• Have Your Say in the media. Leave comments, sign petitions, send e-mails.
• Mark Your Money: "Smokers' Money" and let the natural circulation make the point to those who take smokers' money for granted. If society realizes that a little tolerance and good education can save the day, then maybe people will wake-up before it's too late for them.

• VOTE!!!! -- Your vote counts. Tell your friends to vote because their votes count, too! This makes a difference. In Champaign, IL, shortly after a smoking ban went into effect, the voters replaced City Council members who pushed the ban out of office and replaced them with people who said that they would repeal the ban. Unfortunately, the repeal was only a partial repeal but it was, at least, a partial repeal. Also, the Illinois House and Senate passed a Smoke-Free Illinois Act and, as reported in numerous newspapers, the governor said the he would sign it enthusiastically. Well, something must have changed the governor's mind--and the minds of many Illinois politicians--because he quietly sent it back to the Senate for exemptions. VOTE!!! Find out who is promoting false science, bad economy and antifreedom and vote them out of office. (Uh...Just as a reminder, before you vote, you need to Register to Vote. *wink*)

• Write letters to your congressmen--If you need help finding them, then some of the larger corporations might help you draft and send letters. See a sample letter, written by Michael J McFadden, to Councilman Miller in New York.

  WebMistress: Here are a couple of letters that I wrote to the Governor and Legislators of Illinois. They're admittedly a little long but feel free to use the ideas and/or format in letters to your politicians. I will try to develop a list of politicians who have voted for antismoker laws.

• Print flyers -- Flyers are available from a variety of organizations, like Freedom2Choose. I can offer a two-sided flyer, a single-sided flyer or you can design your own. (Big thanks to Freedom2Choose and RichLady for putting two of these flyers together!) More flyers--colorful ones at that--and letters are available from SmokeScam. Let people know that these organizations are working for them, that they aren't alone in their opposition to the banning craze. I guarantee that you'll find plenty of like-minded people. Just leave flyers wherever you go, or give them to people you see smoking outside of an office building.

• Get Legal -- The connection between pharmaceutical companies and smoking bans is well-documented. Some have suggested suing pharmaceutical companies. From the looks of things, an awful lot of lawyers are already doing just that. Now that tobacco companies are paying mega-bucks through the MSA, they don't have so much money and legal eagles have set their sights on the more lucrative lawsuits against Big Pharma...which is where the big money is now. TV commercials are forever running to market more drugs and other TV commercials are forever running to sue drug companies. It's ironic that antismoker organizations have actually had material encouraging people to sue tobacco companies and instructing people on how to do it; see ASH's Sue the Tobacco Companies Information - Act NOW Before It's Too Late! page. (In fact, for a recount of the legal messes caused by antismokers, see Let's go to court! by Steve Sebelius, December 5, 2006. Ironic that antismokers claim those politicians who do NOT cow-tow to their demands run the risk of being sued!) As they say, live by the sword--die by the sword.
  On a related note, Hylton-Potts Legal Consultants has entered their listing as Lawyers for Freedom2Choose on Smokescreen. So, if you've caught pneumonia from standing outside in inclement weather due to a smoking ban or other antismoker policy, then maybe you should look for similar legal consultation???

• Live the Life -- When people see you taking pride in what you're doing, saving them from another Prohibition Era and making a free life look attractive, they will flock to you. Having a nice luncheon outdoors at a cafe or restaurant, sit back and enjoy a smoke with your last drink...preferably using a long, elegant cigarette holder like the old movie stars did. *wink* Or just be happy and choose your friends wisely. Freedom is as beautiful as you are.

• Economic Impact: Vote with Your Feet and Wallet -- This is a tricky one. The obvious thing to do is avoid places where you are uncomfortable or don't feel welcome, which applies to people who smoke, people who do not smoke and antismokers. Many people insist that smoking bans do not harm the economy--yet, the argument for statewide bans is that we need to "level the playing field." Both common sense and evidence of damage from past bans prove that people can and do vote with their feet. However, many hospitality venues protest bans and even flout bans, preferring to pay fines than to lose too much business. As much as both etiquette and empowerment require us to abstain--usually with pleasure--from antismoking venues, we are left with the problem of hurting those hospitality workers who are not at fault for any disrespect or animosity shown toward people who smoke.

  Alas, one aspect of society that greatly impacts the economic side of this problem is our mobility. Specifically, if a smoking ban is enacted, then we might seek places that are more smoker friendly, such as restaurants which welcome smoking on their patios, in our familiar town. However, if one relocates to a new town or state, then one does not know which venues are friendly and which ones are hostile. The result is that we abstain from ALL restaurants. If the hospitality industry should have learned anything by now it is that restaurants are not so much in competition with one another as with eating at home.

  Too often, we hear people saying that they are venturing into new restaurants and taverns because they are now ALL required to be nonsmoking/antismoking. One wonders about the trends in trade to their previous nonsmoking venues, which had previously held a corner in the niche for nonsmoking hospitality.

  Finally, the problem of environment and inclement weather rears its ugly head. When the weather turns too cold to accommodate customers outside, what will happen to business? This is a very real concern for many people, especially in places like England. Just one of the thousands of examples can be see in Smoking ban has bar owners worried, which illustrates several unintended consequences including economic worries.

• Media: Spread the Word - Get accurate information into the mainstream. People in the know don't buy the hardline being sold to us by popular media--so, let those media people know it! Write e-mails, post comments, make phone calls, write for other organizations to get the word out. Write for Helium. (Note: Don't bother with Wikipedia. It has "squatters" who seem to have a vested interest in disseminating misinformation, which is abundantly clear from the nonsensical blurbs under the antismoking headings. Read it and use a little common sense.)Thanks to tnsmoker for the Helium suggestion. Although many newsmedia outlets thrive on causing controversy, most seem unaware of how overwhelming the smoking and nonsmoking public grows tired and distrustful of their reporting when they continue to promote nonsensical antismoking propaganda.

• Keep an eye on Lobbying Disclosures -- Just a word to the wise. Maybe you could check-up on your favorite charity, maybe check on their 990 forms through the IRS?

Thanks to a friend from FORCES International who provided the following:
Alabama freedom fighters:
Sandra Moon (Huntsville City Council)
Tim Cowles (Madison City Council)
Gary Hammon and Ray Metzger (Decatur City City Council)

ANTIS:

Billy Jackson Introduced the bill (Decatur City Council)
David Bolding (Decatur City Council)
Ronny Russell (Decatur City Council)
Cynthia McCollum Introduced the bill (Madison City Council)
Steve Haraway ( Madison)
Bob Wagner (Madison)
Jerry Jennings (Madison)
Tommy Overcash (Madison)
Larry Vannoy (Madison)
Richard Showers (Huntsville City Council)
Mark Russell (Huntsville)
Bill Kling (Huntsville)
Glenn Watson (Huntsville)

Senator Vivian Figures (Introduced SB 155) which defines a new crime - smoking.

In the days leading up to last month's special legislative session, Gov. Mike Huckabee's office pushed to restrict public comment on his smoking ban bill, and the governor prepared to publicly shame legislators who opposed it...There were no public hearings on the bill prior to the special session...his deputy chief of staff, Kelly Boyd, urged Huckabee to organize rallies to embarrass legislators opposing the bill.
"TEFRA their asses," Boyd wrote March 31. Boyd was referring to the public scathing Huckabee received in 2002 over the administration's plan to eliminate a Medicaid program, called TEFRA, for developmentally disabled children when state spending had to be cut because of a slump in revenue growth. Boyd said anti-smoking supporters could learn from the tactics employed by Medicaid advocates four years ago...Boyd also opposed giving the proposal a public airing in a committee meeting before the special session.
"You only want legislators hearing your side of the story," Boyd wrote Health and Human Services Director John Selig on March 23....
In a March 21 e-mail, the governor said he didn't want promotional "talking points" that said the proposal would "ban smoking." Instead, he directed they "say it will provide a safe and clean breathing environment." The same day, Joe Quinn, Huckabee's policy director, wrote the governor about the American Cancer Society's strategy for passing the bill. The "first phase" involved an "under the radar" lobbying effort of legislators serving on the committees that would consider the bill...The following day, Boyd complained to Quinn about Quinn's use of the phrase "anti smoking" in a previous e-mail to the governor. "I think you should feel honored to the be the first person to place a dollar in the 'smoking' kitty since you failed to heed my earlier warning about the requirement to use 'clean air' instead of '& %$ * $ & %' when referring to this issue," Boyd wrote."

States turn to tobacco because it is the path of least resistance, said Illinois state Sen. Emil Jones Jr. (D-Chicago), who supported the 40-cent increase even though he thinks the tax hurts poor people the most.

Keep up-to-date with Illinois Smokers' Rights--very political with lots of links to poltiical action and plenty of smoker-friendly links!

Iowa Democrats on Wednesday announced a plan to provide health care coverage to the poor by raising the state's cigarette tax by $1.00 per pack.
...
'We cannot reach universal health care without a large infusion of public dollars,' said Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines

The NH restaurant and tavern smoking ban, effective September 17, 2007, was a clear result of politically active antis in action. In 2006 a similar bill was narrowly defeated in the NH senate. Later that same year, Tobacco Free Kids (TFK) took action and poised candidates to replace two key senators who had voted no. TFK provided out of state funding and aggressive smear campaigns were launched by the campaigns of Betsey DeVries against incumbent Andre Martel (District 18) and of Harold Janeway against Robert Flanders (District 7). Both TFK backed candidates prevailed. In 2007 the senate vote was a landslide for the ban, and efforts to defeat the bill in the House could not withstand the greater number of antismoking legislators as well infused into that body as a result of the November 2006 election, which also ended 120 years of Republican dominance of NH state politics.

N.J.'S Smoking Ban Hurts Restaurant, Bar Sales (wcbstv.com, Apr 8, 2007,

...as the first anniversary of the legislation approaches, Deborah Dowdell, president of the New Jersey Restaurant Association said hundreds of restaurants, bars and taverns have seen sales cut in half while others will be forced to close. Jon Perper, owner of a bowling center in Cherry Hill, says he's going to shutter his business this summer and knows of at least 10 other bowling centers that are going to do the same...."There is no reason it won't work in New Jersey," said Sen. John Adler, D-Camden. "It's hard to quantify lives saved and illnesses avoided.

In other words, Sen. John Adler, D-Camden relies on How's the smoking ban in NM? *thpt*

• "I have no idea where Strickland or Brown stand on this issue-but I DO know Dewanker is a rabid anti-smoker-as is Taft-as is Montgomery-as is Voinovich"
• "Sherrod Brown was an honorary co-chair for the ANTI-SMOKER Legacy Foundation's Code Blue Campaign ( http://www.americanlegacy.org/594.htm ) and according to ASH, was instrumental in inveiling those "secret" RJR documents to Congress in 2002 ( http://no-smoking.org/feb98/02-02-98-1.html ) ANTI-SMOKER Sherrod Brown"
• "Rick Schwachenwald (D)...Sponsor of an ordinance that would have banned smoking in cars when kids were passengers."
• "Sue Jeffers will also be getting my vote [because she seemed to honestly care]."
• The author of the smoking ban = Dave Thune
• Helpful website provided: http://www.ohioelects.com/state/
• Well, for those that aren't quite so aware in Columbus, let it be known:
  http://council.ci.columbus.oh.us/council_news/advisories/Advisories_80.asp
  ANTI-SMOKERS in RED
  "City Councilmembers Habash, Tavares, Kevin Boyce, Michael Mentel, Mary Jo Hudson, Maryellen O'Shaughnessy, and Pasty Thomas - along with support from Mayor Michael Coleman - will sponsor on a Council Resolution urging voters to say No on State Issue 4 and Yes on State Issue 5."

I applaud the American Cancer Society for all they do to eradicate smoking. Their local, state and national efforts help to discourage young people from taking up this deadly habit and the resources they provide have helped numerous smokers quit.
Allyson Schwartz