Archive for April, 2008
Smoking bans are dangerous?
A friend of mine back in Nevada used to be a bartender at a pub located in a bowling alley. He and I would argue the merits of a smoking ban, usually ending in him agreeing it is the business owners decision, not that of the government. Yet, he somehow still supported the ban.
A year after the corrupt smoking ban in Nevada (the bill language allowed smoking in Casino’s, pushing millions of dollars out of smaller businesses and in to the pockets of major Casino corporations) went in to effect, this individual found himself working at an empty bar and pondering what he would do when the job went belly up. Before the ban, the bar had 20+ slot machines that were generating $10,000+ per month in revenue. After the ban, the owner had to pull the slot machines from the bar because they were costing more than they were bringing in.
Did you catch that? The smoking ban costs this one bar more than $10,000 a month in revenue! People want to smoke, drink and gamble. If they can’t do that in the neighborhood watering hole, they’ll go straight to the casino. And that is exactly what happened in Nevada.
So, while my buddy was happy he no longer had to inhale smoke (which was his CHOICE, by the way), he quickly found the business he worked for failing financially and his job became threatened. And now casino’s have even more smokers in them, meaning a lot more second hand smoke. The establishments that were made “safe” via the smoking ban are now hurting because very few people actually spend time in them compared to casinos.
Wonderful isn’t it?
And now we hear that the smoking bans across the country are causing more drunk driving accidents. You read that right. According to research published by the Journal of Public Economics, the rate of fatal alcohol-related car accidents increased by 13% in a typical county containing 680,000 people.
The researchers analysed data from 120 American counties, 20 of which had banned smoking. They found a smoking ban increased fatal alcohol-related car accidents by 13% in a typical county containing 680,000 people. This is the equivalent of 2.5 fatal accidents (equivalent to approximately six deaths). Furthermore, drunk-driving smokers have not changed their ways over time. In areas where the ban has been in place for longer than 18 months, the increased accident rate is 19%.
The findings, say the pair, are consistent with the suggestion that smokers are driving farther to alternative places to drink. This may be because they are driving to bars with outdoor seating, or to bars which are not enforcing the smoking ban.
Another explanation is that some smokers are “jurisdiction shopping” to places where they may puff. Accident rates can be especially high where border-hopping to still-smoky bars is possible. Accidents in Delaware county in Pennsylvania increased by 26% after the next-door state of Delaware introduced a smoking ban in 2002. Similarly, when Boulder county banned smoking, fatal accidents in Jefferson county, between Boulder county and Denver, went up by 40%. How this weighs up against the long-term health effects of smoking bans is unclear. But it serves as a warning to well-meaning legislators.
The moral of the story here is that more regulation and less liberty simply isn’t helping anything.
Heh… take a look at the fight happening on ABC’s website over the Democrat debate.
15,000 comments!!! Looks like the Democrats have a MUCH bigger problem than the GOP.
Welcome to the .577 T-Rex Rifle.
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Of course, most of these guys are using terrible form, but it still shows the raw power of such a firearm. This video shows the proper way to fire a 577.
This story is a little more local than most of our pork reports, but it still warrants a heads up.
Maggie Thurber has discovered an amazing abuse of tax dollars in the City of Toledo. Apparently,Toledo is gearing up to spend a whopping $600,000 to open several pool locations.
As Maggie points out, the City is taking the nanny state approach by deciding the costs are not relevant when it comes to providing comfort for citizens.
Kattie Bond, director of Toledo’s department of neighborhoods, said the benefit of operating city pools outweighs the cost.
“It is important to provide recreational opportunities for citizens,” Ms. Bond said. “We live in a city where we do get hot weather, so it’s important we provide a place for kids to at least get wet and cool off.”
Maggie also tosses in some pretty convincing numbers that lead to the conclusion this $600,000 project will only serve less than 2% of the population.
Last year, the pools served 25,151 entrants. The city did not keep track of how many of those ‘entrants’ were the same individual. They also charged $1 for entry.
In 2007, there were six pools open (one was a splash pad) compared to the 12 facilities opened in 2006. Despite the increased attendance at two of the pools, overall attendance at the six facilities declined 18.5% from 30,841 to 25,151. This clearly indicates that individuals who had access to a pool in 2006 did not travel to other locations in 2007 in order to “get wet and cool off.” (I just can’t imagine how they survived!)
As these numbers are visits and not visitors, it’s hard to estimate just how important this cost is to the general public. For sake of argument, let’s estimate that individuals likely to use the pool facilities will do so five times during the season. This seems a reasonable estimate considering the number of days the pools are open.
Using this assumption, the pools had about 5,000 unique visitors. The 2006 Census data shows that there are 74,896 children (under 18 years of age) in Toledo. Even if every visitor to the pools was a child, we would be serving less than 7% of the kids in the city. If we consider total population, those estimated 5,000 unique visitors represent less than 2% of the population.
Lovely, isn’t it?
Cross posted at The Oink Report and Conservablogs.com
It’s official. My blogging has reached critical mass. OK, not really critical mass, but it’s getting pretty hefty.
You see, I don’t just write posts, I maintain and manage a plethora of blogs, group blogs, and blogging communities. Lately I’ve been spending any and all extra time cleaning up other blogging projects and preparing them for a long term plan. The following is a list of some of the blogs I am intimately involved in.
The Oink Report – The Oink Report is a blog that documents government waste, pork barrel spending, and political corruption via earmarks. I’m joined by Rob Port at SayAnythingBlog.com, and I look forward to seeing this blog reach its full potential.
Telecommies – A Net Regulation blog aimed at exposing the truth about net neutrality.
Left Watch – This is a blog that I am only just starting to chew into. It’s main purpose is to follow the left wing money machine and provide details about where the money comes from and what it is used for.
BlockersRus.com – Blockers “R” Us is a new blog set up to follow the people who work to limit free speech by actively blocking citizen petition efforts.
ConservaBlogs.com – CB is a community of more than 20 bloggers who are hosted on the site and crank out an enormous amount of original content. The site currently enjoys more than 4,000 visits per day and is continuing to grow.
And, of course, I blog here, The Developers Blog, and Blogivists HQ.
Needless to say, it’s a handful keeping up with it all. But I love every minute of it.
Yes… I’m addicted to blogging. 
Will this guy EVER slow down on the pork buffet?
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I remember a conversation back in October about how nice it would be for there to be a blogger event for center-right e-activists to network, learn from each other, and gain a better understanding of where we need to go as a movement. Back then it wasn’t clear if this sort of meeting could work, or if it would even happen, but I lobbied heavily for it and those who I work with agreed it needed to be attempted.
Five months later we gathered in Chicago, Illinois, for the first Samsphere event. It was the first of its kind, and one the center-right state based bloggers (including myself) had been in need of for years.
In total, including those of us from Illinois, there were about 50 in attendance. These 50 bloggers, in my opinion, can be some of the strongest and most influential bloggers in the country. Why? Well, because this group follows, blogs, and participates in local politics.
I had a preexisting relationship with a good portion of the bloggers who attended Samsphere Chicago, but is was wonderful to get to meet everyone who I have dealt with online for many years now. And even more encouraging to meet with and network with new bloggers whom I had, until Continue Reading
Last week I realized that my “social networks” were all over the map, and I needed to try and bring some type of coherent method to the madness. This post exists to allow all of my friends, readers, and fellow bloggers quick access to my online network. Hopefully you join me on each site.
Here is how I see this working… you can either comment here on my post with a link to the post you write on your own blog with each of your networks, or you can simply comment here telling me how to add you/network with you on your social networks.
The idea is to create a big list of center-right bloggers who wish to be better networked via social sites. For everyone who participates, I’ll list you here along with a link to your blog.
Network away!
Facebook
OK, so the first stop for me is Facebook. I don’t spend much time on Facebook any more these days, but I still log in once per day to get the updates and make sure my profile hasn’t burned to the ground. If you’re logged in to Facebook, you can visit my profile here. Please feel free to add me to your list, or drop me a link to your profile and I’ll add you.
StumbleUpon
Next is my personal favorite… StumbleUpon. I’ve been using Stumble for some time now. Unfortunately, I’ve had to bounce around through several accounts so I have no established account at this time. I am, however, working to establish my main SU account, and I would like to invite everyone here to join my friends list. You can view my StumbleUpon profile here.
Tagged
This was JUST pointed out to me by Publius Forum, so I’m a noob on Tagged. My Tagged profile is here.
YouTube
I watch videos like crazy, but rarely submit them. Don’t be surprised by that. My YouTube profile is here.
By the People @ Ning
Then there is By The People, a social networking group over at Ning.com. By The People functions similar to MySpace, only it’s cool. If you’re a limited government activists and would like to network with others who share your view, this might be just the place. Check it out!
Technorati
Does anyone really still use Technorati? I mean, the results are fairly easy to manipulate, and spammers have noticeably taken advantage. That being said, I still run a profile and would be happy to exchange favorites. View and favorite all of my blogs by clicking here.
You can favorite my blog by clicking the button below.
MyBlogLog
I need to log in and make some changes to this account, so please forgive me if the information there is a little outdated. You can add me to your network by clicking here.
Digg
I’ll admit, my friends list is a mess and I don’t really use it to find stories and content. However, if enough of you are willing to start networking via Digg, I think I can persuade myself to clean up the list and start using it more aggressively. You can view my Digg profile here.
LinkedIn
This network is one that I consider a little more professional than the rest. I use LinkedIn to discover the background of a lot of people I work with in politics, and I find it’s a great place for resume building and contact management. If you have a LinkedIn profile and would like to connect up, send me an invite using ericjodom@gmail.com. My profile can be found here.
There ya have it! Like I said, if you write a post like this, please leave me the URL so I can go add yours as well. If not, just leave me a comment with your networks or any instructions on what I need to do on my end to connect up with you.
Best Regards,
-Eric Odom
