From KXAN.com

On October 2nd Omaha, NB banned smoking in any bar that sells food or doesn’t have a Keno license.  Smoking bans are not unusual, most however, punish the venue that llows smoking, not the smoker themselves.  Omaha is looking to cheange that with individual fines of $100 for the first offence, $200 for the second, and $500 for each additional offence.  That isn’t the worst part, according to the article:

Teresa Negron, sergeant in charge of public information for the police, explained the department encourages observers of infractions to pick up the phone to report the infraction – just like they would for any other crime they observe being committed.

The city has set up a smoking hotline, but the Police are encouraging people to call 911 to report violations, as it is easier to remember. 
The city Emergency Coordinator expressed concerns that using the emergency system to report smokers could threaten the emergency system, but the police don’t care.  Smoking is apparently a bigger priority than, say, responding to violent crime or saving lives.

Welcome to the next chapter in the ongoing War on Drugs.

Just like everywhere else we’re fighting against our own smoking ban here.  Apparently, we’re supposed to be excited because it’s only a "partial ban."

But I suppose one of our fabulous commissioners said it best - "We’re only taking some rights, not all."

Gee… thanks. 

Was listening to the October 2nd Free Talk Live: Podcast this morning and a caller, Glen from Columbia, MO called in to talk about the fight against the purposed Smoking Ban in his city and talked about the Meme, Contraband, and Bureucrash.com.  Here is how it went:

Glen: "but I got a special T-shirt I got, just for the hearing, from uh. Bureau Crash, I don’t know if you familiar with them"
Host 1: "Sure, yeah, BureauCrash.com"
Host 2: "Yeah we’ve heard of ‘em"
Glen: "Yeah, Right Right, they got a T-Shirt now, that has a 50’s cartoonish, kind of Dean Martin kind of Guy…"
Host 1: "Right" 
Glen: "…picture, and then it says ‘Smoking is Healthier than Fascism.’"
Host 1: [Laughing] "That’s cute"
Host 2: [Laughing]
Host 1: "I Like it!"

It is good to hear BureauCrash mentioned on a nationaly syndicated radio talk show, free publicity is always great!

Thanks Glen!!

Early next year smoking will be banned in all pucbil areas in france, with bars, clubs, and casinos possibly being granted a "period of adaptation." Health Minister Xavier Bertrand says that "I think the public mood is ready," "Everyone - even professionals in the restaurant trade, even tobacconists - everyone has come to understand that it is an inevitability." 
This inevitability is bad news for tabaconist (who also often own bars) as their sales have already dropped 32% in 2 years do to sharp increases in cigarette prices, a ban will further increase their losses.  In fear of   the predicted loss, the business opwners are turning to the government for fiancial aid.

As Ja$on points out in the comments of an earlier post, it seems our Smoking is Healthier than Fascism crashes earlier this month upset a blogger in Canada (Canadian bloggers being well known for their tendency to, when upset, type harder).  I won’t delve too much into the substance of the post, but I would like to clear up the factual inaccuracies:

1. Washington, DC is not the “heart of America.”  It’s more like the appendix of America, largely useless but prone to trouble-making.
2. Our shirts were definitely fluorescent by any stretch of the imagination.  In Crayola terms, I’d call them cornflower.
3. We weren’t carrying signs or placards of any sort.  And if we had, they wouldn’t have said “Fascism is worse than tobacco.”  That doesn’t even flow well!
4. To the best of my knowledge, none of us argued the hypocrisy of allowing and regulating cigarette manufacturing and then legislating away the right to do it.  We certainly weren’t there to legitimize the tobacco industry, nor were we sent by them.
5. We were not “invited to participate in the conference,” nor did we decline any such invitation.  I don’t see much use in joining a conference of activists.  I did, however, attend an actual scientific conference on tobacco and harm reduction strategies at the NIH a couple of weeks ago.  I took copious notes and am quite convinced that health activists who insist on “the elimination of death and disease due to tobacco use”—rather than on harm reduction strategies that could significantly reduce death and disease—are doing a great disservice to the people they’re purportedly trying to help.
6. We didn’t disband “moments later” for any reason other than that our crash was scheduled to run from 12:00 – 1:30 pm.  Actually, we stayed until nearly 2:00pm.  Then we “disbanded” off to lunch together.  I had a crab cake sandwich.  It was delicious.
7. We were concerned neither with the substance of the conference (which a quick glance at the conference program demonstrates was clearly geared towards activists, not academics) nor a photo-op (although I myself am an avowed media whore).  The singular mission was to bug people and perhaps inspire some angry Canadian blogging.  Mission. Totally. Accomplished.
8. I can’t speak for the other crashers present, but I, for one, am wholly in favor exposing fraud where it exists.  It certainly has existed in the tobacco industry, but I question its continued existence.  Punishing fraud is certainly important for the operation of a market economy.  What I don’t support is treating companies like criminals for marketing and selling their products, so long as it isn’t done on a fraudulent basis.  There are a lot of products whose intended use creates the possibility of harm.  As long as no one lies to me about those possibilities, I’m pretty happy.  (I don’t even particularly mind warning labels, which I think were a fairly reasonable intervention designed to both resolve problems of asymmetrical information between tobacco companies and consumers and to limit producer liability.)

 Overall, I think it’s specious to frame tobacco control as an issue of “public” health.  Insomuch as information about the dangers of tobacco is no longer asymmetrical, this seems to be the exact definition of a problem of “private” health: people making private decisions with others disagree.  Me, I play tennis a few times a week, eat reasonably well, brush my teeth, take my vitamins, stretch before running, and go to the doctor when something hurts.  Those are my private health decisions.  I also smoke, and that’s a private decision too. 

Public health problems would include things like lead in the water; the spread of infectious disease; mosquitoes with West Nile—prevention of those problems is a public good in the true economic sense of the term, in that the health benefits are non-excludable.  Smoking is a “public” health issue only in the same bastardized way that bars and restaurants are “public” places: both are gross distortions of the true meaning of the word.

"Smoking is healthier than facism":

I claim that smoking is healthier than fascism. When we expose ourselves to either first-hand or second-hand smoke we may indeed kill off a little piece of our body. But when we surrender another little bit of freedom, we kill off a little piece of our soul.

Dissatisfied with the current level of fascism in current NYC code on smoking city council health committee chair, Joe Rivera, introduced a bill to raise the legal age to smoke from 18 to 21.  New York City already has a ban on smoking in bars and restaurant and adds an addition $1.50 per-pack tax, driving the cost up to as much as $8 a pack.   The article reports that this move could have the Bloomberg administrations support.

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up to testify at the June 14 public hearing at the John Wilson Building. Be sure to sign up know!

If you don’t want to speak, you can submit written testimony, or just drop in on the hearing during the day to show your support!

Call Carol Schwartz’s office at 202-724-8105 to sign up or for more information. Call right now before it’s too late!