Property Rights Newsletter

The Property Rights Newsletter May 20, 2011 - Issue #613 "If you, with all the taxes you paid, paved that road in front of your house, that everyone in town gets to drive on... you might be a smoker." - Samantha Phillipe

Shame. By Frank Davis. I think that a day will come when politicians and pundits will recognise the irreparable harm that has been done, and belatedly act to prevent further harm. They’ll quietly lift or relax the ban that they once so gaily put in place. And that will mark the end of the war on smoking, and with luck of lifestyle engineering as well. The costs will have proved too great, and the benefits too small. And they will wonder why they ever thought it might be worth it. They will wonder how they could have been so blind. They will wonder what kind of madness afflicted them. Australia Cigarettes poised for killer price cut. The tobacco industry is threatening to flood Australia with half-price cigarettes to fight plain packaging laws. It is also threatening to seek billions of dollars in compensation from the Federal Government. The chief executive of British American Tobacco - which makes popular brands Winfield and Benson & Hedges and sells about 22 billion cigarettes in Australia each year - yesterday said prices could be slashed in half as tobacco giants try to compete with black-market imports. Beach smoking ban stretches west. Smoking is set to be banned on every Melbourne beach from Altona to Elwood, after Hobsons Bay Council became the third Victorian municipality to ban beachgoers from lighting up. The move comes as the tobacco industry warns the price of cigarettes in Australia could be halved if a federal government proposal to introduce plain packaging is successful. It is expected the new law will be in place before summer, with the council needing to prepare a community impact statement and accept submissions before it is voted on again. From The Mailbag CA: West Hollywood Election: Victors, Winners & Losers. Duran had already been charting an independent course, refusing to vote for the appointment of Lindsey Horvath and then vigorously opposing Abbe Land’s ill conceived smoking ban in commercial outdoor patios, which enraged bar and restaurant owners along Santa Monica and the Sunset Strip. CA: Senate Bill 332, Impact not lessened by fact that it depends on the whims of the bldg owner. The bill, passed the Senate just this week with an overwhelming 33-2 vote. The current version, now heads to the Assembly. GA: DeKalb County Outdoor Smoking Ban to Blow Away Business. "Customers can choose the businesses they patronize just as workers can choose where they work," said Chris McCalla, legislative director for the IPCPR, based in Columbus, Georgia. "They don’t need government passing convoluted laws telling them where to shop or work." IL: Vacation home's $300 smoking fine crosses the line. Calling her fee a "fine" won't disguise the fact that it's a predetermined price for damage, regardless of its extent. Incidentally, a true fine can be imposed only by a government entity: It is punishment for violating a health or safety law. MA: Teen Turns Violent After Being Asked Not To Light A Cigarette at Forest Hills T. The dispute led to both the would-be smoker and her sister being arrested after transit police said the pair slapped, pushed and kicked them. MD: A resolution to adopt a proposed Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Health smoking ban regulation will be the subject of a public hearing June 23 by the Health and Human Services Committee of the County Council. Iraq: Bogged Down on Big Issues, Iraq Takes Aim at Smoking. Following the lead of New York, London, Paris and scores of other Western cities, Iraqi lawmakers are now trying to push smoking to the margins of public life here, to the frustration of many of their constituents. Baraa Ghazi, 27, offered a broader pronouncement as he took a languid drag. “This,” he said, “is freedom.” UK: "Evidence Review" without evidence! The long awaited review of the smoking ban has arrived but no one who reads this report in an open-minded way will be taken in by it as it is riddled with basic errors. Linda Bauld has proven nothing with this report apart from the fact that she is a true anti tobacco activist.

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