In Alachua County, located in the middle of the Sunshine State, a jury heard evidence from Big Tobacco in defense of deceased smoker. They rendered verdicts totaling $16 million against Big Tobacco.

The jury did not believe Big Tobacco.

The spin, the deceit, or the rewriting history apparently did not help Big Tobacco.

Amanda Jean Hall sued Big Tobacco because cigarettes hopelessly addicted her husband, Arthur, and cigarette smoking led to cancer in as many as five areas of his body. Cigarettes killed Arthur Hall.

Dennis Murphy, one of Big Tobacco’s lawyers, told the jury: “The case is not about whether smoking can be addictive,” he said. “It can be.  But not everyone who smokes becomes addicted.”

What Mr.Murphy left out is the history of Big Tobacco telling Americans that smoking was NOT addictive. When they now need to be honest, they “spin” the truth.

Mr. Murphy told jurors that “the conduct of RJ Reynolds had no effect on Mr. Hall”.

So, producing the “best drug delivery system ever invented”; denying cigarettes are addictive; denying that cigarettes cause cancer; producing ads that romanticized smoking; all the other outrageous conduct on the part of Big Tobacco; Mr. Murphy maintains none of that “had any effect” on Mr. Hall.

The jurors heard all Big Tobacco’s evidence, but they apparently did not accept the spin, the the manipulation or the Big Tobacco’s revisions on history.

The jurors delivered a verdict which probably went something like: we find on behalf of the plaintiffs in the amount of $3.5 million in human damages and $12.5 million in punitive damages.

Things were bound to get hot for Big Tobacco in Florida. Our juries have good noses for “spin”.

Ya gotta love those guys at Big Tobacco. Deny, deny, deny. If that doesn’t work, spin, spin, spin. If that doesn’t work, try reinventing history.

In Florida, jurors have been hearing the truth about Big Tobacco antics over the years; and deny, spin, and lies is no longer working for them.

Thousands of smoking victims were required to file individual lawsuits against the Big Tobacco companies a couple of years ago, after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Engle case. Much to the chagrin of Big Tobacco, those cases are going to trial and Florida judges are trying their level best to allow sick and dying victims the opportunity to pursue justice in court.

Big Tobacco does not want anyone to know about the things they have been doing for 70 years.

They do not want jurors to see the memos talking about cigarettes being the single best drug delivery system ever invented; all the while Big Tobacco was denying that cigarettes were addictive.

Big Tobacco does not want jurors to see the memos where they analyzed the “youth market”. Where they discussed “the real need to become more aggressive against young adult males in major metro markets”. Big Tobacco does not want the light of day to see the studies where they discussed strategies for increasing their market shares with “14-15, 16-17, 18-20 age segments”.

Big Tobacco is desperate to deny jurors the opportunity to see the decades of publications in which Big Tobacco repeatedly told the public that smoking cigarettes was not addictive; smoking cigarettes was not dangerous to your health; and, in fact, smoking cigarettes was actually healthy for you.

Big Tobacco keeps losing trial, after trial, after trial; because once an unbiased public sees the truth, the written evidence, of Big Tobacco’s decade’s long campaign of deceit and irresponsibility, good and honest citizens can reach only one conclusion:

We find in favor of the plaintiff…

My family has served as a foster family for Coastal Boxer Rescue of Florida, Inc. for nearly a year.   In October of 2007, our family purchased a Boxer puppy from a pet store in Orlando. This pet was purchased for our daughter, Molly, an only child who needed a playmate at home.  At the time, I didn’t question why I would buy a dog from a pet store rather than rescue an animal, and feel some guilt since I know that our puppy came from a professional breeder in Missouri, home to some of the nation’s worst puppy mills.  Thankfully, our Boxer puppy, Chica, is one of the most wonderful dogs that we have ever known – sweet, gentle, playful, smart, and has brought us so much joy.  It was through this love of Chica and the Boxer breed that we came to be foster parents.

Our first rescue was Bo, came to us late one night from a shelter in South Florida.  I felt like we were part of some Boxer Underground Railroad.

He was sweet and loving, but didn’t quite understand that at more than 60 pounds, he did not make the best lap dog.  Chica accepted him into our home, and would roll around on the floor wrestling  with him for many (actually, too many) hours each day.  The only negative for Bo was his unhealthy fascination with our cat, which ultimately led to his placement at a new, cat-free foster home, where he continues to thrive  Chica and I ran into Bo at a recent pet walk-a-thon and the dogs enjoyed a brief reunion. Hopefully, Bo will be adopted soon, as he is such a beautiful and loving Boxer.

Our second foster was sweet Katie.  She was a tiny white boxer who, we believe, had been rescued from the streets.  After a few days in our home, we discovered that Katie was completely deaf, a condition which is common in white Boxers.  Often deaf boxers rely on a hearing dog to help them, but Chica never really grew into this role.  This disability, however, did not create any particular issues for Katie, who is one of the smartest dogs that I have ever encountered (and perhaps that is not always a positive, as she quickly figured out how to open doors and deadbolt locks).  We worked with her on some basic commands in sign language, and she caught on quickly.  Katie was adopted by a co-worker and his children and is doing extremely well.   It is wonderful that I can still receive photographs and hear about her antics in her new, forever home.

Our last foster was Marley, another deaf, white female Boxer.  Marley had been given up by a previous owner and suffered from serious abandonment issues.  If left at home for only a few hours, she would cry, howl, and break out of her metal crate.  We were amazed (and saddened) at the lengths that she would go to in order to escape from her crate, just so she could look out the window for her family.  She lived with us for several weeks and would follow us around the house incessantly.  She has been adopted by a new family, and we are hopeful that they are enjoying this sweet, sweet girl as much as we did and that she no longer fears being left alone.

We are currently preparing our new home for the next foster Boxer arrival.  Georgia Vince of Coastal Boxer Rescue informed me recently that the number of Boxers coming into their program has increased substantially this year, presumably due to the poor economy.  Coastal Boxer Rescue is in desperate need of adoptive families, foster families and financial support for their rescue efforts and the medical care required by the dogs.  This non-profit organization serves Florida’s East Coast from Melbourne to Miami and rescues Boxers from kill shelters, the streets, homes where they have been abused and neglected, and accepts owner surrenders.  (more…)

A recent article by MSNBC.com suggests drivers are disoriented and have problems deciding what to do in an emergency with cars that display fancy technology and controls such as keyless ignition. In fact in the BMWiDrive, the control functions for the radio and air conditioning were so baffling that if forced drivers to take their eyes off the road.

Shifting from neutral to drive or reverse isn’t what it used to be. Drivers now have to push a button to start their car and most drivers are unprepared for what to do in the event of an emergency.

According to MSNBC, an off-duty California Highway Patrolman and his family were killed when his rental Lexus ES350 sedan accelerated suddenly and crashed into rush hour traffic at 120 mph. Toyota blames the accident on the accelerator pedal, but the deaths are also a major factor in not being able to control a modern car. We used to be able to shift the car into neutral or turn off the engine. However, the driver of the Lexus was unable to shift the car into neutral or switch off the engine because with the ES350’s engine, you would have to press and hold the “Stop/Start” button for three seconds, an action that is not obvious and could be difficult to accomplish at high speeds. Another problem is that Lexus’s shifter is curved and not the typically expected straight line.

Consumer Reports immediately put into action a five fixes plan for carmakers following this incident. They suggest that auto manufactures:

• Make it simpler to turn off the engine in an emergency;
• Require a minimum distance between the gas pedal and the floorboard;
• Engineer cars so a sustained braking force can stop a car in a reasonable distance even with the accelerator pedal fully depressed;
• Require sufficient brake pedal pressure before a car can be shifted from Park;
• Simplify shifting into Neutral.

Consumer Reports states that “finding Neutral should be intuitive and obvious, but the advent of gated and electronic shifters can make finding Neutral in a panic confusing. You shouldn’t have to read the owners manual to figure out how to use the shifter.”

What can the consumer do until some of these problems are worked out:

• Read your owner’s manual carefully;
• Sit in your vehicle, with the owner’s manual and physically work through the various operations of the gadgets in the car;
• Become very familiar with the shifting mechanism in your car;
• Know how to shift to neutral in the event of sudden acceleration;
• Test your braking system in an empty parking lot — try fast stops;
• Never turn off the ignition in the event of sudden acceleration. In most cars, this locks the steering or makes steering much more difficult;
• Never use your cell phone while driving, unless you have hands free operation;
• Never text while driving.

A new study conducted by American and Chinese researchers have shown a link between how much sleep a child gets to higher blood sugar levels, which may ultimately lead to diabetes.

High blood sugar is extremely harmful to the body which can shorten life span and damage organs. Excessive glucose levels can damage organs and cause complications often seen in the later stages of diabetes. According to a study by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, raised blood glucose levels, directly damage the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas and certain other sensitive cells, such as the eyes, the kidneys and nervous system.

The researchers found that children, who slept 8 hours or less a night, increased their risks of developing high blood sugar levels that can trigger type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The risk is greater for children ages 3-6. Dr Zhijie Yu, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, reported that “shorter sleep seemed to influence blood sugar independently of other large factors such as age, gender, birth-related influences, early life feeding or later diet, recent illness, physical activity, body mass, and waist girth.”

Yu’s team conducted their studies on 619 obese and 617 non-obese children who were 3-6 years in age and free from diabetes or blood sugar problems.  In Yu’s study, high blood sugar levels appeared more likely in the shorter-sleeping non-obese and obese children. High blood sugar levels were seen in 23 of the 217 non-obese and in 49 of the 291 obese children sleeping less than 8 hours.

Yu’s study also found that there is a link in the number hours of sleep a child has and weight. His finding show that obese children averaged 8 or less hours of sleep a night, while non-obese children averaged 9-10 or 11 plus hours of sleep a night. Yu’s commented that like adults, “Adequate sleep may help kids maintain a healthy body weight and blood sugar level.”