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From: barry@ames-lm.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.med
Subject: Re: Why Smoke?
Message-ID: <332@ames-lm.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Jun-84 17:11:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames-lm.332
Posted: Thu Jun 14 17:11:04 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Jun-84 00:39:21 EDT
References: <3045@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 43

[*************=8>:)         (snort)]

> There is no reason to treat this child abuse any differently than
> that involving physical beating or imprisonment or any of the other
> forms for which parents/guardians are criminally charged.
> A movement to add "smoking while pregnant or in the presence of or in the
> same domicile as a child" to the legal definition of child abuse
> in the various states may well be the most effective anti-smoking
> tactic for the effective reduction of smoking. I wonder why the
> Surgeon General has not adopted this tactic instead of emphasizing
> the dangers to current adult smokers. Why waste time on them; if
> the next generation can be weaned away from smoking, the problem will
> vanish as the preceeding one dies off.

	Did I really read this? C'mon, Will, you're kidding, right? You
can tell me, I won't give your secret away.
	If you're serious, though, congratulations! You have just won
the Kenn Barry "Fascist-of-the-Year" Award, 2nd-class (for 1st class
you would have had to propose death camps for smokers, not merely prison).
But why limit this new law to parents and guardians? Surely anyone at
all who smokes around children is likewise abusing them, and should also
be punished. With proper enforcement we could soon have every smoker
in the country behind bars, thus saving you non-smoking adults as well
as your children from damnation (oops, I mean cancer).
	Enforcement could be a problem, though. Maybe, as a first step,
we should repeal a few amendments to the Constitution; might
be too hard to get evidence, otherwise. Also, how about a Surgeon-General's
Youth Corps? These children could be trained to report anyone they caught
smoking (if they saw 'em, it was 'in the presence', right?) to the police.
	And let's not forget the fringe benefits! Suppose you have a
neighbor that you know is nothing but un-American commie filth, and a
smoker, besides. No longer would they be able to hide behind the 1st
Amendment, for we could turn them in to the Smoke Police. This is almost
identical to what we did with some political radicals in the '60's, only
it wasn't tobacco they were smoking.
	It's sure nice to know that there are still people who understand
that the best solution for any problem is to throw somebody in jail.

Send me flames, I need a light.			Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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