Should the Military Ban Smoking?

Yesterday, I appeared on CNN's Smerconish to discuss possible smoking bans in the military with the eponymous host. Take a look/listen by clicking above.

A longtime radio host, Michael Smerconish provides a welcome respite from most cable news yak shows, partly because his politics don't line up clearly along existing party lines. As important, I think, is that he engages in debate and discussion in a wide-open way. One of the ongoing frustrations in today's mediascape, I think, is that for all the hours devoted to politics, it almost always takes place within a very narrow band of allowable perspectives and it almost always is some version of Republican talking points versus Democratic ones, often by official representatives or diehards of each brand.

Because it gets away from all that, Smerconish is, along with Fox Business' The Independents (co-hosted by Reason's own Matt Welch of course), one of the very best shows on cable. It airs on Saturdays on CNN, at 9 A.M. and 6 P.M. ET. 

Comments

[Almanian!]

So Smerconish is creating a libertarian moment?

I may watch. Thanks for the tip.

PS Nice work on the RedEye the other night.

[goneGalt]

Old enough to fight, old enough to smoke?

[Homple]

"Light 'em up if you've got 'em".

[harleyrider1778]

Take the bans and your a smoker. You sit down and lite up as you always did and then the cops get called and they order you to stop and you say no its your law not mine. Then they try and use physical force and you fight back,because smoking isn't a crime anyway the same as prayer isn't suppose to be crime. Yet next the cops mace you or pull their guns to force you to comply.

Is there any difference in the end for those already being forced to live a certain way wit bayonets or guns over your simple act of lighting up and the end outcome????

Nothing at all except Nazis passing laws that can and will end in your death via the same means others arounf the world are forced to comply against their will!

[harleyrider1778]

Well a little history lesson is now needed I can see:

Look who first invented the Passive smoking Fraud

Hitler's Anti-Tobacco Campaign

One particularly vile individual, Karl Astel -- upstanding president of Jena University, poisonous anti-Semite, euthanasia fanatic, SS officer, war criminal and tobacco-free Germany enthusiast -- liked to walk up to smokers and tear cigarettes from their unsuspecting mouths. (He committed suicide when the war ended, more through disappointment than fear of hanging.) It comes as little surprise to discover that the phrase "passive smoking" (Passivrauchen) was coined not by contemporary American admen, but by Fritz Lickint, the author of the magisterial 1100-page Tabak und Organismus ("Tobacco and the Organism"), which was produced in collaboration with the German AntiTobacco League.

That's fine company are so called public health depts. keep with ehh!

History can shed so much lite on todays own movement it just amazes the mind...........

[harleyrider1778]

Hitler Youth had anti-smoking patrols all over Germany, outside movie houses and in entertainment areas, sports fields etc., and smoking was strictly forbidden to these millions of German youth growing up under Hitler."

Something along the lines of the Hitler Youf:
Proctor (1997) continues that "throughout this period, magazines like Genussgifte (Poisons of taste or habit), Auf der Wacht (On Guard), and Reine Luft (Pure air) published a regular drumbeat against this 'insidious poison' [tobacco], along with articles charting the unhealthful effects of alcohol, teenage dancing, cocaine, and other vices. Dozens of books and pamphlets denounced the 'smoking slavery' or 'cultural degeneration' feared from the growth of tobacco use. Tobacco was branded 'the enemy of world peace', and there was even talk of 'tobacco terror' and 'tobacco capitalism' ?. The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls both published antismoking propaganda, and the Association for the Struggle against the Tobacco Danger organized counseling centers where the 'tobacco ill' could seek help" (p.456-457); "Hitler Youth had anti-smoking patrols all over Germany, outside movie houses and in entertainment areas, sports fields etc., and smoking was strictly forbidden to these millions of German youth growing up under Hitler." (www.zundelsite ? January 27, 1998.htm)

[harleyrider1778]

Heres a time line starting in 1900,dont be surprised to see the same thing playing out today nearly 100 years later.

1901: REGULATION: Strong anti-cigarette activity in 43 of the 45 states. "Only Wyoming and Louisiana had paid no attention to the cigarette controversy, while the other forty-three states either already had anti-cigarette laws on the books or were considering new or tougher anti-cigarette laws, or were the scenes of heavy anti- cigarette activity" (Dillow, 1981:10).

1904: New York: A judge sends a woman is sent to jail for 30 days for smoking in front of her children.

1904: New York City. A woman is arrested for smoking a cigarette in an automobile. "You can't do that on Fifth Avenue," the arresting officer says.

1907: Business owners are refusing to hire smokers. On August 8, the New York Times writes: "Business ... is doing what all the anti-cigarette specialists could not do."

1917: SMOKEFREE: Tobacco control laws have fallen, including smoking bans in numerous cities, and the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho and Tennessee.

1930: hitler institutes laws against smoking.This one you can google.

[BuSab Agent]

Only if they want to see recruiting numbers really go into the toilet. If I recall correctly, there is significant overlap in the demographics of those likeliest to smoke and those likeliest to enlist. SO if they do this, the armed forces will be looking for skinny, non-tattooed, non-smoking, non-drug using, no criminal or psychiatric history poor people. Good luck with that.

[gregoryboyleusu]

my neighbor's step-aunt makes $89 hourly on the internet . She has been fired for 10 months but last month her payment was $18747 just working on the internet for a few hours. visit here ....

???? http://www.netjob70.com

[Dilligaf]

Well,the"Devils Lettuce"is on it's way to being much less profitable to say the least,given the power of free market forces. I could hardly imagine anyone being able to make hundreds of thousands a year growing a plant your Grandma can legally get seeds for in the Gurney seed catalog and grow next to her Bodacious hybrid sweet corn.Personally,and for purely selfish reasons,I would love to see Tobacco take its place on the banned/extremely profitable plant list. It's native and seems to grow like a weed in every place I have lived in this country.(Once you have taken the time to establish a few plants.) In the north end of Boise there is a patch still growing and reseeding itself at my Grandpa's old place that has been there around 24 years. The seeds are smaller than table salt and although somewhat fragile this is more than made up by the fact every plant seems to kick out like 400,000 seeds or something ridiculous like that. Plus the mother plants roots send up shoots every spring even after a hard freeze.

[derpules]

Smerconish's radio show on POTUS is really good too.

[Abe Froman]

Absolutely!! Especially if it keeps some youngsters from joining the military. Better a smoker than a soldier.