STAND UP AND BE COUNTED

Receiving letters such as the one from Bettina is a true motivator for C.A.G.E. to work even harder towards restoring our civil freedoms. If Bettina’s encouraging words and concrete actions can motivate more people to stand up and be counted, the nanny state can and will be beaten. All it takes is for anyone and everyone who cherishes his freedoms and despises manipulation and corruption to do one single meaningful thing per week such as writing to the media, participating in a public forum or an open line, contacting his MP and educating others to the issues. Sooner than we realize, our politicians’ zone of comfort would be threatened and they would start to listen to reason instead of hype. Although it takes a little more sustained effort, constant presence in the media of our side of the story by hundreds or thousands of people is worth much more than one demonstration in the streets that will be quickly forgotten once the event passes.

Dear CAGE,

I just wanted to thank you for all your current efforts.

In response to an article in the daily Metro newspaper from Jan 7th on "Third Hand Tobacco Smoke", I sent a letter that was subsequently published on the weekend Jan 9-11th edition. I have included it below.

Thank you CAGE for inspiring me to do something about this oppression. Please contact me if there is any protests or demonstrations planned in the Montreal area. I'll be there!

État nounou

Je lis votre journal chaque jour et je suis tombée sur l’article intitulé «Nouveau front contre les fumeurs» sur la fumée tertiaire. Selon moi, les discours du genre sont démesurés quand on considère que les foyers des gens sont pleins de toutes sortes de polluants potentiellement nocifs, incluant les émanations chimiques des tapis, des textiles, de la peinture, des produits ménagers, etc. Alors s.v.p., remettons les choses en perspective.

Qu’on soit fumeur ou non, du moment où les gens au pouvoir se mettent à régenter ce que les gens font chez eux, c’est très inquiétant. On vit présentement dans un Nanny State en croissance, où le gouvernement se permet de plus en plus de s’imposer dans la vie privée des gens en criant haut et fort que c’est «pour le bien de la société». Et j’en ai marre.

Et quoi après? La surveillance vidéo à domicile?

Bettina Costanzo, Montréal

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD HEARD IT ALL

Another piece of ridiculous junk science hit the media this week. While the debate on the harms of second hand smoke is raging more than ever since an ever increasing number of reputed scientists are denouncing the biased methods of the second hand smoke cherry picked findings, we are now being hit by an even more irrational fear propaganda for the obvious purpose of further stigmatizing smokers and isolating them from their friends, family, employers and landlords : Lo and behold we are told, third hand smoke is a menace !

We will not dignify this nonsense with an analysis of the findings of the study. Instead, we offer you a copy of a letter sent out by one of our members to the CBC, one of the many media that reported the study. Although the writer addressed his letter only to the CBC, all of the media that dignified this anti-smoker hogwash by reporting it, deserve the same justified criticism.

Just saw your news story about "thirdhand smoke". The story angle should have been about how gullible reporters too lazy to get an unbiased second opinion pander to the panic- mongering of charlatans. I can’t believe you went with this story, and that you did so in such a poor manner. It’s absurd and makes me question your network’s common sense. You would do better to start worrying about the real pollution outside of cars and homes rather than the residual smell of tobacco inside a car or room. If we were to believe your stories, we should start wondering how all the people who smoked or were surrounded by smoke before the 1990s are even still alive. Shame on you.

Read the CBC article here