Protect the Truth…From Joe Califano

Joseph Califano, secretary of health, education, and welfare in the Carter administration, is chairman of a new group known as The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth. You might wonder about Califano's qualifications for this job, given his position as head of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, a prohibitionist propaganda mill disguised as a scientific organization. (CASA's Web site currently features a report that likens pot smoking to Russian roulette, a game in which there is a one-in-six chance of immediate death.) Fear not: In this case, "the Truth" refers to the anti-smoking ad campaign that goes by that name.

[Thanks to Allen St. Pierre for the link.]

Comments

[matt]

Every time I see one of those "truth" commercials I want throw a brick through my tv. I almost want to start smoking just to smite them.

[Sandy]

Ditto. Blaming Big Bad Tobacco helps people take control of their addiction and quit--how?

[Douglas Fletcher]

The man is a dinosaur.

[js]

If they ever wanted to reinstate the draft it wouldn't be so easy to escape to Canada as it was during Vietnam. State monitoring of their citizens and inter-state cooperation have advanced since then. Still it might be possible and so far plans to reinstate the draft have gone nowhere.

[Rick Barton]

"The man is a dinosaur."

Yeah, and a dangerous one too. When he was secretary of health, education, and welfare for JC, he really pushed for a universal peacetime draft. Every one taking a year or two out of their lives and doing what the government told them to sounded like a fine idea to this power mad Neanderthal.

[Windtell]

Ugh, a draft junkie. I'm an English teacher and living in Turkey now, there's a forced draft here and a good amount of my students are studying English to leave the country to avoid it. Maybe my home country Canada would benefit in this way again from a US draft ; )

[Ruthless]

I've never been able to work the word, smarmy, in the way Maureen Dowd so effortlessly does, but is Califano that or not?

Or is he merely what Dave Berry calls a "Doo-doo Head"?

[Paul Z]

Well, it could be worse. Those Big Tobacco-bashing ads could be funded with your tax money.

Hey, wait! Here in California, they already are!

[Patrick]

Blaming Big Bad Tobacco helps people take control of their addiction and quit--how?

Hm, by taxing the s--t out of it and using the proceeds for the latest teachers' union pay hike?

[Douglas Fletcher]

The trouble with Califano is that he's a Washington insider, has been for more than 25 years, and he's loved every second of it. I saw him on Imus about a week ago talking about all his 'accomplishments' through the years, and if ever there was a picture of a pig in hog heaven, he was it.

[Justin Barstow]

I worked with his team years ago. He's just a shill for government grant money from either the NIMH or NIJ.

"The sky is falling! Give me money!"

[Jim Walsh]

To paraphrase Mencken: Show me a man who enjoys being a Washington Insider, and I'll show you a bully and a boor.

[Steve]

I can't remember where I read this, but it sounds right to me:

Russian Roulette actually doesn't give you a 1-in-6 chance of dying. The chamber with the bullet in it is heavier, so most of the time it will end up at the bottom. Therefore, you have a much better chance of living than 5-in-6.

I still wouldn't recommend it.

[Lisa Simpson]

Many, many things wrong with that .pdf about 'r.r'. Did anyone else read it? The usual errors of correlation, but did you see the masthead and the members of the board? Besides the typical suspects (Kessler, Bristol-Myers, Infinity B'casting et al) was Jamie Lee Curtis! WTF?! Do I have to start boycotting Christopher Guest films and A Fish Called Wanda now?

[Tom Maduro]

Those Truth commcericals sure did change my life. I got so fed up with the snarky propaganda that the contrarian in me demanded that I start smoking.

Cohiba, anyone?