Cigarettes and Mass Murders – Why Both Will Always Kill in the USA

Cigarettes are a lot like hand guns in the United States. Both give off smoke from a heated barrel. Both are lethal. And both are completely legally bought and sold in the United States of America.

Funny, how the supposedly best country to live, you can kill yourself – or others – using legally obtainable items.

Since the massacre of children and teachers in Newtown, CT, the issue of gun control has reared its all too common head south of the border.

This isn't the first mass murder by a crazed lunatic in the States – and it won’t be the last.

Every time some nut goes on a shooting spree in the States, the media, politicians and religious leaders express horror and sympathy, while questioning why?

It’s because, like cigarettes, American’s can legally obtain fire arms you dummy – that’s why.

Yes, you have to apply for a permit to legally buy a gun in the States. And they check for any criminal background, to ensure you won’t go and knock off your local McDonald’s and scare the poor teen-aged burger flipper with your amateur use of a recently purchased Colt-45.

But that’s about it – all American citizens have the right to own weapons of mass destruction.

Cigarettes will never be banned because the American smoking lobby is too powerful. Yes, we all know it’s a bad habit, but the hand that offers you a smoke is the same one selling you a patch to quit. Most smoking cessation programs are owned or in some part funded by the cigarette companies.

No wonder it’s so hard to quit?

The same thing – ironically – goes for guns. The National Rifle Association is the most powerful, grassroots lobby group in the States, fighting for the right to continue to bear arms. 

The NRA supports gun clubs, shooting ranges – oh – and donates to support groups of violent offenders, many of which have injured or harmed others with guns.

No wonder it’s so hard to – wait – didn't we just say that. Am I repeating myself?

Yes, we are.

Every time some nut goes on a shooting spree in the States, we all ask why?

Maybe it’s time to stop circling around the issues, and asking the questions we already know the answers to and make the tough decisions, which really aren't that tough.

Banning assault weapons and extra large bullet clips is an idea in the right direction currently being discussed, in the wake of the Newtown, CT shootings.

However, your average American isn't going to miss their pistol, or any gun for that matter.

Anyone that feels the need to own a weapon to the point that they actually will miss it needs therapy.

And people that need therapy shouldn't own fire arms in the first place, now – should they?

Governments Shouldn’t Be in the Smoking Business

Smoking is a filthy, disgusting habit. Millions of people worldwide smoke and they all stink like the exhaust they pump out into the atmosphere.

Smokers toss their used matches and cigarettes on the ground wherever they happen to be – littering our parks, streets, and public spaces.

And we all know smoking kills. It’s the leading cause of lung cancer, and a key factor in many other fatal and non-fatal diseases, illnesses, and health problems.

According the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada:

• 37,000 die in Canada from smoking
• 6,300 non-smokers die each year from second-hand smoke
• Approximately 1 million Canadians will die over the next 20 years directly related to smoking and second-hand smoke

Those are startling numbers. Yet smoking will never be made illegal in North America. Because the governments are on the take.

In Canada we call these “sin taxes,” they are the taxes governments collect on things we know are bad for us, but governments let them be sold anyways.

Traditional “sin taxes” in Canada are alcohol products and cigarettes and cigars.

Though one could even argue that a gas guzzlers tax is a sin tax, because it taxes those that choose to drive environmentally harmful vehicles, we’ll stick to the traditional ones today.

Specifically smoking, because although alcohol also changes people’s behaviour  and can have negative health impacts, smokers are the only ones that are exceptionally filthy and disgusting.

You don’t see many engaged in drinking booze tossing their used beer bottles and wine glasses out their car windows. People who have a drink socially rarely stink like cigarette smokers that have a smoke during a social function.

And although you can become dependent upon alcohol, alcoholism is more of a mental illness, than one caused directly by the alcohol itself, while the nicotine in smoking products is highly addictive.

Smoking should have been banned a long time ago.

But because governments in Canada and the States make billions off of the taxes charged on cigarettes, cigars, and other smoking products, smokers have been relegated to isolation, instead of given 90-days to get their last cigarettes before they disappear forever.

Smoking is banned in most workplaces and public buildings these days. There are some places where you can’t even smoke outside. So smokers are forced to find hidden corners to feed their addictions. While their addictions are killing them, they are paying for politicians high salaries.

One day, I hope smoking will be a thing of the past. Cigarettes should be available only in a museum, showing what strange and bizarre habits we humans had once, a long time ago.

Though I imagine, until the governments which make money off the lungs of smokers, cigarettes will continue to little the ground, just as smokers litter our air.

Apply to Keep from Burning Yet You’ll Catch Fire!

Over the weekend, sunscreen giant Banana Boat announced a recall of one of their popular sunscreen lotions because of the risk of fire.

You read that right – fire!

According to Banana Boat, the lotion in question doesn't dry fast enough, and if exposed to extreme heat, there is the risk of it – and the person wearing the sunscreen – of catching fire.

As of this writing, one person was seriously burned after the Banana Boat sunscreen he was wearing erupted into flames, after he applied the lotion, and then began to BBQ.

What a world to live in, where even the potions, lotions and creams we apply on a regular basis can ignite and cause serious injury.

The greater irony of a sunscreen, which is supposed to prevent you from burning your skin, that can actually cause third-degree burns is humours in a sense.

But the real issue here is quality control.

It wasn’t all that long ago, when quality products and services actually existed. The old adage was almost always true – you get what you pay for. However, even the lowest priced items were safe, and usually did the job.

These days, even when you spend money on what you think is a quality, brand name product, you take your chances, as corporations have cut corners to the point where you really just don’t know.

You really just don’t know if that juicy thick steak you’re about to bite into is going to give you food poisoning. You really just don’t know if the breaks in your car will keep you from rear-ending the guy in front. You really don’t know if the sunscreen you applied will keep your skin from burning – or in the case of Banana Boat’s recall – catching fire.

I miss the old days – which weren't that old and long ago – when you didn't have to second guess anything, because you really did know that the products sold on store shelves were at the very least, safe.

Big, greedy corporations – and small and medium sized ones too – are the primary offenders here, as they overlook obvious safety concerns to save a buck. But the ultimate scapegoat is our politicians for cutting back on government employees paid to look in and enforce the laws, which were originally put in place to keep us safe.

As governments cut costs and lay off enforcement officers in all sectors, or cut salaries to these support staffs as they often raise their own wages, we end up with zero to no quality controls in place, as big business doesn't see the need to obey the rules.

And as businesses continue to let quality controls go, we all suffer, as the goods and services we purchase which may actually cause us harm increase, yet the penalties for allowing these dangerous products in the marketplace decreases.

So we as a society become increasingly cynical, yet accepting of shoddy products and questionable services.

It’s a recipe for disaster as the longer companies are allowed to get away with inferior products, the greater the risk to us all.

Costs Increase, Quality Decreases, Food Supply In Danger

Ever notice how things just aren't the same as they once were. Costs constantly go up, yet quality rarely improves.

This is especially true of our food supply. For the past month – maybe longer if it continues – Canadians have been fearful of eating anything with beef, as massive recall of contaminated ground beef from an American supplier grows daily. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) seems to announce new products affected by the recall almost every day.

Today, popcorn – of all things – is being recalled because of listeria.

Whether it’s been spinach or brussel sprouts infected with ecoli, chicken with salmonella, or processed smoked lunch meat with some other dangerous or in some cases deadly bacteria, our food prices have increased with the costs of living, yet the quality has dropped.

Over a decade ago one seldom had to worry about the quality of the food being consumed – food recalls only happened once, or twice a year – if that.

These days, thanks to corporate cutbacks to trim bottom lines, food recalls happen almost once a month, if not more.

Oh they do affect the belts of big business. Maple Leaf Foods lost millions a few years ago, after several people across Canada died from tainted processed meat products from the now infamous company. In 2008, 38 confirmed cases of listeriosis across Canada directly related to listeria in their contaminated meats at the time, 9 confirmed deaths, and another 11 suspected deaths that couldn't be directly linked to recalled products.

Since then, Maple Leaf Foods has cleaned up its act, and hasn't had a major incident – they did a voluntary recall in 2009 but no injuries or deaths resulted in consumption of their food products.

During the recalls, the company’s profits sank, as did their stock on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The company still produces food products sold around the world, and to major fast food retailers including McDonald’s.

But the real question we consumers need to ask – why are we paying more for less? Yes the costs of everything increase over time. However, doesn't that cost increase justify more – not less – quality. At the very least we should be demanding better quality products and services – not less.

Socially Sun Savvy – Or Not

Unless you’ve been frozen in time for the past decade or longer, you are well aware of the dangerous affects the Sun can have on our bodies. Thanks to the miracles of modernization, the ozone layer has been letting through more of the Sun’s harmful Ultra-Violet A and B (UVA and UVB) rays, which can cause skin cancer, and ultimately death.

Long suspected of providing an artificial cancer risk into the mix, recently the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed it – tanning beds are bad news.

New research has prompted WHO to classify tanning beds and ultraviolet radiation as definite carcinogens – they have even categorized them among the top cancer risks to humans, along with smoking.

An article, published online in the medical journal Lancet Oncology, found the risk of skin cancer jumped by 75 per cent when people started using tanning beds before age 30.

Tanning beds give off mostly UVA rays, which may not be as harmful as UVB rays, actually penetrate deeper into the epidermis, meaning, the more you expose yourself to these rays of invisible light, the more likely you will get skin cancer.

I’ve always wondered what the fascination is with heading to a tanning salon, tossing on some funky high-tech looking protective goggles, and lying naked on a giant metallic bed – all in the name to stay golden brown during the winter, or anytime. I’ve met people that use tanning beds on a regular basis throughout the year.

Some go to these places before going away to a sunny vacation destination, to avoid burning once there. Though wouldn’t it make more sense – and be cheaper too – just to slop on some sun screen?

Just how vain do you have to be these days to risk your life?

Years ago, when I was a kid, I’d love soaking up some sun to get a tan. But we’re talking long before we knew the ill affects the sun has on our bodies, and our life spans.

Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for those wanting a quick tan to lather up in Vaseline to increase the affects of the sun’s cooking power. Some would come back looking like lobsters, all burned – but after the burn had gone, a golden tan was all one could see.

Do the same thing these days and you would probably be greeted with strange looks, as most people do whatever they can to prevent the sun’s harmful rays from beating down on them.

But for some reason, we don’t give those strange oddball glances to those telling us they go to tanning salons to get a tan. We assume that because they are everywhere, and allowed to legally sell their product – a tan – that they are safe.

Perhaps that should change.

Who’s The Most Beautiful Canadian?

Shania Twain, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are among Hello! Canada magazine's most beautiful Canadians.

Sadly, I wasn’t on the list. I suppose white men with beer-belly guts and rising hairlines just don’t cut it.

Though Justin Bieber and Ryan Reynolds made the list.

You know you’re not going to qualify for a beauty list, when you’re competing against people who haven’t fully gone through puberty yet.

But what makes a beautiful Canadian – or beautiful person – well – beautiful?

A while back, marketing giants Ogilvy& Mather created the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, which featured anything but the traditional supermodels to market women’s skin care products. Average looking women were used, to show where real beauty comes from.

One billboard in the series asked viewers to phone a toll-free number to vote on whether a woman on the billboard was "fat" or "fab". The results were posted real-time on the board. The percentage of "fat" votes overtook "fab", leading to the creation of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund that claims to change the Western concept of beauty from ultra-thin models with "perfect" features to making every woman feel positive about her looks.

Dove produced a series of online short films promoting the self-esteem fund.

Unilever, the company which owns the Dove brand, has been criticized on the grounds that Unilever also produces Fair and Lovely, a skin-lightening product marketed at dark-skinned women in several countries. Unilever also markets the Lynx's brand, which contradicts the sentiment of the Campaign for Real Beauty, by using traditional hot models in the advertising.

Unilever also owns and is responsible for the branding of their AXE brand of deodorants and body sprays, which uses hot chicks in skimpy outfits craving ordinary looking men after they apply the AXE product.

So we’re back asking the question – where does real beauty come from?

Unilever tried to show us our inner beauty, and that we’re all beautiful in some way, but eventually went back to the old tried and true standard of using fashion models.

Beauty comes from within – or does it?

 As a species, we are naturally attracted to others visually first. This goes back to our basic instincts – men look for women with full lips and hips, good teeth, hair, skin and nails, as a sign of someone who’s healthy and fit to produce off-spring. Tall dark and handsome also has some truth – it’s a sign to women that the guy is fit and will have good genes, and that the man can defend the cave (remember we’re talking basic instincts here) to protect the family.

Even our pheromones have been linked to our health – muscular, men smell better to women, according to more than a few studies. When compared to overweight men, socks worn by the fit men seemed less “stinky” than the unfit men to women who volunteered to participate in one study.

However, in today’s complex society, obviously there is more at play than how one smells. We all want to be surrounded by people that make us feel good.

No one wants to hang out with the neighborhood bully, or be forced to endure a night alone with someone that bores the hell out of them.

So true beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, as it depends on what each one of us needs in another to be happy and comfortable.

Maybe that’s true love really is blind?