As I’ve said, every time they supposedly find a process that implicates smoking, it turns out to be caused by a virus. Interesting that “Despite maintained carcinogen exposure, tumors from smokers showed a relative decrease in smoking-related mutations over time, accompanied by an increase in APOBEC-associated mutations” (Swanton study)
Carol, I have just read that study three times and my mind has gone blank.
Could you please translate that into very short words for a halfwit who is currently hanging up decorations whilst baking bread. : )
I have spent more time reading up on how the body fixes DNA strand breaks than how they get broken.
Which study? That 2007 one or “The latest” Swanton 2014? Or Henderson? Or all of them? At any rate, I found a recent review of APOBEC. It makes it clear that it’s part of the immune response against viruses, and that its RNA editing role may be involved in cancer.
The role of cytidine deaminases on innate immune responses against human viral infections.
Vieira VC1, Soares MA. Biomed Res Int. 2013;2013:683095. Abstract
The APOBEC family of proteins comprises deaminase enzymes that edit DNA and/or RNA sequences. The APOBEC3 subgroup plays an important role on the innate immune system, acting on host defense against exogenous viruses and endogenous retroelements. The role of APOBEC3 proteins in the inhibition of viral infection was firstly described for HIV-1. However, in the past few years many studies have also shown evidence of APOBEC3 action on other viruses associated with human diseases, including HTLV, HCV, HBV, HPV, HSV-1, and EBV. APOBEC3 inhibits these viruses through a series of editing-dependent and independent mechanisms. Many viruses have evolved mechanisms to counteract APOBEC effects, and strategies that enhance APOBEC3 activity constitute a new approach for antiviral drug development. On the other hand, novel evidence that editing by APOBEC3 constitutes a source for viral genetic diversification and evolution has emerged. Furthermore, a possible role in cancer development has been shown for these host enzymes. Therefore, understanding the role of deaminases on the immune response against infectious agents, as well as their role in human disease, has become pivotal. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art knowledge of the impact of APOBEC enzymes on human viruses of distinct families and harboring disparate replication strategies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3707226/
It also reveals a reason why other animals aren’t good models for humans: “APOBEC proteins are found throughout vertebrates, with AID and APOBEC2 being ancestral members of the family and
APOBEC1 and APOBEC3 being more recent, while the origins of APOBEC4 are not clear [74–77]. The APOBEC3 enzymes are exclusively found in mammals [5, 78], and their gene copy number is species-specific. While mice have only a single APOBEC3 gene, pigs have two, sheep and cattle have three, cats have four, horses have six, and primates have at least seven APOBEC3 genes [5, 9, 79, 80].”
Then it could do the same in a non smoker too.
Harley, indeed! After all, in 20 years we do encounter many, many ?carcinogenic substances and micro-organisms. So it is questionable with respect to the CAUSE of this “delayed” cancer.
The anti-smoking zealots’ desperation…..
It’s the non-smokers that sadden me most.
Unlike smokers they seem to get it so very young.
Lung Cancer for Nonsmokers Still Stained by Stigma
“Lung cancer is the top cancer killer of women, and some medical experts say that they are seeing more patients in their 20s and 30s, many of them nonsmokers.
“The statistics on lung cancer are so staggering and so many young, non-smoking individuals are dying from this disease and no one is really talking about it,” Densen said.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/lung-cancer-nonsmokers-still-stained-stigma-n246441
Lung cancer not just a ‘smoker’s disease’
“Approximately 20 percent of newly diagnosed patients are non-smokers.
“They are people like him everywhere. Twenty-four-year-olds, moms with twins, athletes who thought this couldn’t happen to them.”
http: //www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2014/12/05/lung-cancer-just-smokers-disease/19934627/
I’ve seen something similar in a study on Lung Cancer in Mustard Gas victims.
Mustard Gas exposure and carcinogenesis of the lung – Iran 2009
“Abstract
Sulfur mustard (SM), also known as mustard gas, is an alkylating compound used as a chemical weapon in World War I and by Iraqi forces against Iranians and indigenous Iraqi Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s.
RESULTS: A relatively early age of lung cancer onset (ranging from 28 to 73 with a mean of 48) in mustard gas victims, particularly those in the non-smoking population (mean age of 40.7), may be an indication of a unique etiology for these cancers.
Seven of the 20 patients developed lung cancer before the age of 40.”
“Five of 16 cancers from which DNA sequence data was obtainable provided information on eight p53 mutations (within exons 5-8). These mutations were predominately G to A transitions; a mutation consistent with the DNA lesion caused by SM. Two of the lung cancers had multiple p53 point mutations, similar to results obtained from factory workers chronically exposed to mustard agent.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19559099
I think the study of why non smokers get lung cancer might prove to be key.
It doesn’t carry 100 years of baggage.
My Dad stopped carrying radium around in a box 10 years before his first cancer, 15 years before the one that “got him” eventually, 25 years before he died. That doesn’t mean the damage wasn’t done.
How very unfortunate, Karryl.
But it was the medical wonder of the age and when not drunk as a health tonic or used in cosmetics it was prescribed by doctors for all manner of maladies.
Radithor and the era of mild radium therapy.
“Soon after the discovery of radium, a school of practitioners arose who were interested primarily in the physiological rather than the tumoricidal powers of this new radioactive element. This treatment philosophy was called “mild radium therapy” and involved the oral or parenteral administration of microgram quantities of radium and its daughter isotopes, often as cures for rheumatic diseases, hypertension, and metabolic disorders.
Manufacturers of patent medicines responded to this market by producing a variety of over-the-counter radioactive preparations including pills, elixirs, and salves. One such nostrum was Radithor, a popular and expensive mixture of radium 226 and radium 228 in distilled water.
Radithor was advertised as an effective treatment for over 150 “endocrinologic” diseases, especially lassitude and sexual impotence. Over 400,000 bottles, each containing over 2 muCi (74 kBq) of radium, were apparently marketed and sold worldwide between 1925 and 1930. The death of the Pittsburgh millionaire sportsman Eben M. Byers, who was an avid Radithor user, by radium poisoning in 1932 brought an end to this era and prompted the development of regulatory controls for all radiopharmaceuticals.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2195177
New York and the Radium Craze
“Radium, a naturally occurring element first isolated by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, fascinated the world with its radioactive and luminescent properties. With no understanding of the ill effects of radiation poisoning, radium became a fashionable trend, a medical cure-all, and an industrial wonder”
“The radium industry took hold in New York in the early twentieth century. Beginning in 1904 with L.D. Gardner’s Manhattan-based company producing his patented radium “health” water, Liquid Sunshine, and his glow-in-the-dark radium ink, factories producing radium cures and novelty products began to appear all over the city and surrounding suburbs.”
“They aggressively advertised and sold, with enormous success, radium creams, drinks, salts, and suppositories that claimed to cure acne, anemia, arthritis, asthma, baldness, birthmarks, blindness, constipation, diabetes, goiters, hardened arteries, headaches, impotence, insanity, rickets, tooth decay, and warts.”
“By the mid-1930s, the radium craze subsided, as the scientists and inventors who had pioneered the use of radium slowly died of cancer. Their radioactive bodies were buried in lead-lined graves. Radium, the marvel of the future, had become a menace.”
http://blog.nyhistory.org/get-me-a-radium-highball-new-york-and-the-radium-craze/
It just got kookier in insanity land
Motorists to get fined for smoking
Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan passed amendments to a motoring law Tuesday that will penalize smoking while driving or riding a motorcycle and raise the penalties for inadequate tire-tread depth and double parking.
Based on the revised Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act, people can be fined NT$600 (US$18.99) for smoking while driving or riding a motorcycle, which is seen as endangering the safety of other road users.
If the treads of their tires are less than 1.6 millimeters in depth, motorists can be fined between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000, higher than the range of NT$600 to NT$1,200 before the amendment.
The fine for double parking was raised to NT$2,400, up from the range of NT$600 to NT$1,200 previously.
The revisions have to go through the formality of being promulgated by the Presidential Office — usually within 10 days of legislative passage — before they can take effect.
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201412230007.aspx
On the flu; mine hit me in the gut last Tuesday with 101 fever and hasn’t yet let go. Heard it’s the same bug as the respiratory one; it just wanders around the body deciding where to settle. News casts say this season’s shot (which I didn’t get) is useless against everything that’s hitting people in droves right now. And then, typical of healthists , right after he reports that the shots are ineffective, he adds : be sure to get your shot.
Weve been hit with all kinds of stuff since like October just no sooner think you over it,it languishes for weeks and then poof a respiratory one nails ya………Im feeling tons better now but last nite and until about 5 pm today I was shit! See what tomorrow brings was wanting to go visit on xmas but I aint brining nothing to the new babies house my sister in law just had………..not worth it. I wouldn’t want to be blamed I know how that is. Im contemplating paybacks right now lol
They mean, get your shot so you don’t get the other type as well. The unexpected one is A/Switzerland/9715293/2013, “the H3N2 virus selected for the 2015 Southern Hemisphere influenza vaccine. A/Switzerland/9715293/2013 is related to, but antigenically and genetically distinguishable, from the A/Texas/50/2012 vaccine virus. A/Switzerland-like H3N2 viruses were first detected in the United States in small numbers in March of 2014 and began to increase through the spring and summer.”
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/#S1
They said it wasn’t available…………..
They didn’t think that A/Switzerland/9715293/2013 would get so big so fast. There’s a long lead time between choosing a strain for a vaccine and when it can be available, and it’s too late for the Northern Hemisphere.
Me and Iro had our combined comments deceptivly removed from NOLA on the proposed smoking ban. But history buff got in and did a great job for us all and a few others. Poor bastards I screwed with them these last 4-5 years and they think Im like 5 people at once and even accused history of being me LOL I think history is Magnetic not sure but same info so must be.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/nola_smoking_ban_supporters_re.html
https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-why-some-countries-are-so-lax-at-regulating-smoking-35782
An interesting thing to observe about vaping is noticing which pubs & bars allow it inside the premises and which don’t. In my observation the food lead places and and the big managed chains don’t. I’ve noticed Wetherspoons ban it but rarely enforce it. Sam Smiths surprisingly ban it considering the wet lead nature of their business. Most freehouses and many tenancies appear to allow it.
I think this indicates what you can expect if smoking ban reform in the UK ever gets its act together and manages to amend the legislation, rather than just be impotent internet rage. That you’d find a small number of smokers pubs and clubs with the majority staying with the higher margins of food, families and kids and having no interest in smokers. The market would fracture to cater for smokers and those that don’t wish to be around smokers. Similar to Hamburg.
Sounds like a perfect scenario to me
Interesting observation. In Alabama chain restaraunts and even mom and pops went completely smoking or completely non smoking. The signs will state there is non non smoking section in this establishment. No bs about kids not being allowed or anything…….
The market would fracture to cater for smokers and those that don’t wish to be around smokers
But how, Cookie?.
ASH threatened the Pub industry with prosecutions in 2004.
ASH News Release:
Monday 12th January 2004
“The hospitality trade faces a rising threat of legal action from employees whose health is damaged by secondhand smoke, after a new tie-up between health campaigning charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the UK’s largest personal injury and trade union law firm Thompsons was announced today.
ASH has sent a registered letter to all the UK’s leading hospitality trade employers, warning them that the “date of guilty knowledge” under the Health and Safety at Work Act is now past, and that employers should therefore know of the risks of exposing their staff to secondhand smoke. Employers who continue to permit smoking in the workplace are therefore likely to be held liable by the courts for any health damage caused. ASH and Thompsons intend to use the letters in any future court cases as evidence that employers have been fully informed of the issue. ”
http://www.ash.org.uk/media-room/press-releases/ash-and-thompsons-tell-employers-dont-say-you-werent-warned-over-secondhand-smoke
16th December, 2004, the UK signs up to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which demands Smoking Bans amongst other things.
On the same day as these statistics were published, the UK ratified the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.”
http://www.gov-news.org/gov/uk/news/more_than_a_million_fewer_smokers_since_1998/77507.html
“Under Article 8.1 of the FCTC, ‘Parties recognize that scientific evidence has unequivocally established that exposure to tobacco smoke causes death, disease and disability’
http: //www.fctc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=84
Whether it’s true or not.
You can’t blame the Hospitality Industry for caving in to a threat like that, what ever they might have thought about it privately.
Commonsense has no part in this and I really can’t see how it can be fixed.
Under Article 8.1 of the FCTC, ‘Parties recognize that scientific evidence has unequivocally established that exposure to tobacco smoke causes death, disease and disability’
In America forced confessions use to be illegal too. These countries signed on because they had future loans from the World Bank and IMF held over thir heads id they didn’t.
Tobacco Companies got the same thing done to them forced confessions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department was in a new dispute Friday with the tobacco industry over the government’s landmark lawsuit against the companies.
The government has prepared corrective statements it wants the companies to be forced to make about the health hazards from smoking. But the tobacco companies don’t want those proposed statements put in the public record before they get a chance to review them.
FORCED TO MAKE…….SOUNDS like somebodys not playing fair doesnt it.So if the tobacco companies make statements then the nazi anti-smokers get to say see even the tobacco companies admit this!!!!! force isnt that what hitler did at bayonet point!
…
U.S. Judge Orders Tobacco Companies to Admit Deception and Tell the Truth to the American People
A federal judge today ordered tobacco companies to admit that they have deliberately deceived the American public and finally tell the truth about their deadly and addictive products and fraudulent marketing. Today’s ruling is a critical step toward ending decades of tobacco industry deception that has resulted in millions of premature deaths, untold suffering and billions in health care costs. Requiring the tobacco companies to finally tell the truth is a small price to pay for the devastating consequences of their wrongdoing.
Today’s ruling spells out the corrective statements U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler first ordered tobacco companies to make in 2006 when she found them guilty of violating civil racketeering laws and engaging in a decades-long fraud to deceive the American people.
The Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund (a 501c4 affiliate of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids) is one of six public health groups that Judge Kessler allowed to intervene in the case, along with the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and National African American Tobacco Prevention Network.
SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2012/11/27/DC19766
………………….
AND YET NOT ONE PIECE OF END POINT PROOF was introduced into court to prove a single claim……..
………………..
Then we even get fucked by the FCTC when you have everything to hide you don’t want anyone your screwing with lies being told the truth or influenced by anyone but you! ie tobacco control
………………………
FCTC GAG ORDERS TO KEEP THE PEOPLE QUIET and have no debate the same as banning commenters…………
fctc gag order guidelines
11. The broad array of strategies and tactics used
by the tobacco industry to interfere with
the setting and implementing of tobacco control mea
sures, such as those that Parties to the
Convention are required to implement, is documented
by a vast body of evidence. The
measures recommended in these guidelines aim at pro
tecting against interference not only by
the tobacco industry but also, as appropriate, by o
rganizations and individuals that work to
further the interests of the tobacco industry.
12. While the measures recommended in these guideli
nes should be applied by Parties as
broadly as necessary, in order best to achieve the
objectives of Article 5.3 of the Convention,
Parties are strongly urged to implement measures be
yond those recommended in these
guidelines when adapting them to their specific cir
cumstances.
IMPORTANT FACT IN THE RICO CASE
The Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund (a 501c4 affiliate of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids) is one of six public health groups that Judge Kessler allowed to intervene in the case, along with the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and National African American Tobacco Prevention Network
Nothing like a judge allowing the HANGMANS MOB to be allowed to intervene in the process. Judge Roy BEAN would even be appauled………..
But rose in order to sue for damages proof of causation must be presented in a normal legititimate court of law. Otherwise its a frivolous lawsuit.
‘The so-called ‘smoking related disease’ is one of the antismokers’ cleverest inventions. To say that a disease is ‘smoking-related’ is not the same as saying that it is directly caused by smoking, or that there is any actual proof of anything. It means simply that someone has decided that smoking MAY be a factor in that disease.
Over the last couple of decades, more and more diseases have been added to the list, often with very little evidence. Heart disease was one of the first, even though it has something like 300 risk factors, and some major studies (for instance, that of the citizens of Framingham, Massachusetts, which has been going on since 1948) have shown not only that the link with smoking is weak, but that moderate smokers have LESS heart disease than nonsmokers.
More recently it has become fashionable to blame smoking for just about everything… from ‘clogging up’ of the arteries (which happens to everyone as they get older) to blindness (well, they can’t blame masturbation any more) to AIDS. It has also become fashionable, every time a smoker dies, to try to find a way to blame their death on smoking.
The fact is that many statistics about smoking (and especially ‘secondhand’ smoke) are simply made up. For instance, until cervical cancer was recently proven to be caused by a virus, a completely random 13% of cases were attributed to smoking!
The great thing about the ‘smoking-related disease,’ is that it allows you to create the perception of a raging epidemic. The UK government says that 100,000 or 120,000 deaths per year (depending on who is speaking at the time) are caused by ‘smoking-related disease’. The impression given is that these are all deaths specifically, and provably, caused by smoking, but it is no such thing.
It includes non-smokers who die of bronchitis or strokes, and smokers who die of heart attacks in their 80s. It includes people who quit smoking decades before. It is not exactly lying, but it is deliberately misleading, it is fearmongering, and in my opinion these people should be ashamed of themselves.’ ( Parmenion59’s comment )
…………….
and then this:
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could not even produce evidence that passive smoke is significantly harmful inside, this is what they wrote prior to the smoking ban in article 9 OC255/15 9 “The evidential link between individual circumstances of exposure to risk in exempted premises will be hard to establish. In essence, HSE cannot produce epidemiological evidence to link levels of exposure to SHS to the raised risk of contracting specific diseases and it is therefore difficult to prove health-related breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act”. The reason the ban was brought in under the Health Act 2006, and not by the HSE, because no proof of harm was needed with the Health Act 2006, and the HSE have to have proof, seems the DM has lost rational thought about anything smoke related.
No proof means any guilty finding would be based upon emotionally charged pre conceptions not on facts. The same as a lynching party……….mob rule when needed but not in a court of law. So we can add to the list of lost confidence in science,medicine and now in the judicial process too!
@ Rose
It’s most likely that UKIP will favour roughly the same format as the Netherlands; smoking rooms with some form of ventilation that doesn’t cost a fortune to install. If they adopt their legislation then there’s really very little ASH and the Trades Union can do, because no service is allowed in these rooms.
In the Netherlands staff only go in to clean them after they’ve been vacated for at least 15 minutes (and the air filtration ensures there’s noting but fresh air by then). And that’s only in very high footfall places like Schiphol airport, otherwise they get cleaned once or twice a day when it’s really quiet.
If it’s the owner, then he or she can clean it as they see fit – and most privately owned places are very good at customer service, including smokers.
I agree with Cookie on the broad issue that it’s very unlikely there will be a mass uptake in Britain. They have to have the space, the money and the customer base to justify hiving off the floor space, partitioning and a half reasonable air filter.
However if they have the potential demand and if they’re land-locked, then it’s a very big boost for business, so yes it’ll be patchy, but they’ll be there all right – within days.
Trouble is our political system is such that Labour would vow to repeal any relaxation as soon as they regain office – and that’s a big disincentive to any private operator with a marginal business case for that kind of outlay.
Yet today in the Mail I read an article suggesting that Scotland may well upset Miliband’s plan to simply sit back and wait for the magic 36% of the vote. Seems the SNP will rob him of up to 25 Scottish Labour MP’s, so it’s possible we could see a right botch of a coalition, made up of Labour, the SNP and what remains of the Lib/Dems.
It’s very possible because UKIP seem unable to change the narrative. Seems a couple of adolescents have produced a game that features Mr. Farage booting out the immigrants and that of course is being exploited by MSM. UKIP has a tough job getting past the BBC constantly referring to them as an anti-immigrant party. Spokespersons from UKIP need to be far more proactive. They’ve got stacks of hugely popular strategies and we expect them to be eccentric, radical, off the wall. That’s their saving grace.
Now’s not the time to take this stuff too seriously. MSM and the establishment are not their friends. Not now, not ever. Voters are the only pals they have and I’d suggest all their talking heads quit trying to gain favour with anything remotely associated with the current political agenda, starting with Louise Bours and her naive attempt to placate a twit from the BBC by stating that she “would personally support minimum pricing on alcohol”.
http://politicalhyndsight.wordpress.com/tag/lousie-bours/
With colleagues like these at his back, little wonder Mr. Farage sometimes loses it!
It could be fixed by attacking the anti-smokers’ scientific fraud, which all of those with money at stake (tobacco companies, pubs, etc.) refuse to do. They all kowtow to the fraud!
The Obama-Pope Axis of Marxism
The Washington Post is a die-hard Democratic Party newspaper that occasionally recognizes Obama’s drift into Marxism.
The Washington Post is a die-hard Democratic Party newspaper that occasionally recognizes Obama’s drift into Marxism. The December 19th editorial on Cuba is a case in point. Not only does the Post understand the nature of Obama’s betrayal of a free Cuba, it is beginning to wake up to the failures of bipartisan policies that have built communist Chinese economic power in the name of capitalism and reform.
The paper says that Obama “should have learned and applied some of the hard lessons of normalization with China and Vietnam—most notably that engagement doesn’t automatically promote freedom. When the United States debated extending ‘most-favored-nation’ trading status to China, we shared in what was then the conventional wisdom: Economic engagement would inevitably lead, over time, to political reform inside that Communist dictatorship.”
The paper goes on to admit it was duped. But Obama should know better, shouldn’t he?
The Post notes that the Chinese regime has been strengthened, not weakened, by policies of “engagement.” The Chinese communists “were determined to reap the fruits of foreign investment and trade—for themselves and their families, first, but also for their country—without ceding power. So far, confounding expectations, they have succeeded,” the paper commented.
In the case of Cuba, the Post said, Obama could have proposed normalization only after certain freedoms were given to the Cuban people. Instead, Obama “spurned” the “brave freedom fighters” on the island in the form of ordinary citizens risking their lives to protest against the Castro regime and to demand basic rights. Obama simply ignored their struggle.
So what are we to conclude? The Post is the paper which sent a reporter by the name of Dana Milbank to our news conferences over the years to ridicule our warnings of Obama’s Marxism. It looks like the editorial board, at least, is coming around to the realization that Obama is deliberately pursuing a Marxist policy in the case of Cuba. This is a breakthrough.
In a separate editorial, the paper called Obama’s change in Cuba policy a “bailout” of the regime. It said, “Mr. Obama may claim that he has dismantled a 50-year-old failed policy; what he has really done is give a 50-year-old failed regime a new lease on life.”
The editorial fails to take note of the role of Pope Francis in the betrayal. However, a separate article in the paper indirectly took note of the development, highlighting that while Pope John Paul II was “extremely public in his fight against communism,” Francis seems dedicated to being known as a “master builder of bridges” between the communist and free worlds. This is to the advantage of the communists.
The article notes that Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)—who is Catholic—was critical of the pope, saying he should “take up the cause of freedom” rather than facilitate Obama’s deal with the Castro brothers. But we have heard enough from the pope, in terms of his attacks on capitalism, to know where he stands.
Rubio told ABC News, “The pope is a spiritual leader and he always, naturally, is going to want to bring people closer together. And I respect that as a spiritual leader. But I think it’s also important to say that people deserve the right to be free…our nation was founded on that principle.”
The awareness is growing among Catholics that this pope is radically different than Pope John Paul II. Associated Press quotes Efrain Rivas, a 53-year-old maintenance man in Miami who was a political prisoner in Cuba for 16 years as saying, “I’m still Catholic till the day I die. But I am a Catholic without a pope.”
Miguel Saavedra, described as a 57-year-old Miami mechanic who leads an anti-Castro group and wears a Christian cross, told AP, “The church is contaminated.” He was probably referring to contamination by elements of Marxist-oriented liberation theology.
Catholic writer Vic Biorseth concludes, “I’m afraid it is true—Pope Francis is a Marxist. George Soros is probably celebrating. So is Bill Ayers, Frances Fox Piven, and especially, Comrade President Obama, peace be upon him. We will get through this, and we will be stronger for it.”
This may sound harsh, but the evidence is all around for everyone to see. Perhaps the Post will eventually wake up to that reality as well. But how long will it take?
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-obama-pope-axis-of-marxism/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=email122314&utm_medium=email
The Bond Bubble’s Risk Hits an Unbelievable $555 TRILLION in Size
The next Crisis will be THE CRISIS.
You might have noticed that each successive crisis over the last 15 years has been both larger and involved more senior asset classes.
1. The 2000 Tech Bubble involved stocks.
2. The 2007 Housing Bubble involved housing.
3. This crisis involves Bond… as in ALL bonds.
To give some perspective regarding size here consider that the credit default swap market based on housing that nearly took down the system in 2008 was $45 trillion at its peak in 2007.
In contrast, the global bond market is well over $100 trillion today.
And it’s growing rapidly.
Indeed, US corporates are on track to issue over $1.5 TRILLION in debt this year alone. Not only will this be an all time record… it will be the third consecutive all-time record for corporate debt issuance.
Part of the reason that the bond market has become so enormous is because few entities, particularly sovereign nations, have the cash handy to pay back debt holders when their debts come due.
As a result, many of them are choosing to roll over old debts OR pay them back via the issuance of new debt. The US did precisely this in the last few months issuing over $1 trillion to cover for the payment of old debt that was coming due.
So the bond bubble is not only over $100 trillion in size…it’s actually GROWING on a month-to-month basis.
Reading all of this is no doubt concerning. However, the situation becomes much worse when you consider that over 81% of ALL derivatives trades are based on interest rates (BONDS).
Globally, the interest rates derivative market is an unbelievable $555 TRILLION in size.
These are trades based on interest rates that in turn are based on the bond bubble. Thus, the significance of the bond bubble simply CANNOT be overstated. Banks and other financial entities have literally bet an amount equal to over SIX TIMES GLOBAL GDP on interest rates.
This is why Central Banks are absolutely terrified the moment a sovereign nation comes close to defaulting. Consider that Spain’s bond market is just $1 trillion. But the derivatives trade market based on Spain’s bonds is likely well north of 10X this amount.
With this kind of leverage, even if 4% of the trades are at risk and 10% of those trades go bust, you’ve wiped out the equity at more than a handful of the large EU banks.
In simple terms, the bond bubble is THE bubble. And when it bursts, we will experience THE crisis. In comparison, 2008 will look like a joke.
If you’ve yet to take action to prepare for the second round of the financial crisis, we offer a FREE investment report Financial Crisis “Round Two” Survival Guide that outlines easy, simple to follow strategies you can use to not only protect your portfolio from a market downturn, but actually produce profits.
https://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/your-days-are-numbered/#comment-110025
Dow breaks 18000 this morning guess where the miracle 5% in GDP created growth came from!!!!
Forced mandated obamcare premiums and penalties simply put what the government spends is added directly into the GDP figures…………They don’t mention yet today how many tens of billions were bailouts to the insurance carriers of zerocare……………
But the bailout moneys came from the new omnibus bill just passed.
The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/12/17/financial-market-manipulation…
Financial Market Manipulation Is The New Trend: Can It Continue?
December 17, 2014 | Categories: Articles & Columns | Tags: | Print This Article Print This Article
Financial Market Manipulation Is The New Trend: Can It Continue?
Financial Imperialists Attack Russia
Paul Craig Roberts
A dangerous new trend is the successful manipulation of the financial markets by the Federal Reserve, other central banks, private banks, and the US Treasury. The Federal Reserve reduced real interest rates on US government debt obligations first to zero and then pushed real interest rates into negative territory. Today the government charges you for the privilege of purchasing its bonds.
People pay to park their money in Treasury debt obligations, because they do not trust the banks and they know that the government can print the money to pay off the bonds. Today Treasury bond investors pay a fee in order to guarantee that they will receive the nominal face value (minus the fee) of their investment in government debt instruments.
The fee is paid in a premium, which raises the cost of the debt instrument above its face value and is paid again in accepting a negative rate of return, as the interest rate is less than the inflation rate.
Think about this for a minute. Allegedly the US is experiencing economic recovery. Normally with rising economic activity interest rates rise as consumers and investors bid for credit. But not in this “recovery.”
Normally an economic recovery produces rising consumer spending, rising profits, and more investment. But what we experience is flat and declining consumer spending as jobs are offshored and retail stores close. Profits result from labor cost savings from employee layoffs.
The stock market is high because corporations are the biggest purchases of stock. Buying back their own stock supports or raises the share price, enabling executives and boards to sell their shares or cash in their options at a profitable price. The cash that Quantitative Easing has given to the mega-banks leaves ample room for speculating in stocks, thus pushing up the price despite the absence of fundamentals that would support a rising stock market.
In other words, in America today there are no free financial markets. The markets are rigged by the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing, by gold price manipulation, by the Treasury’s Plunge Protection Team and Exchange Stabilization Fund, and by the big private banks.
Allegedly, QE is over, but it is not. The Fed intends to roll over the interest and principle from its bloated $4.5 trillion bond portfolio into purchases of more bonds, and the banks intend to fill in the gaps by using the $2.6 trillion in their cash on deposit with the Fed to purchase bonds. QE has morphed, not ended. The money the Fed paid the banks for bonds will now be used by the banks to support the bond price by purchasing bonds.
Normally when massive amounts of debt and money are created the currency collapses, but the dollar has been strengthening. The dollar gains strength from the
rigging of the gold price in the futures market. The Federal Reserve’s agents, the bullion banks, print paper futures contracts representing many tonnes of gold and dump them them into the market during periods of light or nonexistent trading. This drives down the gold price despite rising demand for the physical metal. This manipulation is done in order to counteract the effect of the expansion of money and debt on the dollar’s exchange value. A declining dollar price of gold makes the dollar look strong.
The dollar also gains the appearance of strength from debt monetization by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank. The Bank of Japan’s Quantitative Easing program is even larger than the Fed’s. Even Switzerland is rigging the price of the Swiss franc. Since all currencies are inflating, the dollar does not decline in exchange value.
As Japan is Washington’s vassal, it is conceivable that some of the money being printed by the Bank of Japan will be used to purchase US Treasuries, thus taking the place along with purchases by the large US banks of the Fed’s QE.
The large private US and UK banks are also manipulating markets hand over fist. Remember the scandal over the banks fixing the LIBOR rate (the London Interbank Borrowing Rate) and the opening gold price on the London exchange. Now the banks have been caught rigging currency markets with algorithms developed to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
When the banks get caught in felonies, they avoid prosecution by paying a fine. You try doing that.
The government even manipulates economic statistics in order to paint a rosy economic picture that sustains economic confidence. GDP growth is exaggerated by understating inflation. High unemployment is swept under the table by not counting discouraged workers as unemployed. We are told we are enjoying economic recovery and have an improving housing market. Yet the facts are that almost half of 25 year old Americans have been forced to return to live with their parents, and 30% of 30 year olds are back with their parents. Since 2006 the home ownership rate of 30 year old Americans has collapsed.
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The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act during the Clinton regime allowed the big banks to gamble with their depositors’ money. The Dodd-Frank Act tried to stop some of this by requiring the banks-turned-gambling-casinos to carry on their gambling in subsidiaries with no access to deposits in the depository institution. If the banks gamble with depositors money, the banks’ losses are covered by FDIC, and in the case of bank failure, bail-in provisions could give the banks access to depositors’ funds. With the banks still protected by being “too big to fail,” whether Dodd-Frank would succeed in protecting depositors when a subsidiary’s failure pulls down the entire bank is unclear.
The sharp practices in which banks engage today are risky. Why gamble with their own money if they can gamble with depositors’ money. The banks led by Citigroup have lobbied hard to overturn the provision in Dodd-Frank that puts depositors’ money out of their reach as backup for certain types of troubled financial instruments, with apparently only Senator Elizabeth Warren and a few others opposing them. Senator Warren is outgunned as Citigroup controls the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve.
The falling oil price has brought concern that oil derivatives are in jeopardy. Citigroup has a provision in the omnibus appropriations bill that shifts the liability for Citigroup’s credit default swaps to depositors and taxpayers. It was only six years ago that Citigroup was bailed out to the tune of a half trillion dollars. Already Citigroup is back for more while nothing whatsoever is done to bail the American people out of their hardships caused by Citigroup and the other financial gangsters.
What we are experiencing is not a repeat of the past. The ability or, rather, the audacity of the US government itself to manipulate the major financial markets is new. Can this new trend continue? The government is supposed to be the enforcer of laws against market manipulation but is itself manipulating the markets.
Governments and economists take their hats off to free markets. Yet, the markets are rigged, not free. How long can stocks stay up in a lackluster or declining economy? How long can bonds pay negative real interest rates when debt and money are rising. How long can bullion prices be manipulated down when the world’s demand for gold exceeds the annual production?
For as long as governments and banks can rig the markets.
The manipulations are dangerous. Manipulations blow a bigger bubble economy, and manipulations are now being used by Washington as an act of war by driving down the exchange value of the Russian ruble.
If every time the stock market tries to correct and adjust to the real economic situation, the plunge protection team or some government “stabilization” entity stops the correction by purchasing S&P futures, unrealistic values are perpetuated.
The price of gold is not determined in the physical market but in the futures market where contracts are settled in cash. If every time the demand for gold pushes up the price, the Federal Reserve or its bullion bank agents dump massive amounts of uncovered futures contracts in the futures market and drive down the price of gold, the result is to subsidize the gold purchases of Russia, China, and India. The artificially low gold price also artificially inflates the value of the US dollar.
The Federal Reserve’s manipulation of the bond market has driven bond prices so high that purchasers receive a zero or negative return on their investment. At the present time fear of the safety of bank deposits makes people willing to pay a fee in order to have the protection of the government’s ability to print money in order to redeem its bonds. A number of events could end the tolerance of zero or negative real interest rates. The Federal Reserve’s policy has the bond market positioned for collapse.
The US government, perhaps surprised at the ease at which all financial markets can be rigged, is now rigging, or permitting large hedge funds and perhaps George Soros, to drive down the exchange value of the Russian ruble by massive short-selling in the currency market. On December 15 the ruble was driven down 19%.
Just as there is no economic reason for the price of gold to decline in the futures market when the demand for physical gold is rising, there is no economic reason for the ruble to suddenly loose much of its exchange value. Unlike the US, which has a massive trade deficit, Russia has a trade surplus. Unlike the US economy, the Russian economy has not been offshored. Russia has just completed large energy and trade deals with China, Turkey, and India.
If economic forces were determining outcomes, it would be the dollar that is losing exchange value, not the ruble.
The illegal economic sanctions that Washington has decreed on Russia appear to be doing more harm to Europe and US energy companies than to Russia. The impact on
Russia of the American attack on the ruble is unclear, as the suppression of the ruble’s value is artificial.
There is a difference between economic factors causing foreign investors to withdraw their capital from a country, thereby causing the currency to lose value, and manipulation of a currency’s value by heavy short-selling in the currency market. The latter can cause the former also to occur. But the outcome for Russia can be positive.
No country dependent on foreign capital is sovereign. A country dependent on foreign capital, especially from enemies seeking to subvert the economy, is subject to destabilizing currency and economic swings. Russia should self-finance. If Russia needs foreign capital, Russia should turn to its ally China. China has a stake in Russia’s strength as part of China’s protection from US aggression, whether economic or military.
The American attack on the ruble is also teaching sovereign governments that are not US vassals the extreme cost of allowing their currencies to trade in currency markets dominated by the US. China should think twice before it allows full convertibility of its currency. Of course, the Chinese have a lot of dollar assets with which to defend their currency from attack, and the sale of the assets and use of the dollar proceeds to support the yuan could knock down the dollar’s exchange value and US bond prices and cause US interest rates and inflation to rise. Still, considering the gangster nature of financial markets in which the US is the heavy player, a country that permits free trading of its currency sets itself up for trouble.
The greatest harm that is being done to the Russian economy is not due to sanctions and the US attack on the ruble. The greatest harm is being done by Russia’s neoliberal economists.
Neoliberal economics is not merely incorrect. It is an ideology that fosters US economic imperialism. By following neoliberal prescriptions, Russian economists are helping Washington’s attack on the Russian economy.
Apparently, Putin has been sold, along with his internal enemies, the Atlanticist integrationists, on “free trade globalism.” Globalism destroys the sovereignty of every country except the world reserve currency country that controls the system.
As Michael Hudson has shown, neoliberal economics is “junk economics.” But it is also a tool of American financial imperialism, and this makes neoliberal Russian economists tools of American imperialism.
The remaining sovereign countries, which excludes all of Europe, are slowly learning that Western economic institutions are deceptive and that placing trust in them is a threat to national sovereignty.
Washington intends to subvert Russia and to turn Russia into a vassal state like Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK and Ukraine. If Russia is to survive, Putin must protect Russia from Western economic institutions and Western trained economists.
It is too risky for the US to take on Russia militarily. Instead, Washington is using its unique symbiotic relationship with Western financial institutions to attack an incautious Russia that foolishly opened herself to Western financial predation.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2014/12/17/financial-market-manipulation-new-trend-can-continue/
A sweet grandmother telephoned St. Joseph ‘s Hospital.
She timidly asked, “Is it possible to speak to someone Who can tell me how a patient is doing?”
The operator said, “I’ll be glad to help, dear. What’s the name and room number of the patient?”
The grandmother in her weak, tremulous voice said, “Norma Findlay, Room 302.”
The operator replied, “Let me put you on hold while I check with the nurse’s station for that room.”
After a few minutes, the operator returned to the phone and said, “I have good news. Her nurse just told me that Norma is doing well. Her blood pressure is fine; her blood work just came back normal, and her physician, Dr. Cores has scheduled her to be discharged tomorrow.”
The grandmother said, “Thank you. That’s wonderful. I was so worried. God bless you for the good news.”
The operator replied, “You’re more than welcome. Is Norma your daughter?”
The grandmother said, “No, I’m Norma Findlay in Room 302. No one tells me shit.”
Love it!
Reblogged this on artbylisabelle and commented:
You are not alone with those thoughtful sentiments!
Smoking while drivingWhen Privacy Goes Up In Smoke
The British government intends to ban smoking in motor vehicles when a child is present. A healthy drive, no doubt. But it also raises some uncomfortable questions about the extent of government peering into your personal space.
The ban, scheduled to come into effect in October 2015, will provide for fines against drivers if they or their passengers smoke when a person under 18 is in the car.
As Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said: “Second-hand smoke is a real threat to children’s health and we want them to grow up free from the risks of smoking. The only effective way to protect children is to prevent them breathing second hand smoke, and our plans to stop smoking in cars carrying children will help us to do this.”
Again, the principle, at least in theory, is very right and noble. All children should be protected as much as possible from anything that will damage their health. Any adult that does smoke in a car with children present is an idiot (and I say this with the authority of a smoker of 50 years). No argument.
Enforcement
But some questions do crop up. How is the new law going to be enforced? Will some sort of anti-smoking patrols be deployed during the school run? Or will street cameras be ‘trained’ to peer into your car cabin to take pictures of a violation? Or will members of the community be asked to report transgressors?
In the final count, it all comes down to how private your private space – your private car, in this instance, really is. Caring for children’s health is great and the government is certainly right to intervene whenever parents or carers fail abysmally. But where do you draw the line? And also, we know that not only parents fail, government bodies do too, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Combatting smoking has been quite successful in many countries, UK included. But I cannot help feeling that the campaign has borne a tint of totalitarianism.
Everyone a Suspect
It wouldn’t take a wild flight of fantasy to suggest that the authorities may next want to monitor what parents feed their children: what if they give them more salt, fat or sugar than prescribed? Or see to it that young mothers breastfeed their children – now that it has (finally!) been scientifically proven that mother’s milk is best for the child.
Moving on – why not suggest monitoring what parents/carers read to their children or what kind of video games they buy them? Not anything under prescribed age? Or anything that, God forbid, might instil some radical views in them? Does this sound too far-fetched?
I remember I was more than slightly shocked when I brought the camera to my daughter’s school concert and was told “No pictures, please”. Why on earth not? “School policy,” was the answer. It took some time for me to realise that the policy was introduced to rule out any possibility of children’s pictures ending up in the wrong hands and being used for any unseemly purposes. A blanket ban for all — which means that everyone is under suspicion. A bit creepy, I thought.
Watching Over You
The flip side of the now overused cliché “trust no one and suspect everyone” is: if you don’t do anything wrong you have nothing to hide and therefore should not be bothered by whatever the ‘Big Brother’ does or says.
Back in the days of Stalinist censorship and pervasive surveillance in the Soviet Union all newly bought typewriters needed to be ‘registered’: prints of every typewriter would be kept on the files of a local KGB office and owners would then be easily identified in case they chose to type something they shouldn’t, such as any ‘subversive’ pamphlets or literature. That was not the worst aspect of oppression but was certainly organic to the totalitarian state.
Yet your IP address today is the same ‘print’ of your sophisticated typewriter – a PC, tablet or phone. Knowing that the state – yours or foreign – can (and probably does) keep a record of your every communication is not comforting. You know you are not doing anything wrong or illegal – but you feel like a suspect anyway.
You can of course take comfort in the fact that the state is targeting all kinds of evil-doers from extremists to inconsiderate smokers. And is taking good care or you. Watching over you. Watching you…
http://uk.sputniknews.com/uk/20141223/1013317524.html
Smokers still cop merciless bullying for one bad habit, writes David Leyonhjelm
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/smokers-still-cop-merciless-bullying-for-one-bad-habit-writes-david-leyonhjelm/story-fni0cwl5-1227164620300?nk=c0f2365d5dd3663c324ec35cefcd4a18
IT is becoming less and less socially acceptable to bully people nowadays. Picking on people because of their physical appearance, opinions or intelligence is frowned upon. But there are some people who remain fair game – smokers.
Which is why, anywhere you see a smoker, you will find a bully lurking not far away.
Like a lot of bullying, it starts with segregation.
Smokers were long ago forced into ever more isolated areas of our bars and restaurants. Then they were forced outside, and it has now reached the point where even standing in the cold and rain is not permissible if it’s near children, on a beach or whatever new place the bullies have nominated as being out of bounds. Even when they go home, some are not allowed to smoke in their own apartments if a bully neighbour disapproves.
Lighting up is also forbidden at train and bus stops, with more than 5000 bailed up and asked to hand over $300 to the NSW fun police over the last couple of years.
As I pointed out in the senate recently, perhaps smokers are used to this kind of theft, because they already pay an exorbitant amount of tax for their sins; something like 17 times the health and other costs that they impose on the public.
They have the second most expensive cigarettes in the world with the government collecting some $8 billion in taxes from them every year, a huge impost on many lower income people who want to enjoy a simple pleasure.
It is at this point that I should say what must be said: smoking is bad for you and I don’t recommend it. I don’t smoke myself. Similarly, passive smoking is not recommended, although there are valid questions about whether it’s as bad as the bullies paint it.
But we all face risks from just about everything around us, every day. And there is little or no risk from somebody smoking at a bus stop. In fact, if this were a risk worth worrying about, we would not be standing at bus stops at all because, as the World Health Organisation has noted, diesel fumes from trucks and buses are one of the worst sources of air pollution in cities.
The worst kinds of bullies are those empowered by the state
Since making my speech where I thanked smokers for their contribution to our taxation revenue, I have received some rather unhinged feedback from members of the public, much of it threatening, by people who feel they have a licence to go outside the normal bounds of civilised debate.
What this demonstrates is that the worst kinds of bullies are those empowered by the state, because the bullied then have no place to go for protection.
I am proud to give smokers a voice in parliament, to support their right to choose whether to smoke, to be the sole politician willing to meet with and receive donations from tobacco companies, and I will not be shutting up about it any time soon. Bullies or not.
David Leyonhjelm is the Liberal Democrats Senator for NSW
Nothing to celebrate here. If he believes in the scientific fraud, as he clearly does, then he will do nothing of consequence to oppose the anti-smokers. He’s just more of the same ilk that have sold us out all along.
The worst kinds of bullies are those empowered by the state
When Privacy Goes Up In Smoke
The British government intends to ban smoking in motor vehicles when a child is present. A healthy drive, no doubt. But it also raises some uncomfortable questions about the extent of government peering into your personal space.
The ban, scheduled to come into effect in October 2015, will provide for fines against drivers if they or their passengers smoke when a person under 18 is in the car.
As Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said: “Second-hand smoke is a real threat to children’s health and we want them to grow up free from the risks of smoking. The only effective way to protect children is to prevent them breathing second hand smoke, and our plans to stop smoking in cars carrying children will help us to do this.”
Again, the principle, at least in theory, is very right and noble. All children should be protected as much as possible from anything that will damage their health. Any adult that does smoke in a car with children present is an idiot (and I say this with the authority of a smoker of 50 years). No argument.
Enforcement
But some questions do crop up. How is the new law going to be enforced? Will some sort of anti-smoking patrols be deployed during the school run? Or will street cameras be ‘trained’ to peer into your car cabin to take pictures of a violation? Or will members of the community be asked to report transgressors?
In the final count, it all comes down to how private your private space – your private car, in this instance, really is. Caring for children’s health is great and the government is certainly right to intervene whenever parents or carers fail abysmally. But where do you draw the line? And also, we know that not only parents fail, government bodies do too, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Combatting smoking has been quite successful in many countries, UK included. But I cannot help feeling that the campaign has borne a tint of totalitarianism.
Everyone a Suspect
It wouldn’t take a wild flight of fantasy to suggest that the authorities may next want to monitor what parents feed their children: what if they give them more salt, fat or sugar than prescribed? Or see to it that young mothers breastfeed their children – now that it has (finally!) been scientifically proven that mother’s milk is best for the child.
Moving on – why not suggest monitoring what parents/carers read to their children or what kind of video games they buy them? Not anything under prescribed age? Or anything that, God forbid, might instil some radical views in them? Does this sound too far-fetched?
I remember I was more than slightly shocked when I brought the camera to my daughter’s school concert and was told “No pictures, please”. Why on earth not? “School policy,” was the answer. It took some time for me to realise that the policy was introduced to rule out any possibility of children’s pictures ending up in the wrong hands and being used for any unseemly purposes. A blanket ban for all — which means that everyone is under suspicion. A bit creepy, I thought.
Watching Over You
The flip side of the now overused cliché “trust no one and suspect everyone” is: if you don’t do anything wrong you have nothing to hide and therefore should not be bothered by whatever the ‘Big Brother’ does or says.
Back in the days of Stalinist censorship and pervasive surveillance in the Soviet Union all newly bought typewriters needed to be ‘registered’: prints of every typewriter would be kept on the files of a local KGB office and owners would then be easily identified in case they chose to type something they shouldn’t, such as any ‘subversive’ pamphlets or literature. That was not the worst aspect of oppression but was certainly organic to the totalitarian state.
Yet your IP address today is the same ‘print’ of your sophisticated typewriter – a PC, tablet or phone. Knowing that the state – yours or foreign – can (and probably does) keep a record of your every communication is not comforting. You know you are not doing anything wrong or illegal – but you feel like a suspect anyway.
You can of course take comfort in the fact that the state is targeting all kinds of evil-doers from extremists to inconsiderate smokers. And is taking good care or you. Watching over you. Watching you…
http://tinyurl.com/q2a3e96
I must say that I really enjoy how antismoking zealots are falling out with each other over e-cigs. It’s enough to go buy some popcorn and a few beers, and sit back watching the action with a big grin.
That ‘seat in the first row’ – I guess it’s getting nearer the time to reserve one of those seats. Not for all the tobacco in the world would I want to miss the spectacle!!!
That the anti-smoking zealot “party” is fractioned has been obvious for quite some time. I am glad to see that the e-cigarette adds to it!!
These are people who’ve all devoted their lives to attacking and demonising and excluding smokers (and now vapers), largely at public expense, and now they’re all attacking and demonising each other.
Since the anti-smoking zealots are well trained in attacking and demonising and excluding, the spectacle promises to be a good one! I was tempted to write that we all could learn from them, but that is not what I have in mind. I am quite happy if next year our government decides that pub/restaurant/music evnue etc.etc. owners should decide if they are willing to run their business smoker-friendly/non-smoker/both for the next 8 years. The result will be more effective separations of the areas (the Austrians have this sorted to perfection – and where the layout of the place does not allow for that, they simply choose: smokerfriendly – non-smoker.) and people will be happier again.
So H/T Dick Puddlecote for the latest spat, which is between one-time ASH boss (and thus antismoker) Clive Bates, and the four authors of an outraged letter to the Lancet, in response to the letter from a part-time waitress in Cornwall.
Right. Clive Bates had NO PROBLEM destroying e.g. old peoples’ social life. Being old now appears to be a pretty lonely affair; Clive Bates was perfectly fine with exiling old people to the outdoors, after all they COULD live 10 years longer – get used to being 10 years longer a lonely person!
The smokerhater “Party”:
The authors of the Lancet letter complain of being “insulted”, adding:
anyone with the temerity to suggest that e-cigarettes are anything other than the game changing solution to the problem of tobacco will be subject to grossly offensive attacks, with growing evidence that these are being orchestrated.
In my view it is about time we put these selfstyled “experts” back underneath the stone they crawled from.
So, it isn’t about ‘public’ health – it is about destroying the tobacco industry. There is no ‘OH, SO DANGEROUS’ passive smoke (which was the key to the dictation of the smoking ban all over the world!) when someone uses an e-cig.
And these selfstyled experts have no problem issuing THREATS. Right. will be subject to grossly offensive attacks, with growing evidence that these are being orchestrated.
What “growing evidence” is there for orchestrating “attacks”? More health fear threats???
And they’re all professors of fuckwittery at one university or other.
For how much longer? Kids are wising up to the non-job-prospective after they get themselves into £30 000 – £50 000 debt to pay the Universities for useless degrees. On top of that, they have to works as an “intern” (meaning for no pay) in order to give them a prospect of getting a job. After that they have kiss the floor the boss walks on for zero hour contracts.
The wised up learn a trade – and make money! And, since the wised up ones have no debt, earn a lot of cash after their apprentice time has finished, they get a foot on the housing ladder. A degree is not worth the paper it’s written on, a plumber’s qualification is.
I hunted around online to find the offending image, but as far as I could see pretty much all the pictures of these jokers already had nooses round their necks
They placed the nooses there themselves (I would not do such a thing; I would like them to work off their debt to society, starting off by using their personal fortune) – if they wish to jump from the wobbly chair they stand on – it’s their desicion. I will respect it.
Give someone enough rope…
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Good the damn thing finally posted…………..shit pulls hair out NOW HAVE A GOOD LAUGH
Hahahahahahahaha!!!!
Yep. What goes round comes round!
I can find the noose pic. I posted it. And your absolutely spot on with your description and hypothesis. Sending them to the glue factory would be too kind.
New York Court Upholds Ban On Outdoor Smoking In Parks
A ban on outdoor smoking in New York parks was upheld Wednesday by a midlevel court, reversing a judge and dismissing a challenge filed by a smokers’ rights group.
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A ban on outdoor smoking in New York parks was upheld Wednesday by a mid-level court, reversing a judge and dismissing a challenge filed by a smokers’ rights group.
The Appellate Division, ruling unanimously, said the ban was consistent with the mission of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, “to allow all patrons to enjoy the fresh air and natural beauty of its outdoor facilities.”
The five justices concluded the agency didn’t usurp the Legislature’s authority with regulations that banned smoking at state parks in New York City and at designated areas at other parks around the state. The panel acknowledged there’s no specific legislative directive to restrict park smoking outdoors.
They noted the Legislature has prohibited smoking at indoor public spaces and expressed “its determination that tobacco smoke, including secondhand smoke, is hazardous to one’s health.”
“Furthermore, the record does not indicate that the designation of no smoking areas continues to be the subject of great public debate,” Justice Karen Peters wrote. “In fact, 91 percent of the comments that respondents received on this rule were favorable and many commenters expressed their desire that smoking be banned outright in all state parks.”
The rules established no-smoking areas in February 2013 at various parks statewide, including popular beaches and all nine state parks within New York City. The city has a separate outdoor smoking ban for its parks and beaches, which had City Council backing and wasn’t challenged in this lawsuit.
Judge George Ceresia ruled last fall that state parks officials exceeded their authority, ordering they stop enforcing the outdoor ban and take down the signs. He noted that the Legislature had previously considered but failed to enact an outdoor ban.
A call to the parks office was not immediately returned.
Edward Paltzik, attorney for NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, said he’s disappointed Ceresia’s ruling was overturned and will encourage his client to appeal. He had called the previous ruling “a vindication of individual rights in the face of government overreach.”
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12/31/new-york-court-upholds-ban-on-outdoor-smoking-in-parks/#comments
So the court had actually no legal justification to allow the ban to go forward and decided on its own that because of the indoor ban outdoors is somehow the same as smoking indoors….absolutey Nutz! Insanity and then also using so called opinions expressed by likely anti-tobacco groups to also use as justification for illegally and it is illegally disallowing smoking outdoors as he court even states as much as the state refused to do it which is the legal authority to do such to start with.
I think we all know what this is called LEGISLATING FROM THE BENCH!
This decision is the classic example of using NO PROOF to let a smoking ban go into effect. Excuses and nothing else is what they did…………
What does a judge mean by debate on this has waned and popular opinion etc etc…………..that’s total BULL SHIT and they know it. It has no legal bearing what so ever in a court of law NONE!
Furthermore, the record does not indicate that the designation of no smoking areas continues to be the subject of great public debate,” Justice Karen Peters wrote. “In fact, 91 percent of the comments that respondents received on this rule were favorable and many commenters expressed their desire that smoking be banned outright in all state parks.”
In fact, 91 percent of the comments ……….WHAT you wanna bet that was str8 from tobacco free kids………..ehh! I hope this judge enjoys her BRIBE as that’s what it woulda took to write such trash with str8 face and call it legal law! There is no standing for it anywhere in law.
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