American Legion Post breaks the law they vowed to uphold

In my 20 year Navy career, I never once thought that service made me above the law or that I didn’t have to follow the laws of the state or nation; someone should tell that to the members of American Legion Post 444 in Baraga at the base of the Keweenaw Bay in the Upper Peninsula.

They are breaking the state’s workplace smoking ban that includes bars and restaurants that went into effect on May 1, making the ridiculous claim that deadly secondhand is “what freedom looks like,” according to auxiliary post member Anita Shepard. No, it’s what flouting and disregarding the law looks like.

Post spokesman Joseph O'Leary claims its “not about the smoking, It's about the right to choose to allow the use of a legal substance on our property.“ No, the workplace smoking ban is a public health issue, and it’s about protecting the 80 percent of the population who choose not to endanger their health.

This is not the first time military veterans have made the claim that their service has earned them the right to ignore the law. Even before the law went into effect, American Legion posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) posts launched a petition drive with the claim that the law didn’t apply to them.

Even military leaders have long recognized the harmful effects of smoking, both first and secondhand smoke, and they banned it on ships some 20 years ago. Just last spring the U.S. Navy banned smoking on submarines, despite having the most advanced atmosphere purification technology in the world.

But the post in Baraga has gone farther than anyone in breaking the law, and Post Commander Rick Geroux issued a notice to members and employees that he thinks his post is above the law and would not follow it.

According to reporter Dawson Bell, “several citizen complaints were filed about the post's noncompliance, and local health officials sent notices of violation. Geroux responded with a news release July 16 that described the new law as unconstitutional and un-American.”

That is just per BS. I challenge Mr. Geroux to show me where in the Constitution it says you have a right to smoke. The fact is the government has an obligation to protect the public from poison like secondhand smoke and other deadly substances, and if anything it’s un-American not to protect the public from deadly substances.

The article said “several of the elder statesmen point out the government provided the smokes and hooked them on the habit when they were in the service.” That is simply not true. No doubt the military practically encouraged serviceberry to smoke, but over the last couple of decades it has tried to correct that mistake.

Tobacco companies did provide free cigarettes during World War II, but that was as big a PR move as big tobacco spending billions of dollars to convince people they have some kind of constitutional right to smoke. But it was more than PR; it was an investment by hooking millions of young men that earned them billons of dollars over the years, despite the clear scientific proof of the harmful health effects of smoking.

Ridiculous ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ policy repealed

Another historic event occurred under the Obama Administration on Thursday when the U.S. House and the Senate Armed Services Committee both voted to repel the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military.

The Senate Armed Services Committee – chaired by our own Sen. Carl Levin - voted 16-12 to repeal the law. I was disappointed that Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., voted against the measure; the only Democrat to do so. Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine, was the only Republican to vote for it. Fifteen votes were needed to include the measure in the 2011 defense authorization bill.

“Today’s action by the Senate Armed Services Committee is an important step to end this discriminatory policy,” Levin told the Hill. “I believe that allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly will open the ranks to more patriotic men and women who wish to serve their country.”

I could not agree more. As I have said in the past, I spent 20 years in the Navy, and for anyone to say there are not gays in the military is stupid or they have their head in the sand. It is working fine in the armed services of some of biggest allies, like Australia, Great Britain and Norway, and it will work fine here.

According to the Hill, “under the provision, the repeal will not be implemented until the Pentagon finishes its review of how it would impact the military. President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen must first certify it can be achieved consistent with the military’s standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruitment and retention.” However, all three support repealing the ban.

Later on Thursday, the full House approved a compromise amendment sponsored by Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., to repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell” by a vote of 234-194.

The compromise allows the repeal of the policy only after “the Pentagon finishes its review of repeal implementation and the President, Gates and Mullen certify that it can be achieved consistent with the military’s standards of readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion and recruitment and retention,” according to the Hill.

The smoking lamp is not lit in all authorized spaces

In a case of “I thought we were already doing this,” or “what took you so long,” the U.S.Navy is banning smoking on submarines, and the smoking lamp will be extinguished by December 31.

Vice Adm. John Donnelly, commander of Submarine Force, announced the ban last week. In the past, smoking had been confined to certain areas on the submarine. Individual submarine commanders will still be allowed to decide if crew members are permitted to smoke on deck.

“Our sailors are our most important asset to accomplishing our missions,” Donnelly said in a story in Navy Times. “Recent testing has proven that, despite our atmosphere purification technology, there are unacceptable levels of secondhand smoke in the atmosphere of a submerged submarine. The only way to eliminate risk to our non-smoking sailors is to stop smoking aboard our submarines.“

As numerous studies have shown, there is no safe amount of secondhand smoke, and there is no ventilation system yet invented that will make it safe. If the U.S. Navy cannot do it on their most expensive warships, neither can the Detroit casinos, who tried to make the case that their ventilation systems should earn them an exception to the workplace smoking ban.
Smoking was banned from inside surface ships as early as 1989 when I served on a guided missile destroyer. Hopefully, this will also help do away with the misguided petition drive by American Legion posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts to exempt them from the that workplace smoking ban that goes into effect on May 1 because they are private clubs.

New assault on workplace smoking ban launched

The Michigan workplace smoking ban that will ban smoking in bars and restaurants will not go into effect until May 1, but there is already an attempt to weaken the law.

Apparently, there is a petition drive underway to exempt American Legion posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts from the ban because they are private clubs, and those organizing the petition drive are trying to play on patriotism to duck the ban that protects the majority of people who do not smoke from deadly secondhand smoke.

“Army veteran Mike Stapleton said clubs where those who fought to defend the freedoms of this nation gather should be exempt from the state’s smoking ban,” according to an AP report that appeared in the Grand Rapids Press.
“It’s wrong for lawmakers to tell us private clubs what to do,” said Stapleton, 61, who served in the Vietnam and Desert Storm wars.”

I could not disagree more. I am also a Desert Storm veteran, and I think veterans should follow the laws just like other citizens.

The fact is deadly secondhand smoke kills, and many veterans simply cannot go into their local VFW or Legion post because of smoking. People from Livingston County will recall the old Legion Post 141 at the corner of Grand River and M-59 that was torn down and replaced with a beautiful new club. Just the smell of smoke was so bad there that many people could not come in even when the club was empty.

Even military leaders have recognized the harmful effects of smoking, both first and secondhand smoke. My military career reflects that. Like most teens, I tried smoking, but I had quit by the time I joined the Navy.

One of the things I remember from boot camp was being woken up at 3 am. to my company commander angry because he claimed he found a cigarette butt in the head. That led him to confiscate every single cigarette and lighter from us. He would then hand them out one at a time when he granted the company a smoke break.

For the rest of boot camp that smoke break was the carrot and the stick. If we did well, we got a smoke break. If we didn’t, no smoke break. So, three or four times a day we would all pour into a small lounge attached to our barracks - smokers and non-smokers alike - and some 40 guys would choke down as many cigarettes as they could in 5 minutes. Since I was practically smoking anyway, I became a smoker, and for the next 20 years I was a heavy smoker.

Once I got to my first ship, there were few places you could not smoke, with the
exception of your rack and during General Quarters because ventilation was turned off in case of a NBC attack. The cheapest place in the world to buy cigarettes was on a U.S. Navy ship at sea because you did not pay local, state and federal taxes. The point is there was a culture of smoking.

But over the years that began to change. First, you could not smoke in the berthing compartment, and then in your work space. Finally, in 1989, the ship I was on, barred smoking inside, and you had to go outside on the weather deck to smoke. That was a few years ago, and I’m sure more restrictions have been placed on smoking since then, especially after the Surgeon General’s report.

I hope this pro-smoking effort fails, and the legislation respects the will of the people.The sacrifices veterans have made for this country should be respected, and their health should be protected.

Listen to the Generals on the ground and kill don’t ask, don’t tell

Remember not too long ago when anyone who talked about strategy in the war in Afghanistan or the unnecessary war in Iraq, the Republicans response was to “listen to the Generals on the ground.”

But they are ignoring their own advice when it comes to the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military. The Senate Armed Services Committee took testimony last week on the issue, and military commanders and civilians from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they supported President Obama's decision to do away with the ridiculous and outdated policy.

"I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens," Mullen said. "For me, personally, it comes down to integrity -- theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."

We have become accustomed to the hysteria on anything having to do with gays from the right and Republicans, and the hysteria and hypocrisy coming from Republicans did not disappoint.

Former Navy pilot Sen. John McCain‘s reaction was stunning.

In October of 2006 he had this to say on the don‘t ask, policy: "The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it," McCain said to an audience of Iowa State University students.

That day came last week, but McCain flip-flopped. In response, McCain declared himself "disappointed" in the testimony, according to the Washington Post. "At this moment of immense hardship for our armed services, we should not be seeking to overturn the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," he said bluntly, before describing it as "imperfect but effective."

Obliviously he’s facing a primary election, and he has to veer to the right.

The criticism from the Republicans on the committee is just ridiculous. I have heard them saying the military is not the place “for a social experiment.” That’s sounds like the reaction on July 26, 1948, when President Harry S. Truman issued a then-controversial executive order that called for "equality of treatment for all persons in the armed services, without regard to race, color, religion or national origin."

I spent 20 years in the Navy, and for anyone to say there are not gays in the military is stupid or they have their head in the sand. It is working fine in the armed services of some of biggest allies, like Australia, Great Britain and Norway, and it will work fine here.

The military has survived and thrived with women in traditional combat roles, and the military will not skip a beat when it does the right thing and repeals “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

I don’t know they will accomplish getting rid of that discriminatory policy, but to quote a famous sales pitch, just do it.