http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3996587.stm


Little by little it will be WORLD WIDE....
IM glad my state did it last year and many others will follow soon.....makes for lots of clean air gigs also. Will growing tobacco be outlawed down the road also to finalize all this banning?

I doubt it. Why should it? I don't care if people smoke, just don't do it around me. But... I'd sure hate to be a tobacco grower. Actually, I don't understand how so many thousands of Caroline families can grow that stuff with a clear conscience. Tobacco is the dumbest thing ever invented, IMO. Follow the money, that's all I know.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

You reminded me of a goofy story song I wrote. Here's the lyric for your reading agony. I don't know if I have recorded a demo or not, don't recall.

This song was born from my musing one night at a bar, "Who the hell invented cigarettes? Who was this idiot?" I thought of a caveman, "Hey, Gonzo, let's pick some big leaves, dry them, roll them, light them, and suck smoke into our lungs. That oughta be nice!"

:::

“KEN THE CONMAN CAVEMAN” - Bill Pittman
©2004 Bill Pittman All rights reserved

Ken the conman caveman started it
Ken invented booze and cigarettes
First Dthing was blueberry beer
Then found tobacco leaves grew here
Told Gonzo, See these leaves, I got an idear

Ken said when they're dry, we'll roll 'em tight
We'll light the end and suck with all our might
Gonzo said Aw, come on, Ken
Who would want to suck smoke in
You're just drunk, your logic sure is thin

But Ken the conman caveman was a pro
Drank blueberry beer, made Gonzo roll
Movin' 'round the campfire there
Dodging campfire smoke for air
Gonzo said, See, Ken, smoke's bad, I swear

Soon, Gonzo 'as puffin' like a train
Caveman peer pressure was to blame
Then Ken said Let's hunt a deer
We'll take cigarettes and beer
They wheezed thru the forest, all could hear

A cigarette was dangling from his lip
Gonzo said, Hey, Ken, we sure look hip
Ken said Yeah, at caveman school
I was voted Mr. Cool
And when you got it, use it, that's a rule

Somehow, Ken got tangled up in vines
Stompin' 'round, discovered he'd made wine
Wine and cigarettes and beer
Just like rednecks hunt a deer
Where that came from, now, that much is clear

Yeah, Ken the conman caveman did us in
Sold the rights to homo sapiens
Adam fell for anything
When it came to pleasing Eve
And Eve said Ken was sexy, blowing rings

Ken and Gonzo fin'lly lost their mind
Neanderthal, a victim of the vine
Ken's wife, Barb cut off the kiss
And Gonzo's wife stayed really pissed
Booze and cigarettes did all of this

They all died without a single kid
Thank God, Eve and Adam fin'lly did
It could happen again, homo sapiens
Ken the conman caveman started it

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Bill what gets me is when I see a big company like Phillip Morris, etc . doing a Commercial on TV telling people not to smoke!!! meanwhile they make the product?

It's "don't smoke, but if you must, smoke OURS .... " ...
Tobacco growing won't be banned until the growers find another way to make the money ... and think of all the people that would be out of work ?!? ...
t.

Why just let the PEOPLE VOTE at election time if Tobacco should be banned or not?

What gets my goat even more is the Tobacco companies, even though they have commercials saying smoking is hazardous to your health etc., have "intentionally" increased the amount of Nicotine in cigarettes over the last several years. Nicotine as we all know is the ingredient in smokes that gets you addicted. So even though they say "don't start" etc., they have nevertheless 'intentionally' made it more difficult for those wanting to quit to do so by increasing the amount of Nicotine in their tobacco products. It was a very carefully orchestrated and deliberate undertaking to keep you addicted so they could continue to profit from your addiction.

Best regards,
Mike

I hate it as much as anyone but do you honestly think that is a rational thing? Heck, there'd be a civil war. Or, at least, a couple of million murders. Something like 25% of the population smokes. (USA)

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

You better can buy a gun on every streetcorner like in te US ?

Impuls.

Anyone can tell you how well Prohibition worked out for the US........ Bankrolled and bootstrapped organized crime (and the Kennedy's), and criminalized millions of ordinary Americans for doing nothing other that rebel against an unjust law. And it actually resulted in MORE people drinking (especially women) than before it started.

It is long past time that ALL non-lethal drugs be decriminalized, and only the consequences of misuse should be penalized, like alcohol is now. The history of drug criminalization (especially in the US) is a racist tragedy that has done nothing to stop usage and crime. It is long passed time to stop declaring un-winnable 'wars' on ill-defined foes.

By all means, ban public smoking (and pot use and anything else), but Prohibition is a lesson no-one seems to even care about, yet alone apply to modern problems.

Criminalize the consequences of drug use, NOT the drug use itself....... and take the profits away from the criminals, and use them to mitigate the problem, not exacerbate it.

Diki, that's one of the best articulated demonstration of understanding of the issues involving Prohibition, the Kennedys and the financial issues involving organized crime I've see lately. Well done.

There have been similar arguements over the years for the legalization of pornography...take the profit motive away, and prices drop dramatically when something is legaliuzed.

Not an avid proponent of legalizing either porn or drugs, but the issues are what they are.


Russ

What I like about most of the gigs I'm doing now... senior homes, dances, and private parties... is the non-smoking enviornment. Lots better than the 'good olde days' in the bars.

Glenn

Come to Florida....... we've had a ban on bar and restaurant smoking for several years. The bars didn't close, the restaurants are all still in business and no-one lost their gig.....

Captain Russ - porn IS legal in the US, just kiddie porn gets the well-deserved attention of the police. You can buy a Hustler or a Playboy without looking over your shoulders for The Man........ But you can't get a joint.

With alcohol, only the RESULTS of intoxication are penalized - DUI, public intoxication, murder, whatever.... But possession or purchase of the drug itself is no longer prohibited except for the young (and, in the US, even that is an absurd 21 years old now, not the 16 or 17 it used to be in the days of the Greatest Generation - Why, if they were the Greatest Generation, do we try to change everything they did?).

It is assumed that, even under the influence of alcohol, we are responsible for our actions. Why not other intoxicants? Strip the cartels and the drug lords of their profits, and watch the whole problem go away (mostly). THAT is the true lesson of Prohibition......

For those of you who do not know much about tobaco farming, it's one of the few crops you can grow on a postage stamp size parcel of ground that has lousy soil and still make a good profit. In southern Maryland, most of the tobaco farms have been replaced with housing developments where McMansions have been placed on those tiny parcels of ground. The person who was selling tobaco retired on the profits from selling the farmland to a real-estate developer. An acre of ground anywhere within 50 miles of Washington, DC sells for nearly $500,000 U.S.. The homes that are being built on those properties sell for $1-million or more and the size of the homes ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. The irony of this is there are still a few small tobaco growers situated between the McMansion developments. Guess those growers are a bit like OMB performers--they'll never retire.

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Glenn years agop I played clubs where you couln't even see the audience thru the smoked filled Stage colored spotlights....it was like playing in a clouded mist Argggg! Thank goodness smoking is banned almost everywhere!

The current smoking bans are great for the musicians that are just starting to gig. For the rest of us, we'll probably buy it from the second-hand (or in some cases, first-hand) smoke we inhaled ten years ago. But what the heck, you gotta die from something. What's the point in being physically healthy at age 90 but can't remember who you are or what day it is....this is Tuesday, right?

chas

Here's a blurb from Bob Newhart's famous Sir Walter Raleigh sketch:

"Are you saying "snuff," Walt? What's snuff? You take a pinch of tobacco (starts giggling) and you shove it up your nose! And it makes you sneeze, huh. I imagine it would, Walt, yeah. Goldenrod seems to do it pretty well over here. It has some other uses, though. You can chew it? Or put it in a pipe. Or you can shred it up and put it on a piece of paper, and roll it up - don't tell me, Walt, don't tell me- you stick in your ear, right Walt? Oh, between your lips! Then what do you do to it? (Giggling) You set fire to it! Then what do you do, Walt? You inhale the smoke! Walt, we've been a little worried about you...you're gonna have a tough time getting people to stick burning leaves in their mouth...."

That Bob Newheart bit was a classic! Thanks for the reminder of how good the "Button Down Mind" album was!

Russ

and,--good news for the PSR3000, there is no room to place an ashtray on it.
Greetings
Peter

Rhode Island is trying to ban smoking in vehicles where a small child is present ... I have often wanted to go up to one of these cars and ask the driver just what the HELL they are thinking ?!?!? ....
t.

Tony, where were you when my mother use to smoke in the car when I was a young one? I use to hate it, in those days I was told to keep my mouth shut. Now it's child abuse!!

Probably never mentioned I spent most of my working career in sales for RJ Reynolds. Mind you I never wanted to be a cigarette salesman when I grew up. I needed a job at that time, I had been working as a liquor salesman and that job was going to kill me, drank more than I sold some days Short story is there was an opening at RJR and I took it. Contrary to popular belief my job was not to lure in young smokers, in fact when it came to schools we were under strict orders not to promote our products. It was a great paying job, company car, 401k, retirement and when I took the early retirment program they paid my tuition at New England Tech that got me my full time job in IT today. Sorry for the rambling, but I'm with you I find cigarette smoke very offensive and adults should not be smoking in the car with children.




[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 01-30-2007).]

The government in the US is trying to get tobacco regulated as a drug, because unfortunately the tobacco industry is deliberately increasing nicotine levels in cigarettes and chew. Unbelievable shortsightedness on the tobacco industries' part, probably the last thing they wanted to make happen. But greed and collusion have always been their way....

The alcohol industry has been successfully regulated for donkey's years, alcohol contents are clearly labeled on liquor bottles, you won't find yourself addicted because the beer manufacturers decided to surreptitiously increase the alcoholic content of beer and not tell you....

What is it about Big Tobacco that makes them think they can do this without repercussions? They are little better than some Medellin Cartel, smuggling crack...

Of course, some idiot is going to speak up in the name of 'freedom of choice', but those are probably exactly the same people that rejoice in some crack smoker going to jail for half their adult life, for falling under the influence of no less an addictive substance.

Either ALL drugs should be legislated and controlled, or NONE should.

Diki,

Two husbands and my Dad all dead from cigs. It is a sore spot in my life. I have never smoked but I have watched 3 people I loved dearly perish from its use. It is NOT the way you want to DIE!!

Ban it? No, but surely tobacco companies need to be held accountable for the contents of what they sell. We ban products because they cause deaths, yet a cig is OK? We agreed to not ask anymore questions in our BIG settlement with the CIG companies years ago did we not? I do not get it.

Widowed 2 times,

-Lin

Lin..... I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

I lost my wife 6 years ago to alcohol, but feel that it was her choice..... No liquor manufacturer slipped her doubles or triples and told her they were single shots.

I do not feel that tobacco should be banned, just it's users protected from deceptive practices by the industry. Then, at least they could make an informed choice. But surreptitiously increasing the dosage without informing the user is, or should be, criminal.