Smoke Free Wisconsin=Big Pharma=Astroturf

Over the past few months Smoke Free Wisconsin has been campaigning to restore taxpayer funding to Tobacco Control. Over the last few weeks I have been showing their ties to Big Pharma! I showed their ties to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) . I also showed their ties to Pfizer. I even exposed their lies on the tax increase and the e-cigarette.

Much has been said about Astroturf as of late and in April I exposed Smoke Free Wisconsin’s Astroturf claiming to be Taverns Clearing the Air, in August I exposed how Tobacco Control claimed that group such as ours were astroturf. What I did not do is make the connection that the astroturf organization “Taverns Clearing the Air” had to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). According to RWJF they helped produce the educational brochure. But I would call it astroturf not educational but here is the actual brochure right off of RWJF’s site. I will let you decide. http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20090211wistavernmailer.pdf

Again should dishonest organizations such as this get one single dime of taxpayers money. I think it is time we look into how much money Big Pharma has contributed to politicians. Who will help?

Pfizer busted!

WASHINGTON – Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug maker, will pay a record $2.3 billion civil and criminal penalty over unlawful prescription drug promotions, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

The department said the $2.3 billion settlement included a $1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest criminal fine in U.S. history. The agreement also included a criminal forfeiture of $105 million.

Pfizer has been a driving force behind the smoking bans, hasn’t anyone noticed the massive Chantix commercials on TV starting a week before the tax increase? How many times have you seen this one in the last week!

Why do I bring up Pfizer, well last week I showed the ties between Smoke Free Wisconsin and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Well in just the 4th quarter of 2008 Smoke Free Wisconsin received $14,000.00 in Grants from Pfizer. It’s interesting that they don’t mention their Big Pharma ties while they go on making false accusations that e-cigarettes were products produced by Big Tobacco to get kids hooked. Of course they can’t have people using products that wouldn’t put money in their handlers pockets.

Phizer has their finger in every aspect of smoking bans and smoking cessation programs.

Dr Siegel exposed some of this last year.

As I have reported here, the national recommendation that Chantix and other smoking cessation drugs be used to treat nicotine dependence in every smoking patient, including the conclusion that Chantix is a superior treatment to the nicotine patch alone and the decision to recommend Chantix despite its reported potential adverse effects, was made by a national expert panel that had severe financial conflicts of interests.

The panel’s chair – Dr. Michael C. Fiore – “reported that he served as an investigator on research studies at the University of Wisconsin (UW) that were supported wholly or in part by four pharmaceutical companies, and in 2005 received compensation from one pharmaceutical company. In addition, he reported that, in 1998, the UW appointed him to a named Chair, which was made possible by an unrestricted gift to the UW from GlaxoWellcome.”

Importantly, Dr. Fiore has reported “that he has lectured and consulted for Pfizer and has served as an investigator on research studies at the University of Wisconsin (UW) that were supported by GlaxoSmithKline, Nabi, Pfizer, and sanofi-aventis.” Pfizer is the company that markets Chantix.

Not to mention their financing a course for doctors through the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A Pfizer promotional campaign for the controversial drug Chantix – which includes financing a course for doctors through the University of Wisconsin-Madison – has helped the drug dominate the prescription smoking-treatment market while burying mention of its serious side effects.

Chantix now accounts for 90% of smoking cessation prescriptions, even though the Food and Drug Administration has been investigating the drug for a rash of serious side effects, such as suicidal behavior and blackouts.

None of the side effects are mentioned in the UW continuing education online course, which is paid for by Pfizer. The course directly mentions only Chantix as a first-line treatment, even though the drug is one of seven first-line treatments, according to national guidelines.

I think it is high time to end all public funding to Tobacco control including the MSA.

o control including the MSA.

Mercury Marine a Progressive success story!

“There has been a significant amount of speculation regarding the state’s incentive package for Mercury Marine. While the Department of Commerce does not release details regarding on-going negotiations with companies, because doing so would likely put Wisconsin at a competitive disadvantage with other states, I believe that it is important to share certain details because any advantage to another state is greatly outweighed by the benefit to Wisconsin in helping provide information that could lead to a different result should another union vote occur before this Sunday.

DUH!!! We have been at a competitive disadvantage for years high taxes and low wages are a progressives dream. They don’t believe in creating wealth they believe in spreading misery equally. The excessive taxes has driven good paying jobs away for years.

Not only has she lost population, but Wisconsin has also lost money. Every month in every community sees someone who has a little money pack up and leave the state. This has been going on for years. Money has drained out all that time.

From 2001 to 2006, folks fleeing the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin took with them $1.3 billion more in personal income than households moving into the area. Where did they go? To other states and to the lower-tax, lower-crime areas of Wisconsin.3

What neighborhood or family doesn’t know a half score of acquaintances who have packed up, scraped together their assets and headed to sunnier or more wealth-friendly climes? Maricopa County, Ariz.; Lee County, Fla.; Denver County, Colo.; and Clark County, Nev., teem with expatriate Badgers and their cash.

A September 2008 study from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Government found that Wisconsin has one of the five worst migration patterns in the country: While people with money are moving out, we are a magnet for the poor.4

In states like New Jersey, the Princeton study found, “poor people leave, but rich people do not.” Wisconsin is the anti-Jersey: Wisconsin, it found, “is more attractive to low-income individuals than high-income earners.” . . . .

Wisconsin’s per capita income has fallen from 98% of the national average at the beginning of the decade to under 94% at the end of last year – a drop of $5,000 a year for a family of four. Yet our neighbors – who share the scourge of our climate – continue to grow comparatively rich. Our per capita income ($34,476) lags behind both Minnesota ($38,751) and Illinois ($38,297).5

We lag behind the nation and our own region both in creating jobs and opening new businesses. In 2006, the number of businesses nationally grew by 2.5%, while here the number of new private-sector businesses dropped 0.4%.6 By the end of 2007, the state had 2,487 fewer private businesses than it had in 2006.7 And so it goes. Last year, Wisconsin was one of just 20 states where local venture capital funds raised no money at all.8

Zilch.

Wisconsin isn’t just losing dollars; she is also losing brains. According to the UW Board of Regents, Wisconsin ranks dead last in attracting college graduates into the state;9 meanwhile, half of our new migrants from other states were high school dropouts. While the proportion of college graduates in the nation’s population has actually risen 1.8% in the last five years, the percentage of our population holding at least a bachelor’s degree (24.6%) dropped 0.3 percentage points. Wisconsin is now last in the region, behind Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.

This from the same governor who recently signed a $186 million business tax hike, driving long term employers like Harley Davidson and Briggs & Stratton out of Wisconsin and also braggs about being the fifth highest cigarette tax on the poor. Of course he wants to keep them poor to maintain control!

Way to go progressives, I prefer the free market.

Your too stupid!

Great article on the nanny state.

Think you know best how to run your life? Nope.

Turns out, you’re too dumb to control your own destiny. That’s the message of the Nanny State, as revealed by its various laws, prohibitions, regulations, bans, ordinances, statutes, guidelines, policies, and so forth. We have smoking bans, drug laws, seatbelt laws, laws against gambling, laws regulating gun ownership, and on and on. We have these laws in place to protect you from your own freedom. After all, freedom is too dangerous to be entrusted to you.

Here is the complete article.

Tobacco control = big pharma

Anyone who has been on Smoke Free Wisconsin’s blog knows that they are celebrating the draconian tax on cigarettes. Ignoring the fact that this is nothing but an attempt at social engineering by Comrade Doyle and his socialist brethren look at the true force behind the taxes and the ban.

Smoke Free Wisconsin was started by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Why is this relevant. Well first you have to understand exactly who they are.
For more on Johnson and Johnson click here. Is there any wonder that every method that they recommend includes drugs or drug company Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT)? Why the big push for Big Pharma solutions when it has been proven time and again that cold turkey has a much higher success rate? In a recent blog entry they push the American Cancer Society’s Guide to quitting smoking. If you read the guide there is a big push for Big Pharma solutions and bashes non Big Pharma solutions. This is no big surprise since Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. exposes the ACS’s ties to Big Pharma in his book “Cancer-Gate: How to Win the Losing Cancer War” He also exposes the American Cancer Society: The World’s Wealthiest “Nonprofit” Institution. In this article he says;

The “nonprofit” status of the Society is in sharp conflict with its high overhead and expenses, excessive reserves of assets and contributions to political parties. All attempts to reform the Society over the past two decades have failed; a national economic boycott of the Society is long overdue.

Cancer Drug Industry
The intimate association between the ACS and the cancer drug industry, with cur-rent annual sales of about $12 billion, is further illustrated by the unbridled aggression which the Society has directed at potential competitors of the industry (13). Just as Senator Joseph McCarthy had his “black list” of suspected communists and Richard Nixon his environmental activist “enemies list,” so too the ACS
maintains a “Committee on Unproven Methods of Cancer Management” which periodically “reviews” unorthodox or alternative therapies. This Committee is comprised of “volunteer health care professionals,” carefully selected proponents of orthodox, expensive, and usually toxic drugs patented by major pharmaceutical companies, and opponents of alternative or “unproven” therapies which are
generally cheap, nonpatentable, and minimally toxic.

So while groups like Smoke Free Wisconsin and the ACS bash non-Big Pharma solutions like the e-cigarette and discount quitting cold turkey will they spend one dime on researching their effectiveness? Of course not. It adds nothing to the bottom line of their handlers.

Today Dr Michael Siegel had an interesting blog on the subject.

Question 5 is:

“Which medication do you recommend for me, and how do I use it?”

Notice that the question is not: “Do you recommend a medication for me, or do you recommend that I quit cold turkey?”

This is very curious (and unwarranted) advice, since we know that on a population basis, cold turkey quit attempts are the most successful. Moreover, if the patient has already expressed a desire to quit on his or her own – cold turkey – then putting them on drugs is probably the last thing you want to do as a physician.

Nevertheless, this document tells every smoker to ask their doctor which medication to take, not whether or not to use medication.

The bottom line is can these groups be trusted when the driving force behind them is Big Pharma and the politicians that Big Pharma has in their pockets? After all Phizer alone contributed $5000.00 to Doyle.

Reason Friday Funnies smoking.

Velvet Glove, Iron Fist

Michael J. Mcfadden does a very good review of Christopher Snowdon’s book Velvet Glove, Iron Fist.

While not as strongly focused on Antismokers’ psychological language tricks and dubious scientific deceptions underlying smoking bans as my own Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains, Chris Snowdon does not neglect these areas

and on the contrary has done an excellent job of showing how they form an integral part of the history. His approach embodies a strong neutrality that will win him friends and enemies on both sides of the issue, but I believe that overall, that neutrality only serves to underscore the damning facts that will eventually bring judgment against what historian Jeremy Richards has called “America’s Second Great Prohibition Experiment.”

Part of the reason that I bring upChristopher Snowdon and his book is he did an interview with David Goerlitz the former Winston man who exposed the fact that the cigarette companies did in fact target kids with their advertising. Like Dr Michael Siegel he is dissillusuoned with tobacco control and can no longer remain silent about the zellotry and corruption of the tobacco control movement. Here is an exerpt from an email he sent to Ryan.

Four or five months ago, I decided to sever ties with the anti-tobacco movement and made the decision to “come out”, but had to have my ducks in a row. I am ready to expose with what ever Army I have to back me up the inner workings, the politics. the corruption, and

moronic bans, legislation and FDA bill that is nothing short of of being racist, protectionist,cynical, hypocritical, and misguided.

Just to remind you, this has been a long time coming and I know I’m ready to take My fight and Your fight to the streets. If you are serious about bringing this issue to a head, I’m your man. Whatever you heard about me when I was the keynote speaker in Madison in Nov. of 2008, I only talked about my experiences and never came off as a zealot. I just wanted yo to know that. Check me out, and if I can help, give a call and I’ll answer any and all questions you need answered.

My Youtube interviews with Chris Snowdon came out a couple of weeks ago as well as the scathing accusations of one of our biggest hoaxes ever perpotrated on the public.

David B. Goerlitz,
Former Winston Man
http://www.formerwinstonman.org

Exclusive interview with long-standing anti-smoking spokesman David Goerlitz. Read about it at Spiked and listen to the whole extraordinary interview here.

Shock! Not all Smoke Free groups censor their site

This was posted on my about page.

“You posted to the mogasp blog but your post was incomplete. For me to consider it please complete and resubmit, but I make no promises in advance about approval. Thanks. Martin Pion.

Since he decided not to post my response I will post it here.

Here is an excellent rebuttal of the Klien study.

When it comes to the harm done to charitable gambling that has been proven time and time again.
http://kuneman.smokersclub.com/PDF/MNsmokingbanstudy.pdf
The bottom line is that the only studies that show no economic harm were those done by tobacco control. The one done by Kline did not show anything economic. Just raw employment data. Not whether it was full time or part time or whether their tips went up or down just how many people were employed. It ignores the fact that this study was done In Minnesota and over three hundred bars went out of business as a result of the ban. Just in the Mall of America there were fifteen bars and they all went out of business as a result of the ban.

As far as your post on my website.

“You posted to the mogasp blog but your post was incomplete. For me to consider it please complete and resubmit, but I make no promises in advance about approval. Thanks. Martin Pion.”

I do not censor my site, I also will let you know that I am a member of Ban the ban Wisconsin. I and we are willing to allow dissenting opinions and are willing to defend our position until hell freezes over. We do not have to censure our site. We present the facts and let the public decide. Hannegan presents the facts. You might not like the facts but they are there for everyone to see. The facts are that you people can not prove one single death caused by second hand smoke. All you have is very weak statistics based on lifestyle surveys. Now how many ex smokers claim to be never smokers just because groups like yours made them out to be the pariah of society? Also since when did the government get to make a minority second class citizens and tax them as such? Can you show any justification to force smokers to pay for non-smokers health care through the S-CHIP? There is no way that you can justify that theft through taxation. You can censure my post and that is fine. I am use to that from tobacco control. I will say that your censorship will speak a thousand words and I will pass it on to every group that believes in the freedom of choice!!

Edited the 16th with name change after response! mogasp not only published the post he responded here

mogasp ,

Thank you for responding and publishing my response. No I didn’t distort your intent. You did not make your intent clear. I do not know why the rest of my original post did not show up. When you posted to my site I immediately went to your site and rectified the situation. It sat waiting for moderation until after I posted this one. I am pleasantly surprised as most anti-smoking sites are heavily censored such as.
http://smokefreewisconsin.blogspot.com/
i
Even in your own back yard.
http://www.smokefreestl.org/

If you look there are hardly any responses to their blog entries and in the rare event they do allow a decenting opinon they cut the dialog off after their response, so I commend you for your integrity.

Peoples Republic of Madison

It has been said before but now it is fact. Madison must be rolling in his grave. The peoples republic of Madison have stripped property rights. A private business is now “public space” and they can dictate what legal products you can use.a violation of our own constitution.

Private property for public use. SECTION 13. The property
of no person shall be taken for public use without just compensation
therefor.

Communism (from Latin communis = “common”) is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general.

As we slip even further down the slope towards socialism Comrade Doyle even wants to set up checkpoints.

Most of us are in much more danger from a drunk driver than we are from a person that is going to break into our house,” he said. “I don’t think we should have a ban (on checkpoints). . . . I think it can be a useful tool

Now no rational person condones drunk driving but what ever happened to probable cause?

Here is what the Capital Times think of you “Rubes” that live outside of the Kremlin.

Madison has long prided itself on being “surrounded by reality.”” I used the phrase as the title for a collection of my newspaper columns. Many city residents appreciate the progressive mind-set and colorful characters.” that can lead rubes in northern Wisconsin to say Madison is “surrounded by reality

I have an Idea that I am going to try to get off the ground. If the day before the Smoking ban goes into effect we can get a substantial percentage of the Bars to throw Kremlin party with pictures like the above flashing on the TV screens playing The Russian national anthem all night and Vodka specials. That would be one hell of a Independence day protest. People who are weak on their history our founding fathers formulated their plans in the pubs. It is highly appropriate that when we fight to take back our property rights it starts in the pubs!
So the Peoples Republic of Madison is the word of the day.

Big brother alive and well in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody’s movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

However, the District 4 Court of Appeals said it was “more than a little troubled” by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals.

As the law currently stands, the court said police can mount GPS on cars to track people without violating their constitutional rights — even if the drivers aren’t suspects.

Officers do not need to get warrants beforehand because GPS tracking does not involve a search or a seizure, Judge Paul Lundsten wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel based in Madison.

So they don’t need a reason to tag your car and find out everyone you have had contact with. If this mentality is allowed to proceed why not make it mandatory to make tracking devices mandatory on all vehicles. Better yet make it mandatory to embed GPS tracking devices then if you have associations with groups that the government finds undesirable we can track your every move. You don’t have to do anything wrong for the collective to track you, all we need is a perceived threat to the collective. They are already trying to pull the same bullshit with our guns. Soon you will need government permission to leave your government owned housing.