"Unions, Non-Profits & the Church"

   Magnum and EXP1000 Updates: The new issue of RYO Magazine is nearly complete. However, I have a vital business trip to embark on to Central America for a week or so that will delay nearly all the sections being updated. The good news is one of the most important parts of this issue is complete and that is the Injectors Section. There we take a close look at the improvements to the Premier Supermatic and the Top-O-Matic. These are major upgrades that increase performance measurably. The even bigger news is a new electronic injector that actually works and works perfectly (that is not a term I use lightly). Its radically new design works better than even the best crankstyles and while more expensive than the crankers, is nowhere as expensive as its other poor functioning electronic rivals. It REALLY works and is not stained by pre-payment or reservations schemes. A totally class act that will be marketed with equal integrity. This innovative and performance rich new injector is called the Magnum. It packs tubes as firm and fully as any manufactured cigarette with no tapping. From filter plug to tube end the stick it produces is perfect, solid and smooth smoking. It uses no spoon so the only thing that goes into the tube is tobacco. Perfect, tightly packed tobacco that will stay there. Onboard rechargeable long life batteries as well as a power supply for the US and all of North America. Absolutely amazing! Also we introduce the world's smallest crankstyle injector. The EXP1000. Not only is this machine less than half the size of the Excel, but it performs right up there with the big boys. In fact it is almost impossible to jam and fills the tube tight agains the filter element - a re-birth of a classic. Check out the Injectors page and then go to the Multimedia Section for a quick video on this amazing new development. When I return, all sections will be updated and much more detailed videos will be available that show every nuance of this exciting new injector. As well will be videos of the new TOP and Premier Machines, as we put them through their paces in a video comparison with the older models. We think this will be most enlightening. The Injector market has never been so exciting which is why we felt it necessary to at least get that section up before my trip.

   In other news, Arnold Kastner, the father of MYO in North America and the former head of CTC, responsible for the Premier line of products passed away in January. We did an interview with he and Peter Stokkebye in one of our previous issues and will do an in-depth memorial to this visionary genius in the Review section. I really miss the man and you can get some insight as to why by reading the Injectors page as well as the interviews we did with he and Peter by looking in the Archives.

   The Rolling Papers page will dispel the mythology regarding transparent papers as well as re-introduce you to a classic brand, Bambu. There are many other offering that will be shown there as well. The Filter Tube Section will highlight the amazing innovations taking place in the tube arena. The all Black VeraCruz Midnight is only a month or so away as is the rebirth of the 6.5mm slims. Gizeh has a fantastic new tube coming. As we predicted, there are short tubes coming, long tubes, slim tubes, longer filters and more decorative designs among the many exciting developments that are coming to fruition. There are even some new rollers in the Roller Section. This Cover Page will grow as the political climate for real tobacco is actually on the road to improvement as more and more people who are against tobacco realize what they are really against is packaged cigarettes made by manipulative cigarette giants like Philip Morris. Each page already has its new head graphic and portends of the things to come on each new page. I will also address some of the real boneheaded things I read on forums about this industry and its products - information so incorrect that the potential damage it can cause is stunning. We intend to put to rest the pure self indulgent mis-information that too many people are exposed to on these sites and we will name names - at least the feeble attempt at anonymity provided by cutesy or disingenuous screen names. Jeez, some of these folks are using the same techniques of playing loosely with the truth that caused the cigarette industry and tobacco in general the problems it still faces. The same techniques now employed by the anti-smoking crowd. Facts and opinion are completely different animals and pure speculation is not even a living thing. I even heard people at forums claim that Peter Stokkebye knew little or nothing about rolling tobacco. Pure ignorance and we'll not let this kind of moronic trash stand to pollute the minds of folks seeking accurate information about the REAL world of tobacco and CMC.

   Until I return, enjoy this wonderful hobby and by all mean keep in mind moderation, self control, self reliance, and personal responsibility. Insist on accountability and truth. Facts are Gold. Now I'm off to make some RUM that doesn't need umbrellas or cola, Rum so good it drinks like fine vintage Scotch or Bourbon - so see you soon - Doug

   In the meantime if you have not read what is below, please do so. There is a wealth of information there that is in reality even more important to your daily lives than the products we review. In fact if current trends continue unabated by people like you and me, all products we love in every category will face regulations unlike seen even in the most repressive societies in history. It really is in your hands. So take another look below. Enjoy!

   This issue has been one of the most difficult to finish since our first issue nearly six years ago. More on that (a lot MORE) in a moment. First off though, if you have a broadband internet connection, check out the MultiMedia site and send your friends and/or customers there who may have questions about the MYO/RYO methodology. There are comprehensive videos covering all aspects of the experience. And there will be a lot more coming in the future. We are concentrating heavily on this visual aspect as it answers a lot of questions in a very straightforward manner - a manner that seems to be pervasive in our society where reading is becoming somewhat of a lost art. For whatever reason, it is essential that those cigarette smokers interested in perhaps migrating from the obsessive behavior of packaged cigarettes get a clear understanding of the advantages of MYO/RYO. And these many advantages far outweigh simply cost savings. Few retailers actively demonstrate the method. This we know from a lot of readers, especially those new to MYO, who have expressed amazement at the utility of the process. We got far too many letters daily from folks who were confused as to what MYO/RYO is. They are intimidated by the term "injection" and we have had more than a few questions like, "Is injecting tobacco better than smoking it?" That, at least for those that have access to broadband (thus the videos), has been eliminated for the most part. For those that don't, the questions persist. The MultiMedia site speaks for itself and we hope adult readers, old and new, enjoy it. It will grow as new questions come in and as new products emerge whose advantages can best benefit from visual demonstration. Mac users will need the latest Windows Media Player plug-in for Mac, easily obtained by clicking here. Windows users will need the latest Window's Media Video 9 as well, all easily obtained at the preceding link.

   Now on to this new issue: This magazine was initially created to show the cigarette smoking public the advantages of MYO/RYO and to highlight what we felt, and still feel, are the best products available. This is the largest, most comprehensive issue to date. It is our intent to make subsequent issues more concise and return to our quarterly schedule. We have a lot of product to show you in this issue and have already accumulated a lot more for the upcoming issue which will be ready in early August after the RTDA show. We do periodic updates to current issues and in this one, one particular area should not be overlooked. As many of you know, we have been traveling extensively this last year, both in the US and abroad. This magazine is read in well over 100 countries and our travels reflect the interest in CMC (MYO) worldwide. Our most recent trip was to the Philippines where we found what I personally consider the finest packaged cigarette I have ever smoked. That's right - a manufactured cigarette made from real tobacco and with incredible taste and quality. Please read the bottom of the Tobacco Page for a "Preview of Things to Come" regarding this very special cigarette and the company that produces it. Obviously, tobacco products differ in every country and what we found in the Philippines was truly amazing. Again, this brief look forward is at the bottom of the current tobacco section and I think it will surprise and amaze a lot of people.

   Now (again) along with showing our readers product, it was, even from its early beginnings, our intention to make tobacco enthusiasts aware of the politics of smoking in general. These "politics" could well be defined as both regulatory and health related and our main thrust in these areas has always been quality, moderation, and public activism. Seeking the truth about tobacco has been of primary concern. The economy of the method has never been our point. Cheap cigarettes and cheap tobacco carry baggage that when used as the sole reason for moving to RYO/MYO, will ultimately destroy the "real" tobacco industry, and those who enjoy great tobacco will lose any reasonable access to it. And, as most know by now, our concern is for the often ill-defined differences between the "cigarette" industry and the "tobacco" industry. We have never encouraged readers to smoke and we have been highly aggressive in our belief that if one chooses to smoke, use the best tobacco you can buy and use it sparingly - like a good wine.

   What has taken so long to put this (now 2006) issue together lies mostly in the domain of the rapidly changing regulatory and political situation that engulfs tobacco. While most of the regulations we now have and will speak of supposedly were aimed at cigarettes, most all of them, for various special interest group reasons, have landed squarely on the back of the rolling tobacco industry as well. Before we begin what may be a rather disconcerting journey for some, we want to make it clear that this page will outline the problems and some of the reasons for them. In the Editorial section you will find our best extrapolations of both solutions and what, in the very near future, given some intelligent and logical application of easily instituted possibilities, the rolling/make your own industry could look like in the future. You'll notice that we refrain from using the phrase "Stuff Your Own" It sounds egregiously ignorant and the acronym SYO is even worse than MYO. We even had a contest you can read about in the Review Section that addressed our efforts to come up with a better descriptor of all that Make Your Own is and can be. Basically, "Custom Made Cigarettes", whereby those who truly enjoy tobacco, have absolute control over the content of their smokes. There is no shortage of new products in this issue but most of them have arrived rather late in the context of the originally intended date of this issue. We wanted to have a chance to evaluate all of them extensively before passing the information on to our readers. So again, there's a lot to see in this issue. So why is this cover piece so long overdue? Read it and you'll see why.

   Before proceeding, we STRONGLY recommend the two books shown at above left and at right. The book "Tobacco" is an incredible treatise on perhaps the most controversial plant ever to grace the planet. More on it is in the Tobacco section but it is a must read for all in order to put the current tobacco controversy in striking historical perspective. Crichton's "State of Fear" is a definitive look at what drives nearly all things intrusive into our personal lives including the anti-tobacco movement. While its plot focuses on the junk science of "Global Warming", its principles applies to anti-tobacco strategies as well. The point is not whether Global Warming is occurring. The point is that it is big business as is anti-tobacco, and frankly the profits generated from "managing" these two "threats" are not only enormous (Trillions of dollars), but these profits are the sole reason for the existence of these organized purveyors of doom. Global Warming may be a fact, but there is no profit in it being a natural earth cycle. The big profit arises if it can be blamed on entities with deep pockets - like manufacturers, the energy industry, or SUV makers. I'm frankly a bit surprised some bright bulb with some financial angle hasn't already accused smokers of contributing to excess so called Greenhouse gases as well. We need to look at reality, not rhetoric. There is even research out there that is showing that trees, and vegetation in general, produce a lot of methane (a major greenhouse gas) along with the much welcomed oxygen. There have been many warming and cooling cycles that have impacted the earth for many hundreds of millions of years. Global Warming alarmists fail to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the current condition is solely man-made. We agree that the benchmark for "reasonable doubt" should be relatively low considering the global consequences if man actually were to have sole responsibility and control over this phenomena. Even such a lowered threshold has not been reached. An example of how dumb these protagonists are and how dumb (or gullible) they assume the general public to be can be found in the film, "The Day After Tomorrow." There the lead character has a paleo-climate model that needs to be called into use to help understand and predict the further progression of the sudden climate change that is devastating the earth's populations. In a speech at a global warming conference near the beginning of the film, as well as several other times in the film, when explaining the efficacy of his model, he stresses it is based on a paleo-climatological event that happened 10,000 years ago. Obviously he is admitting quite early in the film that such a dramatic climate change happened well before humans were capable of the pollution that he blames for the current crisis. Both critics and advocates of the film seem to have missed this vital point. It speaks, as well, to the core of the anti-tobacco movement's excuse for their excesses. And that is the differences between a casual relationship, a causal relationship (click here for a decent though somewhat circular look at this favorite term of the Epidemiologist), and a directly attributable definitively sole cause. The first is a weak possible relationship, the second only a little stronger possibility that a thing may likely be a factor in a given outcome, and the third is, by definition, the ONLY cause. Jumping off a 100 foot cliff onto rocks is logically the sole cause of a death, whether the person smoked or not. All but the last are merely today's version of Mammoth Flatulence.

   Read Steve Milloy's column linked below to see just how silly and dangerous this kind of narrow thinking can become, especially when it attempts to lay blame for situations that may have entirely different causes, some of which may be just as preventable by simpler means. I must repeat that the science is still not conclusive as to the "cause" of what appears, at least, to be a climatic change. Perhaps Al Gore is right. Perhaps it is human intervention even though it has happened frequently before humans could have been the cause. It's not that the theory itself is the culprit. Intelligent and creative humans and the science that results from such beings are an essential part of our own evolution. The problem is not with the creative or inventive pure scientists. The problem is how those not qualified to interpret the science choose to use parts of any scientific theory as a launching pad for their own agenda which is almost always profit motivated. Again, read another Milloy article at the link here. You will be amazed and probably not too hard pressed to see how certain groups may be able to profit enormously if what you read about comes to pass. A hint - think "chemical companies" that make fertilizer.

   Now if global warming opportunists could prove that humans and their machines were the only cause of global warming, or even the leading causality, we would be well advised to listen and change our behavior, and you can bet strict laws to assist us in doing so would be quickly forthcoming and widely accepted. However, since historically the Earth has expressed this global warming (disease if you follow the analogy) before and well before the machinery of humans, one must take great care in accessing responsibility lest we overlook perhaps other more important factors and waste a lot of resources (money) following a literally dead end trail. Read Steven Milloy's (Junskscience.com) latest in a long line of criticisms involving the huge cost of the Kyoto treaty and the tiny amount of impact this multi-billion (eventually multi-Trillion dollar) boondoggle is estimated and even admitted to eventually have. Click here for the article and note the archives at the immediate right on the page you will be taken to. Read all the articles on various subjects. They contain vital information regarding all kinds of pseudo-science scams. In fact. make www.junkscience.com  one of your bookmarks. What you will find there is what we've been telling readers for years about the highly profitable business of pseudo-scientific fear mongering. The article on the Kyoto Anniversary is shocking to the extreme and it appears now (the Kyoto Treaty) to have been predominantly an experiment to see if humanity could be coerced to support the high profit geo-political science of environmental activism, no matter how weak the actual science behind any of it may be. Yes, we have been poor stewards of our planet, but we need real solutions, not imaginary ones that enormously profit the very few and wind up accomplishing little or nothing other than the redistribution of wealth from the producers of the world to the non-productive, and puritanical nannies.

   Much in the same context, were tobacco to be PROVEN to be the sole cause of all the diseases it is blamed for, the public health establishment (which is often a job creation service for those who lack the skills to do anything else truly useful for the health of humankind and make money at it) would be howling to make tobacco illegal, just like any other proven dangerously toxic substance. (A bit below you will see what that establishment feels about completely banning tobacco.) And their accomplices, the anti-smoking, pharmaceutical, legal, and lobbying interests of all involved would have no choice but to join in the eradication efforts. But again, their unidirectional frenzy over tobacco creates the risk of overlooking something perhaps far more dangerous in our environment. The American Cancer Society has no "cures" for cancer and conventional medicine understands the parameters of the disease only a little better than it did 50 years ago. But where's the money/profit in an, as of yet, unknown cause? One would have to spend money to find that unknown factor, not extort it from a single sector of the population, and they would have to use the money on the project, not on everything but. In reality, if tobacco were banned, none of these groups would have income or jobs afterwards unless, of course, they could find another cash cow to rape. And the fact is they already have. Obesity. As mentioned, below is look at a piece of legislation attempted in North Dakota a while back. Read it and then reconsider the true aims of public health departments, the anti-tobacco coalitions, including ACS, AHA and so-called other disease "prevention" organizations and, of course, the pharmaceuticals and other interests that fund them and profit even more from them simultaneously

   It is an interesting fact that during the great Black Plague in the middle of the last millenium, the equivalent of the public health system (circa 1400-1600s) decided that rats were the cause of this plague that was initially killing a few hundreds of Europeans. Their brightly narrow and "quick fix" solution was to exterminate all the rats. By doing so the FLEAS, that were the true carriers of the plague, were forced to find a new host other than the rats. The fleas selected humans, which resulted ultimately in the deaths of as many as an estimated hundred million people. Politically, these health bureaucrats had much to gain from finding a fast solution - someone or something to blame - and who likes rats anyway - or smokers for that matter. Heroes they would be in the same way justice officials, from investigators to DAs make political hay by quickly solving crimes (front page stuff) even if only to find later they hung the wrong man (page eight news at best). The medieval (interesting word 'mid-'evil) solution (killing the rats) let loose the plague and magnified the tragedy exponentially. If we apply the highly "flexible" (to be kind) techniques of epidemiology using terms like casual, causal, and cause, we would wind up with something like this. For a time the rats were thought to be the cause of the plague. However even if this were true, the actual cause of death was a pneumonia like illness. More specifically, the respiratory system shut down along with a very high fever. Like the cliff jumper above, the actual cause of any death is either cessation of brain function (which is still debated re: Schiavo) or the heart stops. Whatever the reason for this to happen, the actual cause of death is one of those two things.

   This is further demonstrated in homicide forensics by the examiner's (coroner) preoccupation with specifics. For instance if a body is found dead in the water but has a bullet hole in it, it is always the job of the forensic pathologist to determine if the dead person died before or after entering the water. This is highly relevant to future prosecution of the case and to the penalty the guilty party will receive. It is too bad that epidemiologists who make up these inane statistics about everything that has a financial benefit to some public health group (remember the 400,000 obesity related deaths reported by the CDC just last year that was subsequently downgraded at least three times, arriving finally at a little over 23,000) don't do the work of pathologists to find out what is really killing people. Further down you will hear Dr Ronald Natale in the Larry King interview state that "we really don't know how cancer kills or how tobacco smoke causes cancer." Natale goes on to say that the organs of those who die from cancer are often in quite good shape. The forensic pathologist, if they were involved in these studies, would likely find many possible reasons for the person's death and smoking would be absolutely a casual association at best. No doubt people do die in part because they smoke. Natale mentions one out of eight smokers get cancer (mostly lung cancer, which by inference leaves out all the other forms of cancer that tobacco is blamed for). A true causal (as opposed to casual) relationship according to an epidemiologist would require all smokers to get lung cancer. Therefore by the very fact that all smokers DON'T get sick, even causality must be defined as a rather weak association. Now I've studied quite a bit of the research done on lab animals regarding carcinogens. To be classified as a carcinogen, a substance must cause a tumor in a lab animal, mostly rats and mice. Even the most carcinogenic compound tested don't cause these tumors in ALL of the subjects and each research project differs as to how many of a group must be so afflicted to satisfy the pre-determined "test results" they seek.

   The anti-tobacco, public health establishment endangers us in the same way that the "plague" medicos did 600 years ago. They focus on tobacco only and search no further for what may be the real cause of cancer (or even what cancer really is, in its widely varying forms) or any other pernicious human ailments for that matter to a degree that will prove beyond a doubt the other or actual causes. Those other causes have no money to conveniently extract (heard that before, but it bears repeating). And this lack of intelligent use of existing scientific tools, preferring the weak science of statistical analysis (Epidemiology) is causing the same knee jerk reaction with the Avian (Bird) flu you've heard so much about lately. Rather than find ways to manage or actually kill the pathogen (the virus) or even better, create immunity from all viruses, they are simply killing the birds. Now viruses are not unlike fleas. They both need hosts. They are parasites. And eradicating one host will only lead to the the viruses' search for another. And viruses are MUCH better at this than are fleas. They can change symbiotic sources in a matter of a couple of days. In the world of virology, it's referred to as MUTATION but it is really adaptation. And the "science" of mutation is understood (or at least appreciated) hardly better than 500 years ago, at least in its overall ramifications. Better isolate but leave some of the birds alive and figure out how to kill the virus without killing the host - certainly before you, at minimum, know the degree of risk of viral host upgrading. Ultimately, when one talks about organisms being good at finding new hosts, one must only look to the anti-everything litigation movement for a perfect example. Too bad a vaccine has not been developed to combat this group of parasites.

   Look at it this way. The American Cancer Society and other such groups (with the possible exception of NCI - the National Cancer Institute, that actually HAS done some cutting edge science on the possible viral and genetic components of cancer) with its many billions of dollars has come up with no solution to any cancers other than early diagnosis, surgery (based on early diagnosis), radiation (oh yeah, can you say further mutation and new cancers), and drugs (financial windfalls of epic proportions for pharmaceuticals even though the Chemo is often so toxic, it can kill you almost as fast as the original cancer). All highly profitable, short term exercises for certain groups of businesses (including non-profits) with really no need to be successful to the degree that any other normal product producer must. After all, the victim is already dying from cancer - right? The medical related profits (and costs) continue to soar. Of course, the main focus of late, the prohibitionist activity, (in other words things NOT to do rather than any positive activity) has its own, hugely profitable rewards as well - rewards that feed the other four regimen groups quite nicely and justify more revenue gathering through increased taxes and lawsuits. Public Health professionals (hah professionals - the third oldest profession - witch doctors - after hookers and spiritual leaders - before even lawyers) and publicly/privately funded non-profits like the Cancer Society and the Lung Association, who pay their leaders enormous salaries, and are required to spend only 5% of all money they've amassed on their missions, have everything to gain from maintaining the problem. The non-profit racket (no overstatement is possible here) is finally getting some well deserved criminal attention as is the Loyal Order of Money Grubbing Scum Bag Lobbyists (LOMGSBL). There aren't enough jails to hold them all if it would come to that.

   Now even with all the money involved aside for a moment, we emphasize once again the sheer folly and danger of making presumptions as to disease causation. For years we've been emphasizing the difference between Tobacco and Cigarettes. They are two different things. One is a natural substance, the other a chemically formulated, artificial product. Even more important perhaps is what is used in the growing and manufacture of tobacco and especially in products that cigarette makers heavily use like reconstituted tobacco sheet. Tobacco has been around a long time. It has been both friend and foe to humans intermittently through out its history. (Read the book mentioned above "Tobacco" - please). Even the American Cancer Society concedes that lung cancer was relatively rare before the birth of manufactured cigarettes. They attributed this solely to the fact that manufactured cigarettes made it easier for people to smoke. Nonetheless, it should be clear that even before the first manufactured cigarette was produced, a lot of people used tobacco. That is clearly why cigarette companies emerged, to satisfy and enhance an existing market. Like the poor scientific methodology of the Great Plague era, these so called charitable health groups have trouble with facts because they fail to look for real facts. Instead they look for a single villain, one with deep pockets, ignoring all alternatives and nuances that make up the real world of threat analysis. They use the terms tobacco and cigarettes interchangeably, a practice we've been trying to clarify and change since our first publication. Many in the scientific community understand that pesticides and other garbage that finds its way into cigarettes may likely be a much more strident culprit than the tobacco plant itself. Now there is no doubt that most tobacco, for reasons of crop yield, has been exposed to pesticides of one kind or another, natural or not. Check out the following link here. It keeps moving around on the ACS site so if it becomes inactive, go to the American Cancer Society site and search for "risk factors for lung cancer."

RADON

   Radon, which is a naturally occurring gas (from natural uranium decay) in our environment has long been linked to lung cancer. To what degree is still uncertain and since there is little profit in more definitive assessments, (except for the proliferating radon intervention companies which, like the asbestos irradication attempts of a decade or more ago, often prove to make the problem worse not better), Radon is given minor consideration. That may be a serious mistake, as serious as blaming tobacco seemingly for all the ills of mankind. The simple solution as to Radon (for which there are already maps provided by satellite imaging - for maps by state and for the US in total, click here) would be to see how the lung cancer rate that is attributed to smokers is geographically distributed and then compare that to each area's naturally occurring Radon levels. Unfortunately, there is little profit potential in simple solutions and the fact that Radon and Smoking may explain why certain people get lung cancer and others don't would fly in the face of the pseudo-science that generates obscenely large profits for the anti-smoking establishment. Again, there is no one to sue over radon - it occurs naturally.

   For now let's just look at the following provided on the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) website regarding Radon. Also on that site you can find maps (again click here) of Radon distribution in the US and begin to wonder (as do we) how many of the high radon areas have larger rates of lung cancer that are now solely attributed to cigarette smoking. What is most interesting about what follows is the admission from the EPA as to the methodology of risk assessment for both Radon and how it applies to the same statistical models that were used to invent tobacco and health data. If you look hard enough in this world you will find contradictions to everything that public health claims. You don't have to read between the lines or read from sites that are at odds with the public health community. Again this is from the EPA and you can begin to access the entire wealth of information by clicking here and scroll to the top of the page the link takes you. This (below) is only an excerpt from a very robust site on Radon and risk assessment so make sure you read the entire page this link takes you to.

QUOTE: "To have a reasonable certainty in the conclusions, many thousands of cases are required to detect the increased risk of lung cancer due to radon. This is because the more things that cause a disease the harder it is to separate one cause from another, thus it takes many cases to pinpoint the risk from each separate cause. The U.S. Public Health Service radon experts estimate that 10,000 to 30,000 cases, and twice as many controls would be needed to conduct a definitive epidemiologic study of residential radon lung cancer risk. The residential studies conducted to date have all included between 50 and 1500 cases and thus have been too small to provide conclusive information.

Some years ago this same process was used to detect an increased risk of lung cancer due to cigarette smoking. It took many years of study to make the positive link between the cause and effect of smoking and lung cancer. Most of the increased lung cancer risk is attributable to smoking through mathematical modeling. The research process for smoking was very laborious. However, radon's process is even more challenging because radon's contribution to increased lung cancer risk (12%) is difficult to see against the large background of lung cancer due to other causes, which include smoking, asbestos, some heavy metals and other types of radiation; i.e., detecting radon-related lung cancer is like trying to detect a 12% increase of sand on a beach already full of sand.

Finally, it is difficult to accurately determine radon exposures in residential settings since we are estimating past exposures from current measurements. The number of required study participants increases with the difficulty in determining the exposure.

We already have a wealth of scientific data on the relationship between radon exposure and the development of lung cancer. The scientific experts agree that the occupational miner data is a very solid base from which to estimate risk of lung cancer deaths annually. While residential radon epidemiology studies will improve what we know about radon, they will not supersede the occupational data.  Health authorities like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Surgeon General, the American Lung Association, the American Medical Association, and others agree that we know enough now to recommend radon testing and to encourage public action when levels are above 4 pCi/L. The most comprehensive of these efforts has been the National Academy of Science's Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VI) Report. This report reinforces that radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer and is a serious public health problem. As in the case of cigarette smoking, it would probably take many years and rigorous scientific research to produce the composite data needed to make an even more definitive conclusion." End QUOTE

Please remember that the above report was the work of the National Academy of Sciences and funded by the EPA (in the end both are funded by YOU!). I know reading this long pdf will give most brain pain but it is important to see the manipulative steps these kinds of epidemiological imitations of scientific research use to prove a point. By the way as to the non-profit status of the NAS, its president Bruce Alberts was pulling down over 750,000 dollars per year. In fact there are many high paid officers working within this organization. We provide an excerpt for their form 990 below. You can see the whole thing as well as any non-profit salaries at guidestar.org. Membership is free and when you begin searching YOUR favorite charity for salaries, you will quickly come to understand that these "for the good" organizations are mostly for the officers and directors. Whether it be the Girls Scouts whose head pulls down well over $630,000 per year or the others that will be noted above, the non-profit scam is the single biggest threat to our economy.

   After reading the above, pay particular note to a statement found on the American Cancer Societies site (see the ACS link just above the beginning of this Radon section) and see how it differs dramatically from the EPA information. The ACS site states:

Recently, concerns have been raised about houses in some parts of the United States built over soil with natural uranium deposits that can create high indoor radon levels. Studies from these areas have found that the risk of lung cancer may be doubled or even tripled if you have lived for many years in a radon-contaminated house. This is a very small increase though, when it is compared to the lung cancer risk from tobacco.

The Shelby Amendment
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa366.pdf

   The Shelby Amendment, which we've discussed in previous issues, was created to provide a watchdog element on supposedly scientific research that results in regulations and laws. Click here for a short overview and above for greater detail of the Amendment itself and why it is so vital this Amendment be enforced. The research community does not like this Amendment to the Freedom of Information Act. They whine that it implies that we don't trust them. Well . . . .I don't . . .especially when their findings have not only been proven wrong, in some cases long after regulations and litigation based on their findings have already done their damage, but most importantly, when the researchers themselves have vested financial interests in the outcomes of a given "research" project. Drug companies, the FDA, and the EPA are especially unhappy about Shelby which should be all the reason you need to encourage its rigorous enforcement. When drug companies push the efficacy of certain "cessation" drugs, these same drugs can become the basis for regulations. How? Well, for example, with the new drug varenicline, touted by its maker to be more effective than previous smoking cessation drugs, the anti-tobacco movement immediately jumps on this as both a source of revenue for themselves (which often comes from the drug maker itself in return for the anti-smoking group recommending its use), and as yet another reason to push the idea that smoking is hard to kick, and therefore should be taxed even more heavily and regulated even more aggressively. People who have been smoking moderate amounts of real tobacco have almost no problem quitting if they really want to. Even those addicted to packaged cigarettes can quit if they really want to. People are not as weak as the public health community, or the pharmaceutical industry, would have them believe and the constant dogma about how hard it is to quit, is counter-productive for those who wish to quit.

   The problem with most smokers is that they really don't want to quit. They enjoy the experience. It is often, for many, much more of a recreational pleasure than a chemical dependency, again at least for those who've used moderate amounts of real tobacco. Even Pfizer's (the manufacturer of Chantix - the commercial name for varenicline) "research studies" show that on average 22% of smokers quit for the one year trial while 18% of those given Zyban (the other non-nicotine cessation drug) were able to quit. In the same tests, about 10% given placebos were able to quit. While these numbers may seem significant to some, they are provided with absolutely no contextual look into the the lives and personalities of the subjects. Were the 10 % who quit with placebo only therapy stronger willed than the other groups? Did the placebo effect have any relationship with those that were actually given the "real stuff". These kinds of questions are what the Shelby Amendment is intended to address. If it is not obvious yet to you why we need oversight, keep in mind that most of what folks hear about prescription drugs is fed to them by the drug companies themselves. Journalists have become lazy. AP and UPI reporters (stringers) now basically provide press releases fed to them by representatives of pharma companies. For instance, the AP story that first appeared in most newspapers, big and small, regarding varenicline (Chantix) was as follows: "Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, is a critical public health imperative that takes an extraordinary toll on health care systems. In the United States alone, the cost of treating smoking-related diseases is an estimated $150 billion a year," said Karen Katen, Pfizer vice chairman and president, Pfizer Human Health. "The priority review designation for Champix underscores the significant patient need for new therapies that will reduce the health burden of smoking." No reporter, in any story I could find, went further than the press release, not even to ask Katen questions on the specific results of medical trials. As far as I'm concerned, those AP and UPI stringers are no more than mouthpieces for the pharmaceutical industry. They are not even close to being journalists.

   If you search online for "Nicorette Gum" you will find a large number of sites, especially forums, that in large part stress that the addiction created by these nicotine replacement products is quite problematic. Do these newer non-nicotine cessation products have side effects? You bet they do and they are often more severe than the minor cravings one might face when one is dedicated to quitting. And these drugs - all of them - are really expensive, high profit items for drug makers. None of these questions are asked or answered in drug research studies and there is really no oversight in the FDA hearing process that approve a drug for use. As you will see if you read the FDA hearing documents regarding IRESSA that we highlight further down, FDA hearings have no counter argument provided by anyone. The FDA listens to representatives of the drug companies, to researchers employed by the drug companies, and to a handful of patients who claim to have been helped by the drug in question. Read the document on FDA IRESSA hearings. We provide the link here as well to this complete transcript of the proceedings. It's long but highly instructive as to the weakness of the FDA process, most especially when drugs are given a fast track approval based on how badly society needs a drug (in most cases the "fast track" seemingly has more to do with the size of the pharmaceutical company offering the drug).

   Not all drug companies are monsters and all drug companies have many times provided needed help to those who suffer. What we want to note regarding them is that the temptation from the huge profits derived from drug manufacturing is overwhelming for even those of high moral fiber. Where there is high profit, there must be oversight, especially when some the profits are used to create legislation that makes the use of the product nearly a requirement to the eye of the consumer. This the Shelby Amendment addresses but unfortunately, to date, there have been almost no reported uses of the power of this amendment. Read more on the www.cato.org website regarding this and other interesting attempts to "oversee" all kinds of political/economic/legislative/environmental/public health and non-profit boondoggles.

The MSA (Master Settlement Agreement)

   The American Legacy Foundation, (set up by NAAG, the Attorneys General's National Association that forged the 46 state Master Settlement Agreement, as part of that Agreement), has well over a Billion dollars in its kitty. Yet it pleads for more funding while spending a mere 130 million per year on its mission including salaries and percs. Its CEO, Cheryl Healton, a couple of years ago took out a near million dollar personal mortgage loan, secured by the Foundation, for a home. In fact, it would be in your best interest to go to the American Legacy site (www.americanlegacy.org) and under the link "About Us" look at their financial statements. You simply MUST do this if you want the knowledge necessary to cast intelligent votes in the future for those that state they are unwilling to further support this growing scandal. The personal loan mentioned above is at Note J (about page 14 under "loan to officer" - the page numbers appear in Acrobat as you scroll the right side slider button down) and just above that is an incredibly generous life insurance policy that is paid for by the foundation but owned ultimately by CEO Healton. The current financials (2005), to save you time, can be found at: http://americanlegacy.org/americanlegacy_file_persistence/auditied_FS_summary.pdf . The previous year's financial statement, where they received their last large payment from the Tobacco Settlement (about $300,000,000), which they received ever year from 1999 to 2003 can be found by clicking the link for 2004/2003 financials (again after you go to the About Us /Financials link). Reading these documents may take a little effort on your part but you will find many interesting things there they've done with all that money, including lots of vehicles, and a ton of investing (both here and abroad) to maintain/increase their financial power. Those who are adept at understand accounting should let us know their opinions of what they see there. However, even the layperson will see things there that have little to do with their mission - which is ostensibly to curtail Youth Smoking, which is once again on the rise even with all the money spent so far to intervene.

    Read through the whole thing. Remember all the amounts are in thousands (i.e., if it says 28,000 it means 28,000,000). After these people got their initial 300 million from the first MSA payment in 1999, they began investing it, here and all over the world. The interest they receive alone on these massive investments is often greater than the amount they spend on the programs they are chartered to support. In fact over 8 Billion dollars in investment transactions were conducted. No doubt their financial advisor fees of over $3 million per year were justified. The numbers are huge and complex as is the financial document itself. You can hide a lot in a large and complicated space. They spend (again) over $3 million per year on financial investment advice alone. You would be well advised to see where your MSA tobacco settlement money is going - so read it. You'll need Acrobat Reader to read the PDFs.

  In all fairness, we do compliment this organization for at least supplying this information on their site as, for most non-profits' financial disclosures, one must contact the IRS or walk into the non-profit's office to get their form 990 to obtain this information. The 990s are more detailed as to specific salaries and other items and anyone can request and get them. If you do it through the mail with the IRS, you have to pay a small fee and there are redactions - if you walk in their front door, they must give it to you free of charge, or for a small copying fee and the information is more complete. You will also find that even though this organization was initially well funded (again $250 Million the first year and $300,000,000 of your tobacco money for the next four years - an expense that the pertinent cigarette companies simply passed on to the smoker), they still found it necessary to take out two $30 million loans and another $20 million loan a bit later to fund "expenses" Why? Because they put most of the initial money in various-term investments or property. The fact that the lawyers at NAAG are supposedly overseeing this operation, leaves me with little confidence in their oversight even though two of its members always sit on the Legacy board. Currently, they get about $40 million per year from tobacco. You can see the section of the MSA Agreement where the funding for this organization is outlined at this link. Click here. You will also see that they (all benefactors and participants of the MSA) had a very specific mission and certain restrictions on attacking the tobacco industry. Many lawsuits have evolved from the latter. In Acrobat PDF files the pages of interest as to this Foundation, (which has had several names including the Nation Education Foundation, the Master Settlement Agreement Foundation and ultimately the American Legacy Foundation) are pages 32-38 as numbered in the document itself. However in Acrobat they are 42-48 (some pages that are indexes and tables of contents are not numbered in the original document, but Acrobat counts them anyway). On page 33 of the actual document is the heading Establishment of a National Foundation. This is your starting point.

   And here, using Oregon's fairly current regulatory attempts as an example, is the same kind of data that was used by the various 46 states to justify the lawsuits that resulted in the eventual MSA settlement. You can find much more information on this state specific legislation and the number's game employed by clicking here. Part of the page/section is reproduced below. Note that this link is to the State of Oregon's DHS - Department of Human Services, (in other words the Public Health Department) website. Public money was spent to put it up and the law it supports is a legislative activity not one that the voters had any say in. It is representative of the kinds of tactics (number gymnastics) used over the many years by the states in order to justify their portion of the MSA money and to justify their prohibitionist policies, which in the end serve ultimately to justify their revenue raising by taxes and lawsuits. Look at the numbers below and realize that most of the so called costs of smoking to the state, even if one were to believe that the numbers themselves were anything other than extrapolated (modeled -  refer to the section above regarding "Radon Studies" for more on modeling for profit) and skewed data, clearly shows that the state itself admits to spending $350 million in direct medical expenditures (not the $1.5 Billion in the headline) and even that number includes federal money, the percentage of which they conveniently leave out. As you can see MOST of the estimated cost, (again the word "estimated" leaves a LOT of wiggle room with, it seems, no verification required) was borne by insurance and cost paid by individuals and most telling, even the bulk of that cost estimate was based on such nebulous statistical forays as "Indirect costs of lost productivity due to illness", and "Indirect costs due to premature deaths", the latter being the largest slice of the pie. Both are clearly "estimates" with absolutely no real data possible to support such claims. These are precisely the kinds of "estimated" numbers that the states were using to sue the large cigarette manufacturers that resulted in the MSA settlement. These numbers remain the excuse for the states NOT to spend the bulk of revenues extracted from smokers since the 1998 MSA Settlement on anything remotely related to Tobacco Intervention or health care for those who may claim damage from smoking (packaged cigarettes). The states continue to emphasize their need to "pay back" all of the past lost revenue due to smoking related health care rather than use the money for current programs. At the bottom (the last line) of this little exercise in creative accounting is the disclaimer (if you will) that these numbers were from the CDC. Now, the CDC did no specific studies in any one state. The states used the CDC numbers (which even today remain controversial to the extreme) and divided them up according to population. It is these kinds of unsupported, non-scientific generalizations that continue to feed the anti-tobacco movement. It is extremely well fed with your dollars and with neither your permission, nor with any hope of you receiving any direct benefit from the money extracted. We have little sympathy for the big cigarette industry as you must have realized while reading these pages over the years. However as we will continue to explore, there is a great deal of difference between processed tobacco by products such as used in packaged cigarettes and real tobacco. Even more to the point, the burning of ANY natural plant substance, just like real tobacco, produces pretty much the same chemicals, sans nicotine. So for the effort highlighted below to have any credibility whatsoever, the term "Tobacco Use" should be replaced by "Packaged Cigarette Use." Again more on that later. Here is the pitch for the "Workplace Law." Two underlined words, can and economic, are worthy of note.

Why the Law is Needed
The law is designed to protect workers from secondhand smoke, which can cause life-threatening disease:

Heart Disease
Lung Cancer
Poor Respiratory Health
The law will reduce the economic toll smoking exacts on Oregon:

• Tobacco use cost Oregonians approximately $1.5 Billion in 1996
• Indirect costs of lost productivity due to illness: 1 million lost days of work $100 million
• Direct medical expenditure paid for by public funds (federal and state) $350 million
• Direct medical expenditures paid for by private individuals and businesses $450 million
• Indirect costs of lost productivity due to premature deaths $600 million
  Source: Smoking-Attributable Morbidity, Mortality and Economic Costs (SAMMEC II), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

   So the bottom line of the above is that less than 20% of these so called costs to Oregon were paid by Oregon with an undefined portion of even that borne by the federal government. The costs of lost work days and premature deaths are the worst kind of irresponsible extrapolations with absolutely no data to support the assessments. Further, they state second hand smoke CAN (not does) cause illness, and the fact that this scheme focuses completely on "economic" cost and not on the general welfare of humans is most telling. Remember, I do not like smoking indoors and I don't like smoky environments. I do insist however that businesses have the right to exclude non-smokers every bit as aggressively as establishments exclude smokers.

   The MSA and all of its ramifications present a true tragedy for American democracy and free capitalism. Regardless of the questionable practices of the cigarette industry, this agreement has provided little to address the problem and has encouraged local, state and federal governments to become more addicted to tobacco than smoker's themselves. Most everyone in this country is unhappy with the inefficiencies and corruption associated with this settlement (except, of course, for those who are getting rich from it). Congress insisted on tracking the MSA, tasking the GAO (General Accounting Office) to do so. Click on the following link to venture to a PDF provided by the Government Accounting Office, GAO, that Congress demanded be published showing how the states have been and are using their respective share of the MSA funds. In some cases, the states have actually used the money for tobacco (cigarettes again) intervention programs. In most cases, the state's records in this matter are poor indeed. In fact many of the state's have already borrowed on their future MSA shares to the max and all future revenues are being used to simply payback these MSA secured loans. Much like the worker who goes to the "Cash Connection" to borrow against next week's paycheck. Again, this linked document (click here) is a fairly long read but if you don't thoroughly explore this stuff, you will never have the whole picture of just how large the problem is and how little control even your elected government has (or wishes to exert) over these kinds of coerced programs.

   Non-profits, in total, are among the biggest businesses in this country - and the best paying for those that control them (other than certain trial lawyer firms that get very rich suing companies for alleged social and business related wrongdoing - it is important to note here that the fees these law firms get are enormous - like the 2 Billion dollars one firm got for helping litigate the MSA settlement and another that got over a Billion). Of course, the real dog work of these non-profits is done by volunteers, both generous of heart, and armed only with dogma lacking any concrete scientific information. Their CEOs are literally in a class akin to Royalty whereby, unlike top tax paying industry CEOs, whose salaries are frequently attacked, they have a federal tax code guaranteed advantage and they are tough to pin down for performance evaluations as their missions are NEVER intended to be accomplished. People just give them money (or are forced to through taxation) and all those donors have extremely limited control over where that money goes. Keep in mind that all tax free (non-profits) are again, required by law, an expenditure of only 5% of their take be applied to their mission. Even targeted donations have an expiration date if not spent on the "target." More worrisome is that there is no requirement for them to succeed in their mission. Private sector businesses and even most politicians can't get away with that lack of performance for very long. So they justify their existence by making a lot of noise about all the things they do. Looking only at two subjects - natural disasters and disease, it is apparent that these non-profits are abject failures. However in the business of wealth generation (for themselves), they are amazingly proficient. Want more? For Instance . . . .

   The head (CEO) of the Oregon State's Goodwill for PORTLAND AREA Chapter ONLY pulled down over $800,000 per year until enough people found out about it and complained. It is now down to around $650,000. The head of American Cancer Society nearly 3/4 of a million per year. The numbers are staggering. The Red Cross more than 1/2 million per year + percs (which nearly doubles that) for its revolving door CEOs who keep getting "replaced" for "political" reasons. With literally Trillions of dollars in funds and endowments, the non-profit industry and ensuing scandal that is waiting to detonate regarding them, will be of unprecedented proportions, and the problem has grown exponentially since the non-profit industry got involved in the tobacco issue. You can bet when that cash cow is finally dry, they will find new cattle - fast food, SUVs, sugar treats, soft drinks, and yes, we speculate soon, caffeine (look out Starbucks - you've got temptingly deep pockets AND, your lattes are fattening AND doctors for a long time have urged their patients to go easy on the coffee and caffeine, which has recently been classified as an addicting substance).

  This new wave of extortion in the name of the public good has already started and now includes new hiring and employment practices that insist on controlling the personal behavior of employees, even in the sanctity of their own homes. You as tobacco users have had the dubious honor of paying for a whole lot of it initially, but be aware that ultimately every person in this country, who has a passion for anything that a handful of people may not appreciate, will be attacked. The core idea of non-profit charitable organizations is a laudable one. The execution has been an alarmingly under-regulated, under-scrutinized and in general, an enormously costly failure when defined by the actual positive accomplishments they can honestly claim. The only solution is an all-out war on these institutions, a war that will make their war on tobacco seem amicable by comparison. If we lose this war, this country and its citizens will eventually live under a tyranny even more destructive than those enforced at gunpoint. The all pervasive tyranny of the mindless, the irresponsible, and the hopeless.

   So before we look at the bad news and worse case scenarios, which are frankly fact already, or likely to happen very soon unless serious intervention is undertaken by all concerned citizens, we need to show you the true face of the enemies of freedom - of those parasites that drive the vehicles of corruption, and of those who are their dupes. And let it be made clear here that we've as much contempt for the dupes as we have for those whose corruptions nurture and co-opt their weak minds and principles. It is not our intent to dial into and spread the very state of fear we reject as a motivating force. Anger and refusal to comply, and then action is not fear, it is indeed the inherent human right of self interest. We continue to implore our readership that the ONLY solution lies in individual positive activism consolidated ultimately into positive group action. That is the only path to regaining control of not just tobacco use but all related issues that threaten to control our most personal behavior and completely undermine the concept of personal responsibility. We will begin with examples of the kind of unidirectional thinking as well as the self-serving hypocrisy that has been at the forefront of the anti-tobacco movement from the beginning. It applies to future intrusive attempts by those few who would exercise control over the many. We will follow with a few examples of the foregoing with the proposed and soon to be instituted new regulations on your rights to acquire tobacco. Its not a pretty story and when you're finished reading, keep in mind that we (a lot of folks in and out of government) are not yet at the point of definitively uncovering the whole scandal. We won't stop until we do, but for now here's some interesting information - a look at the real face of the antagonist(s) of this story. It really comes down to this. One should not judge a person based on who they are or what they are, or most especially who or what they SAY they are. People and organizations should be judged by their actions alone. It's as simple as that and is the only reliable measure of a human being or a group. And no matter how grandiose their public statements on what they believe or the weight of their background or credentials, it is what they do and have done that is pertinent. In the same way, organizations cannot and should not be judged by their "mission" statements. No matter how altruistic their stated goals may be, it is their actions that speak most loudly and accurately. And the following couple of absolutely documented activities and discourses illuminate actions on behalf of the participants. You don't have to take anyone's word for their motives. What they say and do is more than revealing enough and is part of the public record.

   As with any good story one must begin with both protagonist and antagonist. Here, for plot's sake, obviously the patrons of the MYO/RYO industry is the protagonist as a free and unitary being, (perhaps smokers in general but the MYO/RYO methodology we find far more defensible than merely the act of smoking) while the antagonists are numerous. Since life is never black and white, there will be, we feel, a lot of common ground established potentially between this industry (or any movements its existence generates), its proponents and those that are seemingly against it at this moment. This is personal for me in the context that I don't equate packaged cigarette smoking with tobacco usage. This is a narrative of what has gone on for the last few years, much of which we have written about, some of which is new information even for us. We will find allies among other "libertarians" whose enjoyment of the "seasonings" of life will eventually be challenged as well. We'll start with a news article that should well begin to illuminate (brightly) the true intentions of some of those who claim to be most opposed to the very existence of tobacco. Go get your reading glasses. The print is of necessity small for reasons of space. Please note the text we've outlined in red is felt to be most pertinent and disturbing. From the Grand Forks Herald, Jan 1, 2003, Grand Forks, North Dakota:

The Headline

NORTH DAKOTA LEGISLATURE: Tobacco ban gets lit up in House
Bill sponsored by Grand Forks Republican DEFEATED by 88-4 vote
By Xiao Zhang
Herald Staff Writer

BISMARCK - North Dakota House representatives Monday voted overwhelmingly against a bill proposing to ban tobacco sales in the state. The measure, which would make selling or using tobacco products illegal except for using it for religious purposes misdemeanors, failed by an 88-4 vote. The bill would have made it a crime to sell or use tobacco in North Dakota, with sellers facing a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. The bill labeled smoking, chewing or using smokeless tobacco as a less severe crime, punishable by 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The bill's sole sponsor, Grand Forks Republican Rep. Mike Grosz, said he was disappointed by Monday's vote. But "it did get a fair day in the sun and generated a lot of discussion," said Grosz, a member of the House Finance and Taxation Committee, which heard the bill last week. Before the bill went to a vote on the floor, Grosz told his fellow representatives that tobacco costs the state close to 1,000 lives every year and $351 million in medical and productivity costs (completely unsubstantiated numbers). Tobacco taxes are expected to bring $39.7 million to North Dakota's treasury during the state's current two-year budget period, which ends in June.

"It seems the only gainers from allowing the use of this product are the big tobacco companies and groups, such as the government and organizations, which tax the product or sue the companies," he said. Grosz said he would vote against all other measures on tobacco, including a tax increase, because trying to reduce tobacco use through those measures is like "putting a bandage on a severed leg."  Gov. John Hoeven's proposed two-year budget for North Dakota state government includes an increase in tobacco taxes, which would increase the levy on a pack of cigarettes from 44 cents to 79 cents.