Cigarettes are a soft target. Smokers buckle politically like wet cardboard. There is something satisfying about lording over those that are weaker than us non-smokers. Cigarette smokers have no power. They huddle in doorways in the icy wind like war refugees while they steal a break from their non-benefit, part-time jobs. They are relegated to the status of crack addicts. They should be pushed to the underground culture of society where they belong. We should embrace that we can crush them socially and it affords us power to be arrogant and get away with it - and we like that. It is about the only thing in society we seem able to influence any more. 
    And, smokers are the only group left it is politically correct to openly torment. Soon the courts will relent and we will be able to extend our will into their cars as they bring their kids to school. Police dogs will sniff out the cigs from under their seats. And then will come the coup de grace to smokers. We will convince courts to allow militarized police to enter the houses of suspected smokers under the guise of saving the children and pets and grandmother from smoke. The violators will be marched off to prison in the consummate perp walk - as they should and eventually will be.  
    I am concerned however, that once cigarettes smokers are all gone, or in prison where the likes of them really belong, and the last lung cancer wing of the hospital is turned into a compound for old people with little health care, we will have to find another class of people to lord over and that search may be fatiguing. 
    Perhaps we will pause for a bit before we besiege gun owners; greasy hamburger eaters; non-helmet wearing anarchists; people who do not pick up the dog's droppings; and, any one else we deem as a soft target. Pause, Naaa, tomorrow we start early on the greasy-fingered hamburger eating rabble. Total nanny-state victory is close, I can smell it like the waft of cigarette smoke in the non-smoking area rest rooms. 
    - Tongue-so-ever-planted-in-cheek -

                      Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
    (each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)

    Army Captain Rhett William Schiller, 26, Waterford, Wisconsin, died Thursday, November 16, 2006 in Balad Ruz, Iraq. He was killed when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. Captain Schiller was assigned to Troop C, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Waterford is a small city in South East Wisconsin in Racine County. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Schiller was a West Point graduate in the class of 2003. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry. He had been in Iraq since August of 2006. He was remembered as a leader who led from the front lines. After completing Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia, he was assigned to the 82nd, as a platoon leader in Company B, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was later the executive officer for Company A. In September 2005, Schiller's brigade was assigned to New Orleans for relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. The unit was deployed to the area almost immediately after duty assignment announcement. The Journal Sentinel also noted at the time Schiller's sister was a warrant officer at Fort Bragg, and his brother was a U.S. Marine. They went on to quote sources as saying Schiller attended Shanghai American School in China before enrolling in the Military Academy at West Point. 
    The Web site jounaltimes.com dated August 2010, noted a bill to rename the Waterford Post Office in honor of Captain Schiller will be coming before Congress in the coming months. The bill was introduced by Representative Paul Ryan of Schiller's Wisconsin Congressional District and would designate the post office in Schiller's honor. The process was initiated by Schiller's uncle. Schiller went on to West Point after receiving an appointment from Congressman Ryan. The Web site mentioned Schiller's parents moved to Waterford while he was attending West Point. The city of Waterford was said to be a special place for Schiller and a place he loved to visit, especially the Fox River. 
    Wisconsin 2007 Senate Joint Resolution 3 notes Rhett Schiller was born on November 7, 1980, in Racine, Wisconsin. Schiller attended the International School of Amsterdam and graduated from the Shanghai American School in May of 1999. His major at West Point was Chinese. Awards Captain Schiller was given include; the Bronze Star Medal; Purple Heart; Meritorious Service Medal; Army Commendation Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Iraqi Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Army Service Ribbon; the Ranger Tab; the Combat Infantryman Badge; the Expert Infantryman Badge; and, the Master Parachutist Badge. The Resolution noted that at the time of his death Rhett Schiller was survived by his parents, William and Karla Schiller of Waterford, Wisconsin; his fiancée, Tiffany Phelps of Fayetteville, North Carolina; his brother, Marine Captain Ryan Schiller, sister−in−law, Martha, and niece, Olivia, of Temecula, California; his sister, Rhonda Sutaria and brother−in−law, Raj, of Long Island, New York; his sister, Renee Ray, brother−in−law, Captain Brian Ray, and nephew, Kyle, of Fort Bragg, North Carolina; his grandmother, Augustine Evelyn Schiller of Burlington, Wisconsin; and, his best friend, Neil Munger of Racine, Wisconsin. Army Captain Rhett Schiller was the 63rd Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.

         As of this blog entry's posting date:

    97,691 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    9,654 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,421 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1278 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    793 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    31,934 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    7,951 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    102 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    22 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    142 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.