Free Republic

Scotland's second largest health board, NHS Lothian, will not be giving further treatment to smokers for non-urgent cases, with referrals from GPs being refused. Dr. Zahid Raza said: "In Edinburgh, we will not see patients at the clinic that are still smoking. Evidence shows that they would not do well with the treatment." He also went onto say: "We try to avoid intervention and, in around 80 percent of cases, a smoker’s condition will improve just simply by stopping smoking and smoking other lifestyle changes."Dr Jean Turner of the Scotland Patients Association said that she was "extremely disappointed", adding: "I'm...

Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services has approved a new rule that will prohibit any family that has foster children living with them from smoking in their own home. "The rule prohibits foster parents from smoking in their homes, as long as there are children assigned to their homes," said Darrell Azar of the TDPRS. "It also bans foster parents from smoking in their cars if there are children present in their cars. It is believed to be the toughest anti smoking rules in the country, and the first rules ever approved that prohibit smoking inside detached homes. Azar...

All too many denizens of the city instinctively rail against corporate America as an article of their political faith but inevitably undermine the entrepreneurial spirit of the mom-and-pop tavern operators in their neighborhoods. This disconnect is played out in various areas of the city, initiated by civic association groups and the elected officials of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. Their hubris is surpassed only by their thorough misunderstanding of the marketplace.