Two more states about to fall victim to smoking bans Smoke 'em if you've got 'em, people. Because for all you pipe, cigarette, and cigar smokers out there, we're surely in the waning days of the Age of Tobacco. A statewide indoor smoking ban has cleared the state senate in Texas and is looming in Wisconsin. And if those Bill of Rights-shredding, anti-smoking lobbyists have their way, this ban is coming to a state near you sooner than you think. One of the ban's supporters in the Texas statehouse, Sen. Rodney Ellis (a democrat, naturally), claims that "the bill goes a long way toward reducing the incidence of cancer in Texas." Hogwash. Secondhand smoke is one of the biggest loads of bunk ever to be foisted on the population. The hysteria over secondhand smoke has single-handedly ushered in our current age of ever-eroding personal freedoms. As I've written to you on more than one occasion, smokers are merely the first group to have their personal freedoms yanked by do-gooders. Time is running out on personal freedom up in Wisconsin, too, where the political fervor for a statewide smoking ban has been steadily gaining ground as smoke-free laws (of course enacted to "protect" people from secondhand smoke) have spread through 37 towns and cities in the state. Bar and restaurant owners already know that the Wisconsin ban will put a dent in their profits. When the town of Wauwatosa enacted a local smoking ban in 2006, businesses took it on the chin. One restaurant had sales drop as much as 20 percent in a year. The silver lining in this smoke cloud is that some people are finally starting to join me in my argument against these unconstitutional bans on your personal rights and freedoms.
Republican Texas State Sen. Bob Deuell is one of them. He said he voted against his state's ban because, "It's a constitutional, personal property issue; I don't think we have a right to tell somebody what to do with their personal property." Adam White, a Bayside, Wisconsin bar patron (and a non-smoker), acknowledged that the ban puts everyone on the same slippery slope. "I own my own business, and the last thing I want is the government telling me how to run it," he said. And therein lies the essential truth of what all smoking bans represent: the limitation of personal freedom by the government. All in the name of "protecting" people from a nonexistent threat. Over the past few months, I've been keeping you posted on the growing movement against BPA, a chemical found in many plastic containers. Well, it looks like we've finally got a victory on the horizon. Connecticut is on the verge of becoming the first state to enact BPA restrictions. If passed, the ban would mean food products meant for children that are contained in jars and bottles made with BPA could not be sold in the state after October 2011. Twenty-three other states already have similar anti-BPA legislation in the works, and it's also being discussed in Congress. This is serious business. This chemical has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes in adults. It also seems to have estrogen-like effects in children, which means it could potentially accelerate puberty and increase the risk of cancer. Whether your state bans BPA or not, you can declare your own personal ban. It might seem like a small step, but I guarantee that you, your children, and your grandchildren will be all the healthier for it. | 
