The Nanny State is out in force today. #ecigarette @nsw_upperhouse
— Peter Phelps MLC (@PeterPhelpsMLC) May 27, 2015
Peter Phelps is a government whip in the New South Wales parliament and a very sound beacon of sanity bobbing around in an ocean of proud fascists.
He was tweeting in advance of a debate about restrictions on e-cigs for under 18s which, of course, is never going to be enough for the knuckle-dragging ignoramuses who want to see them banned entirely. Globally we have seen unbelievably stupid politicians installing bans on devices which are actively encouraging hardcore smokers to quit - 1.1 million at last count in the UK - simply because they are too stupid to understand the huge potential societal and public health benefits they are trying to destroy.
An array of nodding dog prohibitionists set their stall out in claiming all kinds of fantasy dangers about e-cigs - along with the usual cherry-picking of 'evidence' and adherence to the word of reactionary tobacco control industry dinosaurs who just can't bear to see their life's work relegated to irrelevance by something they didn't imagine themselves - but Phelps bided his time.
@alicia_wood The ecig laws are fine. Only the Nanny Staters want more regulation - a point I'll be making in my post QT speech on ecigs
— Peter Phelps MLC (@PeterPhelpsMLC) May 27, 2015
Those opposing him, as is always the case with kneejerk nanny state advocates, had little else in their armoury but insults, smears, innuendo, wild assumptions, and downright lies.
I love it when the Left is outraged by what I say, but can offer no evidence to counter my arguments #stillwinning
— Peter Phelps MLC (@PeterPhelpsMLC) May 27, 2015
You can read the whole e-cigs debate in two parts at this link but it will take a bit of scrolling. I was minded to pull out a few fab quotes from his speech and reproduce them here but it's far more entertatining if you read everything he said in its entirety, so here it is below.
Watch out for his emphasising the inconvenient truth that healthy people cost an economy more than the 'unhealthy' do (before sin taxes), his lampooning of a Queensland e-cig denialist, and the cunning way he led the parliament - to their shame, and subsequent palpable fury - to admit that they admire lifestyle advice given by the nazis.
Bravo, Dr Phelps, well played Sir!
