Free Republic

Today IS MY ANNIVERSARY!! And I am excited!!! I'll bet every one who reads this is wondering "Of what? His marriage? (No, sadly my wife passed years ago). His FReeperdom-ness? (Nope. I think that one is in October). His job? (well, almost. Sept 27 will be 18 years). Nope. It's none of that. But it is important. I QUIT SMOKING A YEAR AGO!!! Well, I use E-cigs now, but that's another story. Hurray! In celebration of me quitting, I am making a $50 donation to FReerepublic, and encourage everyone else so inclined to do the same! If you have a...

If this doesn't make you quit, nothing will. With a new 62 cent federal tax on cigarettes added this week with the passage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program law, the new price of a pack of cigarettes will soar past $10 in Manhattan. The NYC price is higher than anywhere in the country and more than twice the national average. And beginning April 1, two-thirds of that cost will be made up of city, state and federal taxes.

The Bambu rolling-paper company is smoking mad at a Barack Obama-loving artist for using its iconic packaging on T-shirts that show the president-elect smoking a joint. Seamus McGovern and his "Love Fatigues" Web business were hit with a trademark-infringement suit for putting Obama's name and face on the beige and white cover of "the world's finest rolling papers." The Manhattan federal court case claims the $22 "Obambu" shirts expose Bambu to "criticism and scorn" because they show Obama smoking weed, and could "confuse the consuming public" into believing they came from the company.

A study warns that the Earth's temperature is approaching a level not seen in a million years, implying that we are getting close to "dangerous" levels of human pollution. The study finds that, while the world warmed slowly during the century to 1975, it has warmed at a more rapid rate of about 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade thereafter. The researchers say the global mean temperature is now within one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of the maximum mean temperature of the past million years. Based on a 0.2-degree-Celsius increase per decade, that high point could be...

I remember reading several months ago about some drug they developed from a tree or plant in africa. When people take it they go through this introspective journey and meet with some sort of spiritual being that sets them straight...? No I dont buy it but a "friend" wanted to read it. Thanks