Having corrupted the press with health propaganda based on falsified or corrupted science and statistics, and with the lure of $500,000,000. a year in anti-tobacco advertisement should the tobacco settlement go though, they have managed to effectively gag the voice of any opposition, giving the impression that there is total agreement on the issue of prohibition. In reality, there is opposition this absurd ban, as an uncorrupted British source reports.

For the ones who still do not believe that the United States are quickly becoming the most powerful fascist state in the world, we report here a few flash news from the last ten days that should make everybody think long, and hard:

• Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop (who has obviously learned the lesson of Goebbles: "A lie is to be repeated over and over until it becomes the new truth") predicts that criminal charges against parents who smoke "Can't be far off." (U.S. News, 12/22/97)
• On December 28, the popular program "60 Minutes" gave 20 minutes of prime-time coverage to a New Zealand writer who stated that "Americans have too many liberties", and smokers are to be compared to sodomizers, while spitting tobacco on the road is "equivalent to defecating on the sidewalk, thus it should be treated accordingly." Even more disturbing than what he said is the fact that the interviewer in the show listened carefully, nodding with an expression of respect.
• We have learned that recently in San Jose`, California, smoking while standing outside is no longer legal. Now smokers have to keep walking in circles to expose themselves to the people who pass by. Should they stop, they are subject to arrest by the police, on charges of loitering. In Palo Alto, smoking is forbidden in the streets if one is closer than 15 feet from any door or window.

Children are taught lies about second hand smoke, and more and more often are instructed to report parents who smoke, and to be intolerant of smokers, smoking, and of any other behaviour (health-related or otherwise) which is contrary to the government's agenda of social control. Teaching intolerance to youth, and the targeting of sectors of the population are also distinctive identifiers of fanatical totalitarian regimes.

Unfortunately, history repeats itself, especially when it is conveniently ignored by the school system: as in the '30s nobody wanted to admit or believe that Germany wanted to capture the world, since Hitler was elected, and had the support of the majority of the population. In the '90s the Americans and their satellite countries do not want to recognize -- out of ignorance or denial -- the signs of the evil totalitarianism, for it is disguised in white coats.

But if history repeats itself, then it follows that fascists were executed, and nazi criminals were tried and executed in Nuremberg in 1946. On the other hand, we must remember that Joseph Stalin died in his bed, his power firmly established, though the Soviet Union eventually collapsed.

As a non-violent citizen -- and a smoking father -- I can only say this: the health officer who is going to walk through my door to take away my children because I smoke may be harmed by a peculiar kind of second hand smoke: the one ejected from the barrels of my shotgun. Beware of the desperation of the common man. Sometimes, even peaceful people have no choice, when their back is pushed against the wall.

But then, the elimination of choice is what fascism is all about.

Gian Turci