Let's talk about something....... Interesting

Now, unlike some people, I like to think. I do it often enough to occasionally get myself into trouble.

What am I thinking about tonight? As I sit in my various chat rooms, watching the other people type, goof, and make obscure sexual comments (and I toss a few of my own out, too), I think of how much technology has changed our lives....some changes for the better, some for worse.

Our world has grown so much smaller with the advent of the internet. I have friends I've never met face to face in just about every state in the US, and several across that big ol' puddle of water some call the Atlantic Ocean. These people are just as real to me as any I've met in person, their personalities come across clear in their typed words. I laugh with them, cry with them, feel their pain as they feel mine. These people are close enough to influence me intellectually, spiritually, emotionally.....yet they are not close enough to touch physically. How quickly these alternate bonds form!

Without the internet, I would never have had the knowledge necessary to find an alternative that successfully enabled me to quit a 20+ year addiction to tobacco..... a neat little Chinese devise known as the E-Cig, or Personal Vaporizer, which through research led me to many of my online friends. I wouldn't have found a cause worth fighting for, and would still be living with the wool pulled firmly over my eyes as to the political situation and the true corruption of our government.

Now, not everything is all peaches and light, though, when it comes to technologies advances. We have virtually everything at out fingertips, now, a little electronic brain we can carry around in our pockets, and we've become lazier because of it. When was the last time you actually memorized a phone number? Or looked up the spelling of a word in a dictionary?

I think I'm done thinking for tonight on the wonders and pitfalls of the internet. Care to join me in a thought next time?

Hiatus Over?

I have been woefully remiss in this poor blog of mine, while the debate rages on in the world.

The lawsuit, the FDA vs. Smoking Everywhere/Njoy has stalled, with a decision sitting on the Honorable Judge Leon's desk for over 2 months now. Spokespersons on both sides of this decision are already planning their appeals if the judgement goes against them. Up for stakes: the ultimate classification of the PV.

This should have been a relatively simple case.....did the FDA have the jurisdiction to impound shipments of PV's and supplies at the time they acted? Did they follow the guidelines laid down on them by Congress before they acted? Therein lies the ultimate question.....forget about the FSTCA (Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act) passed after this legal question was put before the court, forget the anti-smoking terrorist groups such as ASH spreading their hate-filled and blind rhetoric in their crusade to turn all nicotine users into this generation's societal pariahs, forget about the alarmist tactics of the press and the sensationalist advertising of the multitudes of PV sellers out there simply trying to make a quick buck. None of these things should matter to the court.......except..... DID THE FDA FOLLOW THEIR PROCEDURES BEFORE THEY ACTED?

This case has instead turned into the circus of the year.....at stake, the legal status and classification of the personal vaporizer, electronic cigarette, and all things vaping.

I have to wonder, as a spectator and a consumer, what is going on behind the scenes here? Why is the FDA taking such a hard (all or nothing) stance against these products? They have plainly said that these products are NOT approved, NOT legal, and if they win their court case, they will step up enforcement procedures, including more seizures, impounds, fines, and the shut-down of all small US resellers of these products. Period. Endgame. Ttttthat's......tttttthat's.......tttttthat's alllllll, folks!

If they lose their case, they have sworn to appeal the decision.

The FDA's hatred of these products is shown over and over by their actions....top of the heap, here:

1) They tested the products, then held on to the results for 2.5 months, only to issue a press release with very slanted (against the PV) details.

2) Any manufacturers who have approached the FDA have gotten the run-around on their questions regarding proper procedures for approval.

3) The specious and patently ridiculous arguments against the PV, such as a 'gateway' to traditional tobacco, appeal to children, 'we don't know what's in them,' and they haven't been tested..... each argument, which, once you do a little research, are easily dismissed, by me in earlier blog entries, and by others.

Why can't the FDA see the promise these products have? This product, yet in its infancy, has the potential to solve all the problems of social smoking. There is no second-hand smoke. There is no smoke at all. No butts or ashes littering the ground......a risk factor that is 1000's of times less than traditional tobacco products, and one that's acceptable to the majority of smokers who have adopted its use.

Will PV users be forced underground by ignorance and blind hatred? Only time will tell how far this court proceeding goes.