This is too beautiful to just waste on us. Can't you submit it as an op ed to ... whatever's the big Omaha paper (if that's not an oxymoron)?
Bless your heart, Dr. Siegel, you do understand.
You and I have long agreed to disagree about government having no place in instituting smoking bans on private businesses, but I can not and will not criticize you for bringing it to public attention that the anti-smoker cartel is absolutely and totally out of control.
When it comes to the idea of using the 911 emergency system for violations of smoking bans a shiver just runs up my spine. I have long lived in an area where there are only volunteer fire companies and not all of them have ambulances or EMTs, so the concept of a 911 system being clogged with these kind of idiotic calls is beyond my comprehension.
As I said in the other comment section when this subject first came up, I used to be a reporter, and when it comes to small town radio, we do it all, there are no producers and screeners aor gophers....we're it. I've spent my fair share of time in 911 centers, and in police stations that were not connected to a 911 system. Those people bust their butts to provide help when it is needed, this kind of nonsense only adds to their burden and jeopardizes the general public.
I don't a flying flip how much someone hates being around SHS/ETS, unless you are having and asthma atack or a heart attack or have a broken bone...........a call to 911 about an ashtray, which never caused any of those things is NEVER warranted.
Well the University of Nebraska (as well as the Nebraska Dept of Health) receives a lot of Nicoderm funding from RWJF......and as a result their marching orders are dictated as pro pharmaceutical nicotine products (pro-smoking ban)
http://www.rwjf.org/portfolios/
r...1#int_grantinfo
http://www.rwjf.org/portfolios/
r...1#int_grantinfo
http://www.rwjf.org/reports/npre...htm?gsa=1&
gsa=1
http://www.rwjf.org/portfolios/g...&iaid=135&
gsa=1
http://www.rwjf.org/portfolios/g...&iaid=133&
gsa=1
The special interest funding is what determines lawmakers' actions on the smoking ban issue.......but they are no longer able to masquerade the secondhand smoke issue as one of health "hazard", not after these 2 air quality tests:
http://
cleanairquality.blogspot....secondhand.html
http://cleanairquality.blogspot....st-
results.html
Hopefully Gian will backup those RWJF grants before RWJF removes them from their site......I will back them up as well.
Still think you can sell (perhaps buy (via grants) is a more accurate description) the idea that secondhand smoke is a health hazard .....RWJF?
http://cleanairquality.blogspot....st-
results.html
I second everything Gabz wrote above. He and I share a similar background as reporters who covered police/fire/EMS emergencies, and he is completely right.
Dr. Siegel is spot-on to call this the insanity that it is. It saddens me that Bill Godshall and others are likely to pop up on this forum at any moment to demand that Dr. Siegel "apologize" for his comments, which are eminently logical.
I keep waiting for the day when my opponents in the smoking debate will actually acknowledge legitimate criticism of irresponsible and potentially dangerous zealotry. Unfortunately, I know I'm more likely to go blue in the face and die (whether from holding my breath, or from smoking) before that will happen.
Addendum:
I should have added that I hope my day of reckoning comes from smoking, rather than from holding my breath waiting for a miracle of intellectual honesty from the the fanatical wing of tobacco control. At least then my death would come from an activity I enjoy, and in which I freely choose to indulge.
It's amazing to me that they seem to have made no distinction between a CLEAN ashtray and a DIRTY ashtray with perhaps a snuffed butt reeking of nicotine in it. Which, as everyone knows, borders on the lethal.
Why is it that these damn fools never seem to get anything right?
recently in seattle, a friend of mine who was obeying the state's 25 ft rule was acosted by a stranger who demanded to know 'how it felt to be killing people.' it's getting that crazy out here,as it clearly is in omaha as well.
I completely agree that calling the police because of a smoking violation is totally insane. On such occasions one should of course contact the fire brigade.
Oh tut tut, Dr. Siegel. You wrote:
If you want to report child physical abuse, you should call the Department of Social Services or the police department's non-emergency line, unless the child is being beaten at the moment you call.
Not even going so far as to make sure to add the word "physical" to the description will square you away with Bill or Banzhaf. Smoking around a child (no matter if someone isn't doing it right that minute) is worse than that and is so dire an emergency it's deemed 911-worthy, according to them. Remember? It is "physical" abuse (something about "forcing it down their throats"... like a rapist... if I recall correctly).
I'm afraid you're going to have to give people credit for answering either E OR B.
Good stuff, Doc. It made I laugh, that did.
Perhaps, as an experiment, we should re-route all these 911 calls (regarding smoking and ashtray violations) to Banzhaf or Repace or Bill or Carl?
My guess is that the requirement to call 911 would be rescinded toot sweet. If not sooner.
Very funny. And I imagine there are other jokes to be made out of this. Apparently laughing a lot each day is good for your health, so maybe these smoking ban advocates have something! The ban rules just need to be outrageous.
I felt bad about the South Park-esque image of Officer Barbrady arresting someone for possession of an ashtray after reading that this apparently happens with the New York smoking ban--and reading of the one South Park episode, which I didn't see. Or maybe arresting a kid who makes an ashtray in 3rd grade art class and then goes to a restaurant with his parents. No more...
Now my sarcastic question is, what if a bar has those little potpourri containers to keep the air fresh so people don't smell each other's BO? Should they be under suspicion of potentially favoring a smoking environment? And what about soap dishes? Those could be used as ashtrays. Perhaps this could be used as evidence that when you follow the dominoes, smoking eventually gets in the way of basic restaurant hygiene.
You know, if the phone number weren't 9-1-1, it would seem to be a situation BEGGING for civil disobedience and prank calls, which despite intense creative efforts would still be even less ridiculous than, well, this development.
Dr Siegel
You should not be so hasty in your criticism. You fail to take into account the fact that the 911 system will be under considerably less pressure, as there will be a dramatic drop in heart attack emergencies to which their paramedics will have to respond.
Dr. Siegal:
Let's repeat, It's not about health it's about control. As goes smoking so goes freedom and liberty.
Question: What has killed more people in the 20th century:
A. War
B. Natural Disasters
c. Smoking
D. Obesity
E. Socialism
If you add up all the lives lost from the first four answers you would not come close to answer E. the correct answer. Using public health as an excuse to impose more rules and regulations on society is the tyrany of socialism.
I read this blog late last night, and I can't help but wonder what kind of a person would actually call 911 to report a smoker or an ashtray in an "undesignated" location? Non-smokers are indeed being influenced/encouraged to be antagonistic toward smokers by the anti-smoking(smokers) groups. 20-30 years ago, growing up in a non-smoking family, I never heard rude/derogatory comments about people who smoked--yes, I occasionally heard complaints about "cigar smell", but never cigarettes. My parents had ashtrays at the ready to accommodate guests who smoked, as did all of our friends and relatives. It is inconceivable to imagine that anyone in my family would have asked a guest visiting our home to step outside into the rain or cold to smoke a cigarette. I'm sure some folks out there (like Bill) would say the social climate has changed due to the revelations of the dangers of SHS, but I wholeheartedly disagree with that. I never hear about the so-called health risks associated with SHS when I am asked to "step outside" or refrain from smoking in someone's vehicle or residence. I hear about the smell getting into the fabric of the furniture, carpet, etc.. I can tell you that 30 years ago, after my mother entertained a guest who smoked in her home for a few hours, she did not go throughout the house sniffing the couch pillows and curtains to determine whether or not she could detect the lingering aroma of cigarette smoke. Hell, back in the day, we could sneak cigarettes into the house, smoke in our bedroom with the window open, & our non-smoking parents were none the wiser. The smell of cigarette smoke MUST be more pungent today than 30 years ago, seeing as how I have a friend who recently took an organ/synthesizer from his music store to repair at home, & had to mark down the price because the customer complained he could smell cigarette smoke on the organ. Take my mother-in-law, I've discussed her on this blog before, she is what I would term an "anti-smoker" fanatic. Her cats have urinated on the carpets throughout her home, but the smell of cat urine does not faze her in the slightest. Yet, one day when I was very ill, I lied down on her bed for a few minutes, and she told my husband she was upset that the smell of smoke in my clothes & hair had been transferred onto her bed linens. (How did this woman function before the smoking bans, when she was exposed daily to the horrible smell of cigarette smoke in her workplace, restaurants, and other public establishments?) When she lectures my husband & I about smoking, she claims to be concerned about our health & well-being. Well, I know better. Any reasonable person knows that smoking in non-designated areas does rise to the level of an emergency, so why would they call 911 to report such a thing? Because they have been taught to hate us. To view us as criminals. Just as they have been taught to to be repelled by the smell of cigarette smoke. I read this blog every day, and it has served to give rise to my (righteous) anger regarding the anti-smoker's ever-growing prejudice against those of us who smoke. I have decided to reclaim my dignity, that is, as much as the government will allow. For instance, this Christmas, I will not go to my mother-in-law's home, as I have done for the past five years, where I am forced to smoke outside in the bitter cold. I am through altering my perfectly LEGAL lifestyle to accommodate these fanatics. Antis, go on with your bad selves, shun me, persecute me, better yet, call 911. Losers.
Nice comments backtalk,most of the older generation never,ever complained about smoking or smokers,most wouldn't care two hoots for the health reasons,so this hasn't changed their ways,it's the numerous amounts of brainwashing thy and everyone are subjected to in order to achieve the social change so desperately wanted by the rabids.
I can't help but wonder what kind of a person would actually call 911 to report a smoker or an ashtray in an "undesignated" location?
Someone like this perhaps? I lifted this post off of a freecycle list I belong to.
I have a new push button wall phone that is white that I got from a freecyler but it has a smoke smell. I have scrubbed it but cant get the smell completely gone.If you can use this please let me know...
Seriously - this woman can't get the smell of smoke off of a telephone? She won't use it because it might cause her bodily harm if she keeps it? I wonder if she's keeping it outside so that she doesn't become desperately ill?
Good on yer, Backtalk.
Whilst I envy you only having one mother-in-law (I have two. Both active. My wife was adopted) I also think you are right to avoid her home at Christmas.
I also avoid establishments where I am not welcomed freely-legal habits and all. This includes 5200 pubs here in Bonnie Scotland.
We human beings seem to have unlearned tolerance. That, or most humans just HAVE to have a minority to hate.
We are the target de jour.
backtalk said
The smell of cigarette smoke MUST be more pungent today than 30 years ago
Have they smellyed up cigs?
Also..
When she lectures my husband & I about smoking, she claims to be concerned about our health & well-being.
This is quite interesting as it is nice to have someone be concerned, yet who benefits here? It is her. She wants you to quit to make her feel better. Seems to add a slightly different twist to the apparent concern, doesn't it?
Anyways, I am quite sure if people in the UK were asked to call 999 (UK 911) for this type of thing there would be uproar. Hope I am right about this and that it is never proposed though given the current climate anythongs possible.
The emergency services have enough with real problems and crank calls without this nonsense.
west
----
Doc,
Ya gotta get on the John Stewart Show. All your posts are good, this one's a riot! Dave K
But ya don't call 911 if ya see an employee use the restroom without washing his hands... right? Dave K
But ya don't call 911 if ya see an employee use the restroom without washing his hands... right? Dave K
THAT is an excellent point Dave.
the antis all like to equate smoking bans with the public health regulations for kitchens but they are not the same. The public health regulations for kitchens in businesses is to protect the public from UNSEEN health hazards. Even if exposure to SHE/ETS were the hazard claimed by the antis (it's not) it is not an unseen hazard, such as cutting up raw veggies on the same cutting board you just used to cut up raw chicken....or as you mention, Dave, a food handling employee not washing his/her hands after using the restroom.
There are certain public health regulations that are truly necessary to protect the public health that do not intrude upon private property rights, smoking bans do not fall in that category.
backtalk said:
The smell of cigarette smoke MUST be more pungent today than 30 years ago
west2 responeded:
Have they smellyed up cigs?
This is too funny, considering I've actually considered this very thing. For years people smoked in their homes and there really wasn't a nasty odor (unless they never ever opened their windows). Even in the winters in the Northeast, with the house pretty much closed up, it just never smelled bad. I have noticed over the past decade or so, that even 1 cigarette in a room with open windows leaves the nastiest odor. Just recently I was wondering what the hell they have been doing to cigarettes that they now smell worse than ever. So much so, that even I, hardcore stubborn heavy smoker that I am, have now chosen to not even smoke in my own home, but step out into my backyard. THAT is how bad it is.
Think I'm going to go with RYO or MYO and see if that tobacco is as nasty smelling as manufactured smokes.
Perhaps its not the tobacco at all, but all the bloody chemicals they add that need to be banned.
Lynda, I have to wonder if your aversion to the smell of cigarettes is partly because your attention has been drawn to it by all of the constant complaining from non-smokers about the smell.
Several things:
1) Dr. Siegel, that has to be one of your best entries yet. It's too long for an Op Ed but it really SHOULD be syndicated by someone.
2) I believe they have indeed "smellied up" cigarettes in the last 20 years in the process of trying to make "light" cigarettes taste stronger. It's something I first noticed back in the 80s.
3) Dr. Siegel, I believe you underestimate the real and earth shattering importance of an improperly situated ashtray. I am going to take a fairly extensive quote here, but urge folks to read the entire article itself at:
http://www.mega.nu/ampp/drugwar/...ugwar/
j111.html
Note: this is not a "pro-smoking" site: it's a site about the war on drugs. The source is a NYTimes article by Clyde Haberman in 2002.
The quote:
As some New Yorkers have learned the hard way, the mere existence of an ashtray in a place where smoking is prohibited can lead to a summons. It doesn't matter if the ashtray is stored well away from public areas. It doesn't matter if it is used as a decoration, or to hold paper clips or M & M's. No ashtrays are allowed, period.
The reason is simple, said Sandra Mullin, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The presence of an ashtray might be taken by some people as an invitation to light up....
Since May 1, when the Health Department began to enforce the law in earnest, about 2,300 summonses have been issued, she said. A little more than 200 were for ashtray violations...
In Brooklyn Heights, a video-store owner got a ticket for an ashtray that he says he used only to help a customer who walked in with a lighted cigarette in her hand. She had to put it out in something, no?
A more prominent New Yorker, Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, received a summons because of ashtrays in his Times Square office...
(Carter said)"Any city that allows you to keep a loaded gun in your office but not an ashtray... is one with its priorities seriously out of whack."
Many feel the same way at the Players, the theater-themed club on Gramercy Park South. As first reported in The New York Post the other day, health officials, acting on an anonymous tip, insisted last week on inspecting the office of the club's executive director, John Martello.
They found no one smoking. But -- shades of Eliot Ness on the trail of rum runners from Canada -- they came upon three ashtrays on a shelf behind a desk....
Ms. Mullin acknowledged that "there is some discretion offered to our inspectors."
"If we do see stacks of ashtrays," she said, "it is tantamount to the potential that people are permitting smoking."
=========
"Tantamount to the potential that people are permitting smoking."
Dr. Siegel, when this is your base reality, it's hard to create satire.
Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"
http://pasan.TheTruthIsALie.com
www.Antibrains.com
Backtalk, you have an excellent point, and your earlier commentary was TERRIFIC, but I think Lynda is correct.
After my husband and I switched to RYO, his younger sister, who is very sensitive to any kind of smoke, not just tobacco, asked, upon entering our house, if we has stopped smoking in the house or had we stopped smoking altogether. Then she saw the ashtray on my desk........with a lit cigarette in it. She's sensitive to it, but is not an anti, in fact she enjoys the smell of tobacco and actively opposed the smoking ban when it was being proposed in California.
Lynda i smoke ryo tobacco,it is the best quality tobacco you can buy,and you can immediately tell that because it does not possess any chemicals.I stopped buying pre-mades in 1992,i have never looked back,and i smoke far less and ENJOY IT MORE.American Spirit cigarettes will give you a taster as they contain no additives,but RYO tobacco now has enormous choice.
Backtalk wrote: Lynda, I have to wonder if your aversion to the smell of cigarettes is partly because your attention has been drawn to it by all of the constant complaining from non-smokers about the smell.
I don't think so. I actually first noticed it back in the early 90's, but not too bad, and as long as I kept a window cracked at all times, there was never any "stale" smoke odor. Over the last 4 years however, I've noticed it more and more, to the point that even with windows open there is a stale smoke smell that actually lingers a good 12 hours or more.
As far as I'm concerned, my cigarette smoke is far more pleasant an odor than the breath and/or BO of most people I run into.
But I am definitely going to look into the RYO, after reading Gabz and Si's comments....thanks you two.
Same here, Lynda.. I smoke a number of different brands, whatever's "light" & on sale at the time. What is RYO?
Ahh.. "roll your own"... Okay, I'm slow, I admit it.
Let's make Bill's life a little more difficult. We'll throw a minor roadblock between him and his path to glory...THE TRUTH.
Join me in e-mailing every legislator in the Keystone State:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/
cfd...ators_alpha.cfm
Regarding this nanny state piece of dog%$#*
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFD...br=1290&
pn=2006
Feel free obviously to put in whatever you think is pertinent. Here are three things that they absolutely have to know:
The longest and most thorough study of ETS:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/c...l/326/7398/
1057
Don't rely on the Surgeon General who is long gone and lied about his credentials:
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/
n...news_detail.asp
Smoking bans kill local businesses:
http://193.78.190.200/smokersclu...ub/
banloss3.htm
Much like you, I can't rest knowing that the people who voted for Bill's ban didn't know the entire truth.
If they know it and they still voted for it, then.... Congratulations Bill.
You're a master illusionist.
On ashtrays:
The joke, of course, is that anything flat and nonflammable can be used as an ashtray. Here in NYC a waiter will say regretfully "I can't give you an ashtray".... and then give you a clean saucer. Then, too, there's always the floor.
Backtalk--
Indeed, good for you! If instead of just marching meekly into Coventry, smokers refused to go to the homes of "friends and loved ones" who were all of a sudden acting neither friendly nor loving-- and told them the reason why-- this crap would have ended.
Margaret--
The lady with the phone could solve her problem and get rid of the smell of smoke. All she has to do is get into a soapy tub, really scrub the phone well, and then use it immediately.
:
Join me in e-mailing every legislator in the Keystone State:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ cfd...ators_alpha.cfm
-Eric Blair
I'll gladly give a hand in that endeavor.
Any body who needs an effective yet brief letter to lawmakers, feel free to contact me.....I've gotten great feedback from lawmakers across the country.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/
Correction to the above post:
Here is the correct PA private property ban bill (Godshall)
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFD...br=1489&
pn=4173
"Hello, 9-1-1?"
"Yes m'am. Officer DooLittle speaking. What is the nature of your emergency?"
"Oh Officer! You have to do something... it's my baby boy..."
"Yes m'am? Is your son ok?"
"No Officer! It's an emergency! I need squad cars and an ambulance immediately for him!"
"Er, m'am? My caller ID shows you're calling from New York. We're in Omaha Nebraska."
"Yes! I *told* you. It's my SON who's in trouble. You need to go to Smokeless Joe's Cafe at Portleith and Gallstone St right now!"
"What's the nature of his trouble m'am?"
"He's at Smokeless Joe's and he just CALLED me! He was in there having a few martinis for lunch and he saw an ASHTRAY on a table in the back room! He's terrified!! I could hardly understand him when he called because he was crying and screaming."
"M'am, how old is your son?"
"He's only 23 officer. He's in graduate school there and he's never SEEN one of those terrible things before. He's having chest pains and he said he might pass out. What if he's been poisoned by offgassing from itand is having a HEART ATTACK?? Please... get there quickly... I'm so worried... my baby is so young..."
"M'am, Omaha is under a terrorist emergency situation right now. All available squad cars and ambulances have been called to a neighborhood in the NorthEast after a rapist called to report he was assaulted by a suspected smoker in the park. I'm not sure if we have anyone who can make it to Smokeless Joe's in time. Does your son have life insurance?"
"WAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"
"Calm down m'am... I'm sure it will be OK. Butchual of Omaha has your son in good hands if he's a university student. We'll assume you want the body safely cremated and sterilized after this exposure, and of course we can't mail you the remains in case there's any residual contamination, but if you visit New Mexico you can view the entrance of the salt mine where he will be safely stored for eternity. May he glow in peace."
Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"
http://pasan.TheTruthIsALie.com
What they need are Witchfinder Generals to sort the problem out. After all, they know a smoking spell when they see one. Anyone still smoke Salem?
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