It seems movies with humans just aren’t gonna cut it this year with the cinemas filled with hot teen wolves and vampires and, now, ten foot blue Na’vi, so we settle back to enjoy the fantasy sci-fi 3D masterpiece with a predictable plot that is Avatar.

The Auckland screening was packed with media and celebrities made to queue and be electronically scanned for any recording devices; slightly heavy-handed security insisted upon by Fox to eliminate piracy, two days before the film goes public. It would be very hard, however, to capture on a handheld cellphone this movie, given that what makes it great is the 3D and the visual effects.

Coming out afterwards, broadcaster Marcus Lush commented, “It’s the new Star Wars. Unbelievable. Shame they’re all blue.”

There’s no risk of spoiling the ending to say that in a nutshell, it’s a colonialists vs indigeneous people-love-story-turned-war-action film; you got that from the trailers. Yes, going there has opened Pandora’s box. The plot isn’t that deep, but does it need to be? James Cameron’s last film, Titanic, was great and you knew how that was going to turn out and you still went.

The 3D effects in Avatar draw you in, making you feel more connected to the action and to the oft one-dimensional characters. In the forest scenes with 3D animals flying at you, it is like you are there and I admit to jumping quite a bit in my seat. The flying scenes were breathtaking; the visual effects were the best I’ve ever seen. In fact, New Zealander Richard Taylor and Weta workshops got a round of applause at the end when the credits rolled his name, and well-deservedly so.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, last seen in Terminator 4 also as sort-of-human) is a marine whose late twin brother was a scientist on Pandora, with an avatar created using his human DNA together with Pandora’s Na’vi peoples’ DNA. Jake shares his brother’s genes and can “step into his brother’s shoes;” a poignant line to one who lost the use of his legs and who desires a new beginning and a fresh start in a faraway land, with the added bonus of getting an expensive operation to restore his legs if he cooperates with the bosses.

It’s not run by the US Military as such; ex-Marines are working on Pandora as hired guns for The Company, who can sell a sparkly coal-like mined ore for $20 million a kilo. And where does the ore lie, but under the Home Tree of the Na’vi people, a race seemingly based upon size zero Native Americans slash African tribespeople who are at one with their world and connect to animals and trees through their nervous system with glowing optic cables in their ponytails.

The Colonel is a stereotypical battle-crazed soldier hell-bent on getting his ore and at odds with biologist Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, best remembered for fighting Aliens not siding with them) who smokes cigarettes in every scene where she’s not tall, thin and blue.

It’s an action movie, but not played for one-liners like Die Hard. The Colonel gets many of the good lines and his Pres. Bush line, “We’re fighting terror with terror” got a good laugh from the audience. The only groan of cringe came from a Jake-Na’vi Princess tender cuddle.

The flora and fauna were for me the biggest stars in Avatar. You get a delight from watching Jake blunder around on Pandora, touching anenome-esque plants and walking on ground that lights up with every step. The creatures are as good as any fantasy and more imaginative than most, with many-legged horses, dinosaur-like animals, and even dragons. Waiting for the next amazing creature to appear does bring back a sense of wonder that many have said is lost from the going-to-the-movies experience as escapism.

To Cameron’s credit it didn’t go crazy with violence or sex; it has been rated M for mature audiences with battle violence but wasn’t too scary or overly violent; perhaps the same as say Jurassic Park or Terminator, and the only sex scene is a kiss. The battle scenes are incredible and the last one with helicopters vs the Na’vi is a real highlight of the film.

A nice touch is the extent they went to to form an entire language complete with sentence structure and grammar. I’m sure geeks will learn to speak it like they do Klingon. A professor of linguistics spoke on NZ’s National Radio today, saying James Cameron gathered 30 words from various cultures around the world, including the “ng’ sound of NZ Maori, and gave them to him to create a unique language for the Na’vi. Luckily for Jake many of them learned English at a school run by Grace so the whole movie isn’t subtitled.

I’d say whilst not a classic, Avatar is certainly ground-breaking in its visual effects and is a must-see for all sci-fi and fantasy fans and I can’t wait to see it again, as it was so much to take in the first time visually. Knowing what’s going to happen, doesn’t ruin a movie like this. It’s old-fashioned storytelling and romance set on a land far, far away…

Roger Cohen’s piece on “Climategate” (Herald, Dec. 9) miss-ed some key details. Serious scientists recognize the roles of both human-released atmospheric carbon dioxide and other natural phenomena on global temperatures.

Deniers who suggest the contrary, or who make uninformed claims over the recent decade’s temperatures, generate interesting sound bites and misinformation, but nothing more. Global temperatures result from a delicate balance between enormous heat radiated to Earth from the sun, counterbalanced with what Earth reflects back plus what it radiates into space.

CO2 reduces Earth’s radiation into space and disrupts that balance. Minute imbalances have profound long-term affects. The sun blasts Earth with, on average, 350 watts per square meter – pole-to-pole, day and night, summer and winter, 24/7. Without reflecting back 100 w/m2 and radiating 250 w/m2, average over the entire Earth, we would rapidly become a crematorium.

This precise balance controls our temperature.

Balance two 300-pound linebackers on a teeter-totter and nothing moves. Hand one a six-pack of beer, and he drops to the ground. Debating whether the 300-pound football player or the 5-pound six-pack caused the drop is ludicrous – which is the very logic used by deniers debating whether human-caused CO2 or natural phenomena cause global warming.

That humans increase atmospheric CO2 levels is beyond debate. At issue is the effect of CO2 on global temperatures. The correlation between global mean temperatures and atmospheric CO2 during the last 50 years is a stunning 79 percent. That means 79 percent of the variance in temperature is explained by CO2 level alone, the other 21 percent by all other causes combined.

It doesn’t matter if you use the temperature data from the much-maligned Hadley CRU, from NOAA or NASA. The relationship is 1 degree Celsius per 100 parts per million of CO2.

I wholly support Cohen’s suggestion to “follow the money.” Shell, BP and Exxon-Mobile most recently reported combined revenues of $1.2 trillion, with net earnings before taxes of $141 billion. Oil lobbyists received $125 million to discredit global warming science. It reminds one of big tobacco’s earlier denials of a link between smoking and lung cancer.

Gerald Baumann, Durango Editor’s note: Gerald Baumann holds a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering specializing in heat transfer and thermal science.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Franciscans would see a bevy of more “no smoking” signs in The City if legislation introduced Tuesday is approved.

As The Examiner reported in November, Supervisor Eric Mar reignited the stalled legislation that would forbid smoking in a slew of new settings, adding to existing bans in bars, restaurants, parks, transit stops and taxis.

The bill would expand no-smoking zones to include farmers’ markets, outdoor seating areas of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, and common areas of multiunit housing complexes.

Smokers would have to light up farther away from entrances, exits, windows and vents of all buildings. And smoking would only be allowed at the curb of sidewalks, streets and alleys. If there is no curb, smoking would be prohibited within 15 feet of entrances or exits, according to the bill.

Smokers also would have to be at least 20 feet from transit shelters, boarding areas and ticket lines, including those for cable cars.

The legislation would ban smoking while waiting in lines at ATMs, theaters, athletic events, concert venues and cab stands.

The initiative — meant to further protect residents from harmful secondhand smoke — was introduced after more than two years of vetting by community groups, local businesses and The City, Mar said.

Those who break the rules would face up to a $100 fine for the first offense and upward of $500 for multiple offenses, the legislation says.
The bill was introduced in 2008, but it faced opposition from businesses and did not gain the political traction needed for approval.
By: Mike Aldax
December 16, 2009

There is one place in Bhutan where the Indian-made Wills cigarette has not captured the tobacco market, not even the black one. The remote gewog of Laya smokes Chinese-made cigarettes like Hongtashan, Kingsize, Huangguoshu, Lian Xia, Hong Mel, Fupongyan, Five Bulls and Mellow Turong.

Layaps just call it “tangkhu,” which means tobacco – probably because of the difficulty in pronouncing the brands. The cigarettes are cheap and abundant and sneaked in from across the northern borders. Locals prefer Hongtashan, but King Size, costing Nu 80 for 20 sticks, is cheaper and more popular.

Laya smokers cannot remember since when they have been smoking, but say that Chinese cigarettes had been around in Laya for a long time – since Layaps and Tibetans across the border started trading. China is the largest single manufacturer of tobacco products in the world. It boasts a virtual monopoly in the people’s republic of China, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of the world’s total consumption of cigarettes.

“Indian cigarettes are expensive and tasteless. The Chinese King Size is the best,” said a smoker, Ugyen Dorji, 29. “For smokers with low income like us, Chinese-made cigarettes best suit our need.” A strong rumour that Chinese-made cigarettes would make the smoker impotent not long ago made Layaps think twice before they lit up, but today the rumour has died and smokers are convinced it was just a hoax. “I’d been smoking for six years and didn’t have any problem with impotency,” said Ugyen.

Other Layap smokers said that smoking is a common habit among Layaps. “It may be because of the cold and easy access to cigarettes,” said one smoker. “Many pick up the habit at a young age, especially those not going to school. Most Layaps aren’t aware of the tobacco legislation, which the National Assembly recently passed. “We heard that we can’t smoke cigarettes in dzongs, but that we never do even without a legislation,” said another.

Others, who heard of the ban on the sale of tobacco, said that they bring in the cigarettes for their own consumption. “Everybody brings in cigarettes, so there’s no point selling it,” said Wangdi, who calls himself a chain smoker.

Meanwhile, it is not tobacco that is bothering heath and local government authorities in Laya, but the number of medicines that Layaps bring in from across the northern borders. For many years, Layaps have been relying on unprescribed medicines, especially pain-killers, from Chinese Tibet. “Chinese-made medicines are more effective than the ones we get in our hispitals,” said Ugyen Dorji. “I’ve brought Crocin (Paracetamol) from China for my own consumption because it’s more effective than the Paracetamol we get from hospitals,” he said.

“I feel the Paracetamol tablet we get from tour hospital aren’t effective on me,” said 31-year-old Pego. “I’ve got used to the Chinese-made Crocin for 11 years and use it whenever I get a headache,’ she said.

Health officials have been frequently informing people not to consume unprescribed Chinese medicines, said Laya mangmi, Lhaba Tshering. “People were told not to use the medicines without consulting health officials. We even told them the hospitals wouldn’t be responsible for any complications,” said Lhaba Tshering.

Laya health assistant, Kinga Rinchen said that, although there weren’t any cases of complication, they have been warning villagers to avail medicines from them. “These medicines are strong in drugs and people will become dependent on them. It isn’t at all healthy,” said Kinga Rinchen.

By Gyem Thinley, Laya

Mayor Gavin Newsom has been known to use his cell phone a lot. He used to tweet the birth of his child but now Newsom says he wants cell phones to carry a warning label.

The former governor hopeful says he is endorsing a proposal to make San Francisco the first city in the country to require radiation labels for cell phones.

If passed, stores would have to post radiation levels next to each phone in a font at least as large as the price and they would have to inform customers about what the levels actually mean, which could prove to be a tricky requirement depending on who you believe.

A study released last week by the Danish Cancer Society found that over 30 years there is no “clear change in the long term trends in incidence of brain tumors.”

Still there are some scientists (and many of them are very active in San Francisco) who say that cell phones are slow killers.

Studies to find out just how much radiation your cell phone gives out are readily available on the web, just in case you’re curious.

Marijuana use among teenagers increased this year after previous declines, while the use of other illicit drugs like cocaine mostly declined.

According to an annual National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded survey of nearly 47,000 students, almost one-third of 12th-graders and more than one-quarter of 10th-graders reported using marijuana in 2009. Almost 12% of eighth-graders reported marijuana use, an increase from about 11% in 2008.

The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, asked teenagers to report on the use of smoking, alcohol use and drug use, including non-medical uses of prescription painkillers and over-the-counter cold and cough products.

The report showed cigarette smoking was at the lowest point since the survey started in 1975, although the use of smokeless-tobacco products increased on some measures this year.

Daily cigarette use by 12th-graders was 11.2%, a slight drop from 11.4% in 2008, while any use during the past 30 days was 20.1%, also a slight decline from 2008. Smokeless-tobacco use during the past 30 days in 2009 was reported by 8.4% of students in 12th grade, up from 6.5% in 2008.

Researchers said one of the reasons smoking rates have declined is that the percentage of students who reported ever trying smoking has “fallen dramatically.” For example in 1996, 49% of eighth-graders reported trying cigarettes, compared with 20% this year.

Alcohol use stayed about the same last year, with more than half of 10th-graders and about two-thirds of seniors reporting alcohol use in the past year.

The survey showed past-year use of cocaine decreased to 3.4% from 4.4% in 2008 among 12th-graders, along with declines in the use of hallucinogens and methamphetamine.

The use of over-the-counter cold and cough medicines to get high, however, edged up among all age groups, with 6% of 10th-graders reporting non-medical use of the products last year.

The annual survey also found continuing high rates of prescription-drug abuse, with almost 10% of 12th-graders reporting non-medical use of the painkiller Vicodin last year, the same rate as 2008. Almost 5% of high-school seniors reported using OxyContin for a non-medical use in 2009, a slight uptick from 2008.

Researchers said 66% of teens reported obtaining the prescription drugs from a friend or relative, while 19% said they received the drugs with a doctor’s prescription, and 8% said they bought the drugs from a dealer.

Ryan Baucom, the co-owner of a downtown Sarasota nightspot that caters to the 18-25 crowd, has turned to an old custom to attract young customers.

Results of the University of Florida hookah study, as published this month in the American Journal of Public Health.

Results: Four percent of middle school students and 11 percent of high school students reported ever having used a water pipe. Adolescent boys were significantly more likely than adolescent girls to use water pipes, and African American adolescents were significantly less likely than adolescents from other racial/ethnic backgrounds to do so. Those who indicated ever having tried cigarettes and those who reported positive attitudes toward the social nature of cigarette use were more likely to have tried water pipes.

Conclusions: Water pipe use appears to be widespread among middle and high school students. Further research is needed to assess the health risks associated with water pipe tobacco smoking as well as young people’s attitudes toward this form of tobacco use.

At The Box Social club, Baucom recently started renting out a hookah. Business is so good he plans to buy another.

“It’s becoming more and more popular,” he said.

In higher numbers than those who frequently smoke cigarettes, teenagers are trying hookahs: water pipes from the Middle East that use coals to burn flavored tobacco.

A new University of Florida study is among the first to to show that the popularity of hookahs is not limited to college bars and nightclubs, where they have proliferated over the past few years. Fifteen percent of Florida high school students said they tried smoking hookah, according to the Department of Health. That is up nearly 5 percentage points over two years ago.

“Most everybody I know has one,” said Ilona Davidovich, a senior at Riverview High whose friends organized a weekly “Hookah Tuesday” meeting at each other’s houses. “It’s something to do with your friends after school.”

Researchers say the trend’s foothold with teenagers threatens to undo progress made in the war on smoking by attracting new smokers at an age when most addiction first occurs.

Part of the problem is that many hookah smokers believe it is safer than smoking cigarettes. While public smoking campaigns address cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco, references to the new hookah trend are largely absent. And even in places where indoor smoking is banned, hookah cafes are exempt.

“Psychologically, people are rationalizing it,” said Dr. Brian Primack, a University of Pittsburgh medical professor who has studied hookah smoking for the last four years. “They say there’s no tar, but there is; it’s a product of burning stuff and inhaling it. They say the water is a filter; water is not a filter.”

About 40 percent of people who smoke hookah refuse to smoke cigarettes, according to several surveys.

But, although research on the effects of hookah smoking is ongoing, none of it points to hookahs being less harmful than cigarettes, Primack said.

One study estimated the amount of tar inhaled after a typical, hour-long, hookah session was equal to 36 cigarettes.

The World Health organization says the amount of smoke inhaled is equal to that of 100 cigarettes.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control points out that hookah smoking can cause the same cancers as cigarette smoking, and can be just as addictive.

Plus, inhaling from shared hoses has been shown to spread disease.

Yet some of the proponents do not seem aware of the health risk, or are ignoring it. Baucom, the co-owner of The Box Social, postures that hookahs present almost no health risk at all, despite the body of research showing otherwise.

“You can get the similar effects of smoking a cigarette but it’s not as bad for you and it doesn’t hurt your lungs,” said Baucom, 23. It’s like oxygen bars: it’s fun and different and social and you feel kind of exotic when you do it. I certainly don’t feel like I’m killing anybody by having it.”

Hookah pipes are usually ornate and have two to four hoses attached for sharing. The tobacco comes in flavors like mint, melon, mango, licorice. Inhaling, even for the first time, does not hurt or irritate the throat.

“People who are really against cigarettes and they think they’re cancer sticks, they don’t mind hookah,” said Tedi Doychinova, a senior at Riverview. “To them it’s not really a negative thing. Maybe it’s because of all the chemicals in cigarettes. This is just pure tobacco.”

Most hookah tobacco, called “shisha,” is imported and not regulated by the government, although minors are not allowed to purchase it. There are no warning labels. The packaging tends to refer to the unburned product and says, for example, there is no tar.

The University of Florida study showed that white male teenagers were the most likely to smoke hookah, and that African American teenagers were least likely.

Tracey Barnett, the lead researcher on the UF study, said she is planning future research to give insight into the misconceptions surrounding the health effects of hookah.

“That was the most fascinating thing to me,” Barnett said. “There is no safe way to use tobacco, and yet people think they have found it.”

The school nurse at North Port High said school health professionals are beginning to become aware of the problem. Her supervisor recently sent her a fact sheet on the dangers of hookah.

“We haven’t seen a lot of it here but I’m sure it’s coming,” said Denise Brislin. She has worked on getting students to stop smoking for years, and says the campaign has been successful partly because it has been able to brand smoking cigarettes as something dirty and unpleasant. The same message does not apply to hookah.

“The hookah pipe is very glamourous and sensual,” Brislin said. “It’s going to appeal to kids who wouldn’t put a cigarette in their mouths or don’t want to hide in the bathroom to grab a quick smoke.”
By Anna Scott, Heraldtribune
December 14, 2009

New research showing that thrill-seeking teenagers are especially susceptible to fruit-flavored cigarettes is in line with the recent ban on the sale of flavored cigarettes by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2009. According to the FDA, the ban, authorized by the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is part of a national effort by the FDA to reduce smoking, which is the leading preventable cause of death in America.

“We found that those teens who gravitate toward novel experiences were especially drawn to cigarettes described as having an appealing, sweet flavor, such as cherry,” says lead author Kenneth Manning with Colorado State University.

The study, published in the December issue of the journal Tobacco Control, was funded by the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Past research has found that high-sensation-seeking youth are more likely to smoke cigarettes than their low-sensation-seeking peers, Manning notes. But until now, no studies have looked at how novel, sweet-tasting cigarettes might impact this group of thrill seekers. The authors proposed that the influence of cigarette flavor descriptors lies in their ability to alter the “arousal potential” of a cigarette brand’s marketing communications (such as its packaging). Arousal potential refers to the degree to which a stimulus (like the description of a cigarette’s flavor) is capable of gaining attention and exciting the nervous system.

To test this theory, the researchers divided 253 high school students into two groups to evaluate three pictures of cigarette packages: Camel, American Spirit, and a fictitious brand, “Onyx.” The first group viewed packages that included traditional cigarette descriptions such as “domestic blend,” and the second group of teens viewed packages with the cigarettes described as “cherry.” Following exposure to each package, the study participants responded to several questions regarding the appeal of the brand (i.e., beliefs about how enjoyable it would be, overall evaluation, and trial intention).

To determine their sensation-seeking tendencies, the students responded to measures such as “I would like to explore strange places” and “I like friends who are exciting and unpredictable.”

Sensation-seeking varies over a continuum, explains Manning. “In our study, we essentially divided half of the students into the high group and the other half into the low group based on their overall sensation-seeking scores.”

Results indicated that the appeal of the brands across the belief, attitude, and trial intention measures depended on both the sensation-seeking tendency of the student and whether the student had viewed the brand packages with the traditional or sweet flavor descriptions. In particular, among students who were classified as high-sensation seekers, the cigarette brands were significantly more appealing to those exposed to the packages that included the sweet flavor descriptors than to those who had viewed the packages with the traditional descriptions.

This underscores a key point of the FDA ban — that flavors make cigarettes and other tobacco products more appealing to youth, and are created to attract and allure kids into lifelong addiction. “By enhancing the arousal potential associated with tobacco brands, sweet flavor descriptors boost the appeal of these products among high-sensation seekers,” the authors conclude.

The FDA encourages consumers to report continuing sales of flavored cigarettes through a special tobacco hotline (1-877-CTP-1373) and web site (www.fda.gov/flavoredtobacco).

Parents and consumers can learn more about the risks of flavored tobacco products at http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/FlavoredTobacco/ucm183196.htm.

The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (www.saprp.org) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funds research into policies related to alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

Buenos Aires, – Argentina tops the list of countries that smoke the most in Latin America, consuming 1,014 cigarettes annually for every inhabitant over age 15, media reports said Sunday, citing a World Lung Foundation study.
Argentina is followed on the list by Paraguay, with annual consumption of 968 cigarettes, and Chile, with 909, while Peru has the lowest cigarette consumption in the region at 129 annually per inhabitant.

European countries, however, are the leaders in cigarette consumption, with Greece consuming 3,017 cigarettes annually for every inhabitant over age 15, followed by Slovenia, with 2,537, and Ukraine, with 2,526.

Argentina is the only Latin American country that did not sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control launched by the World Health Organization at the start of this decade, an agreement signed by only 16 countries around the world.

Signatories agreed to ban tobacco advertising, increase taxes on tobacco products and promote smoke-free environments.

Some 33 percent of the adult population, according to the health ministry study, smokes in Argentina, where 40,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases.

LANSING, Mich. – Last week, the Michigan Legislature approved a statewide smoking ban that contains exemptions for Detroit casinos and cigar bars, the Associated Press reports. Gov. Jennifer Granholm will sign the bill. “It’s a terrific gift to Michigan,” she said.

All bars, restaurants and workplaces will be smoke-free starting next May. Exemptions include the Detroit casinos, tobacco shops, cigar bars, home offices and vehicles. Last year, the Michigan Senate had passed a bill with no exemptions but the House quashed it.

When the governor signs the bill, Michigan will become the 38th state to restrict smoking in public places, said state Sen. Ray Basham, who has been pushing for such a ban for years. “We’ve moved the ball down the court, and even scored a basket,” he said of the passage, adding that he favors a total smoking ban.

The Michigan Licensed Beverage Association opposed the bill because of the potential to put thousands out of work. “It’s our elected officials’ responsibility in this economic climate to pass legislation that helps all Michigan businesses, not just a few select business groups,” said executive director Lance Binoniemi.

In other tobacco news, Taiwan has plans to forbid walking and smoking at the same time in an effort to encourage a healthier and cleaner environment, AFP reports. The ban also would encompass smoking while driving a car or riding a motorbike. In January, Taiwan outlawed smoking in all indoor public places.

“We hope the new rules will prevent pedestrians, motorcycle riders and car drivers from throwing cigarette butts all over the place,” said an administration official. “It’s also for their own safety as smoking while driving is distracting.”

Attorneys for Wynn Las Vegas are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit claiming its casino workers are exposed to dangerous second-hand tobacco smoke.

In court papers filed Friday, Wynn’s attorneys argued:

–The suit appears to be part of a union campaign involving Wynn casino dealers.

–Wynn is in compliance with the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which specifically allows smoking in casinos.

The lawsuit was filed Oct. 20 in federal court in Las Vegas by dealer and Transport Workers Union officer Kanie Kastroll.

The suit, filed by Chicago class-action lawsuit firm KamberEdelson LLC, seeks an order requiring Wynn “to take reasonable measures to protect its employees from second-hand smoke” and unspecified costs and attorney’s fees.

Kastroll claims in the lawsuit that exposure to smoke is causing eye irritation, coughing, sore throat, sneezing, shortness of breath, dizziness, wheezing, tightness in the chest, asthma, headache, nausea and ingestion of cancer-causing chemicals and toxins.

But after her lawsuit was filed, the Transport Workers Union Gaming Division issued a press release distancing itself from the lawsuit and praising Wynn Las Vegas for its efforts to reduce second-hand smoke.

The TWU Local 721 in 2007 won the right to represent some 1,100 dealers at Wynn and Caesars Palace, but has not yet signed contracts with either casino.

A similar smoking lawsuit was filed by KamberEdelson against Caesars Palace this year, but it was dismissed this month after KamberEdelson said unspecified “outside forces” interfered with its ability to represent the plaintiff, former dealer Tomo Stephens.

In the Wynn case, attorneys for the Las Vegas Strip resort with the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP argued Friday: “The real basis for this action appears by all measures to be the pursuit of a political agenda.”

“Although not specifically disclosed in her pleading, plaintiff is the president of a local union who has fought for years to unionize a certain group of Wynn’s casino workers. In what appears to be either a retaliatory lashing out at the Wynn or an otherwise shameless grab for publicity, plaintiff has filed this action with no real causes of action under Nevada law, and no jurisdiction whatsoever for this court,” Wynn said in its filing.

“Plaintiff’s complaint reads more like a union rally speech than a legal pleading. Whether her baseless and inflammatory allegations are really designed to simply garner support and appreciation from the people plaintiff hopes to represent in her union is an obvious and fair question,” Wynn’s filing said.

The Wynn attorneys also asserted that with “the Nevada Legislature’s specific endorsement of Wynn’s conduct, Wynn has no duty to shield its employees from second-hand smoke and plaintiff’s claims must therefore fail.”

Wynn’s filing noted that the 2006 ballot measure creating the Nevada Clean Indoor Act, as codified by the Legislature, specifically exempts from regulation areas within casinos where loitering by minors is already prohibited.

“In essence, plaintiff asks this court to override the Nevada Legislature’s judgment on these very issues and judicially legislate how the gaming industry conducts its business,” Wynn’s response said.

Wynn’s attorneys also noted there’s debate in the scientific community about at what level second-hand smoke becomes dangerous and that it would be impossible to determine whether injuries associated with such smoke were sustained in a casino — or elsewhere.

“Due its ubiquitous nature, the court can never be certain about the source of any individual claimant’s exposure to second-hand smoke. Indeed, Wynn cannot control its employees’ exposure to tobacco smoke outside of the workplace. It may be true that many of its employees are exposed to second-hand smoke on a regular basis while at home or other places they frequent,” Wynn’s filing said.

The Wynn attorneys pointed out the Nevada federal court has dealt with proposed casino dealer second-hand smoke class-action lawsuits before.

In 2001, a proposed class-action involving four lawsuits filed in 1997 and 1998 was rejected when a judge found the dealers’ lawsuits were “replete with individual issues” rather than issues common to all the dealers. For instance, smoke levels vary by casino and employees in different areas of the same casino are likely subject to different levels of second-hand smoke.

The Wynn attorneys also said certifying the Kastroll lawsuit as a federal class-action would be impossible under the so-called home state controversy rule, which prohibits federal courts from considering class actions that involve disputes limited to a single state.

In this case, Wynn’s filing said, 99.56 percent of its 12,264 employees are Nevada residents. Kastroll’s suit seeks to represent all former, current and future non-smoking Wynn employees.

In other cases, plaintiffs have dealt with this home state controversy rule by transferring proposed class-actions to state courts.

The MPAA has embarrassed itself an untold number of times over the years for its prudish attitude toward sex and its wildly permissive attitude toward violence. But what’s it’s done to Nancy Meyers’ upcoming comedy, “It’s Complicated,” is perhaps the ratings board’s biggest boneheaded move yet.

Its_complicated_ver2 According to a story by my colleague, Steven Zeitchik, the MPAA has given Meyers’ fluffy comedy about a middle-aged love triangle an R rating because Meryl Streep and Steve Martin’s (who star in the film along with Alec Baldwin) characters are seen sharing a joint while on a date.

The problem, according to people involved with the board’s hearing on the issue, isn’t that the actors are seen smoking pot — it’s that the scene “features pot-smoking with no bad consequences.” Apparently, everything would’ve been fine if only the characters had been killed in a gory car crash because their reflexes were slightly impaired after sharing the joint, which surely would’ve served as a stern warning to kids not to ever touch the evil weed.

In other words, you can score a tidy amount of pot at hundreds of marijuana clinics across Los Angeles, but it you take a puff on a joint in a Hollywood movie, you immediately get walloped with an R rating, whether you’re a gangsta’ rapper like Snoop Dogg or a genial white-haired Oscar host like Steve Martin.

It’s another outrageous example of the lunatic priorities of the MPAA, which claims to serve the interests of parents but actually dances to its crazy drummer, happily handing out PG-13 ratings to unbelievably violent movies like “Terminator: Salvation” while whipping out the R rating at the first sign of a few naked breasts or, God forbid, an unsheathed penis.

The R rating for “It’s Complicated,” which hits theaters Christmas Day, is especially ludicrous. It would be one thing if we saw Kristin Stewart smoking weed in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” since the movie is right in the sweet spot for teens and tweeners. But if the MPAA is really sticking up for families everywhere, it hardly seems to be a parental concern that impressionable kids are going to be flocking to see a romantic comedy featuring actors who are — in the case of Streep and Martin — even older than some of their grandparents.

I’ve been ranting and raving about the MPAA’s nutty priorities for years without any discernible effect. I think it’s time that filmmakers and actors start sticking up for their peers, in this case Meyers, who is getting the shaft from the MPAA for a totally harmless comedy scene. Since George Clooney (and I mean this with no offense) seems to weigh in on every pressing foreign policy of the day, maybe he could spare a little interview time to take the MPAA to the woodshed, which might serve to embolden some of his more cautious brethren to speak out against an organization whose moral compass has clearly gone haywire.

Here’s the trailer for “It’s Complicated,” where you can actually see, toward the end, the giddy after-effects of Streep’s and Martin’s characters’ marijuana indulgence: