THE LIFE-STYLE NAZIS PICK THEIR NEW TARGETS

In Salt Lake City, two college students were walking down the street
smoking cigarettes. A gang of 20 teen-ager thugs, calling themselves
Straight Edgers, ordered them to put out their cigarettes. Following an
exchange of words, the students were attacked with chains, bricks and
pepper spray. One student landed in the hospital after being beaten on the
head with a baseball bat. The Straight Edgers don't drink, smoke or take
drugs - they use violence to enforce their moral standards on others.

Many California bar owners have ignored the state ban on smoking. One bar
owner received a letter from Southern Californians Against Bar Smoking
(SCABS), saying: "We don't report smoking - we report drunk drivers leaving
smoking bars. Here's how our program works: We find bars that allow
smoking. We watch how your customers drink. When a drinker leaves and gets
into his car, we signal a SCABS member parked down the street. That member
follows your customer, using a cell phone to dial 911 and report a drunk
driver."

Americans who support private and government attacks on smokers should
recognize that a life-style Nazi's work is never done. They have more in
store, and one day you'll be the victim. If you think not, then listen up.

"Caffeine is the new drug of choice among kids," warns Helen Cordes writing
in the April 27 Nation magazine. "Caffeine Inc. (soda manufacturers) is
raking it in, often targeting teens and younger kids. ... The major
caffeine suppliers to kids have been throwing millions into advertising and
giveaways."

The left-wing Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) supports the
anti-caffeine movement and wants the FDA to regulate caffeine content in
soda, coffee, tea and chocolate. Michael Jacobson, CSPI's director, thinks
Mexican and Chinese restaurants offer servings much too large and says,
"It's high time the [restaurant] industry begins to bear some
responsibility for its contribution to obesity, heart disease and cancer."

If you support the government attack on smokers, it is not unreasonable to
also support the emerging attack on soda, coffee and tea drinkers, and you
should buy into government regulation of restaurant serving sizes. After
all, these and other lifestyle choices have an impact on our health-care
costs and endanger precious children, not to mention the addictiveness of
caffeine that's manipulated by the industry that spends millions of dollars
for advertisements aimed at children.

While we're on the subject of health care cost, there are some other
life-style regulations we might consider to protect our children. Hundreds
of thousands of teen-agers and young adults are injured, crippled or killed
each year playing basketball, baseball and football and swimming and
cycling. While safety equipment prevents some injuries, they cannot be
completely eliminated. Should we call for government regulations that
either ban sports activities or changes game rules so that no one can be
injured?

The people who want to regulate the lifestyles of others are cowards. You
say, "What do you mean, Williams?' I mean if Michael Jacobson, CSPI's
director, sees me at a restaurant starting on my fourth cup of coffee and
my fifth butter-laden biscuit, he should have the courage to walk up to the
table and take it from my plate. He probably figures, and rightly so, that
he'd be in for a hurtin' for certain. He refers using brutal government
force instead; that's safer for him.

You say, "Williams, you're beginning to sound violent." I say yes, and I'm
not by myself. There's an increasing number of Americans fed up to our
necks with these life-style Nazis.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)