Pipe Smokers Intelligencer

I call this living in the Twilight Zone. Surely, you recall that Rod Serling television production, The Twilight Zone?

And if you can remember that, you probably recall  his opening lines: There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.

Science and superstition! Light and shadow!

Friends and neighbors, that is precisely what we have going on today. People in political power have lost their cotton-pickin’ minds and are living in between the light and shadows, science and superstition.

Take Michigan as an example. It has banned smoking everywhere, especially its bars and restaurants. And now those bars and restaurants are experiencing fewer patrons to the tune of a 42 percent drop in business.

And, uh,  does anyone recall the Great Recession that has America by the throat?

Go to Cigar Rights of America’s latest action alert to get the whole lowdown on this dumb and dumber move by Michigan.

Now the state’s Restaurant Association is howling. They are losing customers by the drove and bar owners are practically on their knees. The story says bar patrons knock back a couple and then head outside for a quick smoke. The bars are lucky if their customers return inside to down another stiff one.

Unless you have been on another planet, you know that the U.S. is still in the iron grip of a recession. Anything that detracts from business is not a good idea, especially small business entrepreneurs, which all economist say is the backbone of the nation’s economy.

Do in the mom and pops and you do in America. That seems pretty straight forward to me.

CRA also notes that Savannah, Ga., is losing its mind as well. That city’s politicians want to ban smoking even in cigar establishments!

Oh, yeah, and what do you do when those thousands of jobs go away, Mr. Mayor?

It’s not just the jobs of the local cigar shop. It is the jobs of the multitudes involved in the industry, right down to the rollers and delivery personnel.

You recall the domino effect, eh? That was an old Vietnam saw that the Johnson Administration tried to sell on ginning up the Vietnam War. Don’t get me started.

Well, just think of the domino effect in the tobacco industry. You cut out a cigar shop, and you are not losing just a job or two. You are losing hundreds (See my interview and audio file with Rocky Patel under Tobacco Talk).

Oh, and I just got to mention this: The FDA is so concerned about your health that it has let a half-billion chicken eggs (the ones you eat for breakfast) get a bad case of salmonella, which at last count has sickened thousands.

And guess who inspects the big chicken egg producers? Why, the producers, that’s who,  not the FDA. The last time I checked with a chicken, an egg was a food, but the Food and Drug Administration apparently has trouble figuring that out.

It is all about priorities and the FDA has got its priorities fixed on tobacco rather than food. While thousands get sick from bad eggs, the FDA would rather help mom and pop tobacco shops go out of business.

Yeah, that makes sense.

It’s a Twilight Zone, I tell you. Light and Shadows. Science and superstition.