Clearing The Air

Saturday, October 01, 2005

It's curious to me how the Star & Sickle........

.....will cover one side of the issue.....and not the other. Even when an unsubstantiated rumor is leveled.

On my way to 1280 AM The Patriot radio station to be a guest with Curt Johnson on David Strom's show, I picked up a copy of the Star & Sickle, delighted to see David Strom & the Taxpayers League featured in a front page Metro section story regarding the smoking ban.

Kerri Gordon, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (MPAAT), said the league's positions represent "a step backward for public health."

"We're not sure if they receive funding from tobacco companies and not sure what their motivation is," Gordon said. "But science tells us what works to reduce smoking and tobacco use, and the positions taken by the Taxpayers League are in conflict with what the science tells us."

I can't speak for the Taxpayers League, but speaking of inappropriately accepting money, which compromises an organization's position on an issue, I wonder if Mr. Gordon is troubled by the $200,000,000.00+ given to the American Lung, American Cancer, American Non-Smoker's Rights, AMA, U of M, U of Pittsburgh, etc. by the Nicoderm interests like RWJF & Johnson & Johnson Company; to fund and coordinate smoking ban legislation?

The frustrating thing is that I have provided the "RWJF funding for smoking ban legislation" to all the media outlets, including the Star & Sickle for months, KSTP even edited it out of an interview I provided them. This is just another indication of the media bias against the politically incorrect side of the issue.

And as far as "what the science tells us", the only uncompromising (not RWJF funded) air quality test conducted, was by the city of St. Louis Park, MN. The results show secondhand smoke concentrations are 150 times lower (safer than) OSHA requires.