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TERRY’S TIDBITS –

4^th Street Live, Falling Down, Checks and Balances, Graffiti

By Terry Gray

4^TH STREET LIVE

Men can now wear jerseys and forward facing baseball caps, but no sleeveless shirts or baggy pants.  The eyes of the world were upon Louisville Kentucky as negotiators from as far away as Bangladesh and Siberia were brought in to haggle and work out the finer points of the dress code.  There was no word on caps with circular bills, no bills or two bills.  Negotiators were silent on that issue in an attempt to keep from losing the shifty footing that they had gained.  “We have to take this one step at a time,” said one foreign negotiator.  “This is too important and turbulent right now.” 

Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh released a statement that “she doesn't believe the government has any right to meddle in what she sees as a private business.”  Tina Ward-Pugh is a supporter of a Louisville smoking ban.

I find it odd that a taxpayer-owned street is considered private property (4^th  Street Live),  and a privately owned businesses are considered public property (restaurants and bars with respect to smoking bans).  Smoking is permitted on 4^th Street Live, by the way.

FALLING DOWN

Our city leaders are great forward thinkers.  They plan for every contingency while we pay for their plans.  We make a great team.  “You folks keep making money, and we’ll keep spending it.”  I don’t know how much longer we’ll be making money in Louisville, given the very nature of the city’s unfriendliness to business. 

How many times a day do our buildings collapse?  I haven’t heard a lot about it and haven’t seen any rubble.  It must happen though, because Louisville is investing in training a collapse response team.

I say great, send a couple of guys to school, put them on per-call status and when a building falls down, call them up.

The city wants to send a bunch of people, a few at a time, to Indy to train in responding to falling buildings.  How much training does one need to scream, “Look out” or, “Run?”  I believe the number of people involved in the training is 90.  I can guarantee that, should one building collapse, these folks will be falling all over themselves to get a piece of the action.

But, while we are on the subject of training response teams, we probably should look at exploding sewer response teams, lying MSD response teams, rate raising LG&E response teams, invasion by Homeland Security response teams, and Democrats running as Republicans response teams.

CHECKS AND BALANCES

A Tampa grandmother was arrested for a 20 year old bad check.  It was a misdemeanor.  Florida doesn’t remove old warrants and stuff.  If you did it, they will get you.

These fine police officers don’t realize that it isn’t worth pursuing, in more ways than one.  Garbage like this breeds contempt for law enforcement and laws.  Let me rephrase that, garbage like this breeds further support for contempt of law enforcement and laws.  Cops are already just barely tolerated.  Keep pushing.

SMOKING

Be forewarned:  This piece rambles a bit.  There is so much information and misinformation and I want to cover it all.  I try to spread it out issue after issue but that pace will never produce an end.  Besides, I want to get it all in while I still have the protection of the 1^st amendment.   

They are losing their minds folks.  The antis’ (anti-smoking folks’) displays of fanaticism should be an indicator to government that these folks are crazy and have entirely too much money at their disposal.

There were 5 “new” studies in June that were deemed “important studies” in furthering the cause of oppression.  And of course these studies were financed with money stolen from smokers via tobacco settlement money.

One study showed that any exposure to tobacco smoke ruined a person for life.  There is no safe acceptable exposure to tobacco smoke and the effects are irreversible.  You are going to die!  It smacked us on the hands for cutting down on smoking simply because cutting down isn’t good enough.  With the antis, there are no rewards for trying. 

The sister of that study showed that if one should quit smoking before reaching one’s 15 year puffing anniversary, then in a couple of years the smoker’s lungs would be completely healthy.  Now which is it?

See, they’ve covered their bases here and they don’t care if the two studies conflict.  They pull out the study that is appropriate at the time.  The problem is that we’re still going to die!  Do we die knowing that you inhaled these nasty toxins or do we die healthy?  There are going to be a lot of confused antis lying on their death beds moaning, “What did I do wrong?”

Another study showed that teens smoke when they see movie stars smoke.  The antis have no will power and can’t distinguish between fantasy and realism.  Most of these people will rally behind Michael Moore and hold up the movie “Fahrenheit 911” as a great piece of factual material.  They’ll encourage their kids to go see this movie, resulting in a whole generation of windless moaning.  Hey folks, Bambi wasn’t real, and if Bambi was real, she is dead now and she didn’t even smoke.

Yet another study showed the risk factor for non-smokers based on Cotinine levels.  Cotinine is a chemical in our system that is measured to determine exposure to tobacco smoke.  This is a “new” study with the same results; there are no answers.  “Approximately”, “Possibly”, “Could be”, “Estimated”, “Seems like”, “Some”, “Appears”, and etc seem to be acceptable measurements when it comes to these studies.  This is science at its finest folks, junk science.

I’m not going to waste my time with the other studies.  They aren’t new and they aren’t studies.  They are the same old garbage.

There are articles wanting to hold tobacco companies responsible for smokers.  We were smoking before there were tobacco companies.  But the reality is that tobacco companies are not being held responsible; smokers are being penalized.  All the money that is being forced from tobacco companies and going to anti-tobacco groups comes directly from smokers.  We pay to fund the battle against our pleasure.

Illogical statements about smoking bans abound, such as the one from American Heart Association spokesman Dr. Charles Sand.  "It improves appetite because people want to go out to restaurants where they don't have to breathe in these fumes."   So smoking bans improve appetite?  “Hey Marge, I sure am feeling hungry since they passed that smoking ban.”  I wonder when this will come full circle and anti-smoking groups will be sued for inspiring more obesity.

On the plus side of all of this fanatical insanity, there are pools of sanity.  Cincinnati is considering a smoking ban.  Bedroom communities surrounding the city, some of which are in Kentucky, are having nothing to do with a ban.  Blue Ash City Manager Marvin Thompson said, “It’s not even on our radar screen.  If it ever did come up, we would consult with our major restaurants and see what is best for them.  We don’t want to hurt their business.” 

Smart man, but there is a level of greed to his attitude.  If Cincinnati passes a smoking ban, smokers will take their businesses to the bedroom communities in droves.  This is what inspires the antis to scream for bans everywhere to “level the playing field.”  They know that bans hurt business, so they try to blanket an area with a great big ban or several small ones so that there is no escape for smokers.  Then they can smile and say that smoking bans have no negative economic effects.

But even if Mr. Thompson’s reasons are a bit greedy, at least he recognizes that the impact of a smoking ban is going to be negative.

California is trying to ban smoking from its entire 1,100 mile coastline, no smoking on beaches.  The main reason is litter.  State oppression mongers say, "...Cigarette butts are a major source of litter.    On cleanup days, volunteers say they pick up an average of more than 300,000 butts along the beach.”  Robert A Levy of the Cato Institute says, “If so, that's a powerful argument — but against littering, not against smoking."

One last little thing, go to What's really in that cigarette?   The information in this chart tells a lot about what to expect from second hand smoke.  The chart is from data from EPA information, you know, the guys that anti-tobacco groups hold up as God.  Look at the last column.

I’m done with this for now.

GRAFFITI

Louisville has had a string of homicides, and the city council wants to get tough – they’re cracking down on graffiti.  If that isn’t stupid enough, kids will be banned from buying spray paint. 

Councilman Dan Johnson, the great writer of rooster laws and chicken leash laws, says that much of our crime can be blamed on graffiti.  Something is woefully fowl here.

If one breaks down what he is saying, it can be translated into kids ruining otherwise perfectly good neighborhoods by painting on public walls.  The examples cited were Portland and the west end, neighborhoods that haven’t been held up as examples of good neighborhoods for decades.

Looking deeper into Mr. Johnson’s crazy notion, one can see a thread of the kind of mentality that inspires and supports smoking bans, political correctness, and socialism.  It puts partial responsibility on spray paint manufacturers and retailers.  But it also exhibits an attitude that goes against what anti-freedom groups are fighting - kids being responsible for anything. 

Dan, listen to what you are suggesting.  Spray paint is available for kids to purchase, and, because of this, two Louisville neighborhoods that have been in the dumps for years are high crime areas.  Why don’t you offer up your car to downtrodden youths in one of these areas and let them paint away?

INDEPENDENCE DAY

So Sunday, did everyone have nice barbeques, play horseshoes, get drunk, go boating, and all the other stuff that we do to celebrate the birth of freedom in our country?  We usually take this holiday with a great deal of enthusiasm and make the most of it.  Stores have big sales, cops are out in force, kids blow up cats with firecrackers; the fun just never stops.  Kroger wants us to cry in joy as we buy hot dogs.

Did everyone get out their copies of The Constitution for the United States of America and read some or all of it?  How about the Declaration of Independence?  I especially like the Bill of Rights part of the Constitution, you know, the part that protects us from an oppressive government.  Here are the original first 10.  I really miss them.  See if you can recognize the promises our founders made to us amid the lives we live today.

Article 1:    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Article 2:   A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Article 3:   No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article 4:  The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article 5:  No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Article 6:  In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Article 7:  In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Article 8:  Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Article 9:  The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Article 10:  The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Now go buy a pocket Constitution; you can get one for a buck if you look around.  Then the next time someone says to you, “It is my right to yada, yada, yada,” you can say, “Well let’s look it up.”

If you really want one, and what real American wouldn’t, send me an email at forces@insightbb.com and I’ll get you one. 

You may have something to really consider come next 4^th of July.

FREE STATE NEW HAMPSHIRE

There is a migration to New Hampshire that many folks don’t know about.  Many folks don’t need to know about it.

This project is of Libertarian origins though 20,000 patriots or any political flavor are needed.  The operative word here is patriots.

Just click the links and see what’s up.

SIGN UP:  https://freestateproject.org/members/join.jsp

INFORMATION:  http://www.freestateproject.org/index.jsp

Terry Gray

forces@insightbb.com

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