One Small House

This section will be updated further in a few days and will concern the fact that no matter how intricate and well planned our attempts at sane regulation of everything from business practices to criminal behavior evolve, we still seem to be having little luck in devising strategies that work for more than a specific time or situation. Why is their no "Unified Field Theory" as posed by Einstein but applied to society as a whole. Why are so many human's content to let others control them, seldom to the benefit of anyone but the controllers. Why can't we keep our small house clean and orderly. Is it possible that we are all still basically savages whose motivations are greed and domination over other. Are we too angry of a species or have we gotten mad enough. As I embark on yet another journey, this time to Phoenix for some music related business, I am going to write this column on the road. I think it is time for me to take a look at a cross section of our species and one can find few opportunities for diversity as dramatic as those fellow travelers (the good and the bad) one meets on the road. My language skills certainly improve I drive or at least the size of my vocabulary. Until next week (approx. May 20th) take a look at the tables below and glean as much common sense as you can from these statistics. When looked at as a unit these two sets of data are in considerable conflict with one another as are the agencies that produced these very data sets. - Doug

Mortality Rates in the US

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Until next time, enjoy - life is tenuous and should be enjoyed aggressively without regret - without fear - be just selfish enough to do simply that. - the ed. As usual, repeated below are some interesting links so that you can keep abreast of vital issues that affect 50 million voting age citizens in the US.

1. http://www.smokersalliance.org     - The National Smokers Alliance
2. http://www.forces.org     -   FORCES - A national smoker's rights organization
3. http://www.smokers.org    - The American Smoker's Alliance
4. http://www.fujipub.com/fot - Friends of Tobacco - A Tobacco and Smoking information clearing house
5. http://www.junkscience.com - A highly entertaining site exposing fraudulent and expensive scientific extrapolations.
6. http://thomas.loc.gov - Current, past, and pending legislative actions, bills - a huge resource organized by subject.
7. http://tobaccolovers.com - A new and growing resource for tobacco related, history, techniques, and links.
8. http://www.smokerscorner.al.ru - A new Eastern European site with a variety of informational sections & services
9. http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-366es.html - a "White" Paper produced by the CATO Institute covering the Shelby Amendment which requires that all aspects of research whose findings lead to legislation being enacted be made part of the public record available to all. Fascinating reading.

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And here to submit your comments

If you have information regarding pending tobacco legislation in your local or state government, please share it with us and we will, in turn, share it with all in these pages. If you want to keep abreast of pending federal legislation, go to http://thomas.loc.gov for a listing of all bills before Congress. For tobacco-specific legislation, you will have to use their search engine. Look under the Legislation column, click on 106th or later under the Bill Summary and Status heading. Next, Search using Word/Phrase, and when the new page comes up, type the word "tobacco" in the Word/Phrase box. Here you will find all current tobacco legislation before Congress. Also check you own state's website for new tax legislation that is surely coming to a tobacco store near you this year.

Hope you'll join us again.
-The Editor

Email us with any comments on this and/or any other issues that relate to your free choice.

EDITOR'S NOTE: These reviews are solely for the convenience of people of legal age who already smoke, are trying to cut down on smoking, wish to spend less money on their smoking, want to roll their own cigarettes from high quality tobacco, and, in general, wish to have a far more satisfying, and economical smoking experience when compared with smoking pre-manufactured cigarettes. We, in no way, encourage people to smoke. Further, we subscribe to a sane, more logical approach to smoking that involves common sense as to quantity coupled with a strong desire to manage the habit until it becomes an occasional, freely chosen, diversion, that can be fully enjoyed with minimal health risks. Finally, we strongly encourage those who do smoke to take it outdoors, or to appropriate environments where tobacco can be enjoyed away from those who do not smoke, most especially children. We do not sell tobacco or related products from this site; We distribute information about our perceptions of the quality of what is available and where it can be obtained. If you are under 18, it is illegal to buy tobacco and you should immediately exit this site. If you do not smoke, it would seem illogical to start.

		" Hard to Keep in Order?"