April 15, 2002

Only God can control our fate.  Yours too!  Maybe a cigarette will do me in, or maybe that school bus will hit me, I don't know and neither do all you anti tobacco people.  In the meantime. I will continue to smoke and I will not worry about it.  When God calls me, I will go and serve him in what ever capacity.  There is no science nor technology that can over ride God's decision as to why I am here or for how long I will be here.

I have been smoking for 35 years.  I listen to all the over inflated hype that the media puts out on the subject, hype that they just read, hype that they get from the wire,hype that is put there by all the anti's.  I wonder about several things, like what ever happened to investigated reporting?  They just read, they do not investigate any more.  I wonder why, when all my friends smokes and I smoke and if these cigarettes are so harmful, why am I still alive?  Why am I able to afford them?  Are all the anti's upset that they have not been able to brain wash me?  I hope so, because right now, God has still allowed me to use my brain and allows me to choose what I will or will not do.

As for Science, I hold no faith.  Weathermen are supposedly scientists and they can not predict the weather.  Last January, I developed a lump on my neck.  I went to a Doctor.  Actually three Doctors.  I had developed an ear infection and terrific headaches prior to the lump appearing.  The first Doctor diagnosed an ear infection in the outer ear drum and put me on an antibiotic drug.  She thought the lump was secretion from the infection draining to a gland.  The drug took care of the ear ache, but the lump was still there.  She sends me to an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist.  He had two fears.  Cancer or lymphoma.  After every scan known to man, after every size and shape of a needle, after every blood test that they can take, after scopes going down my throat, after a second opinion from another Doctor, it was finally decided and admitted that they had no idea what was wrong with me.  After the scope down the throat, they did tell me there was no cancer. 
Finally, on Feb. 25th, they operated on me.  It was a congenital benign cyst.  If you have never heard of it, let me tell you, you have one to.  Everyone has one.  You are born with it.  Most people never know it, as it does not show itself.  So called studies on the condition says that if it is going to show itself, it will appear in your late teens or early 20's.  These Doctors were dumbfounded when they seen it appear in a 50 something lady.  So much for science!  I have a nice 6 inch scar on my neck to prove what they do not know.  My Doctor did try to convince me to quit.  That is his job, he is told that he has to tell me that.  He told me that 7% of smokers die from cancer.  I looked at my scar and thanked him for saying what he is paid to say and 
told him that I will take my chances with the other 93%.

Back to being treated fairly,  The answer is a resounding NO!  I can honestly tell you that cigarette smokers are people from all walks of life.  They are teachers, bus drivers, airline pilots, and Military men and women.  They are people who put their life in jeopardy everyday to protect your life.  Whether they are in a class room, teaching our children, and wondering if another student might burst into their classroom with a loaded weapon, a pilot taking you on your dream vacation, a fireman trying to put the fire out in your house that was caused by worn wires or a military person searching caves looking for a madman who thought that Americans were so wrapped up in themselves they would ignor the fact that they just flew two airplanes into a couple of buildings.  Many of them smoke.  Want to be treated fairly, fine.  We will all cave in to your anti smoking hype.  Once that happens, you get out your garden hose and extinguish your own house fire.  You teach your own children and you volunteer to go search those caves.  Then you talk about what is fair.  Actually, you will not have to go far to search those caves.  These wars are right here on our own streets. 

Was it fair to send our men into battle, whether it was the Civil War,  World War I and World War II or in Afganistan today?  They volunteered to fight and die for your freedom and safety.  They smoked.  Ever hear the phrase, "smoke em if you got em?"  Which war was that from?  That was shouted by Commanding 
Officers after a very heavy gun battle.  Yes, these men smoked and thanked the Lord that they survived another battle.  My dad was one such man.  He smoked and he was awarded a Purple Heart for a gun shot wound during World War II.  A cow saved his life.  Gun fire was heavy, he was shot, there was a fox hole that he was able to crawl to.  Next to that fox hole was a dead cow. He pulled the cow over him, covering the hole.  When the Nazi's came through to view the damage, they walked right past him and the cow.  Yes, that cow saved his life and we won the war.  He is 79 years old and still smokes.  Do you want to be the one to tell him that all he did for you and his country was in vain?  Are you really that selfish?  Do you want to tell me that the 20 some years that I followed my husband around with the Air Force, was in vain?  You see, I thought that we were ensuring your freedom and keeping you safe?  Now after all the years of pulling up roots and dragging my two children from school to school, one year attending three different schools was not needed.  You all would have been happy to do it for us?  As long as we did not excercise our rights to free speech through our desire to smoke, you would have done it?  You, in the time of peace, would go to a foreign country and be involved in a car accident that was clearly not your fault, even though several witnesses comes forward and tells how the accident happened, yet you are told that if you were not an American stationed in that country, the accident never would have happened?  You watch that American go to jail for an accident that was not his fault, or come up with a $50,000 fine to stay out of jail.  Yes, you read that number right.  I know that guy. For the Greek Government to come up with that conclusion is like saying that 
my cigarette caused your asthma, when air polluting buses are driving our roads every day!  Is that fair?  Or is that your convienence?  Was it fair that in the name of your freedom, my kids never got to know their 
grandparents or their aunts and uncles like your kids do?  Was it fair for my son to wake up on the morning of his 16th birthday to see three Army men in front of our house with M-16 rifles, searching for some terrorist who was able to cut the fence around the SHAPE compound in Belgium where we lived at the time of the Gulf War?  yes, that was the day the war began.  Were your kids told that all their sporting events were canceled?  Were they able to attend school without having a bomb sniffing dog check out their school first 
each morning?  Were they able to wear their letter jackets downtown?  Not our kids!  Did you have to crawl under your car every time you got in it and look for suspicious wires that could be a bomb?  Did you have to go through 3 check points, with men in uniform running a mirror under your car every time you wanted to leave your street to go to the store to get milk or to go to work?  These men carried rifles too!  Do you think that was nothing?  We did that for your freedom and for all Americans.  If you answered yes to any of those, may I ask you to please keep walking if you should find yourself in front of a recruiters office.  If you can not tolerate smoke, then you can not tolerate real life.  Just keep your feet up in front of the TV, and watch the world revolve around your sterile pathetic life.  When there is no one left willing to fight your wars, to teach your children or to fight your fires, just ask yourself, "did I do this,am I being treated fairly?"  Then tell yourself, better men than me have given far more than I ever could.  Though I did stamp out that ugly tobacco product.  They gave their lives, I gave my views.

Is this fair?  No.  When the price of gas goes over $3.00 a gallon and you cry foul and say that something has to be done about it, will I think it is fair.  My answer is yes.  Afterall, if I want to smoke, I have to do it 
through higher cigarette taxes. If you want to drive a car, you pay for it too.  Want new roads?  Pay for them!  Want a sterile environment?  You will pay for that too!  You will only have one question and you will already have the answer.  It will be right in front of your faces?  You just will need to ask it.  The question?  God, how did we ever get here?  The answer that will appear will be, your selfish greed!

Sincerely,
Diane
 

November 8, 2002

American Constitutional Research Service
Florida’s Amendment 6...it’s un-constitutional!

When Florida’s Supreme Court approved a proposed amendment to ban smoking to be placed on Florida’s ballot, not only did the members of the Court violate their oath of office to uphold our Constitution, but they dealt a crippling blow to our “Republican form of Government” guaranteed by Article 4, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, and endorsed direct democracy___ a mob rule system intentionally forbidden by our nation’s Founding Fathers!

In support of the above statement, the following is a 1977 Florida Attorney General's Opinion which addresses the issue of government regulation of private property [privately owned businesses] for the "health, safety and welfare" of the state, which an INTOLERANT MOB has asserted is the primary purpose of their Amendment 6. 

But there are rules to be followed concerning our existing system of government which come under the heading called “constitutional law“. What makes decisions of the Supreme Court of Florida valid, and in compliance with our constitutional system, is, decisions made by the Court must be grounded within the rules of constitutional law, and not be a reflection of the Courts’ personal predilections as was the case when it approved amendment 6 to be placed on the ballot! 

In reviewing the rules of constitutional law we find: “Perhaps the most basic of all the rules of constitutional construction (since it is the rule which all other rules may be said to be designed to implement) is the principle that a constitution is to be given the effect and meaning contemplated by its framers and by the people who adopted it.” [ see Vol 16 Am Jur (constitutional law) Sec. 91] 

Please note: William F. Fann, Jr. uses the same source material [Vol 16 Am Jur (constitutional law) see 4th par] in the above mentioned Attorney General's Opinion

Florida’s Declaration of Rights states the following:

SECTION 1. Political power.--All political power is inherent in the people. The enunciation herein of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or impair others retained by the people...

And what are some of these other rights [in addition to the right of initiative] retained by the people which are forbidden to be impaired or denied?

SECTION 2. Basic rights.--All natural persons…have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property

AND ARTICLE X of Florida’s Constitution states:
 

MISCELLANEOUS
 

SECTION 6. Eminent domain.
 

(a) No private property shall be taken except for a public purpose and with full compensation therefor paid to each owner or secured by deposit in the registry of the court and available to the owner. 

In fact, Amendment 6, as worded, violates the spirit and intent of the above mention Section 6 by attempting to establish a use of private property for a public use without just compensation, and also violates the prohibition against constitutional rights [which includes the initiative process] being exercised “to deny or impair others retained by the people…” [see above cited SECTION 2. Basic rights.--]

In the instant case the Supreme Court of Florida approved an issue to be placed on the ballot involving constitutional rights which individuals have over their property as well as other individual unalienable constitutional rights___ allowing such rights to be made susceptible to the whims and passions of a majority of those who may decide to vote__ rather than requiring a deliberate and inquisitorial investigation being made into the subject matter [the health, safety and welfare of the public] by elected “representative“, and a determination being thus made with a delicate balance between individual rights and the health safety and welfare of the State as is done repeatedly in the Attorney General’s above opinion, and is the “constitutional method” to solve such matters when individual rights and a public passion collide! 

Florida’s Bill of Rights which states “The enunciation herein of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or impair others retained by the people.” apply to property and business owners as well as patrons; to the rich and poor alike; to smokers and non smokers; and to an employer as well as those who are employed. Constitutional rights are forbidden to be used by one faction to deny or impair other constitutional rights retained by the people, and especially not those contained in a state’s Declaration of Rights! 

In our system, the determination of such matters as raised in amendment 6 has been delegated by Florida’s Constitution to elected “representatives“, and is what distinguishes our system___ a constitutionally limited “Republican Form of Government” guaranteed by Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution___ from that of a democracy, or “two wolves and a sheep voting for what shall be for dinner.” 

As Madison points out while talking about "democracies", he says in Federalist Paper No. 10. 

"...have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths..."

And so, the Founding Fathers gave us a system intentionally designed to protect the unalienable rights of individuals, including their property rights, by a constitution, which forbids such rights to be susceptible to a mere majority vote of those who may decide to vote.
 

In studying the Attorney Generals’ opinion and current letters to the editor in Florida’s newspapers on the subject of amendment 6, it is not difficult to conclude that indeed, the general public, in approving Amendment 6 has not based its approval upon the delicate balance between individual property rights and public safety as carried out in the various cases cited in the Attorney General’s opinion, but has used a mob rule vote [direct democracy, forbidden by our constitution] to express their personal passions and desires, without regard to constitutionally protected rights of others, which is exactly what the Founders of our system of government intended to preclude.

The Supreme Court of Florida was a willing participant and accomplice in the abuse of the initiative process, a process never intended to be a vehicle to allow unalienable rights guaranteed by Florida’s Declaration of Rights to be a target of direct democracy, and is, as a matter of law, strictly forbidden by the legislative intent of Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States which guarantees a “Republican Form of Government” to every state in the Union! 
 

For the legislative intent of the Founding Fathers guaranteeing a “Republican Form of Government” see Federalist Paper No. 10

For the above stated reasons Florida’s Amendment 6 must immediately be appealed to the United States Supreme Court and overturned, and the Court must establish strict guidelines to control the initiative process so as to remove it from those areas in which individual civil liberties and unalienable rights are concerned, and which ought never be subject to mob-rule vote nor a tyranny of the majority.
 

John William Kurowski, Founder
American Constitutional Research Service
Seminole, FL 

November 6, 2002

Making my reservations and finding connections at airports that offers a smoking lounge was no easy task.  I finally found a flight with available seats that would take me to Albany, NY, but this meant a connection in 
Charlotte, North Carolina.  We would have a three hour overlay in Charlotte and it was abit off the beaten path, but hey, I could have a cigarette at that airport.  We were to leave Seattle at 8:30 AM.  That meant that I would have to be at the airport at 6:30AM, for my 2 hour show time, ensuring time to go through security.  Okay, concessions can be made, I can take a nap on the plane.  The reservations are made and confirmed.  Not two days later, US Airways announces bankrupcy and say that flights would be canceled and they 
would not be making travel easier.  I just knew that was going to be me.  Yep, a week later I recieve an email saying that my departure time is now 7:00AM and our layover in Charlotte was to be 5 1/2 hours.  Wonderful!  This now means we have to be at the airport at 5:00AM.  We arrive, check in, get our boarding passes and head for outside for what would be our last cigarette for a few hours.  We go through security and my purse is scanned.  How many of you have had a lighter that is running low, so you throw it in your purse, 
just in case you need it?  I always do that and to be honest, I forgot about them.  Well, it seems that I had 6 of them in the bottom of my purse, so 4 of them were confiscated.  They did let me keep the full ones.  I also pointed out that I had a bag of tootsie roll pops to hold me over during the flight.  

As luck would have it, we pulled away from the gate on time and did not have any wait at the end of the runway.  The pilot comes on the PA and tells us this and adds that with this good furtune and good tail winds, we would be arriving in Charlotte a 1/2 hour earlier than expected.  Great, this now means I have 6 hours there.  We arrive in Charlotte and disembark the aircraft.  To my pleasure, I find that right across the aisle from our gate is a restaurant/lounge where I can smoke.  It is packed, but we find a small table in the back.  We light up and order a lunch.  When we finished eating, we left as soon as we could, as the place was full of smokers, looking for a table.  We took off for a walk to see what this airport had to offer, but 
told our waitress that we would be back.  She was a sweet little girl, but then again, this was North Carolina.  On our walk, we find that this concourse has 6 establishments that allows smoking.  Each one was packed full of smokers and I tried to have a drink and a smoke in each one.  We walked past a few places where smoking was not allowed and I noticed that they had several empty tables.  They didn't offer alcololic beverages either.  Couldn't help but wonder how many more people would be flying, paying for tickets, keeping airlines in business if they were allowed to smoke.  Of course, I started up a few conversations with people at tables near us and found out that these travelers were flying only because of distance and vacation time.  Some were on business trips but what we all had in common was the fact that we would be driving if the time allowed.  

The 6 hours comes to an end, it really did pass by quickly.  We meant some great people.  All smokers.  We arrive in Albany NY, another airport that does not allow smoking.  While my husband was getting our rent a car, I step outside for a smoke.  Another gal joins me and she says, "this is why I do not miss New York"!  I find that she just came in from South Carolina.  Got to love those Carolina States!!!  She tells me that in South Carolina, you can smoke any where.  Convienent stores, postoffice, Government buildings, supermarkets, everywhere.  

We have gone to New York for several reasons and one was for a wedding that is in Saratoga.  On Friday evening, there is a rehearsal/out of towners dinner which we were also invited to.  I was pleased to hear the hostess ask diners if they preferred a smoking or non smoking section.  They actually had one of those.  In Washington, we eat in the bar if we want to smoke.  Our dinner is upstairs and the host has requested no smoking so to keep the antis happy.  I did not know the grooms side of the family so wasn't sure who these 
people were.  I knew that most of the brides family smoked.  As luck would have it, I would soon find out.  The tables were set for 8 and I got to sit with 6 antis.  The entire conversation during dinner was a bashing of 
smokers.  One couple at the table was a sister and husband of the brides mother, the only non smoker in the family.  Another couple was from Scotland. Both were in the medical profession.  The brides aunt is a receptionist for a Plastic Surgeon, but she considered herself an expert in health care.  My husband and I ate in silence, just listening to how evil we were.  Just before dessert was served, I excused myself and went to my son-in law and told him what my life at this table was like.  My daughter was a matron of honour at this wedding and they were seated with the bridal party and their better halfs.  When dinner was over, their entire table stood up and came over to my table and in a voice loud enough for the whole room to hear, David 
asks me if I am ready to go for a smoke.  The gasps coming from our fellow diners was hilarious.  I stood up and announced that "yes, I am your enemy, I am that evil person".  We go downstairs to the bar where we are joined by 3/4 of the rest of the party.  Once again, I met some more great people.  Some from the area of upstate New York, some from Canada,from New Jersey and from as far away as Scotland.  

The next day is the wedding.  A beautiful event.  The establsihment where the reception was held did not allow smoking anywhere in the building.  Even though they had a bar, they preferred to send us outside.  To their credit, they did give us ashtrays.  Most of the reception was held outside, as there were more smokers than non smokers.  There was a time when the owner of this establishment was standing in the entranceway and was blocking my exit for another smoke.  I used the opportunity to tell the person that I was going 
outside with there was no way I would book a party of any kind in a place that did not allow indoor smoking of some kind.  She echoed my sentiment saying they obviously did not need our money.  Unfortunately, he will get his money from someone else, but at least we were heard.

The next day, we leave for Connecticut to visit our son.  He takes us to the Mohegan Sun Casino one day.  Now here is a place where smoking is allowed just about everywhere.  Got to love the casinos too!  We go upstairs for lunch and choose Michael Jordan's restaurant.  Now for the people who has never been there, he has a restaurant and a bar/lounge.  The restaurant is clearly marked no smoking, so we go to the bar section.  There is several booths and tables in this room and the hostess seats us, only to tell us that there is no smoking at the tables.  To eat and smoke, you have to sit at the bar.  Now there is no walls that separates these tables from the bar, nothing to block smoke, ten feet from the restaurant you can smoke anywhere.  What is 
the justificatiion for this?  Conclusion, make them as uncomfortable as you can, but take their money for their meal.  Contrary to my better judgement, we did eat there, but I stated that if Michael needed more money, he had better concentrate on more Haines commercials, as that was the last meal and dollar for me.

The next day, we head back to New York, where we dined in several different restaurants.  To my pleasure, we were not discriminated in any one of them.  Had lunch one day at a "Applebees".  When we told the hostess that we wanted a smoking section, she gave us a very cheery "all right".  We took the last table in that section.  While eating, another table came in and when the hostess was checking out the availability of another smoking table, I heard the waiter say to her, "not another table, I want to go for a smoke too"!  So much for your Mayor Bloombergs theory that he has to protect the health of restaurant workers.  We had a meal one night at a place called "Poor Jim's".  There was a sign on his door that said "smokers and non smokers are welcome"  Every table had an ashtray and as an easedropper, I did not hear one complaint.  My in-laws owns a restaurant where there are no walls that separates smokers from non smokers.  Just one side has ashtrays the other doesn't.  Didn't hear any complaints there either.  We did talk about it and my father -in-law told me that in the 20 years that he has been in business, he has only had one complaint.  A lady who is now a regular customer told a waitress that she loved the food and prices there, but she felt that the 
smoking should be banned.  The waitress, being a smoker herself, wanted to tell her what she thought, but wanting to keep her job, she went in the kitchen and told Tom what the complaint was.  He went out and told her, in a voice that was heard in the bar, that as much as he liked her and appreciated her business, he did not need it.  He listed several more Italian/American restaurants where her wishes might be met, but as far as his restaurants was concerned, she would not be dictating who his customers could be or how his restaurant is run.  The following week, he recieved a note from her, where she apologized and told him that he was absolutely right.  She is now a regular customer and eats there at least twice a week, if not more.

Finally, we are on our return flight back to Washington.  Our connecting flight is in Philadelphia.  They have a smoking lounge in every concourse.  We found it, after walking past several non smoking lounges where the most I seen was 3 people in each.  We got there to find literally wall to wall people.  It was standing room only and it was hard to bring the cigarette to your mouth, for fear of hitting someone.  Where there is a will there is a way.  I did manage to smoke two cigarettes here, but couldn't help but think how nice it would be if a couple of the other places we passed in search of this place allowed smoking too.  There were several employees jumping from one customer to another and once again, no complaints about working in a 
smoking establishment.

We are now back in Washington, where we sit in a bar to eat.  Being people with three heads and no rights, we are not even showed to a table.  No respect for the lowly smoker.  Yet at our favorite bar, the waitress tells us how they argue over who gets to work the bar area.  Seems we smokers are better tippers.  I am back two days when I bring up my hometown newspaper online to see if anything exciting has happened.  Read the Letters to the Editor and see a letter written by a member of "Action".  An antitobacco group in upstate New York.  Seems they had a very successful march on Sunday. There were 85 people in attendence.  Their goal?  To ban smoking in all the bars and restaurants in Hamilton, Fulton and Montgomery Counties.  How sad that the happy go lucky people that I had just visited with is about to loose their rights to eat out and smoke, drink and smoke or just chose to stay at home.  You see, these people are so passive, they think it will not happen to them.  I feel so sad for them.

In closing, I would like to tell your readers about a book that I picked up at a bookstore in the Charlotte Airport.  It is titled, "The Case Against Lawyers" and was written by Catherine Crier.  She is a Lawyer turned Judge, turned reporter, working for CNN, 20/20 and now Court TV.  Though she is not a smoker and has said that she doesn't like it, she does reveal the corruption in the Law, especially with Lawyers who are willing to sue for anything, as long as there is a dollar at the end.  She tells of bribery in Government, from the lowly City Councils to the White House and their Staff.  If anyone wants to know the hows, whys and wheres as to how we got from being first class citizens to the lowest of lows, I encourage you to read this book.  I promise that the first chapter alone will be enough to infuriate you into action.  People, it is time we took our lives back.  The lone voices of Audrey Silk and the voices of Force's alone will not do it.  As great as they are, they need each and everyone of us and our voices to be heard.  For antitobacco and the Lawyers and the Politicians to get to where it is today, it took money.  Yes, money does talk.  If we are to take our rights and lives back, it is going to take more money.  We need to ban together, pool our money and scream as loud as we can.  May I suggest a monthly contribution to nycclash or to forces, with the money going to TV and radio ads?  How about making the year 2003, the year we took our lives back?  It will be an uphill struggle, but with the support of all, we can do it.  One town, one city, one State at a time.

Diane