News you probably already know... delivered by guys you probably don't know (but we really wish you did).
This week's headlines include Olympic Hockey, a State Senator missing in action, strippers and cocaine, and more. If you have any ideas for headlines for next week's episode please suggest them by commenting below.
Everyone knows how bad smoking is for your insides, but does everyone know how ugly smoking can make your outsides?
Health.com has provided ways that smoking un-beautifies yourselfEveryone knows how bad smoking is for your insides, but does everyone know how ugly... more
News you probably already know... delivered by guys you probably don't know (but we really wish you did). This week's headlines include Olympic Hockey, a State Senator missing in action, strippers and cocaine, and more.
This is a project that I have been working on for the last few months. To date I would say this is the funniest episode that we have created and I would like to share it with the group. If you have any ideas on what we can do to improve the segment, please let me know.
Follow the link and let me know what you think... Thanks. http://skunkpost.com/news.sp?newsId=1744News you probably already know... delivered by guys you probably don't know (but... more
After spending decades doing anything they could to deny the harmful effects of their product while experimenting on ways to make it more addictive the tobacco companies now want to blame it all on the junkies they created. Meanwhile using the courts to silence those that disagree. Keep in mind this is a widely available highly addictive product that kills a half million people a year.
Meanwhile the government spends billions of dollars a year to catch, prosecute and jail people that smoke marijuana. A drug that isn't addictive doesn't kill people and actually may have some health benefits. So much for equal protection under the law.
The bulk of my writing is done for a pot-savvy audience, so it usually goes without saying that certain “cultural perceptions” about cannabis are wrong. To correct these marijuana myths to a crowd of potheads would be a classic case of singing to (an albeit higher) choir.
As editor of a pot website, I live and breathe marijuana (see what I did there?) every day, and have a great chance to fully inform myself.
But when speaking to members of the general public, I’m often struck (and stop that! It hurts) with the wide prevalence of beliefs about marijuana that have been scientifically disproven for years.
How many of these myths have you trusted lately?The bulk of my writing is done for a pot-savvy audience, so it usually goes without... more
I feel bad for every other state. They don't have the opportunity to vote a prince for their next governor.
LAist reports that Prince Frederic von Anhalt is officially filing papers to run for Governor of California. He wants to "Return the Good Life to California." His version of the good life includes legalizing cannabis and prostitution. He plans to create a "sin tax" to cover these vices plus cigarettes, Cuban cigars, and alcohol. He also wants to tax "bad drivers" and open the border with Mexico.
I actually think these policies would benefit the state. However Prince von Anhalt might not be the best governor. He was born to a poor German family, but was miraculously adopted by a German princess who dubbed him Prince Frederic von Anhalt of Munich, the Duke of Saxony. He is eighth husband to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and reportedly had a relationship with Anna Nicole Smith. In 2007 he accused three women of mugging him. He was found by police naked inside his Rolls Royce. Despite having sued Viagra for not being able to perform without the drug, he recorded a song called "Viva Viagra, Viva Amore."
(I personally recommend listening to the Disco-Party Power Mix)
The 2003 recall of Governor Gray Davis, which resulted in the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger had several oddball candidates: Larry Flynt, Gary Coleman, Gallagher, and porn star Mary Carey. California has a legacy of weirdos in politics. During the 1850s, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, proclaimed himself the "Emperor of the United States, and Protector of Mexico."I feel bad for every other state. They don't have the opportunity to vote a... more
A new poll revealed that 60% of voters would support a $1 increase per pack of cigarettes, and that voters would prefer a tax hike over budget cuts. Reuters states that a tax increase on cigarettes could raise billions of dollars for struggling states. John Seffrin, chief executive of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, saidA new poll revealed that 60% of voters would support a $1 increase per pack of... more
TELFORD - Two women from Telford have been arrested for allegedly filing a false report of rape - then later admitting the sex was consensual in exchange for a pack of cigarettes.
One of the women allegedly told police they decided to file the report because they "didn't enjoy the sex."
According to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, the women reported they went outside their home at 255 Browning Road, Telford, when they heard barking dogs. Jessica Kathleen Alexander, 18, and Tammy Nicole Ortego, 29, said two men then threw them to the ground and raped them.
However, police said both women later recanted their original story.
They allegedly admitted they had met a man on a telephone chat line and then met him for sex. In exchange, the man - who police say was previously unknown to the women - gave them one pack of cigarettes.
The WCSO said Alexander advised they filed the report because they "didn't enjoy the sex."
Both women were arrested and charged with filing a false police report. Ortego was charged with an additional count of the offense in connection with a report of arson at her home on Nov. 11, 2009. She allegedly admitted to giving false information in that investigation as well.
Ortego was being held in the Washington County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond, while Alexander's bond was set at $5,000. They are each scheduled for arraignment this morning.
Police say an investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are pending.
January 2005: it is mandatory the ban on smoking in public places. The Italians have learned it but today the number of smokers is rising again. And the Lega Nord (North League party) wants to introduce a ban on smoking while you are driving.
Undercover ATF agents in Virginia have funneled more than 250 million cigarettes onto the nation's streets in the past three years through black market sales targeting smugglers, an Associated Press review has found.
(para. 1)
Authorities say the flood of government-provided smokes - a pack and a half for every man, woman and child in New York City, the smugglers' main destination - leads them to organized crime rings and can even cut off financing for terrorists. The stings by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have yielded about five dozen federal arrests, albeit none on terror charges.
(para. 2)
Many of those cigarettes undoubtedly wind up in the mouths of minors, since black market vendors have no reason to turn away teenage purchasers. Despite that, government auditors and anti-tobacco groups want the ATF to do even more.
(para. 3-4)
"Smuggling reduces prices, so it increases use, especially among kids, who are more price-sensitive" in their purchases, said Eric Lindblom, director of policy research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
(para. 5)
The Department of Justice, the ATF's parent agency, estimates that federal, state and local governments lose out on $5 billion annually in tax revenue from cigarettes sold through illegitimate channels.
(para. 6)
In the biggest and most recent prosecution, federal authorities charged 14 people in November with paying more than $8 million in cash, supplemented by guns and drugs, for 77 million cigarettes over the course of a year. Two are accused of paying an undercover agent posing as a hitman to kill a couple over missing cigarettes.
(Barakat, M., 2009, January 22, para. 7)
The Food and Drug Administration is working to lift the smokescreen clouding the ingredients used in cigarettes and other tobacco products.
In June, tobacco companies must tell the FDA their formulas for the first time, just as drugmakers have for decades. Manufacturers also will have to turn over any studies they've done on the effects of the ingredients.
It's an early step for an agency just starting to flex muscles granted by a new law that took effect last June that gives it broad power to regulate tobacco far beyond the warnings now on packs, short of banning it outright.
Companies have long acknowledged using cocoa, coffee, menthol and other additives to make tobacco taste better. The new information will help the FDA determine which ingredients might also make tobacco more harmful or addictive. It will also use the data to develop standards for tobacco products and could ban some ingredients or combinations.The Food and Drug Administration is working to lift the smokescreen clouding the... more
The Food and Drug Administration is working to lift the smokescreen clouding the ingredients used in cigarettes and other tobacco products.
In June, tobacco companies must tell the FDA their formulas for the first time, just as drugmakers have for decades. Manufacturers also will have to turn over any studies they've done on the effects of the ingredients.
It's an early step for an agency just starting to flex muscles granted by a new law that took effect last June that gives it broad power to regulate tobacco far beyond the warnings now on packs, short of banning it outright.
(AP, 2010, January 18, para.1-3)
A federal judge says the Food and Drug Administration overstepped its authority in efforts to regulate electronic cigarettes. Regulators began halting shipments of electronic cigarettes last year. The F.D.A. said it found cancer-causing ingredients in the products, despite manufacturers’ claims that they are safer than tobacco cigarettes. The agency argued that electronic cigarettes, which use a battery-operated vaporizer to produce a nicotine mist, are a combination drug-device, and therefore subject to stricter safety standards than cigarettes. But Judge Richard Leon of Federal District Court agreed with manufacturers that electronic cigarettes are “the functional equivalent of traditional cigarettes.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/us/15brfs-FDACANTREGUL_BRF.htmlA federal judge says the Food and Drug Administration overstepped its authority in... more
Kinda seems like common sense that cancer sticks are deadly to more than just humans.
"Even with a small amount of unburnt tobacco clinging to it, a single cigarette butt soaked for a day is enough to turn a liter of water a sickly yellow brown and kill 50 percent of fish swimming in it."Kinda seems like common sense that cancer sticks are deadly to more than just humans.... more
If cigarettes can now have an additional sin tax why should plastic bags be exempt from a sin tax?If cigarettes can now have an additional sin tax why should plastic bags be exempt... more
The FDA has been a trusted, government-run agency that regulates the health and safety issues of our food, drugs, and insecticides since the beginning of the 20th century. Well, in the days of late, the FDA has been discouraging us from trying a new product on the market that could irrefutably save millions of lives...The FDA has been a trusted, government-run agency that regulates the health and safety... more
Hard hitting new campaign filmed by renowned directors Rankin and Chris for NHS Birmingham East and North.Hard hitting new campaign filmed by renowned directors Rankin and Chris for NHS... more
As of September 22nd, 2009, all flavored and clove cigarettes will become a fond memory for those smokers with a more expensive taste. As part of the Food and Drug Administration’s new authority to stringently regulate tobacco products, they have imposed a ban on all but menthol flavored cigarettes. Claiming that flavored cigarettes are geared more towards underage smokers, the Administration is now considering regulations on menthol cigarettes and even flavored cigars.
As an individual of legal smoking age who enjoys a Black on occasion, this comes as an outrage. A quick perusal of the FDA’s flimsy research polls[1] and somewhat vague explanations begs the question, “What’s next?” We all remember how prohibition worked out. Am I the only one who feels like the government is overstepping its bounds and being a touch too parental in this situation? The only way to completely stop underage smoking is to ban all tobacco products, plain and simple. Is that the next step? We all know the health risks of the products we choose to consume, whether it be tobacco or alcohol or even caffeine. We can read the warning labels. I feel the FDA has insulted the intelligence of the American people.
A few days ago I made a trip to the local tobacco shop to grab a couple packs before the ban. The owner told me he’d gotten a letter stating that the cigarettes would be considered contraband from the 22nd on. The FDA’s website warns that anyone caught with cloves can be subject to seizure, fines, etc. Distributors who fail to comply with the ban will receive a Warning Letter before the “FDA may take enforcement action to protect the public health,” (see their FAQ on Flavored Tobacco[2]).
Personally, I don’t need the government to protect my health. Djarums are still available online, much cheaper than they were in the shops. Many of the websites are questionable, but hopefully it will still be possible to ship from overseas without being scammed, (or caught).
