From the Nanny State to the Bully State

  
Great article by Patrick Basham writing for the Institute of Public Affairs!

From the Nanny State to the Bully State

"As Bully Staters do not want us to smoke cigarettes, gamble, drink alcohol, or gain weight, they will ratchet up their campaign to shame and coerce those who rejoice in the individual's right to pursue pleasure. Under the Bully State, the real bully is Nanny the Policy Nurse, who dispenses regulatory ‘cures' for all manner of alleged social ills, from smoking to simply having fun."

"Thankfully, there will be dramatic growth in people's unwillingness to be bullied out of, and into, particular habits. This will create an opportunity for the first politician who stands in front of the Bully State's regulatory march yelling, ‘Stop!' By the end of the decade, it is entirely possible that most Westerners will be actively rebelling against their respective Department of the Domestic Bully."

  

Not just about tobacco...

If it wasn't so sad, it would be amusing to hear all the scoffers when you try and explain that smoking bans and tobacco taxes are not about concerns for the welfare of fellow citizens - IT IS ABOUT CONTROL. 
  
Shocking Audio: Rep. Dingell Says ObamaCare Will Eventually ‘Control the People’

It is so very annoying when you encounter so-called conservative republicans that support smoking bans and higher taxes on tobacco.  That is why I could never support Hucakabee.

Huckabee on a Smoking Ban

Listen to the way he gets all self-righteous about second-hand smoke. As far as I know, most work places don't allow smoking, with or without an imposed smoking ban - as for second-hand smoke - what a girly man. A passing whiff of someone's cigarette in public would have a hard time competing with the other pollutants in the air to harm you. Like global warming, the science of second hand smoke is as tainted with politics and grant money.  If he is scared about second-hand smoke, he wouldn't stop banning smoking in just work places.  He claims to not want to include bars, but those places have been included as work places.  Don't get me wrong, I am a polite individual and would never be rude enough to smoke a cigar or pipe in someone's presence that didn't want me to.  Most smokers would do the same.

I need coffee - end of rant.
    

    

The PACT ACT without teeth?

  
My first posting PACT ACT or SPY ACT? dealt with the PACT ACT and the spying powers under SECTION. 7. ENHANCED CONTRABAND TOBACCO ENFORCEMENT.  It seems that the bill about to be signed into law has this section omitted. This would place some of the financial burden of enforcement onto the states.  Also, a detailed reading reveals that even though there is only an exemption for cigars, there are no references that the act applies to pipe tobacco.  This whole 'game' is getting old.  Gee, how fortunate Washington didn't come after pipe or cigar smokers today.  Instead of being greatful, I am just plain PO'ed these spineless politicians are taking our freedom away piece by little piece.  Don't even get me started on the heath care drama - that would take another blog.
   

H.R. 4439 Pipe Tobacco Tax Increase – Dead?

   
The lastest on H.R. 4439 from The Eager Beaver’s Briar...

H.R. 4439 Pipe Tobacco Tax Increase – Dead?

    

City Anti-Smoking Witch-Hunt Now Being Conducted By Narc Hipster

 
Looks like The Village Voice zeroed in on the 'narcs' portion of the NYT article as well.

City Anti-Smoking Witch-Hunt Now Being Conducted By Narc Hipster
 

Bloomberg's Brown Shirts

   

City Tries to Shut Club It Says Flouts Smoking Ban

"So in recent months, the department has deputized a team of inspectors — many of them younger and hipper-looking than the stereotypical bureaucrat — to work into the wee hours, posing as patrons and hunting for tolerance of smoking by clubs’ employees."

The obvious rants are that Bloomberg is declaring open war on NYC's hospitality industry and the natural backlash when you try to dictate how someone runs their business which use to be private property. The thing that really caught my attention was the 'deputizing' of a team of "younger and hipper-looking" inspectors. As far as I am concerned, these guys are Bloomberg's brown shirts or the Bloomberg Youth. I can not believe I am looking at this unfold in an America city. This is what happens when politicians don't know their history. Prohibition ended up criminalizing normal law abiding citizens rather than bring the sort of utopia its supporters envisioned. It also created generations of criminal empires. Now here we go again. The business owners lose their business, the employees their jobs and the city loses tax revenue. It's not even worth a rant to describe how this Mayor is acting.

 

Food is the new tobacco.

      

Food is the new tobacco

Los Angeles Councilwoman proposes ban on fast food

In a recent series of comment wars about a smoking ban, I made the unoriginal point that this won't stop with tobacco - food is next. The response was the typical tirade concerning my mental stability and other rude comments not related to the subject at hand. With Mayor Bloomberg's war on transfat and salt and now these recent articles, I would love to hear how the fast food eating, salt loving, tobacco haters would comment. Ronald McDonald, your days are numbered. All you fast food franchise owners out there that didn't stand up for your local tobacconist the Nanny Staters came for them, please keep your shout of injustice quiet, you'll simply annoy those of us who tried to warn you.
   

Big Tobacco, Big Government vs. Native Americans

  
Government and Big Tobacco make Native Americans the Low Man on the Totem Pole

All of us jaded tobacco users know it is not about terrorism funding. When politicians talk about keeping tobacco out of children’s hands, it makes me want to vomit. Why? I think America's children and parents would be better served if our government would focus more time on keeping child molesters off the street. Tobacco taxation is simply a way to extract tax money from the lower middle class and poor. End stream-of -thought rant.
 

The PACT ACT has passed the Senate!

  
Major Hurdle Cleared in Regulating Tax-Free Internet and Mail-Order Tobacco

I called an online cigar and pipe tobacco retailer today and they stated that it shouldn't affect pipe tobacco. This targets primarily online cigarettes and smokeless tobacco with an exemption for cigars. No mention at all of pipe tobacco. Hopefully it stays that way.  Special Note:  Certain states already have a shipping ban on tobacco products - with the exception of cigars - into their state.  If the PACT ACT did apply to pipe tobacco, than it would mean a national shipping ban. 
  

Nick Hogan Set Free!

  
Landlord who defied smoking ban freed from jail after punters pay his fine

Jailed smoking ban martyr is freed by a mystery crusader's cash

    

New York Nanny State Marches On!

 
Chefs Call Proposed New York Salt Ban 'Absurd'

This comes as no surprise to those that understand how the health nazis think.  They won't stop with tobacco.  Hopefully they will overplay their hand and be forced to the fringes of society before all our rights are taken away in the name of 'good public health".
 

Senecas See Comeback Over Sale of Cigarettes

        

Senecas See Comeback Over Sale of Cigarettes

I say three cheers for the Seneca Indians and three jeers for the author of this NYT article for writing such a biased, one-sided column.  Hopefully this means that the PACT ACT will be defeated again.  This isn't just about cigarettes; it could affect all mail-order tobacco business in the U.S.  Most of these businesses are mom and pop operations.  So is this journalist for Big Tobacco who supports the PACT ACT, or for the Indians and mom and pop stores that only have a small share of the market?

If he is doing it for the children - which I doubt - than what about all the children who rely on the money that supports them from these businesses that are targeted by the PACT ACT?  Seems like the parents are ultimately responsible to make sure their kids don't order tobacco by mail not legislation that harms a person's business.

"Cocaine of superiority."

      
'I'm the President': Tiger Woods In The White House

“Contrary to the headlines, Tiger's real addiction was not to sex or women, it was to the cocaine of superiority, which in turn induces a sense of entitlement.”

I love that term - "cocaine of superiority". It seems any elected official that seeks to enact laws for our own good suffer from this narcotic. They look down on the very people that make this country function.

I'll use my parents as an example for the sort of people that these entitled public servants would most likely look down on.

Both of my parents are immigrants. Both work in workshops.  No college education. Not even a GED. With such a resume, what did they manage to do?

Raise two children who went onto college and now have families of their own.

Pay off their home, have no debts, put one of their children through college and manage to have enough saved for retirement.

They were able to put enough money aside to send their children to their mother country to spend summers to be able to build relationships with family there.

When I look at my parents I see two very intelligent, self sacrificing individuals that are an inspiration to me.

When I look at the current crop of the entitled class of politicians at the state and local level I see individuals -with some exceptions - that have lead our country into a deep debt hole and make decisions everyday that hurt families and business. They feel that they are smarter than people like my parents and can best tell them how to live their lives. I beg to differ.
  

Pipe Tobacco Tax Update.

 

Rangel steps down as tax panel chairman

Charles Rangel is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is the committee that H.R. 4439: To amend the IRS code of 1986 to impose the same rate of tax on pipe tobacco as is imposed on roll-your-own tobacco has been referred to.  The bill was introduced on January 13, 2010 and currently has one co-sponsor.  With this sort of drama playing out on the committee, one can only hope that the bill will continue to sit in committee where it will die - at least for this legislative year.  Dare we dream?

The latest count on the Stop the Pipe Tobacco Tax Petition.

Cheers!

List of smoking bans in the United States

    
As of December 18, 2009.

Check Wikipedia for updates.

      

Nick Hogan six months in jail.

Thank yous go to The Smoker's Club for staying on top of these stories...

"Nick Hogan was the first person to be prosecuted under the new smoking laws.

He will spend six months in prison after refusing to pay a fine.

REMINDER: Tobacco is a legal product, and he was on his own property!"

It doesn't take too much imagination to see this sort of thing happening here in the U.S.  It is just a matter of time.

How is it a good thing when you criminalize individuals for standing up for their property rights?

 

The Comments Wars - Not for the faint of heart

    
I mentioned in my previous post about getting out there and posting comments to articles related to smoking bans. I would also add to that any article related to tobacco tax increases.

Be warned, no matter how civil you are you will receive the nastiest comments and most on a personal level. I suspect that Nanny State girly men do not want to be confronted with opposition. Of course, I refrain from name calling when I do post comments to articles. The point is to put information out there to get people thinking and not to alienate others. It doesn't mean we can't have fun - a sense of humor can go a long way in making a point as well. Again, be warned, what will be funny to normal folks will illicit anger on the humorless individuals that fight for high tobacco taxes and draconian smoking bans that don't even allow for cigar bar and tobacconist exemptions.

This leads me to the observation that the people that we as a collective group of easygoing tobacco users are dealing with have an extremely over inflated, out-of-control sense of entitlement.

There I was, conducting a back and forth of comments with an individual that did not understand my point of leaving smoking bans up to business owners. Fine, let’s look for a compromise. How about cigar bar exemptions? One individual agreed; however, a more caustic individual simply ignored my point and proceeded to rant that they have a right not to be next to someone lighting up a tobacco product. Either he missed that I was referring to a cigar bar or he truly has such a level of entitlement that he feels he has a right to walk into a cigar bar and not have anyone smoke near him.

I refrained from calling him a girly man so as not to insult women who have more fiber than this guy. This leads to a ‘shout out’ to the Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team. Way to show the world real winners can still celebrate with a good cigar!

Maybe the silver lining around these difficult economic times will be less tolerance for these entitled cultural nannies. You can’t have a Nanny State without “cultural nannies” populating it. A cultural nanny feels that their brain pan is so superior to the mere mortals they are forced to exist with that they know what is best for all. That whatever enters their brain and they deem “truth” ends debate forever.

OK, that was a self-indulgent rant, but since I and my one follower are the only ones reading, than no individuals with sensitive dispositions will be harmed by my words.

IPCPR Questions Missouri Smoking Ban Proposal

 
Premium Cigar Association Questions Missouri Smoking Ban Proposal

Chris McCalla, the legislative director of the IPCPR, has been doing a great job getting out there and challenging smoking bans at the state level.

Chris has been repeating this message across the country and all of us who enjoy cigars, pipes and yes, cigarettes -can't be a hypocrite now, can I - should be posting these quotes on every comment page related to smoking bans.

"Jobs are lost and businesses suffer as a result of legislated smoking bans, and a statewide ban would further add to Missouri’s labor miseries."

""The Fed has found that, based on impartial data generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, significant employment declines result from forced smoking bans, especially in bars and restaurants."

"The marketplace is deciding what businesses should allow smoking or not, and that’s the way it should be. Government shouldn't be taking away the rights of business owners to run their enterprises as the market dictates, not big government. There are plenty of restaurants and other businesses that already have declared themselves smoke-free, so there's no need to take away the rights of other business owners by forcing them to ban smoking on their premises."

"For those questioning overstated claims regarding the health aspects of incidental secondhand smoke, I would refer them to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA has set acceptable levels for secondhand smoke up to 25,000 safer than normally found in restaurants and bars."

"We do not represent 'big tobacco.' Our members have every right to sell their legal products to adults and their customers should have every right to enjoy those products on premise and off where permitted by business owners, not by legislated decrees. The legislature should be spending their time creating jobs, not sacrificing them to special interest groups."