Clearing The Air

Monday, April 30, 2007

The Minneapolis Star Tribune gives final instructions to lawmakers.....the puppets seem eager to heed their master

The Minneapolis Star Tribune published this editorial instructing lawmakers on how to finally pass a statewide smoking ban.

A smoking ban - without loopholesLawmakers shouldn't falter in final phase.

Published on April 30, 2007, -->

You have to marvel at the tenacity, brio and sheer creativity with which pro-tobacco forces have fought the statewide indoor smoking ban that Minnesotans desperately want. Last Thursday, as the House debated clean-indoor-air legislation, pro-smoking lawmakers staged an eight-hour marathon that involved more than two dozen amendments and culminated in a rhetorical tour de force when Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, insisted that today's indoor ventilation systems are so powerful that....(available to purchase, StarTribune has removed above hyperlink)

The instructional manifesto then goes on to cite the local propagandist ministry of lies, which we know as MPAAT, (now ClearWay MN):

But a recent study by ClearWay Minnesota, a local nonprofit, found that county and city smoking bans passed in 2004 did not hurt sales or employment at eating and drinking establishments.

Yet, the truth is that MPAAT / ClearWay MN published data which shows that smoking bans eliminate business in 7 out of 10 hospitality establishments, as this table from ClearWay MN, which counted customers before and after smoking bans were enacted, shows:

And apparently their "study" conveniently overlooked these 110 local establishments which closed their doors due to business losses from city and county smoking bans. Furthermore, MPAAT seems to think that they can hide the fact that 3,000+ jobs were also eliminated in those same bar & restaurant closings.

The statewide smoking ban was clearly local partisan politics as usual......with a DFL pro big government, state control of every aspect of your life agenda. And of course, the local propagandist media (Star Tribune) cheer leading that state control agenda to the very end.

But even if this poorly thought out legislation does pass, watch for a lawsuit to challenge the unequal protection under the law.

Prohibitory law does apply to tribal reservations, even though DFL leadership carefully crafted this law specifically to exempt their campaign contributing "friends" at the casinos.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/03/if-minnesota-state-lawmakers-do-pass.html