July 15, 2009

WORLD'S WORST IDEA

I will try to write this post without using Rachel Lucas-type exclamations like "Jesus tapdancing on a cracker" and such.

But it will be rough.

The Pentagon says it won't ban smoking by troops in war zones despite a  recent study recommending a tobacco-free military.

Really?

I mean, do I have to do any more other than quote the first line of that article?  Probably not, but here goes.

These are grown men and women whose only control over their own lives is the few minutes' enjoyment they might get from a cigarette.  How dare you even consider taking that away from them?  My own husband, decidedly not a smoker, enjoys a cigar or two downrange.  It's stress relief.  It's camaraderie.  It's the one thing they have.  You took their beer and now you want to take their smokes too?  Are you insane?

I don't care if it's bad for you; free adults get to make choices that are bad for them.  Period.

Repealing cigarettes would clear out the Army faster than repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Posted by: Sarah at 05:14 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Repealing cigarettes would clear out the Army faster than repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.

That's the whole point. This is part of the plan. Remember what Liz Cheney wrote?

America can be disarmed literally -- by cutting our weapons systems and our defensive capabilities -- as Mr. Obama has agreed to do.

She asked,

Does he really believe that the North Koreans and the Iranians are simply waiting for America to cut funds for missile defense and reduce our strategic nuclear stockpile before they halt their weapons programs?

We believe that. North Korean and Iran are only trying to defend themselves from an eeevil empire still full of Republicans. Sarah Palin may soon be out of office, but other enemies of the peOple are still clinging onto their thrones, perpetuating imperialist conflict in the Middle East against peaceful jihadis.

The war will only end when there are no more warriors. We will disarm them slowly. The list of haram items will continue to expand. Alcohol. Tobacco. Firearms. Meat. Bacon. Especially bacon.

"World's worst idea"? We're just getting started.

These are grown men and women whose only control over their own lives is the few minutes' enjoyment they might get from a cigarette.

That's a few minutes too many. They should be under gOvernment control 24/7.

I don't care if it's bad for you; free adults get to make choices that are bad for them.

There are no free adults, only persyns free to obey the orders of their Great Leaders for their own gOOd.

Posted by: kevin at July 15, 2009 06:50 PM (h9KHg)

2 We are disappointed that Omericans will still be contaminating the Middle East with carcinogenic clouds fueling global burning. Think about all the second-hand smoke blowing from Iraq into Iran!

Just as a "Pentagon-commissioned report urges the Defense Department to ban smoking in the military", a Pentagram-commissioned report urges a ban on personnel in the military. All bases should be converted into welcoming areas for the jihadis who have sacrificed so much in the name of submission. (Free-dumb is soooo overrated.) An open borders policy and generous handOuts will insure that more of them will enrich our natiOn's diversity.

We realize that tax revenues are not infinite, and we must use them wisely. So instead of wasting "more than $800 million a year in lost productivity and health care expenses" due to "smoking and tobacco-related illnesses" among people who sacrifice everything for America, we should spend the money on peOple who really need it, like undocumented immigrants who showed up yesterday.

Imagine the billions we could save if only smoking were banned among civilians!  They, just like the military, are prOperty of the State. We'll have to keep health care costs down somehow. So we'll ban every possible health hazard. Only Great Leaders have the superiOr cellular structure needed to smoke and to consume wagyu steak.

Mao ... was a gourmet, and had his favourite foods shipped in from all over the country ... A special fish from Wuhan that he liked had to be couriered alive 1,000 kilometres in a plastic bag filled with water and kept oxygenated ...

This farm was specially set up to grow rice for Mao, as the water there was supposed to be the very best. In the olden days the spring had supplied drinking water for the imperial courts. Now it fed Mao's rice paddies. The vegetables Mao liked, as well as poultry and milk, were produced in another special farm called Jushan.

- Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story, pp. 331-332

[Chinese p]eople were told to eat "food substitutes." One wa a green roelike substance called chlorella ... After Chou En-lai tasted and approved this disgusting stuff, it soon provided a high proportion of the urban population's protein.

- Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story, p. 437

Ordinary people must renounce all pleasure if they intend to be virtuOus.

"Look at any great system of ethics, from the Orient up. Didn't they all preach the sacrifice of personal joy? Under all the complications of verbiage, haven't they all had a single leitmotif: sacrifice, renunciation, self-denial? Haven't you been able to catch their theme song — 'Give up, give up, give up, give up'? Look at the moral atmosphere of today. Everything enjoyable from cigarettes to sex to ambition to the profit motive, is considered depraved or sinful ...  We've tied happiness to guilt ... Throw your first-born into a sacrificial furnace — lie on a bed of nails — go into the desert to mortify the flesh — don't dance — don't go to the movies on Sunday — don't try to get rich — don't smoke — don't drink. It's all the same line. The great line. Fools think that taboos of this nature are just nonsense. Something left over, old-fashioned. But there's always a purpose in nonsense. Don't bother to examine a folly — ask yourself only what it accomplishes. Every system of ethics that preached sacrifice grew into a world power and ruled millions of men. Of course, you must dress it up. You must tell people that they'll achieve a superior kind of happiness by giving up everything that makes them happy. You don't have to be too clear about it. Use big vague words. 'Universal Harmony' — 'Eternal Spirit' — ‘Divine Purpose' — 'Nirvana' — 'Paradise' — 'Racial Supremacy' — 'The Dictatorship of the Proletariat.' "

- Ellsworth Toohey in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead
(emphasis ours)

And now ... 'hope and change'!

Posted by: kevin at July 15, 2009 07:28 PM (h9KHg)

3 Think about all the second-hand smoke blowing from Iraq into Iran!

Now do you understand why Iran must arm itself against fuming infidels? Particularly infidels that - gasp - eat bacon instead of yummy algae:

Science News Letter praised the optimistic results [of chlorella experiments] in an article entitled "Algae to Feed the Starving." John Burlew, the reported editor of Carnegie Institute stated, "the algae culture may fill a very real need," which Science News Letter turned into "future populations of the world will be kept from starving by the production of improved or educated algae related to the green scum on ponds" ... Science Digest also reported, "common pond scum would soon become the world's most important agricultural crop."

Ever wanted to eat what grows in your aquariums? You'll soon have the privilege. If it was good enough for Chou En-lai, surely it's good enough for you, cOmrades.

Posted by: kevin at July 15, 2009 08:12 PM (h9KHg)

4 My brother in law has a good theory. He says people were much nicer when most of them smoked.  Nicotine is a great relaxer and is known to relieve stress.  I never smoked but I used to watch a lady at work who would take out her cigarette, light up, take a deep drag and sigh mightily. She was really relaxing and I envied her ability to do that.

Posted by: Ruth H at July 15, 2009 09:10 PM (KLwh4)

5 Booo! to the Nannystate. I love how people are always ready to make restrictions just based on one study. Since when does one study dictate changes in federal policies that then revoke rights of citizens who sacrifice their lives to defend our constitution (the very document that provides them with these freedoms in the first place)???  I swear decisions are made by people who just read Cliff Notes in English class vs. the actual novels.

The federal government is acting more like not an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand but one with its head stuck up its own a$$. It's reminding me of the South Park where the liberals who drive hybrids are so smug in their "ideas" as being the right ones that they smell their own farts. Maybe that's why liberals in Congress always have that weird look on their face. I figured it was the botox but, eh, a fart could be the "green" way to kiss away those laugh lines or stress lines from not doing their jobs.

Let those who sacrifice the most enjoy their smokes. As long as their not blowing one directly in my face I could care less.

Posted by: BigD78 at July 15, 2009 10:14 PM (/iKMZ)

6 Having sent any number of large boxes of great cigars to Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the many, many cartons of cigarettes (and being a reformed smoker myself), I cannot begin to count the number of thank you emails & letters I have received on account... and how happy it made me to have these men recount the fun and affirmation they enjoyed in the countless "smoke & joke"s my gifts provided.

If they're looking to enforce or institute a useful rule, maybe they can make them all wear clean underwear... oh wait -- we have to get them to give up "commando" first BBBWWWAAAHHHAHHHAA

Posted by: Some Soldier's Mom at July 15, 2009 11:17 PM (DBUVT)

7 Read a memoir by a guy who was a steelworker in the 1920s, later a steel executive. He said that when prohibition came along and the guys couldn't get their beer anymore, it was very painful...that if you work next to a furnace all day long, water just doesn't cut it for refreshment after the end of your shift. Of course, the church ladies and various politicians who were the forces behind prohibition had mostly never even seen a steel mill, let alone worked in one.

And that's the nature of centralized political decision-making...your life is controlled by people who know nothing at all about you and the nature of your problems and opportunities.


Posted by: david foster at July 16, 2009 02:12 PM (uWlpq)

8 No kidding. It is so incredibly frustrating to me that the government feels like it needs to protect me from myself to this degree--and that so many people are okay with it!

Posted by: Lucy at July 17, 2009 01:25 AM (0nTD7)

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