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Issue #494
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterAugust 8, 2008 - Issue #494
"If people can learn to hate they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandela | House passes bill to regulate tobacco. House of Representatives voted 326-102 to place tobacco under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration. The move would give FDA bureaucrats the ability to regulate tobacco as well as tobacco advertisements, a power that both Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach oppose. In a statement, the White House threatened to veto the bill if the Senate passes a version pending there and sends it to President Bush’s desk.
Smoking: A case for harm reduction? By Libby Topp.
Scotland Rehashing an old study, and pretending it is new. Will the British Heart Foundation and ASH now retract their earlier statements and apologize to the public for drawing and disseminating premature conclusions? I doubt it. This is why it is essentially that we get it right the first time around. But when your sole criterion for scientific quality is whether the study results support your pre-determined conclusion, it is going to be difficult to get it right the first time, or any time.
The Doors Of Perception: Why Americans Will Believe Almost Anything. By Dr. Tim O'Shea. We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever known. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like it is being subtly and inexorably erased.
Canada looting tobacco companies. By Pierre Lemieux. The settlement between two major cigarette manufacturers (Imperial Tobacco Canada and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges) and the federal and provincial governments is a shame. It not only continues the persecution of smokers and their suppliers, it also brings state surveillance and the egoism of state rulers to new heights. The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Canada: Mr. Kennedy has documented evidence that does prove... Canada: More Smoke and Mirrors For Tobacco Farmers. UK: Woman Thrown on Live Rail After Telling Kids to Stop Smoking. CA: Join the new California Smokers group, discuss ban issues. HI: Pro-smoking campaign gains power against Goliath. KY: Smoking controversy comes to Somerset city hall. MD: Montgomery College Snuffs Out Smoking on campus. SC: Alert - Ban being considered in City of Easley. USA: NoCigTax.com News about increased tobacco taxes. | | | Join FREE - Home - Events - Forum - Videos - Please Help - © |
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, August 07 @ 02:47:09 MDT
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Issue #493
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterAugust 1, 2008 - Issue #493
"Abuse of power isn't limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own country if we're not vigilant." - Clint Eastwood | Anti-Smoking Advocate Says Smokers are a Bad Role Model for their Children. By Michael Siegel. I would say that how much the parents love their kids and show them love, the values they teach their kids, and the example they set for them in terms of morals such as compassion, kindness, honesty, respect, and tolerance are perhaps some of the most important factors in terms of whether I would consider a parent to be a good role model for their children. To look only at smoking and state that if someone smokes, they are a poor role model for their child, regardless of all these other factors, seems to me to be narrow-minded and self-righteous.
U.S. Spends $1 Million Researching Syrians ‘Hooked on Hookahs.’ The Syrian studies have been funded through the NIH’s Fogarty International Center, a branch of the federal health service that has been paying for international scientific research for the last 40 years. In FY 2009, the Fogarty Center is slated to receive $66 million.
Why not just outlaw it all? Smoking ban talk is another control movement. By Kelley Curran. “Eliminating driving would prevent all driving-related fatalities” is clearly more straight-forward than even these noble prior arguments to save lives with laws.
MEP calls for EU-wide tobacco ban. While the European Commission continues to try and drive its plan to rise tobacco taxes throughout the 27-nation bloc, Irish MEP Avril Doyle has called for legislation to make it illegal to sell cigarettes and cigars within the EU by 2025. The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Canada: Antis use children! Youths hit flavoured cigarettes. Canada: Ontario law hasn't cleared the bingo hall air. Denmark: Commission calls for more bans to protect public health. Germany: Smoke ban to be partially overturned, court rules. UK: Smokers and obese must get NHS treatment despite lifestyle. CA: Ban Just About Everywhere Outdoors in Loma Linda. CA: The first state to ban all trans fats in all restaurants. NY: Criticizes Treatment of Smoking as a Moral Issue. Smokefree Pennsylvania fights against FDA tobacco regulation. WI: Ban the Ban Wisconsin launches Rapid Response Unit. USA: Mark Wernimont responds to Mary Shaw on ventilation. | | | Join FREE - Home - Events - Forum - Videos - Please Help - © |
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, July 31 @ 02:32:21 MDT
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Issue #492
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJuly 25, 2008 - Issue #492
"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." - Henny Youngman. |
Alcoholics Anonymous: Coffee And Cigarette Consumption Are High Among AA Attendees. The most common self-reported reasons were because of smoking's reduction of "negative affect," which refers to depression, anxiety and irritability. "Many of these negative affective states are described by patients as contributors or triggers to relapse after periods of sobriety," said Martin.
Listen to: 700 WLW - Bill Cunningham Show in Ohio, with Michael J. McFadden, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director, Citizens Freedom Alliance, Inc. Bill's been a longtime and very vocal opponent of the ban there and the two of them ripped into the lies behind it with a ferver!
Smoking Policies: A Civilised Approach. By Dolan Cummings. We should scrap state-imposed smoking bans. The question of 'smoking or non-smoking' should be negotiated informally, among people themselves. The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Holland: People's Revolution Day 11 Oktober 2008. Kenya: Tobacco firm fights Kenya’s new smoking ban. Niger: Smokers threatened with three months in prison. UK: Customers told they can't smoke on pub doorstep. CA: San Francisco fires up two-pronged attack on smoking. OH: Who Really Profits From Smoking Bans? Follow the money. USA: Bloomberg and Gates to combat the global tobacco epidemic.
| The Slippery Slope After Tobacco | ABBA: Mamma Mia! the most dangerous movie of the year? Brooms: Health and safety rules tell carpenters to ban the broom. Loud Music: Can affect how much you drink, and how quickly. Omega 3: Scientists Learn How Food Affects The Brain. Genes: Researchers discover gene that limits alcohol risk. Radioactive: Anti-smoking campaigners, more scare tactics. Scents: Toxic chemicals. No Perfume Means Healthier Air! Family Photos: Father-of-three branded a 'pervert' - for photographing his own children in public park. |
Listen to Sue Jeffers 100.3 KTLK FM News Talk Saturday 5-7pm live online Podcasts to listen to any time!
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, July 24 @ 01:33:04 MDT
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Issue #491
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJuly 18, 2008 - Issue #491
"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority." - Ralph W. Sockman |
Powerpoint, Propaganda and 40,000 Lives Saved. By Brian Bond. One year of misery that will have been felt by smokers across England. 12 months. 52 weeks. 366 days of listening to the unrelenting whine, the sound of gloating, emanating from that sanctimonious, bloated army of bigots that is the anti-smoking lobby.
Smoke and Mirrors. The latest entry in disease-mongering (an art form in pharmaceutical marketing) is tobacco dependence. Products approved for helping smokers quit are now being groomed for a new role as permanent substitutes for smoking, on the grounds, apparently, that the drugs kill fewer people than the cigarettes. It is almost as if these companies had made a joint decision to cast smoking as a chronic disease in order to reposition their products as long-term maintenance medications, like methadone. Smoking cessation is painted as a goal unachievable without pharmacologic assistance.
They Do Not Care About the Facts. By Michael Siegel. I don't mean to pick on this one organization, but I think this is an important story because it demonstrates why I have come to believe that the tobacco control movement largely doesn't care any more about its scientific accuracy. It is truly becoming clear to me that the cause is more important than anything, even the truth. If we need to tell lies to accomplish our goals, so be it, because the cause is just so important.
Smoking linked to decrease in uterine cancer risk. Moreover, among women taking hormone replacement therapy, cigarette smoking was associated with about a 50 percent decreased risk of endometrial cancer. The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Holland: Cafes use fake cigarette smells for atmosphere after ban. Singapore: Stiff fines for possession of contraband cigarettes. CA: City declares moratorium on smoking lounges. CO: Aspen ban stirs debate over private property rights. DC: Fines for breaking District smoking ban could soar. NV: News from Vegas only getting worse, guts casino stocks. NY: Paul Lauricello fuming over smoke ban plan. SC: Sullivan's Island can't ban smoking, attorney says. WA: Pacific Legal Foundation defeats County theft of people's land. | Smoking In The Movies Arnold Schwarzenegger says don't stub out movie smokes. "To suddenly tell actors not to smoke a cigarette in a movie when they portray a character is ludicrous. I think this is going too far."
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, July 17 @ 02:54:13 MDT
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Issue #490
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJuly 11, 2008 - Issue #490
"Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism." - Sam Shepard | Not yielding to the sum of all fears. By Kevin Mulvina. Today we need to rage against the real enemy. Those leaders of coercive greed and their manipulative campaigns that imprison us in the politics of fear.
The fag end of advocacy research. By Basham and Luik. The real miracle here is that such a scientifically illiterate story would be (a) written, and (b) make it past the editors of (c) even the sensationalist Daily Mail. There are so many problems with this claim that we shall confine ourselves to the three most glaring. AND Read Michael Siegel's, New Meta-Analysis of Effect of Smoking Bans on Heart Attacks Shows Bias in Tobacco Control Research. Unfortunately, a meta-analysis is only as good as the studies that go into it. Since the studies used in this meta-analysis have each been discredited, the meta-analysis is not of particular value. A meta-analysis cannot legitimately show that smoking bans dramatically and immediately reduce heart attacks if the individual studies have no validity in drawing such conclusions because they are based on shoddy science.
Secondhand Smoke is No Danger. Rush Limbaugh noted on his nationally syndicated radio program, fear-mongers unfairly have made an article of faith out of the charge that second-hand tobacco smoke can cause disease in humans. Dr. Arnett wrote that the basis for the second-hand smoke scare an EPA report in 1992 is not supported by reliable scientific evidence. The report has been largely discredited and, in 1998, was legally vacated by a federal judge.
Canada: At 95, legendary pianist Pinetop Perkins' is still smoking. UK: Old Ned's still in top gear for his 108th birthday milestone. Birthday Card: Share with friends, and sing along.
CA: Loma Linda, no smoking, alcohol, caffeine and meat. IA: City awaiting "shake out" of new smoking ban. MA: Poor excuse for taxes, have-nots must hand it all over. MA: Princeton Street fire caused by fire-safe cigarette. USA: FTC considers backing off nicotine guidance. The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Denmark: Now ready to force smokers even further into a corner. IA: COBRA, IBOC file petition to overturn smoking ban . HI: Smokers protest state restrictions. Motorcyclists, gun enthusiasts join in rally in front of state Capitol. TX: Smoking Ban Seen as Unconstitutional by Local Tobacconist. Canada: Shopkeeper willing to fight tobacco laws up to top court. NZ: Court rules smoking room is part of workplace. UK: Only bar still legal to smoke in is in the house of commons.
| Ban Damage Hurts Everyone | MD: Woman shot and killed for not handing over cigarettes. NY: Smoking woman falls 4 stories from midtown building. OH: 6 teens beat, rob mail carrier after asking for smoke. Canada: 2 women assaulted employee who reported puffing. USA: Woman lights cigarette, punches flight attendant, diverts flight. MO: Casino lost money from the same period last year. Canada: Racetrack Attractions Hippiques owes more than $73M. Germany: Smoking Ban Proves Costly for German Bars.
| The Slippery Slope After Tobacco | Alcohol: India World no liquor day on October 2. Alcohol: Pub banned from selling alcohol in Wales. Food: Food Matters. Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century. Peanut-free zone: How far should public accommodations go? Sugar: The War On Sugar. By Chad Lilly. A grave danger threatens every man, women, and child in our country today. And from this menace, no one is safe. |  WATCH: Smokers die younger! Than who? The statements placed on cigarette packs are meaningless. They are worded for maximum shock value without any real substance. They are just a load of bollocks. | | Join FREE - Home - Events - Forum - Videos - Please Help - © |
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, July 10 @ 05:36:49 MDT
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Issue #489
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJuly 4, 2008 - Issue #489
"Elected officials have an obligation to protect the rights not only of the majority but the minority as well. Just as free speech, unpopular but legal lifestyles are entitled to the full protection of the law. Democracy works best when the lawful rights of the minority are enforced with the same vigor as those of the majority." - Thomas Laprade | Freedom2Choose Calls For Urgent Smoking Ban Review. On the first anniversary of the smoking ban in England, Freedom2Choose today calls for an urgent review of the law. In just one year, the blanket ban is already causing devastation to all sectors of the hospitality industry, while offering no benefit to public health.
Tobacco Nannies: The Mask Comes Off. America's Tobacco Taliban is now pushing for laws to eradicate smoking. All smoking. Banzhaf wants to go all-out. No compromises. No smoking anywhere. Including in your home. Not on your porch. Not in your living room. Nor in the crapper, the toolshed, or the garage. He wants you never to light up, under penalty of law, even when there are no children present, and even when your closest non-smoking neighbor lives ten miles down the road.
Blast From the (not really that distant) Past. The anti-smoking zealots had to get their way, whatever the effect on society. Civility and economics be damned!
Sewage nourishes their bias. By Ross Nelson. So here’s my proposition to lifestyle dictators everywhere: Why not inform us adults, and then leave us alone?
| From The International Mailbag | The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Australia: Movie Ban. Anti-smoking zealots should butt out. Holland: Hundreds of Dutch bars sue the government for ban. UK: Video: The Westgate Run pub crawl protest in Wakefield. UK: The smoking ban: what a drag it is having a smoke. UK: Fair Pint Campaign, Supporting tied landlords and consumers.
PRINT THE FLYER Hawaii: The Second Annual World Defiance Day March on the Capitol. July 1, 2008 With a celebration to follow. Hawaii: The Red List - Who to vote out in November! IL: Smoke ban often defied Downstate, law is too ambiguous. MA: Cigarette tax is nothing but smoke and mirrors. By Howie Carr. ME: Biddeford's survey disgrace for trying to fool the public. MN: Majority of mob rules. By Archie Anderson. MO: When kids smoke, parents need to use tough love. MS: Scruggs gets 5 years in prison in bribery scheme. NY: Takes aim, again, at tax-free reservation tobacco sales. OK: OSU By Theodore King. Congrats man, you are an inspiration. USA: AWMA & NATO Issue Joint Letter on FDA Bill. USA: Read the Cato Handbook for Congress regarding tobacco. | | | Join FREE - Home - Events - Forum - Videos - Please Help - © |
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, July 03 @ 07:45:57 MDT
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Issue #488
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJune 27, 2008 - Issue #488
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." - Mark Twain | ALERT! Move to ban menthol cigarettes. Call your Member of Congress now and tell them to oppose any amendment to ban Menthol cigarettes. Tell them to say NO! Bill Would Ban Flavored Cigarettes in New Jersey under a bill approved by an Assembly committee.
| From The International Mailbag | The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. Canada: Ontario passes ban on smoking in cars with kids under 16. The Big Smoke will be opening on the significant July 1, the anniversary of the ban in London, at the Museum Of London. World: Updates on Smokeless Tobacco Industry News. World: Updates on Tobacco Industry News, ITC raising prices. CA: Research workers accuse UC of retaliation over complaints. CA: Tobacco Foes in California Think Globally, Act Locally. IA: Clinton IA, Smoking ban fight to go national. OH: ALERT: Email information for politicians on SB 346. FL: Commission Rejects Health Department's Request For Funds. WI: Operation Mollycoddle aims to ban the ban. USA: Leader of the Pack. So here’s a piece of strategic advice for the candidate: Lose the Nicorette. Light up instead.
| Defiance And Ban Damage Hurts Everyone | HI: When will smokers be welcome back? We will come back! MI: Silver Star owner's sign clears air about bar's smoking policy. NV: Nevada Taverns Refuse to Obey Nevada Smoking ban. France: Smokers are uniting to beat a ban on lighting up in public by organising open-house parties where they can puff on their Gauloises until the early hours. Holland: Coffee shops say tobacco ban is blow to business. UK: 'Bring back smoking' campaign launched in Chorley.
| The Slippery Slope After Tobacco | The coming global warming bust. That's what bugs Al Gore and his fellow travelers most – having to accept the proposition that man proposes, and nature – and nature's God – disposes. We're just not as important as some of us think we are, and that smarts. Lung Cancer Vaccine Available. Cuba’s biotech industry plans to launch the vaccine on the international market. | | My Choice - Canada | | Join FREE - Home - Events - Forum - Videos - Please Help - © |
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Posted by samantha on Friday, June 20 @ 12:53:58 MDT
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Issue #487
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJune 20, 2008 - Issue #487
"Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom - for himself." - Elbert Hubbard | Reining In the Kings of Tort. The cases involve two of the country's most prominent class-action lawyers, Melvyn Weiss and Dickie Scruggs. Over the past several decades, they have won billions in judgments against tobacco companies, asbestos companies, energy companies and other putative corporate villains. Both pleaded guilty this year to criminal abuse of the legal system.
Chantix: Litigation Predicted in Wake of FAA Ban of Chantix Use by Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers: Smoking Cessation Drug Target of Controversy. Kristian Rasmussen, a veteran pharmaceutical litigation attorney with the law firm Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris said, "The magnitude of the health risks associated with Chantix is alarming - we are trying to determine whether the drug maker, Pfizer, failed to disclose information it may have had about adverse side effects."
Increase In Drunk Driving Fatalities Followed Ban On Smoking In Bars. While the results at first seemed surprising to Adams, a UWM assistant professor of economics, and Cotti, now at the University of South Carolina, literature on consumer behavior suggests an explanation: Smokers are willing to drive longer distances to an establishment that allows smoking.
Nicotine for non-smokers depression. Nicotine may improve the symptoms of depression in people who do not smoke, Duke University Medical Center scientists have discovered.
SIDS May Be Linked to Bacteria. At birth, mothers transfer some of their antibodies against infection to their babies. But when babies are from 8 to 10 weeks old, the maternal antibodies have nearly run out and the babies typically have not started producing enough of their own.
Japan: Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions. Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.
Airlines May Start Treating Passengers `Like Freight.' Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one for your bags and one for you. The price of a ticket depends upon the weight of both. OH: ALERT: Ohio Voters Misled When They Voted for Ban. OH: Senate smoking ban revision. Delaney's Lounge update. SC: There are several important runoff races, Vote June 24th. TX: Dallas officials want to ban smoking in bars. NoCigTax.com: Fight Tobacco tax increases in MI, NH, PA, RI. USA: Smokers, I Love You. By Jo Scott-Coe. The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter, read all the news. | | | Join FREE - Home - Events - Forum - Videos - Please Help - © |
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, June 19 @ 00:18:37 MDT
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Issue #486
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJune 13, 2008 - Issue #486"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Posted by samantha on Wednesday, June 11 @ 22:32:45 MDT
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Issue #485
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterJune 6, 2008 - Issue #485"Don't stay up thinking of ways to get rid of me, it makes wrinkles." - Frederick Loren, "House on Haunted Hill" 1959
The Stiletto. A save and print out flyer designed for anyone anywhere facing or in the middle of a ban. Give copies to your local business owners. More Smokers Stuff To Print And Use. Hawaii: The Red List - Who to vote out in November!
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, May 29 @ 08:38:49 MDT
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Issue #484
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterMay 23, 2008 - Issue #484“There exist limitless opportunities in every industry. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier.” - Charles F. Kettering
PRINT THE FLYER Hawaii: The Second Annual World Defiance Day March on the Capitol. July 6, 2008 With a celebration to follow. Hawaii: The Red List - Who to vote out in November!
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, May 22 @ 04:59:25 MDT
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Issue #483
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterMay 16, 2008 - Issue #483"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Buddha
Watch Phil Williams Videos
For all my soldiering I always had a strong sense of patriotic duty towards my country, so imagine my horror when our so called government decided that freedom of choice was no longer a right, and was outlawed. This is not the country I served to protect, but rather the very thing I was protecting it from.
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, May 15 @ 02:20:53 MDT
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Issue #482
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterMay 9, 2008 - Issue #482"When you're throwin' your weight around, be ready to have it thrown around by somebody else." - Will Rogers
The Aldebaran Treaty. By John Gray. The International Coalition Against Prohibition. As representatives of European and transatlantic nations and organisations we are now bound in solidarity against smoking bans and the so many other damaging prohibitions that are lucrative and fashionable in today's world of scientific fraud and political stupidity, where adults are treated as children, and freedom of choice is under threat.
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, May 08 @ 03:10:03 MDT
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Issue #480
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights NewsletterApril 25, 2008 - Issue #480"Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
More Music Videos
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Posted by samantha on Thursday, April 24 @ 05:40:54 MDT
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