Smoke Free Florence (SFF), an organization dedicated to the prevention of secondhand smoke cigarettes in the Pee Dee Region, is making efforts to wipe out the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes and buy cigarettes products in Florence and surrounding areas. An ordinance was passed in May, and since then, SFF has made several strides toward making public buildings smoke-free environments.
According to Deborah Dunbar, Project Coordinator for SFF, workplaces and schools are the main priority of the organization.
The School and Youth Coordinator, Renee Wiley, has partnered with the school districts in Florence County in order to get them to adopt the Tobacco-Free Policy.
“Every school usually has some sort of cheap cigarettes policy,” Wiley said. “This one just says that they’ll adhere to the rules: no smoking cigarettes on school campuses, at school events, in vehicles; not smoking cigarettes any tobacco products.”
Wiley has gained the support of four out of five school districts in Florence, and they are now 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free campuses. SFF also works towards getting local gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores to lessen the appearance of cigarette and tobacco advertisements. This is a concept used by retailers in partnership with the major tobacco companies called the Point of Purchase.
SFF has created several programs for the children in Florence to become involved in, so they can promote the smoke-free idea to others. The youth-powered tobacco-free movement is called Rage Against the Haze.
Dunbar and Wiley both said they believe that through the Rage Against the Haze movement, young children and teens are learning to not start smoking cigarettes cigarettes or use tobacco products, lessening the effects of peer pressure.
“These kids are really the mouthpieces for combating tobacco,” Wiley said.
Although the FMU campus has been smoke-free for two years, students still have mixed opinions about the efforts of SFF to make Florence a completely smoke-free city in public buildings.
Kendall Brand, a junior majoring in marketing, is a smoker. She said that she feels like she should be able to at least smoke cigarettes in local bars.
“It honestly doesn’t bother me,” Brand said. “It’s just mainly in bars when I feel like I should have that right to smoke.”
Sommer Turner, a junior mass communication major said that she felt the ordinance was passed to create healthier environments in local businesses, but that it is what people need – not necessarily what they want.
Dunbar, Wiley, and the rest of the SFF team are adamant about trying to get stores to take down some of their tobacco advertisements, as well as trying to educate the community overall.
“We’re not telling anybody not to smoke, because that’s your liberty,” Dunbar said. “That’s your right, and you can do whatever you want to do, but I should be able to breathe good air, too. That’s my right. When I’m in a restaurant, I shouldn’t have to smell your smoke.”
SFF offers residents of the city of Florence with a free eight-week program that is dedicated to helping people quit smoking cigarettes.
It includes four free counseling sessions, one-on-one with a counselor who helps with the process and an eight-week nicotine therapy program with a choice of the patch, gum, or lozenges designed to decrease the craving for nicotine.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Wolcott Gibbs, Tragic New Yorker Virtuoso
Thomas Vinciguerra was “writing a biography of Wolcott Gibbs,” a star of the early New Yorker but now mostly forgotten, when he wrote this piece for the Weekly Standard in 2008. For all I know he still is. But, the timidity of publishing houses being what it is, the only Wolcott Gibbs project Vinciguerra has managed to get released so far is the new anthology, Backward Ran Sentences. That may seem like a meager pay-off for having given Gibbs a furnished room in his brain for the last five years, rent free. On the other hand, Vinciguerra’s publisher did let him rack up 688 pages, which is plenty for a minor writer sixty years dead, so at least his long devotion was not thwarted at absolutely every turn.
In this case, I really do hope his original project works out for him, because a biography of Wolcott Gibbs is something I would read. As far as I can tell from Vinciguerra’s biographical introduction, Gibbs suffered from an amplified case of almost every vice we would expect in a New York writer of the Dorothy Parker era: not just a smoker but a chainsmoker, not just an alcoholic but one who tended to pass out and have to be carried, not just a cynic but a sincere misanthrope who once wrote “I wonder if there is something the matter with me that I can’t like anybody for long.” He had not one unhappy marriage but three, and his second marriage ended with his wife throwing herself out a 17-story window.
In addition to having all the usual writerly problems to an unusual degree, Gibbs also had unusual problems, like being an editor. Spending too much time fixing other people’s work has never done a man’s own writing any good, which is why the literary pantheon probably has fewer editors than dentists. Gibbs overcame this handicap to become a wonderfully precise and readable stylist. On the other hand, he mentioned more than once in his theatre reviews that “there has scarcely been a play that I couldn’t imagine having written myself, suitably stimulated,” which is a very sad thought for a reviewer, and sadder but more inevitable coming from a frustrated professional editor.
Gibbs was also a gifted parodist, and sad editors and sad parodists tend to be gnawed at by the same thought: being able to imitate a genius is not the same as being one. Gibbs was already inclined to rate his talent pretty low, as a depressive, and the fact that he was more admired for his parodies than just about anything else must have been discouraging to him. (The title of Vinciguerra’s book comes from a Gibbs parody, his profile of Henry Luce, which is written in Time magazine’s trademark inverted syntax: “Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind . . . Where it will all end, knows God.”) This side of Gibbs reminds me of Peter Sellers, another depressed and much-married substance abuser with a dazzlingly versatile talent. Sellers personally suspected that his skill as a comic chameleon came from the fact that, underneath Inspector Clouseau and Dr. Strangelove, where a real person should have been, there was just a void. His friends wondered if there was a real Peter Sellers at all. I get the feeling Gibbs sometimes worried that, in his case, there was a void where there should have been a real author.
But that was just the depression talking. The man had talent, as you will see if you read this excerpt from one of his casual essays. The excerpt is twice as long as it should be, but the referee has decided to allow it on the grounds that half the length is justifiable to show Gibbs’s sparkling style, the other half to show the scope of his misanthropy, which was not a put-on for the sake of this particular piece:
In these perplexing days, when every man seems threatening to become my brother or better, almost my only comfort is in an anonymous English author, who, in 1841, wrote a little book called “Etiquette for Gentlemen: with Hints on the Art of Conversation,” published by Messrs. Tilt and Bogue of London. With his first sentences this nameless arbiter brings back to the world a forgotten order and security.
Marvellously reassuring, for instance, to a man who had thought all privacy lost in the brotherhood of man is his comment in the chapter called “Introductions”: “You should not introduce anybody, even at his own request, to another, unless you are quite sure the acquaintance will be agreeable to the latter. A person does himself no service with another when he obliges him to know people he would rather avoid.” You didn’t, in this happy society, have to meet dull people; in fact, it was rather hard to get to meet anybody at all. “If in the course of a walk in company with a friend, you happen to meet, or are joined by an acquaintance, do not commit the too common, but most flagrant error, of introducing such persons to one another.” It is pleasant to think of this fashionable trio as they strolled through the town, Mr. A. irritably involved in two unrelated conversations as he struggled to avoid the flagrant error of introducing Mr. B. to Mr. C.
The Master, however, goes even further. “Never introduce morning visitors, who happen to meet in your parlor without being acquainted, to one another,” he says. “If you should be so introduced, remember that the acquaintance afterwards goes for nothing; you have not the slightest right to expect that the other will again recognize you.” Here, of course, was the perfect escape from dismal fellowship: it seemed very unlikely that you’d ever be introduced to anybody, but even if you were it was presumably because of some flaw in your host’s breeding, and was much better ignored.
You can see why P.G. Wodehouse considered the New Yorker “the dullest bloody thing ever published . . . except for Wolcott Gibbs.”
Gibbs worked at the New Yorker right up until his death in 1958, but his output had been dwindling since the mid-1940s. Part of the reason was the magazine’s lurch toward seriousness and topicality (these were the days of the Hersey “Hiroshima” issue). “I had an idea humor was supposed to be against the rules around here,” Gibbs complained to E. B. White in 1947. “The moral climate is against it. Right at this moment there is a son of a bitch down the hall writing a thirty-two-part profile of Stalin.”
The last piece he ever wrote for the New Yorker, apart from his theatre column, was “A Fellow of Infinite Jest,” a story about a literary humorist’s wife and children commiserating over how poorly cast they are in the roles the humorist has forced upon them. The wife is not incompetent at balancing her checkbook, the daughter is not a vapid, gum-chewing teenybopper, the son is not a reactionary foil for his father’s progressive notions, but they feel bound to play these parts in order to provide their father with enough material to make his salary. They end up deciding to kill him for the insurance money.
Gibbs worked at the New Yorker right up until his death in 1958, but his output had been dwindling since the mid-1940s. Part of the reason was the magazine’s lurch toward seriousness and topicality (these were the days of the Hersey “Hiroshima” issue). “I had an idea humor was supposed to be against the rules around here,” Gibbs complained to E. B. White in 1947. “The moral climate is against it. Right at this moment there is a son of a bitch down the hall writing a thirty-two-part profile of Stalin.”
The last piece he ever wrote for the New Yorker, apart from his theatre column, was “A Fellow of Infinite Jest,” a story about a literary humorist’s wife and children commiserating over how poorly cast they are in the roles the humorist has forced upon them. The wife is not incompetent at balancing her checkbook, the daughter is not a vapid, gum-chewing teenybopper, the son is not a reactionary foil for his father’s progressive notions, but they feel bound to play these parts in order to provide their father with enough material to make his salary. They end up deciding to kill him for the insurance money.
This is where I’d be interested to hear Vinciguerra’s expert opinion. As a historian of the old New Yorker, Vinciguerra surely knows the story of Joseph Mitchell, who had a brilliant career at the magazine but came down with writer’s block in 1964, and from that day until his death in 1996 never published another word, despite coming into the office every day. I bet that Vinciguerra also knows the theory that Mitchell was ruined by his last project, Joe Gould’s Secret, a book about a Bowery bum named Joe Gould who claimed to be writing an “oral history of the United States,” which turned out to be completely imaginary. The theory is that Mitchell became fascinated (or tortured) by the idea that this fake writer could get all the perks of authorship without the hassle of writing anything.
Now, if “A Fellow of Infinite Jest” had been written at the start of Gibbs’s career, I wouldn’t necessarily interpret it as a farewell to humor writing or an obvious capstone like Joe Gould’s Secret. But around the time he wrote it, Gibbs was already starting to feel that he and the New Yorker were both winding down. “I seem to be wearing very thin as a writer and the theatre stuff I’m doing now would be embarrassing in the magazine we used to know.” For another thing, he had recently gotten a taste for warm, affectionate writing when he started a newspaper for his beloved home-away-from-home Fire Island — seemingly the only place where he was ever happy or relaxed — even having the paper take up civic causes like overfishing, dune protection, and the construction of more tennis courts. Very uncharacteristic behavior for a critic who was once compared to a boy who liked to tear the wings off flies, and possibly an indication that Gibbs was undergoing some kind of transformation. So maybe “A Fellow of Infinite Jest” really was Gibbs’s way of signing off. If Vinciguerra ever finishes his biography, I hope he can put together all the pieces of this final act.
Widener University Practices A Strict Tobacco-free Policy
Widener University students make all kinds of decisions about their lives, from how much to drink at parties to whether to show up for classes.
But there's one decision the school has made for them:
No using tobacco. Not on campus.
Last year, Widener became the first four-year school in Pennsylvania to go not just smoke-free but tobacco-free, adopting a simple, stringent policy:
No cigarettes, no cigars, no cigarillos, no pipes, no hookahs, no pinch between the cheek and gum. Nowhere, no time, no how.
The rule also applies to faculty and staff, and to visitors and contractors, banning buy cigarettes use even in personal cars or work trucks that drive onto campus.
So how is it working out?
"I know a lot of people on campus who do smoke, and they're smoking cigarettes less," said Ashley Nilsen, a senior civil-engineering major from Waymart, Pa. "It's good for the rest of us."
Smokers who used to congregate outside building entrances now trudge to the edge of campus, stepping over the boundary that divides gown from town.
Last week, Roseann McNeill, a senior from Drexel Hill, stood smoking cigarettes a cigarette at East 15th and Melrose Streets, where dozens of discarded butts lay on the ground.
She called the cheap cigarette online ban "ridiculous."
"I don't think it's really safe to have all the undergrads going off-campus, especially in Chester at night, just to have a cigarette," she said.
A Widener staffer who stood nearby, puffing a smoke, said the rule was fine with him.
"When I didn't smoke cigarettes cigarettes, I didn't want someone smoking cigarettes a cigarette and blowing it at my face," said Chris Lucchi, assistant locksmith and assistant fire marshal. "They want us off campus to do it. Fine."
Graduate student Nathyn Smith had just arrived from Indiana when he lit up in front of another student.
"She kind of snapped at me," he said. "I'm like, 'I'm from out of town!' "
His previous school, Ball State University, designated smoking cigarettes areas on campus, and he said Widener should do the same.
"I don't feel picked on, but people should have a choice," Smith said. "If they want to smoke, so be it. That's what college is all about, making choices."
Widener framed its policy as being about health, not punishment - at least not right away.
An initial offense merits a warning. A second offense brings a $25 fine, a third $50. A fourth could mean unspecified penalties up to dismissal for students and faculty.
But there's one decision the school has made for them:
No using tobacco. Not on campus.
Last year, Widener became the first four-year school in Pennsylvania to go not just smoke-free but tobacco-free, adopting a simple, stringent policy:
No cigarettes, no cigars, no cigarillos, no pipes, no hookahs, no pinch between the cheek and gum. Nowhere, no time, no how.
The rule also applies to faculty and staff, and to visitors and contractors, banning buy cigarettes use even in personal cars or work trucks that drive onto campus.
So how is it working out?
"I know a lot of people on campus who do smoke, and they're smoking cigarettes less," said Ashley Nilsen, a senior civil-engineering major from Waymart, Pa. "It's good for the rest of us."
Smokers who used to congregate outside building entrances now trudge to the edge of campus, stepping over the boundary that divides gown from town.
Last week, Roseann McNeill, a senior from Drexel Hill, stood smoking cigarettes a cigarette at East 15th and Melrose Streets, where dozens of discarded butts lay on the ground.
She called the cheap cigarette online ban "ridiculous."
"I don't think it's really safe to have all the undergrads going off-campus, especially in Chester at night, just to have a cigarette," she said.
A Widener staffer who stood nearby, puffing a smoke, said the rule was fine with him.
"When I didn't smoke cigarettes cigarettes, I didn't want someone smoking cigarettes a cigarette and blowing it at my face," said Chris Lucchi, assistant locksmith and assistant fire marshal. "They want us off campus to do it. Fine."
Graduate student Nathyn Smith had just arrived from Indiana when he lit up in front of another student.
"She kind of snapped at me," he said. "I'm like, 'I'm from out of town!' "
His previous school, Ball State University, designated smoking cigarettes areas on campus, and he said Widener should do the same.
"I don't feel picked on, but people should have a choice," Smith said. "If they want to smoke, so be it. That's what college is all about, making choices."
Widener framed its policy as being about health, not punishment - at least not right away.
An initial offense merits a warning. A second offense brings a $25 fine, a third $50. A fourth could mean unspecified penalties up to dismissal for students and faculty.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Correctional Officers Can Smoke
Inmates can't smoke cigarettes in Florida prisons anymore, but employees still can.
Facing resistance from the union representing correctional officers, Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker has lifted the order from his predecessor that required all prisons in Florida to be smoke-free by Oct. 1.
Tucker's new policy allows officers, employees and visitors to smoke cigarettes or chew cigarettes on prison grounds "within a secure perimeter," and such areas "should not be in plain view of inmates."
"Wardens, as my designees, are authorized to designate outdoor areas where employees, contractors, volunteers and official visitors may use cigarettes online products," Tucker said in an Oct. 4 memo. Smokers "are limited to possession of no more than one pack, can, pouch or other single factory container of tobacco."
Former prisons chief Ed Buss, who was forced out by Gov. Rick Scott in August, decreed in April that prisons be smoke-free to reduce skyrocketing health care costs and the hazards caused by second-hand smoke. All other state buildings and offices are smoke-free.
Buss came to Florida from Indiana, which banned smoking cigarettes in prisons two decades ago, and he quickly launched a six-month cessation program to help inmates kick the habit, including selling them $35 nicotine patches.
Under Buss' decree, corrections officers could smoke cigarettes if they stepped outside the prison gates, a long walk at some of the state's biggest lockups. When Buss left town, the officers' union formally resisted the move.
Union attorney Hal Johnson of the Florida Police Benevolent Association said he told Tucker that a revised smoking cigarettes policy changes workplace conditions and must be negotiated as part of a union contract.
"We sent an e-mail saying, 'You need to talk to us,' " Johnson said. "I think this is a fair solution for everybody."
Not according to the families of some inmates, who have sent letters of complaint to Tucker, citing what they call a double standard.
"It doesn't seem to be real fair," said Jill Doerr of St. Augustine, whose brother is at a prison at Lake Butler, near Gainesville.
Doerr said she doesn't think inmates should smoke, but she added: "If they're going to make it a law, then it all should be off the grounds."
Madelyn Chiarelli of Coral Springs also lodged protests with prison officials. She said a friend of hers who is serving time at a prison in Live Oak told her officers chew tobacco and smoke cigarettes in front of inmates struggling to become nonsmokers.
"It's a problem," Chiarelli said. "I know the officers are supposed to smoke cigarettes in designated places, but what I'm hearing is that they are chewing tobacco and smoking cigarettes in front of the inmates. That taunts them."
Warden Chris Landrum at Suwannee Correctional in Live Oak said in an Oct. 10 memo to his staff: "I continue to receive calls and complaints … alleging that we have numerous staff continuing to smoke cigarettes … in the presence of our inmate population."
Corrections officials say the reason for designating smoking cigarettes areas at each prison is to prevent that from happening.
"None of the recent decisions that the department has made in reference to tobacco use have been made to frustrate or discourage the inmate population," wrote Alan McManus, chief of policy management in the Department of Corrections, in a letter to Chiarelli. "It is not an advantage to anyone to set policies that would disrupt effective and safe correctional practices."
Tucker's liberalized smoking cigarettes policy comes as legislators are considering requiring state employees to join smoking cigarettes cessation programs as part of obtaining state group health insurance.
Georgia last year became the 26th state to completely ban smoking cigarettes on prison grounds. Most other states have partial smoking cigarettes bans.
Facing resistance from the union representing correctional officers, Corrections Secretary Ken Tucker has lifted the order from his predecessor that required all prisons in Florida to be smoke-free by Oct. 1.
Tucker's new policy allows officers, employees and visitors to smoke cigarettes or chew cigarettes on prison grounds "within a secure perimeter," and such areas "should not be in plain view of inmates."
"Wardens, as my designees, are authorized to designate outdoor areas where employees, contractors, volunteers and official visitors may use cigarettes online products," Tucker said in an Oct. 4 memo. Smokers "are limited to possession of no more than one pack, can, pouch or other single factory container of tobacco."
Former prisons chief Ed Buss, who was forced out by Gov. Rick Scott in August, decreed in April that prisons be smoke-free to reduce skyrocketing health care costs and the hazards caused by second-hand smoke. All other state buildings and offices are smoke-free.
Buss came to Florida from Indiana, which banned smoking cigarettes in prisons two decades ago, and he quickly launched a six-month cessation program to help inmates kick the habit, including selling them $35 nicotine patches.
Under Buss' decree, corrections officers could smoke cigarettes if they stepped outside the prison gates, a long walk at some of the state's biggest lockups. When Buss left town, the officers' union formally resisted the move.
Union attorney Hal Johnson of the Florida Police Benevolent Association said he told Tucker that a revised smoking cigarettes policy changes workplace conditions and must be negotiated as part of a union contract.
"We sent an e-mail saying, 'You need to talk to us,' " Johnson said. "I think this is a fair solution for everybody."
Not according to the families of some inmates, who have sent letters of complaint to Tucker, citing what they call a double standard.
"It doesn't seem to be real fair," said Jill Doerr of St. Augustine, whose brother is at a prison at Lake Butler, near Gainesville.
Doerr said she doesn't think inmates should smoke, but she added: "If they're going to make it a law, then it all should be off the grounds."
Madelyn Chiarelli of Coral Springs also lodged protests with prison officials. She said a friend of hers who is serving time at a prison in Live Oak told her officers chew tobacco and smoke cigarettes in front of inmates struggling to become nonsmokers.
"It's a problem," Chiarelli said. "I know the officers are supposed to smoke cigarettes in designated places, but what I'm hearing is that they are chewing tobacco and smoking cigarettes in front of the inmates. That taunts them."
Warden Chris Landrum at Suwannee Correctional in Live Oak said in an Oct. 10 memo to his staff: "I continue to receive calls and complaints … alleging that we have numerous staff continuing to smoke cigarettes … in the presence of our inmate population."
Corrections officials say the reason for designating smoking cigarettes areas at each prison is to prevent that from happening.
"None of the recent decisions that the department has made in reference to tobacco use have been made to frustrate or discourage the inmate population," wrote Alan McManus, chief of policy management in the Department of Corrections, in a letter to Chiarelli. "It is not an advantage to anyone to set policies that would disrupt effective and safe correctional practices."
Tucker's liberalized smoking cigarettes policy comes as legislators are considering requiring state employees to join smoking cigarettes cessation programs as part of obtaining state group health insurance.
Georgia last year became the 26th state to completely ban smoking cigarettes on prison grounds. Most other states have partial smoking cigarettes bans.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Syzmanski V. R.J. Reynolds
Jack Szymanski had his voice box removed in 1993 as a result of laryngeal cancer.
Keith Mitnik (Morgan & Morgan) descrdibed for the jury the time in which Mr. Szymanski started smoking cigarettes cigarettes. "When this story started, in the 1950's...almost half the adult population smoked. Two-thirds of doctors were smoking cigarettes. That's the environment when this eleven-year-old boy picked his first cigarette up. Fourteen-year-old boy was over a pack a day, getting into deep addiction as a young teenage boy. We didn't have cell phones. There were three TV stations -- they went off at eleven o'clock! There were no warnings on discount cigarette online at that time. It's not to suggest that there wasn't word out there that cheap cigarette online could be bad for you, that they could cut your wind, that they could cause you to cough, that they may not be good for you. But it's a totally different scenario than the certainty with which we have today that they're gonna cause cancer." The delay in people's realization of the magnitude of the risk, said Mr. Mitnik, was a direct result of what the cigarette companies intentionally agreed to do.
Walter Cofer (Shook Hardy Bacon) for Philip Morris told the jury that Mr. Syzmanski actually had cancer in four different parts of his body -- larynx, neck, colon, and tongue. Acording to Mr. Cofer, Mr. Syzmanski had other risk factors for laryngeal cancer, such as alcohol use. Moreover, said Mr. Cofer, Mr. Syzmanski didn't smoke cigarettes because of cigarette ads; instead, he smoked because his friends and family smoked. "It wasn't just tolerated, it was encouraged. He got his first cigarette from his mother...He tried a bunch of different brands, and he smoked the ones that tasted good."
The evidence, said Mr. Cofer, suggested that Mr. Syzmanski quit earlier than he said, and drank more than he said. "Why does it matter whether he quit in '93 or he quit earlier? Well, because Mr. Syzmanski now claims that he was just so addicted to nicotine that he couldn't help himself. He claims that he was compelled to smoke cigarettes until he was diagnosed with the cancer that ultimately cost him his voice box. He said it wasn't until he had the cancer that he had the strength to quit. So members of the jury, if he quit earlier -- if he quit up to seven years earlier -- then the obvious question is, why didn't he even quit before that?"
Representing R.J. Reynolds, Dal Burton (Womble Carlyle) said,"The undisputed testimony is that Mr. Syzmanski didn't like our cigarettes. He didn't like the way they tasted. It's undisputed that he smoked for taste, and he did not like our cigarettes...He smoked them for a very, very short period of time...He quit smokiing Reynolds brands more than 30 years before he developed laryngeal cancer."
For Liggett, Nancy Kaschel (Kasowitz Benson) told the jury that Liggett was a much smaller company than the other defendants, and that Liggett had declined to attend the Plaza Hotel meeting, and declined to sign the "Frank Statement," and should not be lumped in with the behaviors that the plaintiff assigned to "the cigarettes store companies."
In his closing argument, Mr. Mitnik told the jury that all three defendants should be held liable in part for Mr. Syzmanski's laryngeal cancer. "They all belong here. They're all a part of the conspiracy. He smoked products from everyone of them. He started out and got initiated on [Liggett's] Chesterfield during those critical formative years when he was vulnerable as a young boy smoking cigarettes Chesterfields, and he also smoked" Lucky Strikes and Camels, "which were R.J. Reynolds. Those were the initiation brands that got this thing hooked into him so deep at such a young age...About the time he felt a lump in his throat he went right over to the Lights, that's Philip Morris, Marlborough Lights. So they're all here for a reason..No question, certainly more persuasive, that that contributed in a meaningful way to the outcome here."
The jury found that addiction to online cigarettes containing nicotine was not a legal cause of Mr. Syzmanski's laryngeal cancer.
Keith Mitnik (Morgan & Morgan) descrdibed for the jury the time in which Mr. Szymanski started smoking cigarettes cigarettes. "When this story started, in the 1950's...almost half the adult population smoked. Two-thirds of doctors were smoking cigarettes. That's the environment when this eleven-year-old boy picked his first cigarette up. Fourteen-year-old boy was over a pack a day, getting into deep addiction as a young teenage boy. We didn't have cell phones. There were three TV stations -- they went off at eleven o'clock! There were no warnings on discount cigarette online at that time. It's not to suggest that there wasn't word out there that cheap cigarette online could be bad for you, that they could cut your wind, that they could cause you to cough, that they may not be good for you. But it's a totally different scenario than the certainty with which we have today that they're gonna cause cancer." The delay in people's realization of the magnitude of the risk, said Mr. Mitnik, was a direct result of what the cigarette companies intentionally agreed to do.
Walter Cofer (Shook Hardy Bacon) for Philip Morris told the jury that Mr. Syzmanski actually had cancer in four different parts of his body -- larynx, neck, colon, and tongue. Acording to Mr. Cofer, Mr. Syzmanski had other risk factors for laryngeal cancer, such as alcohol use. Moreover, said Mr. Cofer, Mr. Syzmanski didn't smoke cigarettes because of cigarette ads; instead, he smoked because his friends and family smoked. "It wasn't just tolerated, it was encouraged. He got his first cigarette from his mother...He tried a bunch of different brands, and he smoked the ones that tasted good."
The evidence, said Mr. Cofer, suggested that Mr. Syzmanski quit earlier than he said, and drank more than he said. "Why does it matter whether he quit in '93 or he quit earlier? Well, because Mr. Syzmanski now claims that he was just so addicted to nicotine that he couldn't help himself. He claims that he was compelled to smoke cigarettes until he was diagnosed with the cancer that ultimately cost him his voice box. He said it wasn't until he had the cancer that he had the strength to quit. So members of the jury, if he quit earlier -- if he quit up to seven years earlier -- then the obvious question is, why didn't he even quit before that?"
Representing R.J. Reynolds, Dal Burton (Womble Carlyle) said,"The undisputed testimony is that Mr. Syzmanski didn't like our cigarettes. He didn't like the way they tasted. It's undisputed that he smoked for taste, and he did not like our cigarettes...He smoked them for a very, very short period of time...He quit smokiing Reynolds brands more than 30 years before he developed laryngeal cancer."
For Liggett, Nancy Kaschel (Kasowitz Benson) told the jury that Liggett was a much smaller company than the other defendants, and that Liggett had declined to attend the Plaza Hotel meeting, and declined to sign the "Frank Statement," and should not be lumped in with the behaviors that the plaintiff assigned to "the cigarettes store companies."
In his closing argument, Mr. Mitnik told the jury that all three defendants should be held liable in part for Mr. Syzmanski's laryngeal cancer. "They all belong here. They're all a part of the conspiracy. He smoked products from everyone of them. He started out and got initiated on [Liggett's] Chesterfield during those critical formative years when he was vulnerable as a young boy smoking cigarettes Chesterfields, and he also smoked" Lucky Strikes and Camels, "which were R.J. Reynolds. Those were the initiation brands that got this thing hooked into him so deep at such a young age...About the time he felt a lump in his throat he went right over to the Lights, that's Philip Morris, Marlborough Lights. So they're all here for a reason..No question, certainly more persuasive, that that contributed in a meaningful way to the outcome here."
The jury found that addiction to online cigarettes containing nicotine was not a legal cause of Mr. Syzmanski's laryngeal cancer.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The Triumph of the Calorie
History Today has a piece out called "American Pie: The Imperialism of the Calorie," the story of the statistical regimentation of food. It started with the invention of the calorimeter (pictured), which was an American invention, of course. The native cuisine of the U.S. has contributed so little to the world that, if you ignore Southern soul food, it can hardly be said to exist at all. So it’s somehow appropriate that we were the country to invent the calorimeter and then go about telling Greeks, Mexican Indians, and Masai tribesmen that, to be scientifically correct, they should replace whatever grain they were used to with calorifically superior wheat flour.
Alas, in this story we absolutely live up to our national reputation for being gastronomic boors. On the other hand, we also live up to our more endearing reputation for scientific exuberance. The man who invented the calorimeter, Wilbur Olin Atwater, set about his experiments like a kid with a brand new toy:
Atwater invited champion cyclist Nat Butler to establish ‘how far a man ought to ride a bicycle on one egg.’ Wesleyan’s football captain volunteered to take his French final inside the device, to determine the quantum of heat generated by an hour of cogitation. . . . The Women’s Christian Temperance Union campaigned against Atwater after an experiment in which a test subject subsisted for six days on a diet ‘largely composed of alcohol,’ confirming that liquor was a food.
You can probably guess which nationality considered the calorimeter une invention très mauvais (and, as a practitioner of what could charitably be called “intuitive” cooking, I agree):
In 1930, French novelist Georges Duhamel recognized that he had arrived at the ‘world of the future’ when his American host urged him to order oatmeal rather than potatoes because ‘it will give you two hundred more calories.’ To Duhamel, the incident illustrated a distinctively American application of science as a palliative, as an evasion of civilization’s duty to confront uncertainty and disorder . . .
I recommend the article. One word of caution, though: Don’t get tripped up on its references to the “spanersity” of the human diet, or what a “spanerse” panoply of American food customs researchers uncovered. I’d never heard of “spanersity,” and neither had Google, but the word kept coming up in the piece. Eventually I theorized that “spanersity” was some fancy new history synonym for diversity. “Diversity” implies division, you see, and that’s a very negative way to think about difference. “Spanersity” implies that you’ve got a lot of varieties that are part of one unified thing, they just span a very wide distance.
Then I came across reference to “inspanidual appetites” and realized that a far more likely explanation was that some editor did a replace-all in order to turn the HTML tag <div> into the related HTML tag <span>. So heads up, History Today editors. Proof your articles more carefully in the future.
Famous Actors Part XI
Celebrity Actors Smoking Part XI
Here we have the eleventh part of selected pictures with Hollywood Famous Actors smoking cigarettes. Enjoy the collection of photos with Celebrities Smoking Cigarettes.
1. Steve Martin Smoking Cigarette
About Steve Martin : Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer.
Martin came to public notice as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, he has become a successful actor, playwright, pianist, banjo player eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among others.
2. Samuel L. Jackson Smoking Cigarette
About Samuel L. Jackson : Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee.
After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim. Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films including Die Hard with a Vengeance, The 51st State, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Black Snake Moan, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.
He played Nick Fury in Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the first two of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson's many roles have made him one of the highest grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has one daughter, Zoe.
3. Tom Cruise Smoking Cigarette
About Tom Cruise : Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards. Cruise first debuted in a major film in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, released in March 1983.
His first leading role was in the film Risky Business, which was released in August 1983. After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he has starred in a variety of other successful films such as Rain Man (1988), Days of Thunder (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005).
Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology
4. Timothy Dalton Smoking Cigarette
About Timothy Dalton : Timothy Peter Dalton (born 21 March 1946)) is a British actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett (1994), an original sequel to Gone with the Wind.
In addition, he is known for his roles in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (1970), Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1983), Prince Barin in Flash Gordon (1980), Shakespearean films and plays such as Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Henry V, Love's Labour's Lost, Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2. Recently, he had a voice acting part in Toy Story 3 as Mr. Pricklepants and portraid the recurring character of Alexei Volkoff in the US TV series Chuck.
5. Viggo Mortensen Smoking Cigarette
About Viggo Mortensen : Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner (1991), Carlito's Way (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), A Perfect Murder (1998), and A Walk on the Moon (1999).
Mortensen made his major breakthrough in 2001 with the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings. In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence. Two years later, another Cronenberg film Eastern Promises (2007) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Other well-received films in recent years have included Appaloosa (2008) and the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road.
Aside from acting, his other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors. Mortensen is politically active. He campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election, and later endorsed Barack Obama for President.
6. Wallace Beery Smoking Cigarette
About Wallace Beery : Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 movies over a 36-year span.
7. William Holden Smoking Cigarette
About William Holden : William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the most popular and well known movie stars of all time, Holden was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years…100 Stars list as number 25. He starred in some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of all time, including such blockbusters as The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch and The Towering Inferno.
8. Woody Allen Smoking Cigarette
About Woody Allen : Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema. He is also a jazz clarinetist who performs regularly at small venues in Manhattan.
9. Warren Beatty Smoking Cigarette
About Warren Beatty : Warren Beatty (born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award. He is married to actress Annette Bening, with whom he has four children.
10. Walter Matthau Smoking Cigarette
About Walter Matthau : Walter Matthau (October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie.
11. Will Ferrell Smoking Cigarette
About Will Ferrell : John William "Will" Ferrell (born July 16, 1967) is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson.
12. Yul Brynner Smoking Cigarette
About Yul Brynner : Yul Brynner (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер, Yuliy Borisovich Bryner; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985) was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on stage.
He is also remembered as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster The Ten Commandments, General Bounine in Anastasia and Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven. Brynner was noted for his distinctive voice and for his shaven head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for his initial role in The King and I. He was also a photographer and the author of two books.
Thank You For Reading Our Blog, Have A Nice Day !
1. Steve Martin Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Steve Martin Smoking Capital Cigarette
About Steve Martin : Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer.
Martin came to public notice as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, he has become a successful actor, playwright, pianist, banjo player eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among others.
2. Samuel L. Jackson Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Samuel L. Jackson Smoking Robinson Cigarette
About Samuel L. Jackson : Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor, Morgan Freeman, and the director Spike Lee.
After gaining critical acclaim for his role in Jungle Fever in 1991, he appeared in films such as Patriot Games, Amos & Andrew, True Romance and Jurassic Park. In 1994, he was cast as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, and his performance received several award nominations and critical acclaim. Jackson has since appeared in over 100 films including Die Hard with a Vengeance, The 51st State, Jackie Brown, Unbreakable, The Incredibles, Black Snake Moan, Shaft, Snakes on a Plane, as well as the Star Wars prequel trilogy and small roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds.
He played Nick Fury in Iron Man and Iron Man 2, the first two of a nine-film commitment as the character for the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Jackson's many roles have made him one of the highest grossing actors at the box office. Jackson has won multiple awards throughout his career and has been portrayed in various forms of media including films, television series, and songs. In 1980, Jackson married LaTanya Richardson, with whom he has one daughter, Zoe.
3. Tom Cruise Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Tom Cruise Smoking Golden Gate Blue Cigarette
About Tom Cruise : Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards. Cruise first debuted in a major film in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders, released in March 1983.
His first leading role was in the film Risky Business, which was released in August 1983. After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film Top Gun, Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of Mission: Impossible action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he has starred in a variety of other successful films such as Rain Man (1988), Days of Thunder (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005).
Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology
4. Timothy Dalton Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Timothy Dalton Smoking Golden Gate Red Cigarette
About Timothy Dalton : Timothy Peter Dalton (born 21 March 1946)) is a British actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989), as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett (1994), an original sequel to Gone with the Wind.
In addition, he is known for his roles in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (1970), Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1983), Prince Barin in Flash Gordon (1980), Shakespearean films and plays such as Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Henry V, Love's Labour's Lost, Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2. Recently, he had a voice acting part in Toy Story 3 as Mr. Pricklepants and portraid the recurring character of Alexei Volkoff in the US TV series Chuck.
5. Viggo Mortensen Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Viggo Mortensen Smoking Red&White Rich Super Slims Cigarette
About Viggo Mortensen : Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner (1991), Carlito's Way (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), A Perfect Murder (1998), and A Walk on the Moon (1999).
Mortensen made his major breakthrough in 2001 with the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings. In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence. Two years later, another Cronenberg film Eastern Promises (2007) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Other well-received films in recent years have included Appaloosa (2008) and the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road.
Aside from acting, his other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors. Mortensen is politically active. He campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election, and later endorsed Barack Obama for President.
6. Wallace Beery Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Wallace Beery Smoking Red&White Shine Super Slims Cigarette
About Wallace Beery : Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 movies over a 36-year span.
7. William Holden Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity William Holden Smoking Marlboro Flavor Note Cigarette
About William Holden : William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the most popular and well known movie stars of all time, Holden was one of the biggest box office draws of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 Stars of the Year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years…100 Stars list as number 25. He starred in some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of all time, including such blockbusters as The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wild Bunch and The Towering Inferno.
8. Woody Allen Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Woody Allen Smoking Richmond Cherry Gold Cigarette
About Woody Allen : Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema. He is also a jazz clarinetist who performs regularly at small venues in Manhattan.
9. Warren Beatty Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Warren Beatty Smoking President Classic Cigarette
About Warren Beatty : Warren Beatty (born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award. He is married to actress Annette Bening, with whom he has four children.
10. Walter Matthau Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Walter Matthau Smoking President Special Cigarette
About Walter Matthau : Walter Matthau (October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie.
11. Will Ferrell Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Will Ferrell Smoking Cosmos Cigarette
About Will Ferrell : John William "Will" Ferrell (born July 16, 1967) is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson.
12. Yul Brynner Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Yul Brynner Smoking MT Cigarette
About Yul Brynner : Yul Brynner (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер, Yuliy Borisovich Bryner; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985) was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on stage.
He is also remembered as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster The Ten Commandments, General Bounine in Anastasia and Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven. Brynner was noted for his distinctive voice and for his shaven head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for his initial role in The King and I. He was also a photographer and the author of two books.
Thank You For Reading Our Blog, Have A Nice Day !
This was the final part of Famous Actors Smoking. See you on the next first Famous Actress Smoking !
Related Articles:
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Fatalism Will Prevail, If It’s Meant to Be!
Fatalism is a distinct flavor of the conservative disposition, but the distinction between fatalism and plain-vanilla standpattism usually doesn’t matter, since they arrive at the same principle by different routes: We shouldn’t do anything we can’t predict all the consequences of, which in practice means we should do as little as possible.
Still, there’s a unique appeal to fatalism, especially the cheerful kind: “Consider the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, and usually only live for about three years before being eaten by a predator or having their habitat displaced by a strip mall, and personally it doesn’t seem like much of a life to me, flitting around chasing bugs with no sense of higher purpose. But they do look very pretty, even if they have no concept of beauty.”
Still, there’s a unique appeal to fatalism, especially the cheerful kind: “Consider the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, and usually only live for about three years before being eaten by a predator or having their habitat displaced by a strip mall, and personally it doesn’t seem like much of a life to me, flitting around chasing bugs with no sense of higher purpose. But they do look very pretty, even if they have no concept of beauty.”
One of the all-time greats of Tory fatalism was the Victorian British prime minister Lord Salisbury, as seen very clearly in this passage from the biography/memoir his daughter wrote:
“I don’t understand what people mean when they talk of the burden of responsibility. I should understand if they spoke of the burden of decision—I feel it now, trying to make up my mind whether or no to take a greatcoat with me. I felt it in exactly the same way, but no more, when I am writing a despatch upon which peace or war may depend. Its degree depends upon the materials for decision that are available and not in the least upon the magnitude of the results which may follow.” Then, after a moment’s pause and in a lower tone, he added, “With the results I have nothing to do.”
I’m not sure why the U.S. never developed a native strain of political fatalism. Perhaps because our Irishmen are all Democrats.
Campaign Seeks Ban On Candy Flavored Tobacco
Former resident Valencia Morris of the Miami-Dade County Health Department is on a mission to have all candy flavored buy cigarettes products banned from South Miami.
Morris and representatives from the South Miami Alliance for Youth recently spoke at city hall in hopes the mayor and city commissioners might pass a resolution in support of their efforts to ban sales of candy flavored buy cigarette online that appear to specifically target young people.
Accompanied by youngsters Jakiese Abside, age 13, and Niesha Adderley, 14, wearing their SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) t-shirts, Morris also showcased a large poster board display creatively designed to highlight the colorful candy-like enticing products purportedly aimed at adolescent buyers.
“The colorful wrapping in the packages, the pattern designs that mimic the look of an X-Box game, these are all strategically marketed to appeal to young people,” says Morris.
According to the Department of Health, 17 year old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored discount cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25. Products like grape flavored cigars, berry flavored spit tobacco and new dissolvable tobacco laden stimulants like Camel Sticks, Strips, and Orbs are all targets of the campaign.
The call to action for the city commission resolution is part of an ongoing education initiative of the Florida Department of Health. So far 19 counties in the state have adopted the resolution and 24 cities, including Miami Beach.
The Miami Beach resolution language stipulates the types of flavored tobacco that are susceptible to youth as “loose tobacco, snuff flour, plug and twist tobacco, fine cuts, chewing tobacco, snus, shisha tobacco, smoking cigarettes or snuff tobacco products and blunt wraps prepared in such a manner with the purpose of chewing, inhaling, smoking cigarettes or ingesting in any manner in which the product or any of its component parts contain, as a constituent or additive, an artificial or natural flavor or an herb or spice, including but not limited to strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, coffee, or alcohol flavors, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”
New York City has successfully banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products and Wisconsin and Illinois have instituted a state-wide ban.
Morris and representatives from the South Miami Alliance for Youth recently spoke at city hall in hopes the mayor and city commissioners might pass a resolution in support of their efforts to ban sales of candy flavored buy cigarette online that appear to specifically target young people.
Accompanied by youngsters Jakiese Abside, age 13, and Niesha Adderley, 14, wearing their SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) t-shirts, Morris also showcased a large poster board display creatively designed to highlight the colorful candy-like enticing products purportedly aimed at adolescent buyers.
“The colorful wrapping in the packages, the pattern designs that mimic the look of an X-Box game, these are all strategically marketed to appeal to young people,” says Morris.
According to the Department of Health, 17 year old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored discount cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25. Products like grape flavored cigars, berry flavored spit tobacco and new dissolvable tobacco laden stimulants like Camel Sticks, Strips, and Orbs are all targets of the campaign.
The call to action for the city commission resolution is part of an ongoing education initiative of the Florida Department of Health. So far 19 counties in the state have adopted the resolution and 24 cities, including Miami Beach.
The Miami Beach resolution language stipulates the types of flavored tobacco that are susceptible to youth as “loose tobacco, snuff flour, plug and twist tobacco, fine cuts, chewing tobacco, snus, shisha tobacco, smoking cigarettes or snuff tobacco products and blunt wraps prepared in such a manner with the purpose of chewing, inhaling, smoking cigarettes or ingesting in any manner in which the product or any of its component parts contain, as a constituent or additive, an artificial or natural flavor or an herb or spice, including but not limited to strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, coffee, or alcohol flavors, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”
New York City has successfully banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products and Wisconsin and Illinois have instituted a state-wide ban.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
What Phillip Blond Should Do Now
I have no idea if the Sunday Telegraph’s allegations against Phillip Blond are true. For all I know, it’s some disgruntled employee who’s behind the stories that Blond is a high-living rock star who likes to take hot women on vacation to Sharm El Sheikh, that he “asked a fellow academic to give a Ukrainian woman he was pursuing £300 in cash,” and best of all, that he dropped half a grand on a chair covered with images of “women in bikinis and high heels sitting astride motorbikes” (thank you, Daily Mail) — all while his think tank ResPublica was so strapped for cash that paychecks weren’t getting sent and the landlord was changing the locks on the office doors. But then, I’m the sort of person who believes televangelists who say they only rented that hotel room because the hooker wanted to have her Bible-study lessons somewhere quiet.
And Phillip Blond getting caught indulging his taste for jet-set-class luxuries is like a televangelist getting caught with a prostitute. Is there a Red Tory equivalent of the classic fallen preacher’s defense, “Of course I’m drawn to sin, otherwise I wouldn’t need Christ’s redemption”? Surely there must be. If Christian ministers are acutely sensitive to temptation, maybe Phillip Blond is acutely sensitive to the perils of having massive amounts of cash.
An anonymous source told the Mirror that “Phillip was like a small-time guitarist who suddenly became a national rock star. He became drunk on his own success. He couldn’t stop spending money.” Assuming that’s true, here’s what Blond should say now.
I’ve always said that too much money is morally corrupting. I’ve said that society shouldn’t reward hedonism. I’ve said that self-gratification killed old-fashioned mutualism. And boy, did I know what I was talking about.
What happened was, I spent decades as a mild-mannered theology professor and then got famous all of a sudden. You might not know this, but Radical Orthodoxy is zero help when you’re trying to chat up women. When fame and fortune came upon me rather unexpectedly, I found myself jolted out of the community where I had built myself a cozy nest, forced to hobnob with politicians and Davos-goers instead of my old friends in the academic middle class. I became deracinated, and when a man loses his community, it’s only a matter of time before he loses his moral grounding. You might say I’m a self-referential metaphor on two legs.
And that’s not the only trap I fell into after warning British society to walk around. I talk a lot about economic subsidiarity, which I have a number of reasons for preferring, one being that global decision makers don’t have access to local knowledge yet must behave as if they do. And what has two thumbs and operates under considerable pressure to pretend like he has sage answers to questions beyond his small local expertise? This pundit. Global industries also tend to alienate profit from good honest work—pushing numbers around on a spreadsheet instead of seeing the visible fruits of your two hands’ labor like a noble carpenter, that sort of thing. And now that I’m a professional purveyor highly fashionable ideas to the intellectual-credibility-starved global elite, instead of someone who does real philosophicalwork, I definitely know what that’s like.
So I hereby disavow everything I ever said about social mobility being a good thing. To the fullest extent possible, property should bekept in the hands of the hereditary aristocracy, because they at least have been taught from birth how wealthy people should behave. No manor-born aristocrat ever boughta chair covered in naked women riding Harleys.
I agree with everything Fake Phillip Blond says here, with the possible exception of his assertion in the second graf that RadOx won’t help you pick up chicks.
County Inspectors Accused Of Taking Cigarette Tax Bribes
Two Cook County revenue investigators have been fired for allegedly accepting “thousands” of dollars in bribes — hush money from convenience stores and other outlets selling cigarettes without paying the local online cigarettes tax.
That’s according to a new report released Thursday by Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, who launched an investigation earlier this year after the Revenue Department passed along a tip they received about the bribery scheme.
Blanchard would say little about the probe, which is ongoing, but did he say the men “admitted their role when faced” with the allegations. One investigator even turned some of his ill-gotten gains in to Blanchard’s office.
Blanchard said the scheme cost untold thousands of dollars in lost revenues for the county.
The shakedowns unfolded when revenue investigators checked on retail outlets selling cigarettes, according to Blanchard’s report. Vendors not paying the cigarette tax faced hefty fines but avoided that altogether by paying off investigators.
The investigation comes as County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Sheriff Tom Dart crack down on retail outlets selling discount cigarette online without paying the tax.
That’s according to a new report released Thursday by Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard, who launched an investigation earlier this year after the Revenue Department passed along a tip they received about the bribery scheme.
Blanchard would say little about the probe, which is ongoing, but did he say the men “admitted their role when faced” with the allegations. One investigator even turned some of his ill-gotten gains in to Blanchard’s office.
Blanchard said the scheme cost untold thousands of dollars in lost revenues for the county.
The shakedowns unfolded when revenue investigators checked on retail outlets selling cigarettes, according to Blanchard’s report. Vendors not paying the cigarette tax faced hefty fines but avoided that altogether by paying off investigators.
The investigation comes as County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Sheriff Tom Dart crack down on retail outlets selling discount cigarette online without paying the tax.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Does the Insanity Defense Cover Drunkenness?
This sounds a bit like an insanity defense, which implies that the court believes dogs have sanity in the first place. This troubles my inner speciesist. In human-people law, drunkenness is a valid defense only if a person's drink was spiked without his knowledge. What if Diesel had broken into the liquor cabinet of his own accord? Would that constitute voluntary drunkenness? If it happens again, will Diesel have to attend an alcohol diversion program? Conducted by whom, the canine psychologist?
I don't doubt that alcohol was responsible for Diesel's behavior. If plants can be anaesthetized (and it's true that chloroform makes a plant temporarily stop reacting to painful stimuli), then what the hell, we'll say that dogs can get hammered. I'm just curious how far we plan to extend the concept.
Teenager Plays Active Role In Tobacco Battle
There are area youth who take a different approach in the fight against teens’ smoking cigarettes: at the front lines.
Or rather, some youth stand in line and see what clerks will sell.
Local police solicit the help of teens to do periodic compliance checks on establishments with cheap cigarettes and liquor licenses, seeing if they will sell illegally to minors.
Eve, whose name was changed to provide anonymity, has been on undercover “stings” before with local and state officers. She is 15 years old.
During a compliance check, Eve goes into a bar or gas station and asks for a pack of cigarettes. Sometimes she gets nervous. She worries she will mess up the brand name of the pack. Clearly, she does something right. Once, nine establishments sold her cigarettes in one night.
Dave Wesner, Danville’s corporation counsel, said last year 12 citations were issued at establishments for violating the ordinance prohibiting the sale of cigarettes online products to anyone younger than 18. Wesner said typically the employee who sold tobacco to a minor is the one who is fined. However, continual violations at a certain site may result in a suspended or revoked license for the business.
Eve said she thinks it’s wrong when establishments sell to minors.
“What they’re doing is telling teenagers it’s OK, when really it’s not,” Eve said. She said it’s not good for places to break the law, especially when smoking cigarettes puts one on a path that may lead to death.
Moving forward
Eve’s mom knows parents play a big role.
“I was raised in a family of smokers. Both my parents were heavy smokers,” her mom said. “I knew from an early age, it was a habit I didn’t want to develop.”
While she thinks it is good for schools to educate teens about risky behaviors, she doesn’t think it’s their responsibility.
“I absolutely think it’s the parents’ responsibility to teach their kids right from wrong.”
Her daughter said she will never smoke.
“I want to try to be like my mom,” Eve said, “because she never tried drugs when she was younger.”
Eve is comfortable talking to a parent and to her peers.
As they are being interviewed, Eve and her mom talk to each other about the situations Eve has encountered. Her mom knows Eve has been tempted by peers. Eve explains that she knows what to do when she’s pressured to start an unhealthy habit.
“I’ll just be like, ‘You know I don’t do that type of stuff,’” Eve said. “Later, they don’t even ask.”
“You’re that direct?” Eve’s mom asks her.
“Mm hm. Yeah, because if you’re not, they’re just gonna keep asking you,” Eve said.
“That’s true,” her mother replied.
Or rather, some youth stand in line and see what clerks will sell.
Local police solicit the help of teens to do periodic compliance checks on establishments with cheap cigarettes and liquor licenses, seeing if they will sell illegally to minors.
Eve, whose name was changed to provide anonymity, has been on undercover “stings” before with local and state officers. She is 15 years old.
During a compliance check, Eve goes into a bar or gas station and asks for a pack of cigarettes. Sometimes she gets nervous. She worries she will mess up the brand name of the pack. Clearly, she does something right. Once, nine establishments sold her cigarettes in one night.
Dave Wesner, Danville’s corporation counsel, said last year 12 citations were issued at establishments for violating the ordinance prohibiting the sale of cigarettes online products to anyone younger than 18. Wesner said typically the employee who sold tobacco to a minor is the one who is fined. However, continual violations at a certain site may result in a suspended or revoked license for the business.
Eve said she thinks it’s wrong when establishments sell to minors.
“What they’re doing is telling teenagers it’s OK, when really it’s not,” Eve said. She said it’s not good for places to break the law, especially when smoking cigarettes puts one on a path that may lead to death.
Moving forward
Eve’s mom knows parents play a big role.
“I was raised in a family of smokers. Both my parents were heavy smokers,” her mom said. “I knew from an early age, it was a habit I didn’t want to develop.”
While she thinks it is good for schools to educate teens about risky behaviors, she doesn’t think it’s their responsibility.
“I absolutely think it’s the parents’ responsibility to teach their kids right from wrong.”
Her daughter said she will never smoke.
“I want to try to be like my mom,” Eve said, “because she never tried drugs when she was younger.”
Eve is comfortable talking to a parent and to her peers.
As they are being interviewed, Eve and her mom talk to each other about the situations Eve has encountered. Her mom knows Eve has been tempted by peers. Eve explains that she knows what to do when she’s pressured to start an unhealthy habit.
“I’ll just be like, ‘You know I don’t do that type of stuff,’” Eve said. “Later, they don’t even ask.”
“You’re that direct?” Eve’s mom asks her.
“Mm hm. Yeah, because if you’re not, they’re just gonna keep asking you,” Eve said.
“That’s true,” her mother replied.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Case Made For More Tobacco-free Zones In Biddeford
Steve Kerner enjoys smoking cigarettes a cigar when he’s out walking his dogs at Clifford Park in Biddeford, but under a new proposal by the city’s Recreation Commission, he may no longer be able to do that.
Biddeford already bans smoking cigarettes at playgrounds and playing fields, but the recreation governing board would like to expand those smoke-free zones to include all public parks and beaches in the city.
That idea received unanimous approval from the Policy Committee during its meeting on Monday and will now be forwarded to the City Council for discussion and a vote.
While Kerner agrees with the city’s attempts to keep smoking cigarettes away from children, he said Monday that imposing a smoking cigarettes ban on all public property was going too far.
“I see this as a slippery slope,” he said. “Smoking and drinking are activities that adults should be allowed to enjoy. I like to smoke cigarettes a cigar when I take my dogs for a walk and I don’t see how that’s hurting anyone.”
But with scientific evidence piling up that secondhand smoke, even outdoors, can be harmful, and more and more public support for banning smoking cigarettes at beaches and other public places, Kerner may soon only be able to smoke cigarettes on the sidewalk or in his back yard.
And, since the Legislature passed a bill in 2009 banning smoking cigarettes at all state-owned parks and land, communities all across Maine, including in the tri-town area, are looking at imposing ordinances designed to keep public property smoke cigarettes free.
Supporters of such bans say it’s not only about the health of humans, but also of wildlife and the environment.
For instance, according to the Health Policy Partners of Maine, which backed the state law, a study by Stanford University shows that harmful exposure to secondhand smoke cigarettes can occur within 20 feet of an active smoker in outdoor settings.
The health partners group also said that tobacco-related items are the most common form of trash found on Maine beaches. In addition, secondhand smoke cigarettes is one of the worst triggers of asthma attacks in both children and adults, the group said.
“The whole idea of expanding the tobacco-free zones is complaint driven,” said Bob Mills, City Council president and chairman of the Policy Committee. “As a smoker myself, I am very aware of not smoking cigarettes around children or others who don’t smoke. I am definitely supportive and would like to see this move forward.”
And when Councilor David Bourque, another member of the Policy Committee, questioned whether secondhand smoke cigarettes is really a danger in the outdoors, Megan Rochelo, director of the Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition, assured him it definitely is a threat.
“Secondhand smoke cigarettes is actually a very big public health issue,” she said. “There are studies that show it can be as great a risk outside as inside.”
The coalition, which is based at the University of New England, supports healthy lifestyles through community education and activities.
The coalition is also the agency that provided the Biddeford Recreation Department with the signs reading “This is a buy cigarette online free area,” which are posted at all playgrounds and playing fields. Rochelo said if the city expanded its smoke-free zones, her agency would be willing to provide additional signs for free.
The Stanford University study, which was published in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association in 2007, was the first scientifically, peer-reviewed study to show that secondhand smoke cigarettes is a danger to health even outside.
In fact, the research team, led by professors Neil Klepeis and Wayne Ott, concluded that a non-smoker sitting a few feet downwind from a smoldering cigarette is likely to be exposed to substantial levels of contaminated air.
"Some folks have expressed the opinion that exposure to outdoor cheap cigarettes smoke cigarettes is insignificant, because it dissipates quickly into the air," Klepeis said in that article. "But our findings show that a person sitting or standing next to a smoker outdoors can breathe in wisps of smoke cigarettes that are many times more concentrated than normal background air pollution levels."
Bil Moriarty, a Biddeford resident and candidate for the School Committee this fall, said Monday that every time he took his children to Rotary Park on the Saco River this summer, there were people smoking cigarettes not only on the beach, but also while standing in the water.
Carl Walsh, director of the Recreation Department, said that lifeguards at Rotary Park were asked to collect comments made by visitors in relation to smoking cigarettes at the beach this summer.
Most of the comments received were general complaints about smoking cigarettes and the numerous cigarette butts littering the beach, he said. But at least one complaint led to a verbal altercation between a mother of three and people nearby, who were smoking cigarettes.
According to the lifeguard’s report, the mother asked the people to either move, or at least smoke cigarettes away from her children. When they refused, “words were exchanged” and the mother ended up packing up her children and moving further down the beach.
Walsh said recreation staff is supportive of the expanded tobacco- free zones and said this is something his department has been working toward for the past six years.
Unlike other municipal ordinances, the Biddeford ordinance puts enforcement of the smoking cigarettes ban into the hands of recreation staff instead of the police department.
Walsh said since the ban on smoking cigarettes went into effect at playgrounds and playing fields three years ago, “folks have actually been really good about self-policing.”
He said people will generally follow the law and that when the sign is pointed out to them, they’re more than willing to leave the premises in order to smoke.
“If they don’t comply, they could be charged with trespassing, which would involve the police,” Walsh said. “But so far, it’s never risen to that level”
Biddeford is not the only community in the area to consider banning smoking cigarettes on public property. Last week, the Old Orchard Beach Town Council held a workshop to discuss prohibiting smoking cigarettes on the town’s beach.
The proposal was made by a group of high school students, who surveyed 400 people in the downtown about whether they would support a smoking cigarettes ban on the beach.
The result of the survey, which was given to both residents and tourists, was 80 percent in favor. However, Council Chairman Bob Quinn said many of the complaints and comments related to tobacco-related litter.
“To us it seemed like the litter issue was a greater problem than the secondhand smoking cigarettes issue,” he said.
In addition, business owners turned out to protest a smoking cigarettes ban, arguing it could turn away Canadian tourists, which are the lifeblood of Old Orchard Beach in the summer.
Therefore, the council decided instead of instituting a local ordinance, it would draft a resolution instead. The resolution would encourage people not to smoke cigarettes on public property. Quinn also said signs might be posted near the beach in order to convey that message, as well.
Bud Harmon, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, said the idea of a smoking cigarettes ban on Old Orchard Beach caused a “mixed reaction” on his governing board.
“One of the concerns raised was our reliance on Canadian clientele,” he said. “Our message to the council was just to be careful about creating any rules or regulations that may impact on our ability to attract tourists.”
Back in Biddeford Monday, Policy Committee member Richard Rhames, who is also a candidate for one of two at-large seats on the City Council in November, said, “I am quite cheered with the pretty strong case that was made here. This is a tremendous improvement.”
Biddeford already bans smoking cigarettes at playgrounds and playing fields, but the recreation governing board would like to expand those smoke-free zones to include all public parks and beaches in the city.
That idea received unanimous approval from the Policy Committee during its meeting on Monday and will now be forwarded to the City Council for discussion and a vote.
While Kerner agrees with the city’s attempts to keep smoking cigarettes away from children, he said Monday that imposing a smoking cigarettes ban on all public property was going too far.
“I see this as a slippery slope,” he said. “Smoking and drinking are activities that adults should be allowed to enjoy. I like to smoke cigarettes a cigar when I take my dogs for a walk and I don’t see how that’s hurting anyone.”
But with scientific evidence piling up that secondhand smoke, even outdoors, can be harmful, and more and more public support for banning smoking cigarettes at beaches and other public places, Kerner may soon only be able to smoke cigarettes on the sidewalk or in his back yard.
And, since the Legislature passed a bill in 2009 banning smoking cigarettes at all state-owned parks and land, communities all across Maine, including in the tri-town area, are looking at imposing ordinances designed to keep public property smoke cigarettes free.
Supporters of such bans say it’s not only about the health of humans, but also of wildlife and the environment.
For instance, according to the Health Policy Partners of Maine, which backed the state law, a study by Stanford University shows that harmful exposure to secondhand smoke cigarettes can occur within 20 feet of an active smoker in outdoor settings.
The health partners group also said that tobacco-related items are the most common form of trash found on Maine beaches. In addition, secondhand smoke cigarettes is one of the worst triggers of asthma attacks in both children and adults, the group said.
“The whole idea of expanding the tobacco-free zones is complaint driven,” said Bob Mills, City Council president and chairman of the Policy Committee. “As a smoker myself, I am very aware of not smoking cigarettes around children or others who don’t smoke. I am definitely supportive and would like to see this move forward.”
And when Councilor David Bourque, another member of the Policy Committee, questioned whether secondhand smoke cigarettes is really a danger in the outdoors, Megan Rochelo, director of the Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition, assured him it definitely is a threat.
“Secondhand smoke cigarettes is actually a very big public health issue,” she said. “There are studies that show it can be as great a risk outside as inside.”
The coalition, which is based at the University of New England, supports healthy lifestyles through community education and activities.
The coalition is also the agency that provided the Biddeford Recreation Department with the signs reading “This is a buy cigarette online free area,” which are posted at all playgrounds and playing fields. Rochelo said if the city expanded its smoke-free zones, her agency would be willing to provide additional signs for free.
The Stanford University study, which was published in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association in 2007, was the first scientifically, peer-reviewed study to show that secondhand smoke cigarettes is a danger to health even outside.
In fact, the research team, led by professors Neil Klepeis and Wayne Ott, concluded that a non-smoker sitting a few feet downwind from a smoldering cigarette is likely to be exposed to substantial levels of contaminated air.
"Some folks have expressed the opinion that exposure to outdoor cheap cigarettes smoke cigarettes is insignificant, because it dissipates quickly into the air," Klepeis said in that article. "But our findings show that a person sitting or standing next to a smoker outdoors can breathe in wisps of smoke cigarettes that are many times more concentrated than normal background air pollution levels."
Bil Moriarty, a Biddeford resident and candidate for the School Committee this fall, said Monday that every time he took his children to Rotary Park on the Saco River this summer, there were people smoking cigarettes not only on the beach, but also while standing in the water.
Carl Walsh, director of the Recreation Department, said that lifeguards at Rotary Park were asked to collect comments made by visitors in relation to smoking cigarettes at the beach this summer.
Most of the comments received were general complaints about smoking cigarettes and the numerous cigarette butts littering the beach, he said. But at least one complaint led to a verbal altercation between a mother of three and people nearby, who were smoking cigarettes.
According to the lifeguard’s report, the mother asked the people to either move, or at least smoke cigarettes away from her children. When they refused, “words were exchanged” and the mother ended up packing up her children and moving further down the beach.
Walsh said recreation staff is supportive of the expanded tobacco- free zones and said this is something his department has been working toward for the past six years.
Unlike other municipal ordinances, the Biddeford ordinance puts enforcement of the smoking cigarettes ban into the hands of recreation staff instead of the police department.
Walsh said since the ban on smoking cigarettes went into effect at playgrounds and playing fields three years ago, “folks have actually been really good about self-policing.”
He said people will generally follow the law and that when the sign is pointed out to them, they’re more than willing to leave the premises in order to smoke.
“If they don’t comply, they could be charged with trespassing, which would involve the police,” Walsh said. “But so far, it’s never risen to that level”
Biddeford is not the only community in the area to consider banning smoking cigarettes on public property. Last week, the Old Orchard Beach Town Council held a workshop to discuss prohibiting smoking cigarettes on the town’s beach.
The proposal was made by a group of high school students, who surveyed 400 people in the downtown about whether they would support a smoking cigarettes ban on the beach.
The result of the survey, which was given to both residents and tourists, was 80 percent in favor. However, Council Chairman Bob Quinn said many of the complaints and comments related to tobacco-related litter.
“To us it seemed like the litter issue was a greater problem than the secondhand smoking cigarettes issue,” he said.
In addition, business owners turned out to protest a smoking cigarettes ban, arguing it could turn away Canadian tourists, which are the lifeblood of Old Orchard Beach in the summer.
Therefore, the council decided instead of instituting a local ordinance, it would draft a resolution instead. The resolution would encourage people not to smoke cigarettes on public property. Quinn also said signs might be posted near the beach in order to convey that message, as well.
Bud Harmon, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, said the idea of a smoking cigarettes ban on Old Orchard Beach caused a “mixed reaction” on his governing board.
“One of the concerns raised was our reliance on Canadian clientele,” he said. “Our message to the council was just to be careful about creating any rules or regulations that may impact on our ability to attract tourists.”
Back in Biddeford Monday, Policy Committee member Richard Rhames, who is also a candidate for one of two at-large seats on the City Council in November, said, “I am quite cheered with the pretty strong case that was made here. This is a tremendous improvement.”
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Cancer Society Seeks To Put Tobacco Tax Increase On Ballot
The price of smoking cigarettes in Missouri could soon see a substantial price increase if a new voter-driven petition effort is successful.
This week, the secretary of state gave approval to a group led by the American Cancer Society to begin circulating a petition that would put a four-cent per cigarette tax increase on ballot.
The initiative would substantially increase the tax rate on all cheap cigarettes products in Missouri. Currently, a pack of 20 buy cigarettes in Missouri comes with 17 cents in tax. This new proposal would raise the amount of taxes paid per pack to 97 cents. For other cigarettes online products, a tax of 34 percent of the manufacturer’s invoice price would be added.
The ballot initiative calls for these new taxes to be used for a new state trust fund to finance anti-tobacco education at all levels of public education, including at public universities.
The same ballot proposal also calls for an increase in the amount that certain tobacco manufacturers must maintain in their escrow accounts to pay legal judgments or settlements.
Before any statutory changes can be brought before Missouri voters in November 2012, signatures must be obtained from 5 percent of registered voters in six of the state’s nine congressional districts by May of next year.
This week, the secretary of state gave approval to a group led by the American Cancer Society to begin circulating a petition that would put a four-cent per cigarette tax increase on ballot.
The initiative would substantially increase the tax rate on all cheap cigarettes products in Missouri. Currently, a pack of 20 buy cigarettes in Missouri comes with 17 cents in tax. This new proposal would raise the amount of taxes paid per pack to 97 cents. For other cigarettes online products, a tax of 34 percent of the manufacturer’s invoice price would be added.
The ballot initiative calls for these new taxes to be used for a new state trust fund to finance anti-tobacco education at all levels of public education, including at public universities.
The same ballot proposal also calls for an increase in the amount that certain tobacco manufacturers must maintain in their escrow accounts to pay legal judgments or settlements.
Before any statutory changes can be brought before Missouri voters in November 2012, signatures must be obtained from 5 percent of registered voters in six of the state’s nine congressional districts by May of next year.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Rainbird Gets Jail Time In Cigarette-taxes Case
A federal judge sentenced Paul Rainbird, former lieutenant governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo, to 33 months in prison and fined him more than $90,000 for selling contraband cigarettes.
Rainbird, 58, who in the mid-1990s directed the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, which sponsors the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, pleaded guilty in July to two felony charges and five misdemeanors related to selling untaxed discount cigarettes over the Internet from a location in Albuquerque.
Rainbird was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Browning and must report to federal marshals this week.
Court documents show Rainbird's business sold more than $20 million worth of cheap cigarettes between 2003 and his arrest in 2008.
Before entering into the plea agreement, federal prosecutors alleged that Rainbird, through his business American Indian CigCo, evaded paying more than $7 million in cigarette taxes. The government says Rainbird's enterprise had more than 6,000 out-of-state customers in about 30 states.
The misdemeanor counts to which he pleaded involved failure to notify state officials in Illinois, New York and Maryland about his sales.
Rainbird admitted to using false documents to buy tax-free cigarettes from two Albuquerque wholesalers.
The fines imposed in his sentence include $60,000 to be paid to San Ildefonso Pueblo and $34,500 in restitution to the state Taxation and Revenue Department.
In addition to the prison time and fines, the federal government confiscated nearly $170,000 from four bank accounts, a 2001 Chevrolet Corvette, a 2004 Infinity FX and 4,829 cartons of cigarettes.
Rainbird isn't the only American Indian official who has been in the news in recent months over tax-free cigarette issues.
In May, state Attorney General Gary King's office contacted Gov. Susana Martinez about her secretary of the state Department of Indian Affairs.
Secretary Arthur Allison's Star Ranch Store in the Navajo Nation near Farmington was selling a brand of cigarettes online not certified for sale in New Mexico, and selling those and other brands without the required tax stamps, King said.
A month after notifying the governor, an Associated Press reporter was able to purchase the contraband Seneca buy cigarettes and others without a tax stamp at Allison's store.
Under a 2010 law, the state increased its cigarette tax by 75 cents a pack to a total of $1.66. However, the state agreed to give Indian retailers a continued price advantage by exempting them from 91 cents of the state tax if a tribe or pueblo levied their own tax of at least 75 cents. The Navajo Nation is one of three tribes that haven't certified to the state that they impose such a tax — though a spokesman for the governor has said the tribe has imposed a $1-per-pack tax.
The attorney general contends retailers on Navajo land must charge the full amount of state tax on buy cigarette online sold to non-Indians.
In July, Scott Darnell, a spokesman for Martinez, said, "So long as Secretary Allison remains the owner of the store, we will ask him to refrain from selling cheap cigarette online that do not bear a tax-exempt stamp while the administration continues to work through the legal complexities of this issue and seek to broker a certification agreement with the Navajo Nation."
At the time, Darnell said, Allison was planning to transfer ownership of the store to his son. Allison hadn't managed or operated the store for more than a year and hadn't received revenue from the store since he was appointed, Darnell said.
Darnell said Monday that the transfer of the store to Allison's son has since occurred.
King said in July that Allison's store would be investigated. On Monday, King's spokesman, Phil Sisneros, said Assistant Attorney General Nan Erdman, who handles cigarette-tax cases, wasn't available to brief him on the status of the investigation.
Rainbird, 58, who in the mid-1990s directed the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, which sponsors the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, pleaded guilty in July to two felony charges and five misdemeanors related to selling untaxed discount cigarettes over the Internet from a location in Albuquerque.
Rainbird was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Browning and must report to federal marshals this week.
Court documents show Rainbird's business sold more than $20 million worth of cheap cigarettes between 2003 and his arrest in 2008.
Before entering into the plea agreement, federal prosecutors alleged that Rainbird, through his business American Indian CigCo, evaded paying more than $7 million in cigarette taxes. The government says Rainbird's enterprise had more than 6,000 out-of-state customers in about 30 states.
The misdemeanor counts to which he pleaded involved failure to notify state officials in Illinois, New York and Maryland about his sales.
Rainbird admitted to using false documents to buy tax-free cigarettes from two Albuquerque wholesalers.
The fines imposed in his sentence include $60,000 to be paid to San Ildefonso Pueblo and $34,500 in restitution to the state Taxation and Revenue Department.
In addition to the prison time and fines, the federal government confiscated nearly $170,000 from four bank accounts, a 2001 Chevrolet Corvette, a 2004 Infinity FX and 4,829 cartons of cigarettes.
Rainbird isn't the only American Indian official who has been in the news in recent months over tax-free cigarette issues.
In May, state Attorney General Gary King's office contacted Gov. Susana Martinez about her secretary of the state Department of Indian Affairs.
Secretary Arthur Allison's Star Ranch Store in the Navajo Nation near Farmington was selling a brand of cigarettes online not certified for sale in New Mexico, and selling those and other brands without the required tax stamps, King said.
A month after notifying the governor, an Associated Press reporter was able to purchase the contraband Seneca buy cigarettes and others without a tax stamp at Allison's store.
Under a 2010 law, the state increased its cigarette tax by 75 cents a pack to a total of $1.66. However, the state agreed to give Indian retailers a continued price advantage by exempting them from 91 cents of the state tax if a tribe or pueblo levied their own tax of at least 75 cents. The Navajo Nation is one of three tribes that haven't certified to the state that they impose such a tax — though a spokesman for the governor has said the tribe has imposed a $1-per-pack tax.
The attorney general contends retailers on Navajo land must charge the full amount of state tax on buy cigarette online sold to non-Indians.
In July, Scott Darnell, a spokesman for Martinez, said, "So long as Secretary Allison remains the owner of the store, we will ask him to refrain from selling cheap cigarette online that do not bear a tax-exempt stamp while the administration continues to work through the legal complexities of this issue and seek to broker a certification agreement with the Navajo Nation."
At the time, Darnell said, Allison was planning to transfer ownership of the store to his son. Allison hadn't managed or operated the store for more than a year and hadn't received revenue from the store since he was appointed, Darnell said.
Darnell said Monday that the transfer of the store to Allison's son has since occurred.
King said in July that Allison's store would be investigated. On Monday, King's spokesman, Phil Sisneros, said Assistant Attorney General Nan Erdman, who handles cigarette-tax cases, wasn't available to brief him on the status of the investigation.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Famous Actors Part X
Celebrity Actors Smoking Part X
Here we have the tenth part of selected pictures with Hollywood Famous Actors smoking cigarettes. Enjoy the collection of photos with Celebrities Smoking Cigarettes.
1. Ralph Fiennes Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Ralph Fiennes Smoking Bond Superslims Silver Cigarette
About Ralph Fiennes : Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (born 22 December 1962) is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List.
He is also well known for his portrayals of infamous villains, such as Nazi war criminal Amon Goth in Schindler's List, serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in Red Dragon, and Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film series. Most recently, he appeared in The Reader (2008), In Bruges (2008) The Hurt Locker (2009) and as Hades in Clash of the Titans (2010).
He won a Tony Award and has been nominated twice for Academy Awards. He is also a UNICEF UK ambassador.
2. Richard Burton Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Richard Burton Smoking Monte Carlo Red Cigarette
About Richard Burton : Richard Burton, CBE (10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role (without ever winning), and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. He remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor; the couple's turbulent relationship was rarely out of the news.
3. Richard Dreyfuss Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Richard Dreyfuss Smoking Monte Carlo Blue Cigarette
About Richard Dreyfuss : Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (born October 29, 1947) is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About Bob?, Poseidon, and Mr. Holland's Opus.
Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977 for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995 for Mr. Holland's Opus. He has also won a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and was nominated in 2002 for Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries categories.
4. Richard Gere Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Richard Gere Smoking Monte Carlo Silver Cigarette
About Richard Gere : Richard Tiffany Gere (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. He went on to star in several hit films including An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Best Cast.
5. Robert Redford Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Robert Redford Smoking Monte Carlo White Cigarette
About Robert Redford : Charles Robert Redford, Jr. (born August 18, 1936), better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. His popular films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President's Men (1976), The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985), and Sneakers (1992). As a filmmaker, his notable films include Ordinary People (1980), A River Runs Through It (1992), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000).
6. Russell Crowe Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Russell Crowe Smoking Monte Carlo Superslims Fantasy Cigarette
About Russell Crowe : Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is a New Zealand-born Australian actor and musician. His acting career began in the late 1980s with roles in Australian television series including Police Rescue and Neighbours. In the early 1990s, Crowe's local prominence peaked when he won the Australian Film Industry Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of an inner-city skinhead in the Geoffrey Wright film, Romper Stomper. In the late 1990s, Crowe transferred his acting ambitions to the USA with his breakout role in L.A. Confidential (1997). Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Gladiator in 2001 and has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role: The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). He is also co-owner of South Sydney Rabbitohs, a National Rugby League team.
7. Robert Pattinson Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Robert Pattinson Smoking Monte Carlo Superslims Intrigue Cigarette
About Robert Pattinson : Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Later, he landed the leading role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer, and came to worldwide fame. Pattinson was ranked as one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood based on 2009 earnings. In 2010, Pattinson was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World, and also in the same year Forbes ranked him as one of the most powerful celebrities in the world in the Forbes Celebrity 100.
8. Sean Connery Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Sean Connery Smoking Hilton Gold Cigarette
About Sean Connery : Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).
Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six "official" Eon productions films and the non-official Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart, and The Rock. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine, and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".
9. Sylvester Stallone Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Sylvester Stallone Smoking Hilton Platinum Cigarette
About Sylvester Stallone : Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6, 1946), commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed include boxer Rocky Balboa and soldier John Rambo. The Rocky and Rambo franchises, along with several other films, strengthened his reputation as an actor and his box office earnings.
Stallone's film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallone's use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky character placed permanently near the museum, on the right side before the steps. It was announced on December 7, 2010 that Stallone was voted into boxing's Hall of Fame.
10. Sean Penn Smoking Cigarette
Celebrity Sean Penn Smoking Monte Carlo Superslims Fresh Cigarette
About Sean Penn : Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.
Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in a 1974 episode of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. Following his film debut in 1981's Taps and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s, Penn emerged as a prominent leading actor with the 1995 drama film Dead Man Walking, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Penn subsequently received another two Oscar nominations for Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001), before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk. He has also won a Best Actor Award of the Cannes Film Festival for She's So Lovely (1997), and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for Hurlyburly (1998) and 21 Grams (2003).
Penn made his feature film directorial debut with 1991's The Indian Runner, followed by the drama film The Crossing Guard (1995) and the mystery film The Pledge (2001). In 2002, Penn directed one of the 11 segments of 11'09"01 September 11, a compilation film made in response to the September 11 attacks. In 2007, Penn directed his fourth feature film Into the Wild, which garnered critical acclaim and two Academy Award nominations.
In addition to his film work, Penn is known for his political and social activism, most notably his criticism of the George W. Bush administration, his contact with the Presidents of Venezuela and Cuba, and his humanitarian work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Penn also attracted media attention for his previous marriages to pop icon Madonna and actress Robin Wright.
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