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That there will be any more humans left to populate the earth in the years to come ought to be sufficient enough evidence that God not only exists, but that He is tinkering to make it so. The idea of a species being able to survive the hellish construct of its intrusive and destructive existence, like the one homosapiens have built for themselves, is as farcical and ludicrous as the thinking that denies the imminent dangers of man-made global warming.At least that's what one would have to believe after a rudimentary perusal of today's mainstream doomdsay media.Everything is going...

ITHACA — Legislation further restricting smoking in the City of Ithaca should reduce exposure to secondhand smoke while not creating unintended consequences, according to members of the Smoke-free Zone Legislation Subcommittee. The smoking ban legislation Common Council is exploring includes ... a huge variety of outdoor, public spaces, including parks, natural areas, outdoor concerts and festivals, trails and walkways, parking garages and lots, transit shelters, Newman Golf Course, and city cemeteries. This would include outdoor dining areas at all times, and entire parks or the entire Commons during festivals like Ithaca Festival or the Chili Cook-Off.... It could also include...

Teens exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. “Our retrospective study suggests that in adolescents, secondhand smoke exposure could interfere with academic test performance,” said lead author Bradley Collins, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health and director of the Health Behavior Research Clinic at Temple University. Taking other known risk factors into account — for example, socioeconomic status, gender, prenatal exposure to smoking and active smoking during adolescence— Collins and his colleagues found that exposure to secondhand smoke at home decreased the...

Smokers, already pushed outside in New York, may be getting more grief than usual for lighting up in public places thanks to a new ad campaign designed to discourage smoking around children. The state's $5 million campaign, one more push for champions of the anti-smoking movement, came at the same time a report by the U.S. Surgeon General indicates infants and young children are especially vulnerable to secondhand smoke. One print ad warns "when you smoke around your kids, they smoke too. By the age of 5 they'll have inhaled over 100 packs." For years, state health officials and the...

RUSH: I smoke a variety of cigars. If you've just recently started, it probably means you prefer a mild cigar. I'm just going to give you names, because I don't want to get into sizes. That's a personal preference. I'm just going to give you brands and you go pick out the size you want. Between these brands you will find quality that a new cigar smoker will thoroughly enjoy. â–º Macanudo. It's very, very mild. (If you want something mild, you can't go wrong with it.) â–º You also can't go wrong with Diamond Crown. They make some...

Smoking cigarettes is a clear health risk, as most everyone knows. But lately, people have begun to worry about the health risks of secondhand smoke. Some policymakers and activists are even claiming that the government should crack down on secondhand smoke exposure, given what "the science" indicates about such exposure. Last July, introducing his office's latest report on secondhand smoke, then-U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona asserted that "there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure," that "breathing secondhand smoke for even a short time can damage cells and set the cancer process in motion," and that... --snip-- In addition,...

Their owners proudly proclaim that they reduce dependence on foreign oil — and save thousands of dollars on heating bills each year. Neighbors say that they create smoke so thick that children cannot play outside, and that it seeps into homes, irritating eyes and throats and leaving a foul stench. They have spawned a rash of lawsuits and local ordinances across the country. A report last year by the New York attorney general’s office found that they produce as much particle pollution in an hour as 45 cars or 2 heavy-duty diesel trucks. The devices, outdoor wood-fired boilers, originally invented...

ELON, N.C. - Almost 65 percent of North Carolina residents would support a statewide ban on smoking in public places, and more than half prefer restaurants that don't allow smoking, according to a survey released Tuesday by Elon University. The survey also found that 65 percent of residents support allowing city and town governments to pass local smoking bans, which is barred under state law. "It appears that the historical ties to tobacco in this state are now essentially severed as anti-smoking sentiments prevail among North Carolinians," said Hunter Bacot, who directed the poll. The survey of 649 people was...

A new study finds that unborn babies regularly exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb are much more likely to have behavioral problems as young children. The study, detailed in current issue of the journal Child Development, is the first to show a link between smoking during pregnancy and child behavior problems in the first years of life. The researchers found that 2-year-olds whose mothers were exposed to cigarette smoke while pregnant were nearly 12 times more likely to show clinical levels of behavioral problems compared to their unexposed peers. The researchers looked at 93 children between their first and...

The surgeon general hypes the hazards of secondhand smoke.According to Surgeon General Richard Carmona, secondhand smoke is so dangerous that you'd be better off if you stopped going to smoky bars and started smoking instead. "Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke," claims the press release that accompanied his new report on the subject, "has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and increases risk for heart disease and lung cancer." Among smokers, these diseases take many years to develop. So if you got your health tips from the surgeon general, you'd start smoking a pack a day as a protective...

Los Angeles -- The father of a 5-year-old asthmatic girl has sued the apartment complex where the family lives in an attempt to stop residents from smoking in common areas. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, alleges that second-hand smoke from common areas around the complex have hurt Melinda Birke's health. The areas include the swimming pools, the barbecue areas, the children's playground, the outdoor dining area and the entrances to the rental office and clubhouse. The girl has had pneumonia three times since 2003, and has suffered from asthma and chronic allergies since she was 18 months old,...

“Secondhand smoke debate ‘over.” That’s the message from the Surgeon General’s office, delivered by a sycophantic media. The claim is that the science has now overwhelmingly proved that smoke from others’ cigarettes can kill you. Actually, “debate over” simply means: “If you have your doubts, shut up!” But you definitely should have doubts over the new Surgeon General’s report, a massive 727-page door stop. Like many massive reports on controversial issues, it’s probably designed that way so nobody (especially reporters on deadline) will want to or have time to read beyond the executive summary. That includes me; if I had...

WASHINGTON - Separate smoking sections don't cut it: Only smoke-free buildings and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of breathing in other people's tobacco smoke, says a long-awaited surgeon general's report. Some 126 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, what U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona repeatedly calls "involuntary smoking" that puts people at increased risk of death from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. Moreover, there is no risk-free level of exposure to someone else's drifting smoke, declares the report issued Tuesday — a conclusion sure to fuel already growing efforts at public smoking bans nationwide....

PHILADELPHIA -- When mom or dad puffs on a cigarette, their infants may inhale the resulting second-hand smoke. Now, scientists have detected cancer-causing chemicals associated with tobacco smoke in the urine of nearly half the babies of smoking parents. "The take home message is, 'Don't smoke around your kids,'" said Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., professor and Wallin Chair of Cancer Prevention at The Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota. According to a study of 144 infants, published in the May issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Hecht and his colleagues found detectable levels of NNAL* in urine from...

Eliminating the threat of secondhand smoke would prevent more than 228,000 new cases of heart disease and 119,000 heart-related deaths over the next 25 years, according to a new study. Using a model to estimate the impact of eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke on heart disease, researchers found stopping secondhand smoke would quickly reduce the number of heart-related deaths. This effect would increase over time, adding up to hundreds of thousands of preventable heart attacks and other problems. National surveys suggest that 4 percent to 17 percent of the nonsmoking population (depending on age and sex) are exposed to secondhand...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I got an interesting e-mail from a subscriber to my website, RushLimbaugh.com, named James Ward. It talked about the New Jersey smoking ban that went into effect recently. Last week, the day before it went into effect, the businesses learned that there are all kinds of things they didn't know about it such as no smoking within 25 feet of a building, which meant that a lot of restaurant owners had to nix plans -- and they had only started to build outdoor decks and patios to accommodate the business of smokers. Twenty-five feet away from your...

SACRAMENTO -- California regulators became the first in the nation today to designate second-hand tobacco smoke as a "toxic air contaminant,'' placing it in the same category as the poisons arsenic and benzene. The state Air Resources Board decided to target environmental tobacco smoke after evaluating studies that linked other people's smoke to increased cases of breast cancer, heart disease, asthma and low birth-weight babies. The designation will trigger investigations around the state. Air board staffers are expected to visit clusters of smokers outside buildings and other spots where smokers congregate. They want to figure out ways to reduce the...

Lighting up in the state's casinos will still be permitted under the new law, which requires indoor public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars, to be smoke-free. Cigar bars or lounges and tobacco retail establishments will also be exempt. Violators will face penalties of $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense. The bill was approved by the state's Senate Dec. 15 and then by the Assembly by a 64-to-12 vote with two abstentions Jan. 9. The American Cancer Society and other health advocates have lauded the legislation, but some operators...

Rome Italy (AHN) - An Italian theater was forced to change the script of an Arthur Miller play after a spectator complained about an actor's smoking. "This had never happened to me in more than 300 performances," the actor, Sebastiano Lo Monaco, was quoted as saying by the Web site of Italian daily Corriere della Sera. Italy has banned lighting up in all enclosed public places since January this year. Lo Monaco was smoking, in line with the script, while playing the main character Sunday in Miller's "A View from the Bridge" at a theater in the northeastern city of...

Second Hand Smoke: There are two kinds of states - those that are like California and those that are like it but don't know it yet Inset Photo - Go to: Photo link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1507428/posts (scroll down the page) Photo of Gary Walker's dual purpose smoking lounge and diner The gun smoke from political conflicts long-settled in California over second-hand smoking have only more recently drifted into states like Illinois and Nebraska. In Chicago the city is considering banning smoking in virtually all restaurants, bars and commercial buildings while the suburbs, such as Arlington Heights, Evanston, and Wheeling have rejected such...