Clearing The Air

Monday, March 31, 2008

MN officials and local media finally concede.....smoking bans have caused loss of up to $100 million in charitable gambling proceeds annually

That story can be found here:
http://hometownsource.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4464&Itemid=29

Historical data suggests the (Minnesota) smoking-ban related decline in receipts could top $100 million a year.

This is the largest drop in receipts since lawful charitable gaming was first regulated by the state in 1985.

Meanwhile, local and state lawmakers have done their very best to officially ignore the 175+ bars and restaurants closed and tens of thousands of jobs eliminated by these same bans:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cell phones are more dangerous than smoking........

...according to this article:

Professor Khurana -- a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific papers -- reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones.

Clearing the Air informed readers about this hazard in Novemeber 2006, as researchers found that cell phone studies showed a relative risk of 3.0 while secondhand smoke presented a no risk ratio of 1.19.

The secondhand smoke "hazard" scam is beginning to unravel, and mainstream media may yet report that truth......though I have my reservations.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The definitive case against smoking bans

Secondhand smoke claims have been greatly exaggerated, as proof consider these air quality test results by Johns Hopkins University, the American Cancer Society, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, and various researchers whose testing and report was peer reviewed and published in the esteemed British Medical Journal......proving that secondhand smoke is 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/03/british-medical-journal-who-conclude.html

All nullify the argument that secondhnad smoke is a workplace health hazard.

Meanwhile the damaging effects of smoking bans significantly reduce the number of hospitality establishments in the form of business closings while eliminating jobs at an alarming rate:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/01/global-unemployment-rate-expected-to.html

So if the “hazard” from secondhand smoke is greatly exaggerated, and the effects of the bans are even more hazardous, then what was the driving motive to begin with? For that answer we have to look at who or rather what corporate interests are funding the smoking ban activists and non-profit organizations to spearhead the efforts……None other than the Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Company’s private political foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a very dubious and profit motivated source of $446+ million to push the smoking ban agenda. But a payoff is well assured, current over the counter smoking cessation product sales (such as Nicoderm) in the U.S. is $500+ million annually, and industry executives anticipate that figure will be $4.6 billion annually in just a few short years…….as long as their rent seeking efforts yield a smoking ban all across the globe.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/02/smoking-bans-good-public-policy-or.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/03/johnson-johnson-maker-of-nicoderm-spent.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-drug-industry-uses-non-profits-to.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/01/pharmaceutical-interests-who-funded.html

It’s ironic that the same Democrat lawmakers who decry corporate greed, are only too happy be the in the pocket of the largest drug manufacturer behind the scenes, to lead and sponsor the smoking ban legislation agenda. Smoking ban laws are all about corporate greed, rent seeking legislation with enough collusion to understand that racketeering, or RICO charges could and should apply to all facets and players of the smoking ban movement.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/03/rwjf-ctfk-nicoderm-funded-pr-consultant.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/01/rico-act-should-be-used-against.html

So the next time your local politicians start talking about enacting public policy for the "good of the people", ask yourself do they really mean the "good of the corporation?" or the politician who just stuffed his or her pockets?

Thursday, March 20, 2008

RWJF / CTFK (Nicoderm) funded PR consultant admits to putting Democrats in office in order to push their (Nicoderm sales) smoking ban agenda

From this GMMB website link comes the following statement:

http://www.gmmb.com/what/political.htm

"...GMMB has helped guide Democrats to victory in campaigns for governor, the U.S. Senate and the presidency—winning tough races in the biggest states long after the pundits had written them off. We’ve helped pass dozens of ballot initiatives (smoking bans and increased tobacco taxes)........And we’ve helped elect national leaders in Latin America and Africa and trained citizen activists in Eastern Europe....."

And this GMMB website link makes the following statements:

http://www.gmmb.com/portfolio/case/tfk.htm

"....urge the public to pressure their state and local legislatures to pass clean indoor-air ordinances.....The Campaign has been successful in passing smoke-free ordinances in several states and communities including Montana; Delaware; Connecticut; Maine; Idaho; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Minot, ND; Albuquerque, NM; and Dallas, TX...."

The problem of course is that GMMB, CTFK, and Johnson & Johnson Company's RWJF rent seeking efforts are closing thousands of businesses and eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, as evidenced here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/01/global-unemployment-rate-expected-to.html

"...The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids recognized the need to effectively counter the tobacco industry's claims ....... GMMB was selected to serve as its advertising agency and strategic partner in a stepped-up, proactive effort to turn up the heat on Big Tobacco...."

"......In addition to our work at the federal level, GMMB also works closely with the Campaign to develop advertising and media placements for anti-tobacco initiatives (smoking bans) at the state and local levels......"

As a reminder to readers the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids was started by a $70 million grant from Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Company's political foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Johnson & Johnson's RWJF is playing politics for profits. Engaged in propping up special interest funded politicians strictly for their own profit motives......and their PR firm GMMB openly admits that it's Democrats who are more likely to play the game of dirty, sleazy, rent seeking politics.

Currently it seems GMMB is backing the white America hating Barack Hussein Obama for President, see for yourself here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080921213221/http://www.gmmb.com/political/work.htm#

Update: Presidential hopeful B. Hussein Obama never fails to push the alternative nicotine products manufatured by his campaign supporters and backers. I'm sure you can guess what special interest (smoking ban) laws Obama will enact as President.

Here's a long list of previous behavior control legislation by Obama.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Minnesota approaches milestone...nearly 200 bars and restaurants closed since joining the ill-advised Nicoderm funded smoking ban trend

Get the complete list here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

Meanwhile Johnson and Johnson's Nicoderm sales are anticipated to reach $4.6 billion annually thanks to rent-seeking legislation and ill-informed lawmakers' decisions to implement special J & J / RWJF laws......er, I mean smoking bans.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Words have meaning "...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...."

I bring this up as a posting because the Washington DC gun ban will be the subject of a Supreme Court decision this week.

But the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment verbatim reads:

"...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...."

I don't care who you are, those words can only be interpreted to mean one thing: "...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...."

When the United States is defeated and dismantled then those words will be meaningless, until that time the Constitution of the United States is the law of the land.

Conversely, the first step in defeating and dismantling the United States will be to render provisions of our Constitution illegal and / or meaningless.

If the definition of militia becomes the liberal argument against "...the People's right...." then it becomes important to understand what the definition of militia is. According to Wikipedia:

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary[1] citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency; without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. Legal and historical meanings of militia include:

-Defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws.

-The entire able-bodied male (and perhaps female) population of a community, town, county, or state, available to be called to arms.

-A subset of these who actually respond to a call-up, regardless of legal obligation.

-A private, non-government force, not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government.

By the way, it is important to note that 8,400 murders have occurred in DC since gun ownership has been banned in the nations capital. Apparently criminals and murderers don't obey gun laws......imagine that!

Elsewhere, studies have shown that serious violence and murders decrease in localities where legal citizens are allowed to possess defensive weapons.

Update: Justices Appear Skeptical Of D.C.'s Handgun Ban

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Obama doesn't think that belonging to a church that hates white people and America would be a problem for a presidential candidate

Barack H. Obama finally agrees to a Fox News interview found online here.

Major Garret trips up Obama on one very important question:

Major: So you knew about and attempted to distance yourself from the hate mongering reverend Wright early in 2007, why then did you add him to your campaign staff in December 2007? (paraphrased)

Hussein Obama: I didn't think that hating white people, Jews, or America would prevent me from being elected president of the U.S. And judging by the moronic white people who are attending my speeches and voting for me in the primaries......I am correct. (paraphrased)

Friday, March 14, 2008

Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Nicoderm, spent $7.7M lobbying lawmakers last year

......but this story neglects to mention the $446 million that J & J's political faction, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), spent to implement smoking bans in order to increase sales of Nicoderm and Nicoderm CQ; which insiders speculate will be a $4.6 billion annual business thanks to the smoking ban laws they financed.

It's a good thing for them that's there's no law against funding exaggerations and lies in order to enact unnecessary laws that prop up product sales thru government mandates.

It's just too bad that those laws eliminate so many businesses and jobs.

Barack Hussein Obama's close ties with a minister who hates, white people, Jews, and America.....

.....should tell you all you need to know about this presidential candidate, and the reason he must not be elected to the highest office of the land.

Couple that with Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of Hussein Obama, and you start to understand why the Nation of Islam, muslim extremists, and all enemies of the United States cannot wait until this anti-American becomes president so he can dismantle the nation one piece at a time, while surrendering to our murderous enemies.

The WSJ has an article describing Hussein Obama's close relationship with the anti-American minister of hate. Excerpts include:

Indeed, Mr. Obama has described Mr. Wright as his "sounding board" during the two decades he has known him. Mr. Obama has said he found religion through the minister in the 1980s. He joined the church in 1991 and walked down the aisle in a formal commitment of faith.

The title of Mr. Obama's bestseller "The Audacity of Hope" comes from one of Wright's sermons. Mr. Wright is one of the first people Mr. Obama thanked after his election to the Senate in 2004. Mr. Obama consulted Mr. Wright before deciding to run for president. He prayed privately with Mr. Wright before announcing his candidacy last year.

Mr. Obama obviously would not choose to belong to Mr. Wright's church and seek his advice unless he agreed with at least some of his views. In light of Mr. Wright's perspective, Michelle Obama's comment that she feels proud of America for the first time in her adult life makes perfect sense.

It is a deep mystery why people seem to flock to this hate mongering anti-American presidential candidate......I sincerely hope Americans wake up to recognize the true designs of this false messiah before it's too late.

Sleeper cell may indeed prove to be the best way to descibe this enigma that goes by the name of Barack Hussein Obama.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

British Medical Journal & WHO conclude secondhand smoke "health hazard" claims are greatly exaggerated

The BMJ published report can be found here:
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/326/7398/1057

And concludes:

The results do not support a causal relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality, although they do not rule out a small effect. The association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease and lung cancer may be considerably weaker than generally believed.

What makes this study more significant than any other is that it took place over a 39 year period, and studied the results of non-smokers who lived with smokers..... meaning these non-smokers were exposed to secondhand smoke up to 24 hours per day; 365 days per year for 39 years. And there was still no relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality.

This report was of course silenced in the media; however in light of the damage to business, jobs, and the economy from smoking bans the BMJ report should be revisited by lawmakers as a reference tool and justification to repeal the now unnecessary and very damaging smoking ban laws.

Also significant is the World Health Organization (WHO) study which concluded "..secondhand smoking doesn't cause cancer..." found online here.

Excerpt:

Passive smoking doesn't cause cancer-official
By Victoria Macdonald, Health Correspondent

The results are consistent with their being no additional risk for a person living or working with a smoker and could be consistent with passive smoke having a protective effect against lung cancer. The summary, seen by The Telegraph, also states: "There was no association between lung cancer risk and ETS exposure during childhood."

And if lawmakers need additional real world data to further highlight the need to eliminate these onerous and arbitrary laws, air quality testing by Johns Hopkins University, the American Cancer Society, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, and various researchers whose testing and report was also peer reviewed and published in the esteemed British Medical Journal......prove that secondhand smoke is 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

Thus further nullifying the argument that secondhnad smoke is a workplace health hazard.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Smoking ban leads to casino losses and city government jobs which relied on those casino revenues

City officials in Alton have been forced to cut six jobs from next year's budget, in part because of a $1 million revenue loss from the city's casino......The Fire Department will lay off four firefighters and the Police Department will not fill two currently open slots, Alton Mayor Don Sandidge said.

Story found online here.

While the pharmaceutical company and its private foundation which funded the bans anticipates record sales of smoking cessation products, such as Nicoderm, to reach $4.6 billion annually.

Meanwhile, dumbfounded lawmakers who enacted these laws written by Johnson & Johnson Company's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) are left wondering if they were hoodwinked into enacting economically damaging, special interest laws.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Smoking bans violate religious freedoms

Clearing the Air was recently informed that there is a religion in need of protection.

The Latter Day Church of Free Choice is new religious order, based on a great respect for nature and the free choice of adults in a free society, and eschewing traditional religious beliefs and customs.

The Latter Day Church of Free Choice’s religious services are held outside of traditional churches, temples and mosques in favor of bringing religion to the people in collegial, social settings (formerly known as bars, taverns or clubs). Services are not constrained to fit fixed time periods, but are free-flowing exchanges of fellowship.

Services of the Latter Day Church of Free Choice are celebrated by unordained lay ministers, which the church calls “bartenders.” Parishioners in the Latter Day Church of Free Choice are known as “customers.” The altar is typically a serving surface (sometimes known as a “bar”), on which is placed one or more “Holy Ashtray(s) of the Midwest.”

The Latter Day Church of Free Choice’s parishes can be established whenever and wherever unordained lay ministers (“bartenders”) wish to minister to parishioners (“customers”) or when parishioners (“customers”) wish to be ministered to by unordained lay ministers (“bartenders”). There is no limit to the number of parishes of the Latter Day Church of Free Choice.

Services begin when an unordained lay minister (“bartender”) holds a Holy Ashtray of the Midwest on high, saying, “O Lord, bless this Thy Holy Ashtray of the Midwest that with it Thou mayest striketh a blow against Thine enemies of free choice, in Thy mercy.” Or, alternatively, the unordained lay minister (“bartender”) can say, “What can I get you?” or “The usual?” or “How about a nice cold beer?” or words to that effect. The Latter Day Church of Free Choice is, after all, all about choice.

Services are not limited to a particular day of the week—indeed, services can be conducted any time there is an unordained lay minister (“bartender”) present with at least one parishioner (“customer”).

The Latter Day Church of Free Choice’s sacraments include ingesting wine, spirits and/or fermented malt beverages (made from naturally occurring fruits and grains), along with inhaling the sacred smoke of the naturally occurring leaf known as Nicotiana tabacum. Taking of the Latter Day Church of Free Choice’s sacraments is a fundamental part of the religion’s practices.

The Latter Day Church of Free Choice is protected and its practices fully guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”).

Affirmation of this groups religious practice not causing harm to non-believers can be found here:

Air quality testing by Johns Hopkins University, the American Cancer Society, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, and various researchers whose testing and report was peer reviewed and published in the esteemed British Medical Journal......prove that secondhand smoke is 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

More information about this group is found here:

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Barack Hussein Obama may not be the upstanding, innocent, anti-special interest politician he's misled followers to believe

The Clintons have their Whitewater scandal, and now it appears the pius, upstanding Hussein Obama has his.....Tony Rezko.

Rezko is the indicted political fixer who helped Obama buy his dream house. The sellers split the parcel in two, one a vacant lot and one with a home. Obama got a $300,000 discount on the house. The Rezkos paid the full asking price for the lot next door. Obama, who keeps insisting he's told us everything, until something new comes out, admitted recently that he toured the home with Tony before that magical sale. So the real estate fairy sprinkles the magic fairy dust on the Obama dream home. Obama becomes the reform candidate for president, to change American politics as we know it -- except of course in Chicago, where the Daley Machine runs things......with Rezko facing unrelated extortion charges for playing politics the Chicago Way: using government muscle to force business owners into funding political campaigns, with extra cash to stuff a few pockets....

But Rezko is not Barack Hussein Obama's only scandalous connection, William "the anarchist bomber" Ayers is also proving to be an anchor around Obama's neck.

Although never convicted of any crime, he (Ayers) told the New York Times in September 2001, "I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough."......Both Obama and Ayers were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 1999 and 2002. In addition, Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate in April 2001, as reported here. They lived within a few blocks of each other in the trendy Hyde Park section of Chicago, and moved in the same liberal-progressive circles.
......Is there anything here that raises questions about Obama's judgment or is this just another example of guilt by association?

More on the background of Barack Hussein Obama can be found here.

The curtain of mystery is being lifted from the candidate of "change", and it appears in reality that Barack Hussein Obama's life is simply dirty politics as usual.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Minnesota Health Department is angered by private businesses defying the new smoking ban

The MN department is throwing a public tantrum by issuing an empty threat to bars and restaurants which are using a legally allowed exemption in the statewide ban.

The Minnesota Department of Health served notice Wednesday that it is prepared to punish bars that try to get around the state indoor smoking ban by using a theatrical production exemption.

MN attorney Mark Benjamin discovered an exemption in the smoking ban that allows smoking by actors during the performance of a play.....now hundreds of bars and restaurants in Minnesota are hosting performances nightly and allowing actors / patrons to light up with reckless abandon.

More on the story here:
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=500995

The 6-month-old smoking ban has an exemption for theatrical productions, but Health Department Commissioner Sanne Magnan said bars appear to be improperly circumventing the law..... "It's time for the curtain to come down on this play of theatrics and get on with the business of protecting Minnesotans from the harms of secondhand smoke," Magnan said.

Sorry to burst your maniacal desire to control businesses with unreasonable restrictions Sanne, but protecting Minnesotans from workplace "health hazards" is OSHA's mandate. And air quality testing by Johns Hopkins University, the American Cancer Society, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, and various researchers whose testing and report was peer reviewed and published in the esteemed British Medical Journal......prove that secondhand smoke is 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

As for the businesses using the legal exemption to allow smoking......attorney Mark Benjamin said he would gladly defend anyone cited as violating the unnecessary and apparently unenforceable statewide smoking ban.

The American spirit always finds a way to overthrow the yoke of oppression.....even here in liberal Minnesota.

Furthermore, Clearing the Air thinks that the state law has no legal merit at all, afterall OSHA federal workplace regulations cannot and should not be ursurped by local workplace smoking ban regulations. Especially since these bans are closing down hundreds of businesses and eliminating thousands of jobs.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/10/mn-smoking-bans-continue-closing-bars.html

UK smoking ban closes an average of 27 pubs per week

Story is found online here:

Some excerpts:

A vital part of the British economy and social life is under the most severe strain it has faced for decades Rob Hayward BBPA

Beer sales have slumped to their lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s with 14m fewer pints being sold today than in 1979

The industry is facing very difficult trading conditions, which is resulting in the closure of hundreds of pubs across the country

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Smokers are abandoning high taxed cigarettes for "roll your own" custom blends

Just when the nanny facists think they've established iron fisted control of smokers' behavior, freedom loving people respond with an old fashioned idea.....roll your own.

It's not quite the same as when my grandfather rolled his own cigs, back in the day. Today, the paper is pre-rolled, complete with filter ready to add your favorite tobacco blend......almost makes me wish I still smoked, I can imagine the taste of my old applewood pipe tobacco in a cigarette.....ahh the aroma brings me back. But I digress, more on the story can be found online here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/02/smoking.women

"..'Roll your own has been one of the success stories of the past years,' said Paul Batchelor, trading manager at Nisaway, the company that supplies produce to all independent stores across Britain. 'Young, urban, fashionable people have started subverting the convention of the old, working-class man to roll his own fags. Partly, I suspect, it's the shock element. Young people enjoy turning the convention on its head, and young women in particular like doing something that was so firmly off-limits to them until very recently...."

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