Dave Barry is funny as hell but he’s also one of the best political commentators around. He completely gets the speciousness of the war on tobacco. Here’s his latest. I can’t think of a better summary of what we’re dealing with:
Before we get to the latest wacky hijinks, let’s review how the War On Tobacco works. The underlying principle, of course, is: Tobacco Is Bad. It kills many people, and it causes many others to smell like ashtrays in a poorly janitored bus station.
So a while ago, politicians from a bunch of states were scratching their heads, trying to figure out what to do about the tobacco problem. One option, of course, was to say: ”Hey, if people want to be stupid, it’s none of our business.” But of course that was out of the question. Politicians believe EVERYTHING is their business, which is why – to pick one of many examples – most states have elaborate regulations governing who may, and who may not, give manicures.
Another option was to simply make selling cigarettes illegal, just like other evil activities, such as selling heroin, or giving unlicensed manicures, or operating lotteries (except, of course, for lotteries operated by states). But the politicians immediately saw a major flaw with this approach: It did not provide any way for money to be funneled to politicians.
And so they went with option three, which was to file lawsuits against the tobacco companies. The underlying moral principle of these lawsuits was: “You are knowingly selling a product that kills tens of thousands of our citizens each year. We want a piece of that action!”
Does anyone do this better?
COME AND GET US: One reader writes to say that the New York Times Magazine’s gentle treatment of left-wing, terrorist-supporting Lynne Stewart reminded him of this Onion story.
MORE ON JENKINS: The more I read about the guy in charge of NPR’s foreign coverage, the worse it gets. I’d forgotten that the man who found no evidence to link Osama bin Laden to terrorism also vowed last October to “smoke out” any American troops in Afghanistan, regardless of the implications for their security. Here’s what Jenkins said, according to NPR’s review of the comment:
“The game of reporting is to smoke ’em out,” Jenkins says. Asked whether his team would report the presence of an American commando unit it found in, say, a northern Pakistan village, he doesn’t exhibit any of the hesitation of his news-business colleagues, who stress they try to factor security issues into their coverage decisions. “You report it,” Jenkins says. “I don’t represent the government. I represent history, information, what happened.”
Jenkins is also close to Robert Fisk (surprise!) who penned this account of arriving at the scene of the Sabra and Chatilla massacre:
And as I walked through the carnage on 18 September – the last day of the three-day massacre – with Loren Jenkins of The Washington Post, a fierce, tough, Colorado reporter, I remember how he stopped in shock and disgust. And then, with as much energy as his lungs could summon in the sweet, foul air, he shouted, “SHARON!” so loudly that the name echoed off the crumpled walls above the bodies. “He’s responsible for this fucking mess,” Jenkins roared. And that, just over four months later – in more diplomatic words and in a report in which the murderers were called “soldiers” – was what the Israeli commission of enquiry decided. Sharon, who was minister of defence, bore “personal responsibility”, the Kahan commission stated, and recommended his removal from office. Sharon resigned.
Now the responsibility for those awful three days in Lebanon should indeed weigh heavily on Ariel Sharon. But Jenkin’s visceral hatred for the man – before any serious attempt to investigate the matter – is indicative, I think, of where he’s coming from. Now I know I’ll be accused of being a McCarthyite for pointing any of this out. But when a journalist on the public payroll is so evidently biased against Israel and the United States and has made flimsy excuses for Osama bin Laden, isn’t it worth subjecting NPR’s alleged objectivity to scrutiny? Do they really think we can’t see through this stuff?
The Dish 