Tobacco Companies Suck
posted by The Vidiot @ 10:52 AM Permalink
Because Heaven forbid that anybody who smokes should be
reminded of what smoking actually does to a human body.
Four tobacco companies filed a lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over what they say are unconstitutional requirements for warning labels on US cigarette packaging.
I'll tell you right now, the warning labels on the cigarettes in South America are far more explicit. In fact, the labels are so large, they nearly obstruct the brand name of whatever cigarette pack you buy AND they're so graphic, they'll turn your stomach. One pack I saw had an emaciated comatose cancer patient, all yellow skinned and dead looking with a ton of tubes sticking out of his body. Jeebus.
The companies only put up a stink here because they can. The US government will always be railroaded by corporate interests.
Labels: cigarettes, corporate greed, stu
Things I didn't know about my dad.
posted by The Vidiot @ 2:25 PM Permalink
It's sucks that he's dead 'cause I'd sure like to ask him about this. My mom recently circulated an email around her aging hippie friends, reminiscing about the Vietnam war and the way they protested. My dad, at the time, was bursar of a university in Ohio.
Stu kept the FBI at bay when they wanted to snoop into faculty files so "radical subversives" could be fired. He saved a lot of jobs for guys, including my husband at the time. Stu [didn't tell you because he] probably wanted to protect you and not have you worry about him getting fired. It was very ballsey of him, because as Bursar, he knew when the FBI was on campus so our friends and the handful of faculty who actively opposed the war would be forewarned and not make speeches 'inciting' the students.
And you can be sure the FBI didn't know he was screwing with them. He was so damn affable, they probably didn't have a clue.
Cool to find out just how much dad rocked.
Labels: protest, stu, Vietnam war
Stu day
posted by The Vidiot @ 11:32 AM Permalink
As always, I like to mention my dad on this day since this is the day he died due to complications from his treatment for tongue cancer, a cancer he got from smoking. I usually write about what a grizzly death it was, but not his time. This time, I'm reprinting a note I just got from my stepmom who, ironically enough, has been battling cancer of the trachea for the last year or so and it has recently come back with a vengeance and she's due to have her voicebox removed in a few weeks. (Both of them ended up with cancers that hindered their ability to communicate).
I was just thinking it's almost Cinco deMayo, how odd that all this had to happen so sinfully close. I'll still toast him as usual, although next year, I think he & I will be toasting together. I see my surg. onc. tomorrow I want the FACTS and I mean all of them. I refuse to live with a stoma, I realize to so many that sounds petty, but I have to be sedated almost 24 hrs a day because of the panic attacks at just the thought of it. I feel I've lived a full life, pissed off enough folks & have had a lot of love & hate, enough for four people so I'm not bitching. It's been a pleasure to have known you & your family, God bless.
Still want to smoke that cigarette?
(Sorry to be such a downer, but cigarettes REALLY piss me off.)
Labels: cigarettes, stu, tobacco
And on this day
posted by The Vidiot @ 9:16 AM Permalink
If you're out and about and sipping a libation on this faux drinking holiday, raise your glass and say "To Stu*. He liked a good drink and a good joke." He'll hear you.
And if any of you are still smoking out there,
STOP IT FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD.
*Stu is my dad and he died four years ago today, at the age of 64, from treatment for cancer of the mouth, caused by his incessant smoking.Labels: cigarettes, stu
