Smoke is what freedom looks like

"An American Legion post in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is taking a stand. They have decided to challenge a recently enacted statewide smoking ban in court. Their argument: Smoking bans are totally un-American.

"Michigan veterans fight for right to smoke - VFW post in Baraga defies state's new ban, files lawsuit"


BARAGA -- The veterans at the American Legion Post 444 see it as pretty straightforward.

Smoking tobacco is legal. They own, run and risk failure at their post's tavern in tiny Baraga at the base of the Keweenaw Bay in the Upper Peninsula.
So they get to decide whether patrons get to smoke.

Now Foucault-Funke Post 444, where the ashtrays never came off the tables and smokers line the bar each afternoon and evening, is at the center of what could be a decisive showdown for the new state law and -- as the vets see it -- for the individual liberty and self-government they fought to defend.

Earlier this month, the post sued the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department to strike down as unconstitutional the department's order to end indoor smoking.
Later on in the article:
The way one of those smokers, Baraga resident and auxiliary post member Anita Shepard, sees it, that smoke is what freedom looks like.
The new state smoking ban, Shepard said, is just one more encroachment on personal freedom, a decision handed down by out-of-touch politicians 500 miles away. She likens it to restrictions on gun rights and creeping government intrusion generally.

We're not a communist country yet, but we're only one step away from it," she said.
Post specifically targeted over libertarian stance:
Post spokesman O'Leary, also the Baraga County prosecuting attorney, believes noncompliance with the law, especially in the libertarian-leaning Upper Peninsula, is more widespread than health officials acknowledge. The legion post has been targeted, at least in part, because it is openly defiant, he said."
 Quite!.....  Best of luck to these boys

Send them a message of support  
mail@florissantlegion.org

6 comments:

  1. lt is indeed and also they are getting support from the people. My heart really wants them to win.

    Good for them!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Go for it Baraga, and good luck!. It is what we should be doing here, civil disobedience on a grand scale....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good luck to them, more action like this is needed World-wide.

    ReplyDelete
  4. All the lawmakers and politicians in favor of the bans are just bored and greedy.

    ReplyDelete

"In the eyes of the Tribunal the review letter contained several preconceptions, prejudgments and non-sequiturs"

"the absurdity of this reason is demonstrated by simply stating it"

"We therefore find that Mr Sked misdirected himself as to the Policy in carrying out the review and his decision is therefore one that no reasonable review officer could have arrived at."

... commonly known here at N2D as 'Skeds' ... that is to say these are Judges comments regarding UKBA Review Officer Ian Sked's reasons for rejecting peoples appeals against seizures.

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