John Boehner was literally stinking up Congress...

Apparently, Boehner was smoking like an old freight train in his office. Smoking is banned throughout the Capitol. Of course, laws are for the little people.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan can add one more burning issue to his agenda as the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: how to get rid of the stench of cigarette smoke.

Ryan said on Sunday he has been trying to come up with ways to remove the smell of cigarettes from the House speaker's office that he took over on Thursday after he replaced the retiring John Boehner, a heavy smoker.
Asked if he is going to be able to get the smell of smoke out of the place, the fitness-conscious congressman said, "That's a really good question. And we've been talking about that."

"They have these ozone machines, apparently, that you can detoxify the environment. But I'm going to have to work on the carpeting in here," Ryan told the NBC program "Meet the Press."

Nanny State Alert: California considering banning smoking in people's homes...

California is in serious need of a revolution...

Via SacBee:

Millions of Californians would not be able to smoke tobacco inside their own homes under new legislation that would raise the bar nationwide for fighting secondhand smoke.

No state ever has ventured into personal bedrooms and living rooms with its smoking restrictions, but California is going even further than that by targeting owner-occupied residences as well as rental units.

Specifically, the measure would prohibit lighting up a cigarette, cigar or pipe in condominiums, duplexes and apartment units.

The push would extend a lengthy list of places where smoking already is barred, including restaurants, workplaces, playgrounds, public buildings and cars containing young kids.

“Californians should be able to breathe clean air in their own homes,” said Assemblyman Marc Levine, a San Rafael Democrat who introduced the legislation, Assembly Bill 746.

Keep on reading…

New Nanny State Proposal: “Smoker’s license”

Is there no end to how liberal do-gooders want to intervene in and control our lives?

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – A public health proposal suggests that tobacco smokers should be required to apply and pay for a “smoker’s license” in order to continue buying cigarettes. In this week’s PLOS Medicine medical journal, two leading tobacco control advocates debate the merits of the smoker’s license. Simon Chapman, a professor at the University of Sydney, proposes that users would have to apply and pay for a mandatory license in the form of a smartcard that would be shown when buying cigarettes. Dr. Chapman wrote that it could discourage young people from picking up the habit. In a controversial move, the smartcard would allow the government to limit how many cigarettes a smoker could buy. Professor Chapman suggests 50 per day averaged over two weeks to accommodate heavy smokers. The anti-smoking activist told the Daily Mail that the sale of tobacco is currently subject to trivial controls compared to other dangerous products that threaten both public and personal safety. More here...

Religion of Peace Update: Islamists Whipping Smokers in Mali

Anti-smoking Nazis in America seen nodding in approval...

(AFP) — Islamists from an Al-Qaeda offshoot in northern Mali have confiscated and burned cartons of cigarettes and whipped those caught smoking as they enforce strict Islamic law, witnesses said Friday.
“Things really got lively on Friday, Islamists from MUJAO (Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa) took cartons of cigarettes that were on sale and set them alight,” said Moussa Guindo, who works for the town council in Bourem.

A youth from the north Mali town, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “I received 40 lashes because I was smoking and continued to smoke after I was told not to.”

A civil servant in the town, also asking not to be named, said he was whipped even though he was not smoking.

“It was my friend who was smoking but they whipped both of us saying that the cigarette is Satan. Shopkeepers who still have cigarettes hide them and to smoke, you have to hide,” he said.

Two other residents of the town said that members of MUJAO had stopped a truck transporting cigarettes between the towns of Gao and Bourem, and set the cartons alight.

“At the moment it is the Islamists who are laying down the law here. They don’t want to see cigarettes and have told us that if foreign troops come to northern Mali they will slit all of our throats,” said another witness Mohamed Tangara.

Nanny State Alert: California county wants to ban smoking tobacco in apartments, but allow smoking weed

President Obama is most pleased.

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- A Marin County smoking ban is on hold while lawmakers consider weeding out marijuana from the measure.

The ordinance as written would outlaw smoking in unincorporated county apartments and included marijuana and other herbs as well as tobacco. Read more here...

Ironic: Arizona Cuts Low-Income Health Insurance Coverage Because Not Enough People Are Smoking

Raising money by 'sin taxes" has been very popular in the last few years. The strategy can be self-defeating though.

(Reason)- Arizona has a major public health problem: Too few people are smoking.

That’s not the only fiscal problem the state faces. But it’s one of them. Like many states, Arizona’s public finances are in miserable shape. And much of the state’s budget trouble can be attributed to a decade-old decision to finance an expansion of low-income health insurance coverage with revenue dependent on tobacco industry profits.

A little more than a decade ago, the state grew its low-income health insurance rolls, claiming the new enrollees would be paid for by revenue from a deal with tobacco industry. Now, with smoking rates (and tobacco industry revenues) falling, a budget crisis brewing, and a growing number of individuals eligible for Medicaid, the state has chosen to pare back its health coverage for low-income adults.

Nanny State Alert: Largest County in Minnesota Wants to Ban Smoking in Your Car

If you don't have any sympathy for smokers, perfume wearers and the obese will likely be the next to fall under the heel of government over-regulation.

For years smokers unable to light up inside the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis have found nicotine-charged relief outside on the broad red-brick sweep of Government Plaza.

Now the plaza could soon be off-limits too.

The County Board is considering banning all tobacco use anywhere on county grounds, inside and out, even if you're parked on county property in your own car.

Read more here.

E-cigarettes anyone?

Perino Wonders If Democrats are “Smoking Something”

The question isn't if Democrats are smoking something. The question is "what?" Whatever it is, it caused a complete detachment from reality.

Perino Wonders If Dems are "Smoking Something" Due to Their Continued Push of Unpopular ObamaCare

Paul Krugman about Climategate: "There's Not A Single Smoking Gun In There" (video)

Krugman appears ignorant of the actual contents of the leaked emails. There is clearly a smoking gun. Krugman wouldn't recognize a smoking gun if he had a flaming howitzer stuck up his butt.

Paul Krugman On Climategate
by speakmymind01

From the video:

Krugman: "All those e-mails, people have never seen what academic discussion looks like, there's not a single smoking gun in there, there's nothing in there, the travesty is people are not able to explain why the fact that 1998 was a very warm year, doesn't actually mean that global warming has stopped"

Obama: "...everybody in Washington gets all wee weed up!"

More Obama College Pictures here.

All wee weed up? Is Obama smoking weed again?

Breitbart reported:

US President Barack Obama launched a mocking counter-attack Thursday at pundits who believe the euphoric early promise of his presidency is evaporating amid bitter political warfare.

Obama, who has watched his poll ratings dip sharply over recent months, drew comparisons to his 2008 presidential campaign, which was several times all but written off by media experts who set prevailing political wisdom.

"We have been through this before, in Iowa," Obama said, referring to the first state to hold a 2008 Democratic nominating contest, which saw him capture a come-from-behind win.

"All Washington said 'Oh, it's over,' hand-wringing angst ..."

Then Obama drew parallels to the media frenzy that greeted the nomination of firebrand Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in 2008.

"The media was obsessed with it, cable was 24 hours a day," Obama told a friendly audience of grass-roots Democratic activists at a Washington forum broadcast live over the web.

"'Obama's lost his mojo,' you remember all that?

"There is something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee weed up!"

Is Obama Smoking in the White House?

The answer seems to be yes. President Obama and his spokesman refused to say Obama had completely quit smoking. Both used vague language that did not implicitly admit Obama was smoking in the White House, but the message was clear.

The Detroit Free Press reported:

FOX News 'Obama Sneaking Cigarettes at the White House' Poll Question Stirs Up Progressives

Progressives are upset over a FOX News poll that asks people if they think Obama is still sneaking smokes in the White House. The question was included in a broader Opinion Dynamics poll about politics. About a third of the respondents thought he was still smoking. The number was evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. I am not sure why liberals and progressives are objecting to this poll. You can read some of their comments here, but be aware some are offensive.

Here is the poll question and results.