Honestly, that’s not completely true…but the clock is at three months and ticking, thanks to the recently passed Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act:

“Beginning 3 months after the date of enactment of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”

Nice job, Philip Morris. Note a couple of things here. 1) I kept a certain level of attention on this legislation, and I was aware that packaging rules were being severely changed, the FDA was being given new powers, etc.

But I had NO clue that clove (and most other flavored cigarettes) were being permanently banned. There doesn’t seem to be much (domestic – more on this later) news talking about this; the focus is on the other aspects of the bill. Admittedly, I’m not a big clove smoker by any means…on the order of a handful a month, at most. But I checked around, and people I thought would be aware, aren’t. This may not have been stealth legislation, but it certainly wasn’t highlighted.

And 2)…note the exemption. Menthol. The flavoring ban is “for the children”, of course…but exempting menthol is a pretty big hole in that, unless you’re simply trying to get Philip Morris to drop their objections. Which Congress was, and Philip Morris did. Gak.

While the flavoring ban has flown under our radar, Indonesia, OTOH, is more than a little pissed. Cloves are a fairly niche product in the US, but there are a lot of fans, both native-borne and immigrants (these cigarettes, known generally as kreteks, are of Indonesian origin). Jakarta is threatening WTO action based on the menthol exemption (favoring a domestic product over an import).

That could be a monkey wrench for the ban, but who knows how far that will go. The only thing more confusing and uglier under the covers than domestic law-making is international legal action.

I could just stop being naive, and accept that this is the way the world works (which is, to a certain extent, absolutely true). But in the spirit of Shaw’s unreasonable man quote, you have to stand up at times for progress to occur. This is one of those times. This law, as passed, is really just execrable.

We’ve banned flavored cigarettes, arguably (one might say) as a first step to banning them all. Except we’ve exempted the largest domestic flavoring, and there’s not even a hint of banning tobacco PRODUCTION. But why would we continue to grow a crop we can’t sell?? Because we’re selling it abroad. A crop too dangerous to sell here is returning to it’s former status as a premier cash crop for export. That’s low. That’s truly low.

For more background on the bill (and the previous one in 2004, which seems to have been “Part 1″), this article is well worth reading: “Lost In The Weed“.

What do we do? The damn thing’s already passed, so I don’t know. But we certainly don’t have to be quiet about it, and maybe, just maybe, a little sunlight can still make a difference.

I’m sending an action alert email thingie, from the ACLU’s website. I decided to copy the text here…I’m proud to send it. Note: this IS based on “suggested text”, but I’ve personalized it. I can provide a diff on request. *grin*

—BEGIN EMAIL—

It saddens me greatly that I have to send this email.

Unbelievably, there appears to be a debate over indefinite detention heating up in Washington, and I want you to know of my concerns. A debate. Over holding people without trial. Indefinitely. Some of whom we KNOW are not guilty of anything other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Indefinitely. Some of whom we have strong evidence against (which could be used, in perhaps…a trial). Some of whom we’ve tortured. (I say that without the ‘allegedly’ weasel word, because we’ve admitted we did so.)

I believe with all my heart that the administration is going down the wrong path in even considering a policy which would indefinitely imprison individuals without charge or the chance of a trial, beginning with the detainees at Guantánamo Bay. It’s wrong, plain and simple.

Indefinite detention is a violation of due process and the American principles of justice and fairness. It strikes at the heart of what makes us a great nation, and sets a terrible, terrible precedent.

Therefore, I urge you to reject any policy or proposal that would indefinitely imprison individuals without charge or the chance of a trial.

Those who disagree with me on this have every right to do so, though it concerns me greatly that it’s even an arguable point. I have little but contempt, however, for individuals that take this stance out of political expediency. There ARE things worth fighting for, and this is one of them. We are better than this. We have to be.

I realize the issues surrounding the closing of Guantánamo are difficult and complex, but we cannot afford to go down a path that violates our own Constitution. We simply cannot. If we do, we’ve done the terrorist’s job FOR them. Surely you understand that.

I respectfully ask that you do what is in your power to reject indefinite detention — whether through legislation or executive order.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

—END EMAIL—

Everyone should make their own decision on this, and I realize not everyone agrees with me. (It boggles my mind, but I accept it.) If you do agree, however, I encourage you to also share your views via this action alert form. If you disagree, I also encourage you to share your views, but I’d use a different form…you can’t change the subject line.

You can find your Senators and Representatives via this lookup form on the OpenCongress website, and the White House contact form is here. Whatever your opinion, communication with your elected representatives is a critical aspect of our form of government. Please reach out.

The Quiet Zone:

Emerging-market governments and their private-sector allies commonly form a tight-knit—and, most of the time, genteel—oligarchy, running the country rather like a profit-seeking company in which they are the controlling shareholders. When a country like Indonesia or South Korea or Russia grows, so do the ambitions of its captains of industry. As masters of their mini-universe, these people make some investments that clearly benefit the broader economy, but they also start making bigger and riskier bets. They reckon—correctly, in most cases—that their political connections will allow them to push onto the government any substantial problems that arise.

Sound familiar? That’s why I’ve always hated terms like “America’s CEO”. America is not a freakin’ corporation; The United States doesn’t have shareholders, employees, and management. It’s better than that. Or should be.

I’ve been a huge fan of EveryBlock since…well, since before they were EveryBlock. The site grew out of Adrian Holovaty’s original local info mashup, chicagocrime.org. Chicagocrime was one of the original Google Maps mashups, and not only showed off the power of map APIs, it provided a huge amount of useful data in a immediately useful visualization, at a very granular level. It was a huge hit, winning awards and immediate acclaim.

In early 2008, Adrian stepped up to the next level, and expanded outward with EveryBlock; a site designed to do what Chicagocrime did (and more), but for more cities.  EveryBlock started in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, with the intent of expanding as data feeds became available in other cities.

Atlanta has gotten a lot of interest through their polling app, and it’s just been released in beta this week. “Beta” isn’t an indicator of the flakiness of the site, as much as the availability of data…the site is the same (Python-powered!) code that runs all the city-sites. But much of the challenge is actually getting good data feeds from city governments and civic organizations, so that screen-scraping is kept to a minimum.

EveryBlock is a great example of a Web 2.0 style tool. It’s far more than a static site; info can be customized by location (zip code, neighborhood, address, etc.), by type (crime types, gov’t info [building permit requests, for example], local news mentions, etc.), pushed into RSS feeds, generated as email summaries, provided on great map mashups…it’s a little overwhelming. But it’s great stuff, and I’m looking forward to using the hell out of it. Thanks, EveryBlock, and welcome to Atlanta.

Jay deeply groks the Web; reading his articles on the challenges of journalism, or listening to him speak, provides a look into the growth of collaborative journalism, the art of participatory newsgathering, and future of media itself. He also practices what he preaches; he uses Twitter and FriendFeed not only as webs of potential contacts for stories, but also as a place to develop an insight that may eventually become a blog post (he refers to the process as mindcasting).

One of his recent FriendFeed posts prompted this writeup: as his network on FriendFeed and Twitter continues to grow out from his original niche (news, media and Web geeks like myself), he thought it worthwhile to point out a Rosen primer of sorts. This short (10-minute) panel talk that he gave recently (Feb. 2009) really distills a lot of his Web philosophy down. It’s fantastic! It also reminds me of the themes of Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody”; it’s a worthwhile cribsheet for either. We’re in the middle of a sea change, and it’s rare to get such a quick but thorough overview. Recommended.

Dinner was casual tonight, so I ended up at (irk!) McDonald’s (but hey, it’s been awhile). I ordered McNuggets and fries and brought them home, along with honey mustard sauce. But as I sat down at the kitchen table I remembered the conversation from earlier, and realized I simply HAD to toss these down with some fire.

Luckily, I received some high-quality goods (Dave’s Insanity Sauces; several flavors) as a gift this past Christmas…I have a fresh supply. (Extract sauces are so hot that even I take some time to get through a full-sized bottle, and often it’s kind of stale before I’m finished.) I started with the Dave’s Total Insanity, which I hadn’t tasted before. It’s not top of the line, heat-wise, but it has a bit more flavor than the strongest sauces, which tend to taste like dirt (fiery hell-dirt, but dirt) to me.

Total Insanity has a nice hint of garlic to it, and I made quick work of about half a dozen McNuggets, with a generous dollop of sauce smeared on each. There’s no WEAK Dave’s sauce, so the heat quickly kicked in, and I sat back for a moment to enjoy it. The sweat, the eye-watering buzz, the tongue-searing heat. Ah.

But Total Insanity is definitely the light end of the Dave’s Gourmet line, so I switched to a bottle of regular ol’ Dave’s Insanity Sauce to finish off the nuggets. I then proceeded to dip my fries down the neck of the bottle, coating them in the powerful gunk. Yowza! THAT kicked it in…the brain stepped up another level as a rush of endorphins hit to try and save what was left of my mouth, lips, and tongue. I’m on fire!! LOL

I’d gotten out of the habit of eating hot sauces regularly; I handle our pet hairless rats daily, and they have both sensitive skin and a habit of licking the tips of your fingers, which wouldn’t be a good idea tonight. I need to remember that, and be a bit more careful…use a BBQ brush or something, I guess. But I’ve still got my tolerance, which is good, and I definitely enjoyed the meal. I finished things off with a crisp Granny Smith apple; the tart fruit was a wonderful change, as I let the remnants of the pepper ebb away.

Thanks to Barry for reminding me what a great idea McNuggets and habaneros can be!

• boingboing
• slashdot
• Silicon Alley Insider
• Global Voices Online
• Jay Rosen (on Friendfeed)
• Dan Conover (on Friendfeed)
• Robert Scoble (on Friendfeed)

Episode links: direct MP3 download link, or blip.tv page.

Amusing anecdote…the data was released at the Institute’s 10 Year Forecast event, and Jamais Cascio (a prominent futurist associated w/ the Institute, and whose blog I follow) gave several presentations there on Fifty-Year Crisis Scenarios. I just read the post on his presentation, which included the following scenario (I quote his quote):

In this fifty year period, a massive depression, coupled with the collapse of a key resource, undermines traditional economic models. Even as the global economy recovers, a global war erupts, a horrifying accident triggered by political systems overwhelmed by increasingly rapid communications, a tragedy multiplied by the almost casual use of chemical weapons. The end of this war coincides with the emergence of a pandemic the likes of which the world has never seen, killing millions upon millions — and, combined with the war, almost eliminating an entire generation in some parts of the globe.

After the pandemic ebbs, a brief, heady economic boom leads many to believe the worst has ended. Unfortunately, what follows is a global depression even more massive than the previous one, causing hyperinflation in some of the most advanced nations, and leading directly to the seizure of power by totalitarian, genocidal regimes.

What follows is perhaps predictable: an even greater world-wide war, nearly wiping out a major culture and culminating in a shocking nuclear attack.

At this point, you’ve probably already realized that this scenario covers the end of the nineteenth century through the end of World War II.

As he noted, fun stuff. When done well, futurism is a powerful tool for understanding potential future (and past *grin*) trends, issues, and challenges (and can even include things like writing science fiction). I’m always happy when I see someone thinking about the future, and tools like Superstruct will give regular folks new ways to participate and join in.

• The Public Domain (website for the book)
• Feedbooks.com: The Public Domain (link to Kindle/Sony Reader compatible download)
• Wiki for Yochai Benkler’s book, The Wealth of Networks
• Lawrence Lessig
• Eben Moglen

Episode links: direct MP3 download link, or blip.tv page.