Once upon a time, free cigarettes were handed out at Congressional Black Caucus events and Rep. Edolphus Towns was referred to as "Marlboro Man" as a nod to his campaign contributions from Big Tobacco. None of this goes on anymore, but the CBC still has a complicated relationship with the tobacco industry, which makes the recent flavored-cigarette ban a sticky problem. Many think that the bill, which bans all flavored cigarettes except for menthols, which are disproportionately smoked by blacks, has racial implications. It's causing a rift in a CBC already divided over the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton drama.

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• More and more health officials are questioning why menthol is getting special treatment in a new bill banning flavored cigarettes.

• Blacks with diabetes undergo leg amputations at a far higher rate than whites with diabetes.

• Watch out for those uncooked tomatoes!

• Here are five body parts that human beings no longer need.

• Ever wonder why you're sarcastic? And how?

All that talk yesterday about menthol cigarettes, black smokers, and targeted ads inspired today's Darkroom. The truth is — although my search was not exhaustive by any means — I didn't come across any cigarette ads geared toward blacks that were for non-menthol cigarettes. Considering the stats — 75 percent of black smokers smoke menthols — the tobacco companies have definitely done their jobs.

Wherein you, the readers, talk amongst yourselves

What are your thoughts on the government trying to ban flavored cigarettes (except menthols, of course)? Are you in favor of stricter regulations on cigarettes, or do you think that it's all about personal responsibility?

Congress is trying its hand at regulating tobacco, and the first order of business is legislation that, in an attempt to decrease the allure of smoking among young people, bans flavored cigarettes like cloves. While it's unknown how this whole legislation experiment will pan out, one thing is clear in Big Tobacco's uncertain future — black folks won't have to give up their Newports or Kools anytime soon.

A glaring omission in this ban on cigarette flavorings is menthol, which will remain just as legal as ever. Those in the tobacco regulation business see this as a very obvious — and potentially dangerous — example of legislators bowing under pressure from big tobacco. A loss of menthol cigarettes, which make up a quarter of cigarette sales, would mean a loss of big money… and black consumers. While a quarter of white smokers smoke cigarettes with menthol, a whopping 75 percent of black smokers do.

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Remember all that talk about Nicole Richie making a complete behavioral 180 for her unborn child? Maybe it was more like a 90 degree change.

According to the New York Post's Cindy Adams, Richie was seen smoking in public not once but twice in the past few days. If Nicole Richie is really smoking-while-pregnant, I'm more shocked that she has the balls to do it in public than the fact that she's doing it at all.

[NYP]

UPDATE: It turns out Nicole Richie was in Australia when the Post informant supposedly saw her smoking cigarettes on two occasions in New York City. Cindy Adams owes Nicole Richie a beer. Well, a few sips of one.

Officials in Baltimore, the poster-city for addiction with the highest per capita heroin use stats in the country, are shocked and discouraged by the numbers of poor blacks addicted to nicotine (in the form of Newports and Black & Milds, of course), despite an overall, nationwide decrease in cigarette use. They have stepped up anti-smoking campaigns in urban areas, and have started to offer free patches and nicotine gum. But the out-of-control situation in Baltimore is indicative of a larger problem with smoking in poor black communities in cities across the country.

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• Preaching abstinence instead of safe sex doesn't decrease HIV infections? I am simply shocked.

• American's are looking more Al Sharpton than Kobe Bryant.

• Among other things, illiteracy can kill you.

• Big tobacco will come up with a study refuting this momentarily.

• You think you know, but you have no idea.

Calling it genocide is a bit of a stretch, as there is a significant amount of free will involved in the (initial, at least) purchase and use of cigarettes, but it's hard not to notice that certain cigarette ads are geared directly toward African Americans. Surprise! There's a new $1 billion lawsuit against the major tobacco companies (these things never go out of style) brought on by a Florida woman whose mother and grandmother both died cigarette-related deaths.

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