I think we all can agree -- smokers included -- that smoking is bad for one's health. We know the risks, and after years of cover up and/or denial, we've taken some positive steps in this country to really raise awareness about the harmful effects of nicotine and to ban smoking in public places like on airplanes and in restaurants. Good for us.

One California town, however, has taken things about 5,000 steps further and gone into straight-up crazy mode. According to The Blaze, the Rocklin City Council is actually considering a proposal that would outlaw smoking not just in restaurants or public places, but it would also ban smoking on people's own private property. That means people wouldn't be able to smoke on their front porch, in their backyard, or anywhere else that it may waft into their neighbor's yard.

So where exactly will smokers be allowed to smoke?

I cannot, for the life of me, think of anything more dense than refusing to take care of your health. It's not that I don't believe it's an individual's prerogative if they want to say, "Screw it, I'm gonna die some day anyway, so I might as well enjoy my favorite vice here and now." A person's certainly free to free to feel that way, but it doesn't mean they don't need a wake-up call.

Take these people with lung cancer who were recently studied by the American Cancer Society. Researchers looked at smoking rates in a little over 5K lung and colorectal cancer patients. At the time of their diagnosis, 39 percent of those with lung cancer and 14 percent of those with colon cancer smoked. Five months later, 14 percent of lung cancer patients and 9 percent of colon cancer patients were still smoking. Sure, it's fewer, but still ... why the heck would anyone battling cancer continue to light up, unless they had a death wish? It's INSANITY!

The health news for pot smokers just keeps getting better. Last week, researchers released a study concluding that occasional pot users suffered no long-term effects in terms of memory and mental function -- and in some cases actually scored better on memory tests than people who said they didn't touch the potent weed -- when they hit middle age. This week comes more research that'll tickle those who take an occasional toke -- and bring them even more bragging rights, especially over cigarette smokers: According to a long-term study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, low to moderate marijuana use has no significant negative effect on users' respiratory health, especially not when compared to regular tobacco use.

Yep, according to the latest research, smoking two or three joints a month isn't nearly as bad for your lungs as puffing your way through eight or nine cigarettes a day.

Dear women who smoke,

I would like to gently and humbly suggest that you add something to your list of resolutions for the coming year: Quit smoking. Really, it's way past time to give up the deadly habit. You know that at least as well as I. For your sake and for the sake of everyone who cares about you, in 2012, you really should just chuck the cigarette habit once and for all.

I know it's hard -- that in fact it can feel all but impossible -- but there are so many reasons to quit. Just last week, a study came out finding that women who were longtime smokers were twice as likely to develop squamous cell skin cancer. The smoking/squamous cancer link was not significant for men.

Pepsi Co. may not make a product that's part of a healthy lifestyle, but that doesn't mean they're okay with the people who work for them being unhealthy. Since February, the company has been charging workers in its bottling division who are smokers a $50 monthly fee on top of what they already pay for their company health insurance. The company began enforcing the penalty without really giving workers much warning, never telling the Teamsters union that covers many employees that they were "going to a different plan for employees."

While the way they went about putting the levy on their workers is certainly shady, I'm all for "sin fees" on smokers like this one. It's a smoker's decision to keep on smoking -- to not even try to quit. And hey, if they'd even make an attempt to quit, they wouldn't have to pay the penalty!

My mother has smoked for my entire life. She's more or less smoked for her entire life, actually. My earliest memories of her involve the mingled scents of peppermint and tobacco, because the two constants in her pocketbook were always unfiltered Camel cigarettes and Doublemint gum. I remember her favorite ashtray in the same way one might remember her mother's wedding ring: Silver on the outside, bright yellow on the inside (under the charcoal gray coating of ash, that is).

My mother still smokes, and the truth is, I feel like it's kind of my fault. Because in the past 35 years, I've never really asked her to stop. I've never told her how it turns my stomach to hear the endless coughs, those coughs that sound like they could rip her frail body apart. I've never admitted how much I hate the stale smell of smoke that clings to her room, her clothes, her car.

I've never told her how I always felt like cigarettes were more important to her than me.

You know those graphic images the FDA wanted to require cigarette makers put on every package? If you've seen them, you probably remember them. They're nightmarishly unforgettable: a guy with smoke pouring out of his tracheotomy hole; a repulsive tobacco-ruined pair of lungs contrasted with a fresh, pink healthy pair; a plume of smoke billowing into the airspace of a dubious looking baby.

Well, don't look for them on cigarette packages just yet. The tobacco companies have fought them, and at this point, it looks like they're winning: A judge has just blocked the FDA requirement, saying the labels go beyond conveying factual information about smoking's health risks, and step right over the line into advocacy. (The block will continue until the issue is resolved in court, likely years from now.)

Look, I can see the judge's point. The images are designed to shock. But it's hard not to feel a bit disappointed ...

Phew! President Obama's physician (or the "first doctor," as he's sometimes cutely dubbed) released the results of the Commander in Chief's annual physical exam the other day.

The doctor not only gave Obama a clean bill of health -- saying he is a fit and healthy 50-year-old who eats a nice balanced diet, exercises regularly, and drinks alcohol only occasionally -- but he also dropped the welcome bombshell that, despite lingering rumors to the contrary, the POTUS is smoke-free.

Yep, Obama, a longtime cigarette smoker, finally seems to have ditched his unpleasant, unhealthy tobacco habit -- at least for now. And what a relief that is to us all.