Free Republic

VAN HALEN singer David Lee Roth will retire after the last concert of his Las Vegas residency in January. "I'm throwing in the shoes," Roth told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday (August 1). "I'm retiring. This is the first, and only, official announcement. … You've got the news. Share it with the world." He added: "I'm not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows." Roth also reflected on the passing of his longtime bandmate, legendary VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who died of cancer a year ago. "I...

The original Marlboro Man died this week at his Colorado Springs ranch at the ripe old age of 90 — likely because he never actually smoked cigarettes. Norris quit the business suddenly — after realizing he was setting a bad example for his two daughters and two sons.

Robert Norris, known as the original 'Marlboro Man' used in ads for the cigarette brand, has died at age 90. Norris passed away at his ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Sunday. He is survived by his two sons and two daughters, 13 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. For 12 years, Norris graced billboards and magazines as the Marlboro Man, a rugged man wearing a cowboy hat in wild terrain - with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth or in his hand. But despite him pictured holding cigarettes for more than a decade, Norris never smoked and he eventually quit...

SNIP Tobacco giant Philip Morris International is joining in on the “New Year, New Me” idea by announcing it wants to give up smoking in the New Year. The maker of such brands Marlboro, L&M and Parliament took out full-page ads in several UK newspapers that said its 2018 ambition is to build a smoke-free future and eventually stop selling cigarettes, USA Today reported. “Philip Morris is known for cigarettes. Every year, many smokers give them up. Now it’s our turn,” according to the blue and white ad, which was published in Business Insider. SNIP

Fox Host Bill O'Reilly on Wednesday claimed that he could have been the Marlboro Man. "While I was covering the News in Denver, I was approached by a modeling agency to be the Marlboro guy dressed as a cowboy," he said on the "O'Reilly Factor" while lamenting the lack of a public health campaign warning about the dangers of weed. He lauded the U.S. government's campaign against smoking tobacco, but said that the U.S. has taken the opposite approach to pot. "Smoking marijuana is quite the opposite. That’s on the rise, as pot use is considered cool in many...

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.</p> <p>Lawson died Jan. 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday.</p>

Phillip Morris, the world's biggest cigarette producer, announced today that they will join the marijuana legalization bandwagon and start producing marijuana cigarettes. Marketed under the brand "Marlboro M", the cigarettes will be made available for sale through marijuana-licensed outlets in the state of Colorado, and the state of Washington when it becomes commercially legal there later this year.

Kim Jong-il at October Eunhasoo Concert, commemorating the 66th anniversary of ruling party's founding, accompanied by heir-apparent, Kim Jong-eun. Reported by Korea Central News on Oct. 12. On the table next to him, a box of Marlboro cigarettes are seen.

A rebel fighter holds up a packet of cigarettes with a "health warning" sticker which features a caricature of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi near the frontline along the western entrance of Ajdabiyah April 18, 2011. Libyan leader Gaddafi's forces fired rockets on Sunday at rebels stationed along the edge of Ajdabiyah, sending some residents fleeing from the eastern town, witnesses said. The words on on sticker reads "Warning, Muammar destroys Libya and causes death. The destructive impact of Muammar affects civilians and non-civilians alike." REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

"Baby Knows: Marlboros are best for Mommy!" "Doctors Recommend: SMOKING!" Great vintage ads.

The single runway of a tiny, privately-owned airfield west of Boston suffered severe damage when President Barack Obama paid a visit in April. Now the owner is petitioning the government to fix it. Marlboro Airport (9B1) proprietor Robert Stetson, 64, tells The Boston Globe that when dozens of heavy SUVs, firetrucks and other security vehicles in the president’s entourage rumbled down his 1,659 ft asphalt runway in a single file, they caused at least $100,000 worth of cracks and damage to the pavement—damage he fears could cause a plane crash. The President was in town on April 1st to visit...

BOSTON - A pharmacy college graduate conspired with two other men on a terror plot to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and carry out a holy war by attacking shoppers in U.S. malls and American troops in Iraq, prosecutors said Wednesday. But their plans — in which the men used code words like "peanut butter and jelly" for fighting in Somalia and "culinary school" for terrorist camps — were thwarted in part when they could not find training and were unable to buy automatic weapons, authorities said. Tarek Mehanna worked with the men from 2001 to May 2008 on the...

<p>Considering the name of this blog, we took great concern with the left Eye of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, which appeared puffy on Wednesday while she testified to a Senate committee.</p> <p>Sebelius had a basal cell carcinoma removed from her forehead on Tuesday during a successful standard outpatient procedure, according to HHS spokeswoman Jenny Backus.</p>

<p>The young Marine lighted a cigarette and let it dangle. White smoke wafted around his helmet. His face was smeared with war paint. Blood trickled from his right ear and the bridge of his nose.</p> <p>Momentarily deafened by cannon blasts, he didn't know the shooting had stopped. He stared at the sunrise. His expression caught my eye. To me, it said: terrified, exhausted and glad just to be alive. I recognized that look because that's I how felt too.</p>

Times photographer Luis Sinco made James Blake Miller an emblem of the war. The image would change both of their lives and connect them in ways neither imagined.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Spectrum Health and Saint Mary's Health Care will require all their employees to not use tobacco at any time during their work shift beginning January 1. The staffs of both hospitals will need to arrive without smelling of smoke, and they can't use any tobacco products until they leave hospital property after their shift. Metro Health is also joining in the Smoke-Free Work Day Every Day campaign. In 2003, the Grand Rapids hospitals became the first in the country to jointly declare their hospital campuses smoke-free. Today, more than 30 Michigan hospitals have smoke-free campuses. This...

SEATTLE -- Non-tribal casinos have already lost tens of millions of dollars because of Washington’s new indoor smoking ban. A new financial study, conducted by our own KIRO Team 7 Investigators, discovers taxpayers could loose millions as well. Card-rooms, charity bingo halls, and some bars and restaurants are required to report financial information to the state every year. The state hasn't had a chance to look at the figures since the smoking ban took effect. I have. It looks like "no smoking" means economic devastation for the non-tribal gaming industry. If there was ever any doubt that gamblers are also...

Following are actual statistics reflecting examples of the negative impact upon individual businesses following the recently instituted smoking ban ordinances, effective in Springfield, Illinois and surrounding unincorporated Sangamon County this September 15, 2006 (less than two weeks ago). When small businesses account for about two-thirds of our country's economic growth and new jobs, it is difficult to comprehend elected officials' reasoning in voting to implement an intrusive ordinance which will hurt those same business owners. A restaurant owner who does not permit smoking will see it as a violation of his property rights if a coalition uses the political...

Delaware County's ban on smoking in most work places has become a problem for some nursing homes, which are both work places for employees and homes for the residents. The smoking ordinance does not prevent people from smoking in their homes, but it does ban smoking in most public buildings and work spaces. If a nursing home bans smoking, they could lose federal funding for failing to comply with regulations, but if they allow smoking they could face fines or a lawsuit from the county health department, officials said. Federal regulations state that if a nursing home changes its...

Churchill Downs could be hurt financially if it is forced to go completely smoke free, a company official said Wednesday. Kevin Flanery, Churchill Downs Inc.’s vice president for national public affairs, told a Louisville Metro Council committee considering a new, tougher smoking ban, that the race track is already facing heavy competition from Indiana and from computer and telephone betting services.And he said the company’s experience at a Florida track shows some people will stop betting when a smoking ban takes effect. But the former head of the Greater Louisville Medical Society testified that his group favors a complete...