Still, Lorillard said it would provide “appropriate information” to the FDA report on menthol.

“We hope the FDA will solicit and consider input and comments from industry participants,” said Lorillard spokesman Michael Robinson. “We look forward to a process that is grounded in the sound scientific information available today.”

Around 20 percent of adult black Americans smoke, the same rate as the rest of the population, according to 2007 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Black smokers suffer more from smoking-related illnesses and death than their white counterparts, possibly because of inferior access to good medical care. There is little evidence that smoking menthol cigarettes is itself more dangerous than non-flavored brands, public health experts said.

But anti-smoking activists say menthol’s mild anesthetic property masks the harshness of tobacco making it easier to start smoking and harder to quit.

U.S. tobacco bill puts focus on menthol cigarettes | Health | Reuters.

via QDB: Quote #244321.

via QDB: 50 Random Quotes.

Asimo

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is an old pursuit in modern dress
animism.

AI satisfies our desire to give our own creations life. Religious dolls
have emotions. AI dolls have intelligence. Compare here, voodoo dolls
and robots.

AI is the watchword of the modern cult of Intelligence.

AI is anti-life because it places the man-doll above man and nature.
Religions are anti-nature when man is placed above nature.

AI enthrones intelligence, and man’s intelligence places man over
nature, and man’s dolls over man.

I could easily become a doctor.  I would never become a doctor for the
same reason I would never become a teacher: I don’t do worthless
certifications or make-work b.s.  I don’t need to take Calculus 1,453
to know how what symptoms are evidence of swine flu.  Who does?  No
one.

Pre-med is a combination of make-work and do-gooder stuff.  Take a
bunch of classes that have no relevance to the practice of medicine.
(Lawyers who complain about how law school teaches irrelevant classes
obviously don’t know about pre-med.)  Then go around volunteering for
stuff to prove that you’re becoming a doctor because you have a life
dream to help people rather than drive a shiny BMW. In other words,
play pretend.

If regulation were lighter, you could train people to be general-care
doctors in two years.  Most of what doctors do is spot symptoms and
prescribe drugs.  Doctors don’t learn how to think critically.  Just
read, “How Doctors Think.”  Try to actually have a critical discussion
with a doctor about epidemiology or theory of medicine or anything
that requires them to do something other than consult the Physician’s
Desk Reference.  You’ll be disappointed.

Doctors aren’t critical thinkers.  They don’t even remember what they
supposedly learned in all of those pre-med make-work courses, either.

So if we want more doctors, end the mindless regulations.  Provide a
two-year medical school program for general practitioners.  Then make
the tests hard to pass so that morons don’t slip through.

That will NEVER happen.  Why not?  Doctors wouldn’t allow it.  Why
won’t they?

Because being a doctor is prestigious.  If just anyone with a 120+ IQ
could become one without taking irrelevant classes or pretending to
care about people; then doctors couldn’t orgasm in their pants when
saying, “I’m a doctor.”

People will suffer and die because of the need for prestige.  What’s
new about that?

Obama Healthcare

CNN did a little thing today … they invited everyone to call
in and suggest ways to fund ObamaHealth.

Interesting results ….

Seems the drinkers wanted to super-tax the smokers.

The smokers wanted to super-tax the drinkers.

The cheeseburger fanatics wanted to super-tax anyone
who wasn’t a cheeseburger fanatic.

The vegetarians wanted to super-tax the ‘carnivores’.

The carnivores wanted to super-tax the vegans and
their e-coli infested borage.

The puritans wanted to super-tax everybody who
wasn’t a puritan.

The poor wanted the ‘rich’ to be super-taxed.

The ‘rich’ wanted the cost to be ‘distributed’ so
the poor would have to carry their own weight.

OK … there’s a word for this … “cannibalism”.

Obama is creating a situation where every micro-group
will turn against the others in hopes that THEY will
somehow fund his multi-terabuck endeavour.

You know where this leads, don’t you ?

I have two references for you … one is called
“Demolition Man” and the other is called “GATTICA”.

It’s divide and conquer … with the ultimate aim of
using EVERY micro-groups prejudices to justify screwing
everybody else.

This must not stand.

Time to clean house before everything ‘America’, “Land
of the Free”, stood for is totally destroyed.

KNOW you’re being manipupilated.

The real enemy is NOT the guy next door.

A nondescript exterior and a yard dominated by headstones give no indication of the residential nature of this historic church in Kyloe, Northumberland. A couple decided to purchase and readapt the structure, investing nearly three times the purchase price into renovations over the course of several years. The exterior remains mostly untouched, save for skylights running the length of the roof. Inside, the owners took a similar approach. Restoration is more prevalent than renovation, with original stained glass windows throughout, and repurposed church fixtures abounding. Much of the original seating in the church was refinished and placed throughout the home, and unused wood and building materials were fashioned into a dramatic staircase leading from the main living space to an upper level library. The choice to live in a church is an unorthodox one, but this home’s owners managed to salvage a structure that might have otherwise been doomed to deterioration.

Renovated Church Home in Kyloe, Northumberland | SwipeLife.

Conyers was expected to appear at a court hearing Friday morning in Detroit, and was not immediately available for comment.

She is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery for allegedly accepting two payments from a Synagro Technologies official in late 2007 in exchange for supporting a sludge contract with the Houston company.

The government says Conyers received envelopes containing cash on Nov. 20, 2007 in the parking lot of a Detroit community center and on Dec. 4 of that year in a McDonald’s parking lot.

The charge is outlined in a legal document called a “criminal information,” which only can be filed with the defendant’s consent and typically signals a plea deal.

Conyers is the most prominent person snagged in an investigation of corruption in a sludge-recycling deal with Synagro. Two people who worked for the company have pleaded guilty.

Her husband is John Conyers, the powerful Detroit congressman who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. He has no role in the case.

A spokesman for John Conyers, Jonathan Godfrey, said the congressman may issue a statement later Friday.

City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. told WJBK-TV that according to the City Charter, any elected official found guilty of a felony would have to step down from the council.

Cockrel said he would speak with city lawyers about the council’s next steps.

The Synagro sludge contract was rescinded in January.

The council voted 5-4 in November 2007 to award a $47-million-a-year contract to Synagro to recycle wastewater sludge and build a state-of-the-art incinerator to replace one that belches yellow plumes over a poor neighborhood.

In January, Synagro’s Michigan representative, Jim Rosendall, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. His plea agreement described how he distributed cash and other gifts to officials.

On June 15, Rayford Jackson, a Synagro contractor, pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.