Clearing The Air

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Ok, Learned Foot called for the lightning........

.....now I'm bringing down the thunder.

I didn't hear it myself, but was told that this mornings NPR featured an exchange between attorney Ryan Pacyga and liberal St. Paul council member Dave Thune. When Ryan mentioned that smoking bans based on the justification that secondhand smoke is a health hazard are false because new St. Louis Park air quality studies show secondhand smoke concentrations are 150 times safer than OSHA regulations. Beavis's comeback?...uh...like...OSHA is outdated. This brought laughter from Pacyga and anyone with an ounce of common sense, which given the typical NPR audience, didn't include many.

Earth to Thune have you been inhaling too much french fry grease? OSHA doesn't need to update permissible exposure limit (pel)s for a given substance every year, because (pel)s are based on the human body's safe tolerance for a given substance during an 8 hr/ day, 40 hrs/wk. repeated exposure. The human body's tolerance for nicotine hasn't changed since the (pel) was last updated, nor is it likely to change for the next 10,000 years; (pel)s are based on science and physiology. .........What has changed of course is the tolerance of the liberal mindset.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

The gauntlet......

.....has been thrown, and I am nothing if not a tool of peer pressure. I normally love to rip these activists a new one, however since I have actively become involved in testifying before Senate, House, County commission, and City councils I feel the need to take the high road, lest my future testimony be totally disregarded as hostile and deranged.

Here Ann Berne-Rannow, from Eden Prairie in a letter in the strib writes.......gather a group of fellow nonsmokers, head to a bar or restaurant, and celebrate your right to breathe smoke-free air! Don't forget to keep going, too. ....

The problem of course is that the nanny activists don't frequent the bars, and urging their non-smoking friends ..Don't forget to keep going, too...only emphasizes the point all the more.

Here activists, let me clue you in as to why bars & restaraunts lose money with smoking bans...it's the business 7 days a week from 9pm to 2am which suffers; the prime sales at that time is the liquor receipts. You and your nanny friends could go out to eat 5 times a day and you won't contribute the same profit margin to the business as a smoking crowd contributes in liquor consumption between 9pm-2am. Food sales may net a 10% margin after costs, but alcohol is 50%+ and there-in explains why the nanny's will not be able to make up the business loss incurred during a smoking ban.

The fact that the strib is running only letters to the editor which are pro smoking ban shows how much the facts we presented in the MN. House & Senate have wounded them. It obviously comes as no surprise which side of the issue our "nanny state" newspaper of record, falls on. You will never see the facts below printed in the Star & Sickle.

The OSHA parameters for acceptable limits of nicotine exposure is .0005 grams per cubic meter (g/cu .M.) The City of St. Louis Park conducted an air quality study in 19 bars and restaurants in its jurisdiction and the median level of exposure was .0000033g/cu. M. This is roughly 150 times below the federally mandated level for safety. (Full details of this study can be found at my web site: http://fightcityhall.net/_wsn/page2.html.)

I would love to be a fly on the wall in the St. Louis Park city offices, which must be flooded with angry nannies complaining that the reason their hair smells like smoke when they leave the BW3 in Dakota county is because the SLP air quality study stopped the statewide smoking ban efforts.

peaking of efforts or more specifically lobbying, I just received info. from a local reporter that in 2004 while lobbying just our county and few city councils the Cancer Society spent $600,000 in buying...er I mean lobbying ....those smoking bans. I will continue to compile the millions spent lobbying our lawmakers for a smoking ban. It's going to be hard for those raising the money to justify further spending though, with information like this....actual tested secondhand smoke is roughly 150 times below the federally mandated level for safety.

So keeping writing your letters you anti-smoking activists.......you now have to try to overcome the St. Louis Park test results, so start spinning.

As I mentioned though in an earlier post if the activists want to donate those lobbying funds directly to me, I may...............?

AWOL

What a hypocrite, I've been yelling at the Attic contributors for not writing anything, and then I haven't posted anything myself in nearly a week.

Since that time I have been quoted in a Pioneer Press article regarding the smoking ban, and fuming about the fact that the author didn't use any of the facts I provided him. Talk about being taken out of context....the facts I presented to the author weren't taken at all. Here's my contribution in the article:

"Nobody argues that smoking isn't bad," said Mark E. Wernimont, a distributor for Smokeeter Air Cleaning Systems, the equipment used to gobble up smoke in such local restaurants as Applebee's and TGI Friday's. "But the question is, does secondhand smoke constitute a public health risk?" Wernimont asked rhetorically.

Yet here are the facts I gave the reporter:

The OSHA parameters for acceptable limits of nicotine exposure is .0005 grams per cubic meter (g/cu .M.) The City of St. Louis Park conducted an air quality study in 19 bars and restaurants in its jurisdiction and the median level of exposure was .0000033g/cu. M. This is roughly 150 times below the federally mandated level for safety. (Full details of this study can be found at my web site: http://fightcityhall.net/_wsn/page2.html.)

Clearly, given the facts which weren't included in the article, my "rhetorical" question is answered with a resounding NO, secondhand smoke does not constitute a public health risk; answered and proven by the City of St. Louis Park Environmental Health Dept. and OSHA guidelines.

The pio press has promised to publish a letter to the editor in response. Hat tip to my new editor St. Paul (1st brew on me Thurs.) I won't publish the letter here now, but will after published in the Pio Press, then you will all marvel at the wisdom that is St. Paul. (keep in mind 200 words max.)

Thursday, March 24, 2005

PETA wants...

to replace the traditional bull-chase in Pamplona with its "running of the nudes." I say the mayor of Pamplona should agree with PETA and allow "the running of the nudes". ......And then let loose the bulls right behind them..... That's a sport that even I might tune in to watch.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Let this be a subtle reminder......

........of what we think of you tree hugging, granola munching, Birkenstock clad, environmental activist freak urbanites. You think they would have blown up a full size SUV on "raised concerns" that it could be a bomb.?

Conservative taints the porn industry......

..........as if that were possible. How do you suppose being Republican improperly affected Michele Zipp's work? Perhaps as the Republican outed editor of playgirl she only allowed schlongs which hang to the right for making print decisions. Maybe Jo can look thru her vast collection and confirm or deny for us.

Friday, March 18, 2005

BMJ published secondhand smoke air quality test results

Tobacco Control 2005;14:60-63© 2005 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd

RESEARCH PAPER

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in public places of European cities

M Nebot1, M J López1, G Gorini2, M Neuberger3, S Axelsson4, M Pilali5, C Fonseca6, K Abdennbi7, A Hackshaw8, H Moshammer3, A M Laurent9, J Salles10, M Georgouli5, M C Fondelli2, E Serrahima10, F Centrich10 and S K Hammond11

1 Public Health Agency, Barcelona, Spain
2 Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology Unit Center for Onchologic Study and Prevention, Tuscany Region Research Institute, Italy
3 Institut of Environmental Health, University of Vienna, Austria
4 Orebro University Hospital, Sweden
5 Hellenic Cancer Society, Athens, Greece
6 Portuguese League Against Cancer, Portugal
7 Office Française le prevention du tabagisme, Paris, France
8 St Batholomew Hospital, The London School of Medicine, London, UK
9 Laboratoire d’Hygiène de la Ville de Paris, France
10 Laboratory of the Public Health Agency, Barcelona, Spain
11 School of Public Health, University of California, USA

Correspondence to: Maria José López Public Health Agency, Barcelona, Spain; mjlopez@aspb.es

Background: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has important public health implications. The results of the first European multi-centre study that measured ETS exposure in a range of public places (transport, educational settings, and leisure facilities such as bars and restaurants) are presented.

Method: Nicotine vapour phase was measured using ETS passive samplers containing a filter treated with sodium bisulfate.

Results: Bars and discos are the places with the highest concentrations of nicotine from ETS, median ranging from 19 to 122 µg/m3. Restaurants had the next highest values. Concentrations of nicotine generally range from 0.1–5 µg/m3 in airports, and from 0.5–10 µg/m3 in train stations. Nicotine was also found in schools and universities, yet schools tended to have the lowest concentrations compared to all the other public places sampled. In hospitals levels were generally below 5 µg/m3.

Conclusions: Although there is some variability between cities, this study shows that tobacco smoke is present in most of the studied public places. The study also showed that in areas where smoking is prohibited, concentrations of nicotine are lower than in areas where smoking is allowed but they are not zero. The results of this study indicate that policies should be implemented that would effectively reduce levels of tobacco smoke in public areas.

This article has been cited by other articles: (Search Google Scholar for Other Citing Articles)

M. S. Jaakkola and J. J. K. JaakkolaImpact of smoke-free workplace legislation on exposures and health: possibilities for prevention.Eur. Respir. J., August 1, 2006; 28(2): 397 - 408. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

D. Rosenfield, D. G. Manuel, and D. A. AlterThe Smoking Regulatory Index: a new way to measure public health performance.Can. Med. Assoc. J., May 9, 2006; 174(10): 1403 - 1404. [Full Text] [PDF]

M Mulcahy, D S Evans, S K Hammond, J L Repace, and M ByrneSecondhand smoke exposure and risk following the Irish smoking ban: an assessment of salivary cotinine concentrations in hotel workers and air nicotine levels in barsTob. Control, December 1, 2005; 14(6): 384 - 388. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

eLetters:
Read all eLetters
Why does press ignore these results?
Manfred A Neuberger
Tobacco Control Online, 18 Mar 2005 [Full text]

Thursday, March 17, 2005

A St. Patty's Day shout out.......

........to my homies at Hennepin & Ramsey counties, as well as Mpls. & Blmgtn. city councils in the form of an email.

(this article was sent to Henn & Ramsey commissioners, Mpls. & Blmgtn. council members 3/17/05 a.m., thought I would forward to all of you as well)

From the Tacoma News Tribune, February 11, 2005, "High Court Extinguishes County Smoking Ban," by Adam Lynn

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Board instituted its smoking ban last year. Members argued that they had the authority to regulate smoking because many scientists believe secondhand smoke is a health threat........

Now for the cast of characters who helped finance the ban.......

Pharmaceutical nicotine wants a smoking ban to coerce a consumer choice of their "Smoke Free nicotine delivery device gum, patch, lozenge and inhaler products. Tribes support a statewide smoking ban to receive the benefits of a virtual monopoly to accommodate patrons who smoke in their smoking-ban-exempt facilities. ............. $1.1 million in private, special-interest pharmaceutical grants, directed in large part to supporting Pierce County's ill-fated attempt to impose its own brand of "Smoke Free" nicotine mandates.................Grants To this Grantee" icon for the $200,000 grant to Tobacco Control journal readers will determine that total grants to Health Research, Inc. total more than $8.8 million. Why should Janis Johnson and her hospitality trade colleagues be required to fund a perennial budget to combat GlaxoSmithKline's and Pfizer/Pharmacia's desire to expand their "Smoke Free" nicotine market share? ...........Add up just the resources listed above that were put forth by pharmaceutical special-interests to float a smoking ban in Pierce County and throughout our state. It is not an exaggeration at all to say that many tens-of-millions were committed to that smoking ban effort and others. ......................The victory for Janis Johnson and her fellow Pierce County hospitality business owners is particularly sweet considering the vast resources and organized commitment made to that smoking ban effort by out-of state special-interests.

Full story here: http://www.forces.org/writers/kjono/files/tacoma.htm

This is very interesting material, however here in MN. we have the added benefit of having a local Environmental Health Department which conducted secondhand smoke air quality sampling, and the results don't bode well for the proponents of a smoking ban.

found here: http://fightcityhall.net/_wsn/page2.html

Good St. Patty's day to you all....commissioners and city council members. May the luck of the bolarney be with ye.

No apologies about posting news on the smoking ban, that's my life so read it or don't, I don't care. Hopefully the county commissioners & city council members did read the email though......hey homies I'll be at my favorite pub lightin' up a big fat stogie in your honor tonite! And on April 1st....2nd.......30th .................as well. I'll save one for my friends at MPAAT, and the American Lung assoc. also.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

The political correctness tide is turning?......

I thought you had to be a minority Hollywood celeb to get away with murder, the times they are a changin'.

That's right Ice...... I am dangerous.....

Taken the test yet? Here are my results, how lame. I thought I was a nice enough fella , but apparently not.

The UsurperYou scored 52% Cardinal, 20% Monk, 41% Lady, and 67% Knight!
The UsurperYou scored 52% Cardinal, 20% Monk, 41% Lady, and 67% Knight!

You have both the lust for war of the Knight and the wicked morals of the Cardinal. You are truly a dangerous one who likes power and will stop at nothing to get it. If the king dares stand in the way of your ambitions you will have no qualms about removing him from the throne and placing yourself there instead.

You scored high as both the Knight and the Cardinal. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Cardinal or the Knight, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

................ don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
I think the modern interpretation is that I should get a job in sales, or stage a coup d'etat.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Prager and ramblings.....

We're glad drjonz had a good time at Prager forum, yes I did boo Dennis and I'd do it again; you mess with the bull you're gonna get the horns.

Seriously though, Prager is probably my favorite on the 1280 line-up, mainly because he has a thoughtful, intelligent, disarming approach to his callers. Whereas some talk show hosts like the abrasive slam-the-caller-as-an-idiot style (which they usually are), but I like Prager's style because I see him as most likely able to convince those left of center , how to look at politics with more of a common sense approach that may in the long run bring people to our way of thinking. If blue states are going to become red states we need somebody to educate the new recruits, not slam them as idiots, anybody can do that. So all hail Prager..........."booooooo".

I haven't thought too much about posting lately, as I've become busy helping the property rights activists stand up against the mpls., bloomington, hennepin co. smoking bans; folks this fight isn't over not with new information like this.

St. Louis Park Environmental Health Dept. tests prove secondhand smoke measurements in all its 19 bars & restaurants is 150 times safer than OSHA permissiblie exposure limits.Those results render any government argument that secondhand smoke is a public health issue, null & void once and for all. (to reverse bans we are having to raise money for legal fees, but many have been receptive).

Sorry I know the smoking ban subject turns most of you off, so the other reason for lack of posting is the recent passing of Greta, I know she was just a dog; but she was part of my life for 9 years, and Jordan's baby for 13 years. Greta had a great long life and we will miss her, but please everyone don't encourage Jo to get another animal, with three other dogs it's hard enough to get the little woman to clean up the doggy doo in the yard as it is.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Finally!

...the proper way to get dairy back into my diet...

Gin and tonic instead of chocolate and vanilla.

..I suspect Atomizer already has this recipe

Here's how it starts........

first you tax it.....Florida's Legislature is flush with good ideas.

Sen. Al Lawson's involves a 2 cent-per-roll tax on toilet paper ..........then you ban it.

What will we do then?...........feel clean for the first time! (praise be allah)

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Is anybody out there?........

.........just checking, sorry about the flash back (bad midi audio file, no lawsuits here thank you), we were out last night with prominent officials .....in an undisclosed location...listening to Pink Floyd last night......

But it did get me to thinking though, does anybody read my tripe?.......if so, could somebody get a message to ..........oh, let me think............Congressman Mark Kennedy, and Senator Norm Coleman perhaps, it seems they both are purportedly in favor of the U.S. being less dependent on foreign oil...... yet, they don't want to be independent of foreign oil.

This would seem to be a great start in proving to their constituents that they mean what they say.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

The environmentalists hate this....

Mount St. Helens spews ashsay it with me.........automobiles and industry are the greatest source of pollution on the planet. ..........mother nature good..........humans evil........

Minneapolis soft on crime?

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybek has struck me as more in touch with his feminine side than most men, not that there is anything wrong with that. I noted that, even as he was campaigning; but was happy to ignore his presence since Jo & I had not been Mpls. residents for years. He entered my peripheral briefly again when his sensitive nature blurred his judgment to favor the "political correctness" of a smoking ban, but we now have proof that second hand smoke is not a public health hazard; and I was fine to continue to ignore his whimsical ways.

What has always gnawed at me though, was the Chief Olson issue. I suspected at the time that Chief Olson's no-nonsense, blunt, get-the-job done, in-your-face style, probably offended the delicate sensibilities of our fair Mayor; but getting rid of Chief Olson seemed to me like inviting higher crime rates. Tough, hard-nosed police forces seem to get better control, if not the respect, of criminals. And lately the metro news seems to show that the hens have indeed come home to roost........higher serious crime rates.

If there is a message in my rambling it is simply this; sensitive, thoughtful, men or women should maybe seek employment in the arts........decorating perhaps. But when the job is deciding public safety, life & death issues; lets make sure we elect politicians with backbone. Someone who realizes that getting in the way of progress is just that....getting in the way. I am reminded of a line in the latest film version Tombstone when Powers Booth character says ".....the next time we come to town you best step aside..........and I ain't kiddin neither....." That's a line I could hear Chief Olson deliver, but not Rybek. So Mayor when your term is done.........you best step aside.

Note...I attended high school with a prominent member of the Mpls. Police Dept. whom I haven't talked to in years, perhaps I'll have the opportunity to have lunch with said person and get the real behind the scenes scoop. ....You heard it here first--off the record, on the Q.T., and strictly hush-hush.

New border patrol

I opened my email to find this interesting story.

This is one bad ass. These pics came from a guy in AZ. Yes, the mule killed the mountain lion. The lion had been stalking them for the better part of the morning, on the way out to a hunt. They were pretty sure it was after one of the dogs. The cat ambushed them, and the mule pictured tossed its rider and went into attack (defense) mode, the horses scattered and shots were fired but no one was sure if they hit the cat or not. Unfortunately, it wasn't until it was almost over that one of the guys started snapping pics. The mule finally stomped the cougar to death after biting and throwing it around like a rag doll. The dogs wouldn't even come close until the mule settled down.

"I'd like to think our dog Wyatt would have come to our defense in the same situation, I just can't imagine keeping a mule in the backyard for protection.......you haven't heard? .....Rumors have been circulating that a cougar has been on the prowl here in the far western suburbs of Minneapolis. Leave it to MSM to print rumor before fact.

Sleep well, and don't forget to cover your ass...........er, mule.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Eu de freedom

Here is that slippery slope.

I dislike the smell of unbathed people as much as the next, but where does it stop? Is this a prime example of a leviathan with nothing better to do? It is no wonder conservatives see decreasing the size of governemnt as their primary goal.

Smelly Readers Banned From Calif. Library.........Yet the law can raise tough questions for librarians, said Irene Macias, Santa Barbara's library services manager."What is bad odor?" Macias asked. "A woman who wears a strong perfume? A person who had a garlicky meal?"It seems there is more than mud sliding these days in California.......like personal fredoms.

What would you expect from the state which prides itself on being the first to jump on the "ban" band wagon?

Friday, March 04, 2005

"A friend of mine...or a friend of ours" (donnie brasco)

In the old neighborhood somebody might have gotten clipped after an incident like this: forces fired on a car carrying a freed Italian hostage

Thursday, March 03, 2005

An olive branch?....

Far be it from me to harp on one issue..... but I thought I would offer some constructive advice to the anti-smoke activists whom I debated with, during yesterdays MN., House committee's defeat of the smoking ban bill.

One of the funny things you hear during all these various testimonies is from doctors who have the audacity to testify to committee members and business owners, is that there will be no financial impact on their businesses...."you will force your patrons to refrain from smoking and you won't lose any money or customers"....so says the six figure salaried doctor. Who can doubt such logic, a doctor said it, it must be true! And the more gullible local governments such as Mpls., Bloomington, St. Paul city councils, and Henn. & Ramsey counties, as well as the MN. Senate buy into this bs., but perhaps some future campaign contributions from MPAAT, Am. Lung Assoc., Blue Cross Blue Shield, et. al. also help that bs. smell a little sweeter

........anyway I digress, my constructive advice to the anti-smoking activists is this..... instead of buying or attempting to buy our politicians, er...I mean lobby; why not put together a program that targets private businesses directly. It could work something like this, the above businesses; masquerading as noble organizations simply concerned about the public's health & welfare (more on this later); MPAAT, Am. Lung Assoc., Am. Cancer Society, Blue Cross Blue Shield et al would approach private bar & restaurants and ask them to voluntarily go non-smoking; if there is a loss of revenue in going non-smoking these organizations will reimburse the difference. If as all their expert Dr./bar & restaurant economists are correct it will cost them nothing. It will end the debate once and for all, and they can buy a smoking ban in the manner we in America are accustomed to, free enterprise capitalism.

Because the guise of government needing to get involved in second hand smoke as a public health issue is a farce that has now been exposed. The activist organizations have dipped into that well one time too many times, and I fear the public and politicians are ready to look at the facts, and reject any further smoking ban legislation........thank you St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department for letting the genie out of the bottle.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Yes Virginia, there is justice in the world....

The big bloggers who are looking for a scoop, may want to take note of the MN. House Commerce Committee's rejection of the smoking ban bill..........and that's all I got to say 'bout that.

Meslow testimony kills smoking ban bill

Minnesota representative, and smoking ban author, Meslow's testimony that the tobacco shop employee's health wasn't concern enough (video link) for a smoking ban, while the bar & restaurant employee should be protected; may have proved too hypocritical to sustain the argument in favor of the ban. Pay attention to video between 6:15 - 8:45.