- I hate smoking. I know with complete certainty that smokers are losers. As such, you can imagine how I feel about learning that smokers of U.S. brand cigarettes are being hit with a much larger dose of the major carcinogen [TSNAs] than those smoking foreign-made cigarettes, according to a small study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers found U.S. made cigarettes contain more of these cancer-causing chemicals than brands made elsewhere around the world. “Not all cigarettes are made alike,” says Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. Pirkle claimed that this is the first study to show that “U.S. cigarettes have more of the major carcinogen [TSNAs] than foreign made cigarettes." TSNAs are “tobacco-specific nitrosamines,” the major cancer-causing substance in tobacco, giving death sticks the death part of their moniker. For the study, researchers recruited 126 smokers in five cities – Waterloo, Ontario; Melbourne, Victoria (Australia); London, England, Buffalo, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota – all between the ages of 18 and 55 and who have smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day for the past year and had been brand loyal for at least three months. Included in the study were: Players light and DuMaurier in Canada; Marlboro, Newport Light, Camel Light in the U.S.; Peter Jackson and Peter Stuyvesant in Australia; and Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut Purple in the United Kingdom. Scientists had the disgusting and unfortunate task of analyzing more than 2,000 cigarette butts to get their data. When comparing cigarette brands in the U.S. to those in Canada and Australia, they found three times higher levels of the cancer causing substance in U.S. smokers’ mouths. That means American smokers are likely putting much higher levels of carcinogens into their lungs. “If you want to stop exposure to these things, you have to stop smoking,” Pirkle wisely stated. The elevated TSNA levels even showed up in the urine samples of U.S. smokers compared to those in Canada and Australia, with those levels twice as high in U.S. smokers. Yet another reason to mock, deride and belittle you, smokers, which always brightens my day…………
- Who’s down for some bigotry and racism with their daily serving of political drama? If so, step right up and meet a longtime South Carolina state senator a big mouth, a lack of internal censorship and long-harbored tendencies toward prejudice. He is South Carolina Sen. Jake Knotts, who doubles as a closet bigot and a vociferous supporter of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer in the four-way Republican primary battle for the state’s soon-to-be-vacant gubernatorial spot. While talking about one of the three other candidates in the election besides his man Bauer, Knotts used the term “raghead.” In so doing, he not only belittled Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, he also took a not-so-veiled shot at President Obama. “We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion,” Knotts said. He made that comment because Haley was raised in a Sikh family but blew right past the fact that she is now a practicing Methodist. As always, never allow the facts to get in the way of a good verbal salvo. Multiple people present for the “Pub Politics,” a popular online political talk show in Columbia, S.C. confirmed the “raghead” remark, although the show’ producers yanked a recording of the webcast from Ustream, with the show's hosts citing “technical issues.” If you mean to say that technically, one of your guests is an ignorant, racist a-hole, then I agree, you do have technical issues. That Knotts made the comment at all is offensive, but that he made it after discussing Haley’s Sikh background is all the more offenive. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment, want-it-back-immediately comment; dude was lining up his attack and that “raghead” blast was supposed to be his kill shot. Great, one of your guy’s opponents is of Indian-American descent. I think you’re going to want to take a different angle to criticize her, one that is a) accurate and b) doesn’t take a run at the most powerful man in the Western Hemisphere…………
- This is exactly why we don’t need 24/7/365 coverage of everything NFL-related. No sooner than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gives disgraced, alleged rapist Ben Roethlisberger the OK to resume working out with his team during offseason activities and the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback gets a horde of media members in his face, asking him questions about his recent legal and personal woes. He was asked about everything from his actions in a Georgia nightclub, where a college student accused him of sexually assaulting her, to his suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy. The problem, of course, is that there is nothing the guy can say at this point that matters even a little. Lest you forget, he was suspended in large part for being accused of rape twice within a year and engaging in behavior in that seedy Georgia club that was horrifically wrong, if not able to be prosecuted because his accuser was too drunk to get her story straight. What is the guy - or any guy in that situation - going to say that will make one bit of difference at this point? No matter how vehemently he vows to stay on the straight and narrow from here on out, who is going to believe him? Two rape accusations in one year sit on the other side of those scales of justice and you cannot un-ring that bell. So the following comments just don’t do much for me, needless to say. "I've put a lot of thought into my life, the decisions that I've made in the past," Roethlisberger said. "I've been sitting at home thinking about things, and I've been working closely with the commissioner on ways to make changes, corrections. I'm looking forward to the second chance and the second opportunity -- not just in football, because I think everybody knows what you're going to get [from me] in football, but in life. I think that's kind of what's more important." No, ass hat, we don’t know what we’re going to get from you in football because we don’t know when you will be back on the field in a game or how long you’ll stay there before you do something else stupid. You probably should also apologize for your actions in that Georgia club, something you did not do. “[I'm] evaluating what I need to do, and be smarter when it comes to certain things," Roethlisberger said. No my man, you need to be smarter, period. But again, there is not one dam thing the guy could have said in that media session that would have made any difference at all and the same goes for every incarnation of that same interview he’ll have from here on out, right up until his six-game suspension ends and he’s back on the field………….
- Where, oh where are the SoCal superheroes? Anyone who has visited Hollywood for even a day has seen the freaks, out-of-work actors and general misfits who dot the sidewalks rocking their Batman, Superman, Captain America, Spiderman, Cat Woman and Incredible Hulk costumes. Heck, visitors pose for pictures with these losers - or at least they did until Los Angeles police began a major crackdown on unlicensed costumed characters who pose for photos with tourists near Grauman's Chinese Theatre, a crackdown that has the entire Hollywood (fake) superhero community abuzz. The big arrest of the day on Wednesday was Batman, whose capture came on the feels of a dozen other arrests of hard-luck actors who try to earn tips from tourists by posing for those pictures. "It's un-American," said Joe McQueen, an actor who has made his living for the past 10 years wearing an Incredible Hulk costume. "I feel like we're being bullied, dude." Well said, dude. It was indeed a sad sight to see today as Hollywood Boulevard was clear of the characters and befuddled tourists had to wander around in haze, not knowing who to pose for a picture with to prove they really visited Hollywood. "Tourists are going 'Where are all the characters?' " said Christopher Dennis, a an actor who has portrayed Superman for 19 years. Dennis gained his 15 minutes of fame by appearing in "Confessions of a Superhero," a 2007 documentary about the lives of the street performers. He showed up in costume today and had by TV cameras following him, setting up a potential arrest that would serve to highlight the cause he donned his tights for on this day. It has been a weeklong effort to sweep the streets of these unlicensed superheroes, starting Friday night when police handcuffed Donald Duck, Cat Woman, Freddy Krueger, Mr. Incredible, Bumblebee (from the Transformers movies) and Edward Scissorhands. They were hit with loitering charges and locked up. As you can probably guess, these unfortunate souls are the struggling actors who haven’t yet landed gigs as waiters and waitresses at trendy Hollywood eateries where they can attempt to pitch their script ideas to A-listers who come in to eat. They rely on tips and apparently have been doing well of late, because the number of costumed freaks on Hollywood Boulevard has surged in recent months, accompanied by complaints that some were strong-arming tourists for tips. "It just takes a few bad apples to make the whole barrel go rotten,'" said Michael Jackson impersonator Mitchell Schonbrener, who was arrested for loitering near Jackson's Hollywood Walk of Fame star Saturday night. Police told him they've gotten "multiple complaints against you from businesses and the security.” Gee, who would ever complain about fake superheroes walking around, trying to guilt tourists into posing for pictures and handing out tips? Sounds like a winning idea to me…………
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