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Libertarians at University of Michigan Out President Over Smoking Ban

Submitted by davelw on Tue, 04/06/2010 - 18:48
in

Some interesting news have been revealed about Mary Sue Coleman and how she's on the board of directors for Johnson and Johnson, which makes smoking cessation products. One fellow student libertarian has been doing some research and giving out press releases got someone to write an article for the Michigan daily.

By Robert Soave, Michigan Daily

“The policy was made by the president. No one knows how this decision was made.” This was the comically honest response of Ken Warner, dean of the School of Public Health, to the question of who proposed the campus-wide smoking ban, according to The Michigan Daily.

It’s clear, then, that University President Mary Sue Coleman is the architect of the Smoke-Free Initiative, which will take effect in July of 2011. The initiative will prohibit smoking on all outdoor University property. Coleman and University administrators have been embarrassingly vague about why such a ban is necessary. Instead, they keep insisting that the smoking ban will improve public health.

Interestingly enough, the smoking ban may also improve Coleman’s salary.

That’s because Coleman isn’t just a college president. In her spare time, she moonlights as a businesswoman, sitting on the board of directors for major pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, as well as the Meredith Corporation, a magazine publisher. According to Forbes.com, her position at Johnson & Johnson netted her an income of $229,000 last year.

Among Johnson & Johnson’s many marketed brands are smoking cessation products like Nicorette and Nicoderm — products that University smokers will feel encouraged to use once smoking becomes unwelcome on campus in July 2011. Indeed, administrators have already announced that smoking cessation products may be offered at discounted prices to students who are trying to quit.

Continue at Michigan Daily


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I am quoted in the Detroit Free Press

Submitted by biles1234 on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:38.

I am quoted in today's Detroit Free Press, who ran a solid story on the topic. Feel free to leave some comments and recommend/share this story with whomever you please!

http://www.freep.com/article/20100715/NEWS05/7150385/Univers...

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

I was surprised by the comments

Submitted by redstripe4u on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 14:45.

also. It looks like more and more people are seeing that liberty is very important to individualism.

corruption is everywhere

Submitted by TheBMT on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 08:39.

corruption is everywhere

Great work Biles and

Submitted by Freightrainblues on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 07:48.

Great work Biles and Robert,

I graduated from UofM in 07&08. I caught wind of this story a good while back and had a blast sharing it with others. I give you guys credit just for being libertarians at UofM. What groups are you working with, if any?

Mary Sue Coleman earns $800,000 a year just as a president. Plus all her other side projects, like the $200,000+ as a J&J board member.

Academia is a racket.
-enslaves students with insane tuition costs
-tuition increases substantially past the rate of inflation
-ingrains progressive nationalism while at the same time giving a perception of rebellion
-rampant waste and expansion: work at university and witness it
-uses endless amounts of tax payer dollars

Academia is no friend to liberty - I was silenced over and over again - and if not silenced faced with blank looks of confusion.

—

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

I agree with a lot of

Submitted by biles1234 on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 12:13.

I agree with a lot of this.

And thank you. The University of Michigan College Libertarians are no slouch. We are proud to be one of the most consistently active and influential pro-freedom student groups in the world.

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

do you know only two studies

Submitted by ggb45601 on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 07:29.

do you know only two studies have been done linking smoking to lung cancer??? one done in 1969 with coal miners (gee, bad group) and radiation (to speed up the effect...but in itself is a freaking carcinagen) and one done in the 70's with guess what??? radiation
now...two questions? why would dictators such as hitler and any modern US president ban smoking, and fluoridate the water for easier mind control???
And how is it possible, if smoking causes cancer, can people who are say, 94, who have been smoking their whole lives, never, never get cancer or even get sick from smoking?

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"and the truth shall make you free"
John 8:32

My thoughts exactly

Submitted by biles1234 on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 22:35.

My thoughts exactly

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

Hitler was the first to ban smoking....

Submitted by cee cee on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 22:04.

long before there was any "health" issue identified regarding smoking...

it was social control...plain and simple

that said: great article and comments...

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cee cee

northstar's picture

That's a conflict of interest

Submitted by northstar on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 21:59.

She should step down from one of her jobs and then watch how fast that ban would get yanked.

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Real eyes realize real lies

2012, we want our country back

2012 is the year for Ron Paul!

I don't smoke

Submitted by riceowlex on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 21:54.

but it's not my place to tell someone else not to.
I could die a very peaceful death with the smell of cherry pipe tobacco in my nostrils. Typical cigarette smoke is disgusting.

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Just one last kick in the nuts, then a final deathblow

Only idiots smoke

Submitted by Velveeta Underground on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 21:24.

but of course, I'll sell you the cigarettes you want to kill yourself. I prefer to let people decide for themselves if they want to smoke, but I don't want to breathe the same air as they do. Three cheers for capitalism! :)

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Support freedom and liberty candidates in 2012... Ron Paul... Gary Johnson...

The New York Times has a link to this Daily Paul thread

Submitted by j on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 21:15.

nice.

We Made the New York Times!!!

Submitted by biles1234 on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 16:29.

A University President’s Outside Board Membership
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/university...

"Some Michigan students, said to be libertarian, criticized their 'moonlighting' president in April for proposing a campuswide smoking ban. They noted that Johnson & Johnson produces Nicorette and Nicoderm; the gum and patch might be used by students who cannot smoke on campus."

Please feel free to flood the comments section :)

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

Nobody cares?

Submitted by biles1234 on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 20:50.

Nobody cares?

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

bump

Submitted by biles1234 on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 21:09.

bump

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

congrats, that is great news.

Submitted by libertybrewcity on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 03:32.

congrats, that is great news.

The comments on that article

Submitted by Crickett on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 03:32.

The comments on that article are actually more interesting than the article! Way to go!

More coverage (update)

Submitted by biles1234 on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 03:23.

Hey everybody,

We have started to get some more coverage on this story including front page articles in both University of Michigan newspapers. Here is one from the Michigan Review:

http://www.michiganreview.com/u-m-administration-faces-confl...

Even more importantly, people across the country are taking notice. Roy Poses MD, President of the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine (FIRM) and Professor of Medicine at Brown University, stated: "I assert that President Coleman has a conflict of interest"

http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2010/04/smoke-screen-how-confl...

I am currently scheduled to interview 4 leading corporate ethics experts this week about Mary Sue Coleman's relationship with Johnson & Johnson and have filed a FOIA request with the University to obtain pertinent documents.

Any help you ladies and gentlemen can give me through the blogosphere or just spreading the word would be golden. This battle for liberty against the statism and fraud that pervades my University is real.

—

Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

Good

Submitted by ladalang on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 08:58.

For the University of Michigan.

Good for Mary Sue Coleman too,

Submitted by Rufiux on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 09:18.

but bad for liberty.

smoking

Submitted by ladalang on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 09:22.

is disgusting,Universities get funding from the government. They are not private property. Good for U of M and it's students.

Ya - Ya

Submitted by Black Ops on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 09:33.

Power to the State!

Obedience is Strength!

Banning smoking outside,

Submitted by Rufiux on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 09:47.

is not only frivolous and silly, it's totally unenforceable. When institutions make unenforceable rules it degrades respect for all rules set by the institution.

Does someone smoking outside bother you in the least? If it does then you should take a hard look at yourself. You're probably too irritable to be in the company of others.

Don't feel bad, the press is bought and paid for by Non Profits

Submitted by InvestigateNonP... on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 08:37.

Don't feel bad! We PAID for the press releases below, including the one exposing the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for buying and profiting from smoking bans (see Who Really Profits from Smoking Bans). MSM won't touch these articles because 1) they're left wing and 2) because they'll lose precious advertising money.

There IS no investigative journalism any more.

University of Minnesota/OSU Tobacco Control Study Flawed; Combining Data on
Bars and Restaurants Skewed Results
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS175529+07-Ma...

Ohio Voters Misled when they Voted for Smoking Ban
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS143891+29-May-2009+PRN200...

Allegations of Voter Fraud in Ohio
http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY...

Four Groups File Compaints Against Carmona's 2006 Report
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS200792+08-Oct-2008+PRN200...

Group Uncovers Massive Ohio Election Fraud
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS176043+18-Nov-2009+PRN200...

Who Really Profits from Smoking Bans?
http://www2.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY...

Now we're going to come at this from another angle. Of course, this angle counts heavily on the fact that we are relying on the hopes that there are a few honest politicians left.

These PROFITABLE non-profits are influencing the laws and politicians. They've organized to form alliances. They put their minions in to "shadow" congressional leaders so they infiltrate. They should be forced to spend more of the millions and billions in endowment funds on the causes that give them the luxury of being tax exempt. They should NEVER, like RWJF, be able to profit either financially or by gaining power from laws they BUY with grant money.

They didn't count on the fact that WE the PEOPLE do not want our behaviors to be controled. We do NOT want a Big Brother. We do NOT want a NANNY government. We've all got to stick together to push back, make LOUD NOISE and expose the corruption that's running this country.

Goddamn the Pusher

Submitted by Boru on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 07:43.

Do you guys think that the drug industry has taken over the smoking industry in terms of influencing the governmnet?

Did Big Pharm also influence government to pass all the smoking bans in public?

BTW: If you don't know "The Pusher", it's a great song by Steppenwolf.

Well now it seems that the government has once again taken the attitude of "if you can't beat them, join them"...thus the government pushes drugs by a variety of means: ritilin in schools, a variety of digestive drugs after destroying nutritious foods, nicotine via smoking bans, and on and on and on.

The song ends:

"Well, now if I were the president of this land
You know, I'd declare total war on The Pusher man
I'd cut him if he stands, and I'd shoot him if he'd run
Yes I'd kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun

God damn The Pusher
God damn The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man"

Ron Paul for President 2012

It's amazing what you'll find

Submitted by jhalsey on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 07:17.

when you start digging. Totally impressed with kids who are thinking - wish there were more of them...
I'm sending this off to my college kids.

—

affirmation: President Paul 2008

bump

Submitted by MMJ Ministry on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 01:13.

bump

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“We have allowed our nation to be over taxed and over regulated and overrun by bureaucrats, the founders would be ashamed of us for what we're putting up with.” Ron Paul

More Michigan Daily coverage

Submitted by biles1234 on Tue, 04/06/2010 - 23:05.

Thank you for covering this Daily Paul. I am that "ordinary person" who did the original research, which Robby caught wind of and did some more, resulting a brilliantly written editorial.

It has caught the University's attention and the PR director is scheduling meetings in an attempt to silence the truth.

My article runs tomorrow, but is already up online. Not quite as groundbreaking, but I think it's worth a read nonetheless.

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/alex-biles-smoking-ban

Please read and spread. Any Michiganders whose taxpayer money is paying president Mary Sue Coleman's salary, please feel free to contact the president.

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Check out Justin Amash, the best chance after Rand Paul at getting a liberty candidate in Congress! http://amashforcongress.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/justinamash

Biles, got a spare Michigan

Submitted by greatscott on Tue, 04/06/2010 - 23:26.

Biles, got a spare Michigan address and zip code I can borrow? A Michigan telephone number would be nice too. I'll be happy to call across Lake Michigan from Wisconsin to rattle her cage!

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There is no Left or Right -- there is only freedom or tyranny. Everything else is an illusion, an obfuscation to keep you confused and silent as the world burns around you." - Philip Brennan

"Invest only in things that you can stand in front of and pr