China Lights Up.

Two bewildering stories relating to tobacco have come out of China recently, and both make me glad to live in the USA:

1. The Gongan county government of central China has ordered civil servants in the area "[...] to puff their way through 230,000 packs of local Hubei-produced cigarettes over the year," or face a fine. Contradictory to the central government's policies intended to curb smoking, this edict is an effort to stem losses of tobacco tax revenue to non-local cigarette producers. The edict has since been put "under study" to determine if it should be in place or not.

2. Tong Liangliang, a two-year old from China, now holds the unofficial record of being the youngest chain-smoker in history. Liangliang (pictured above) was pushed to smoking by his father, who believed that the cigarettes would numb the pain of the boy's hernia until he grew old enough to have an operation for the condition. Liangliang's smoking began about six months ago, but he is already smoking a pack a day and "[...] resists all his father's attempts to take away his only pain killer."

An Effect of a Ban on Indoor Smoking

An email from my Aunt Marcia (I have no idea when she is quoting and when she is using her own words, so I will just give you the entire email):
"Heart Attack Rates Still Fall 3 Years After Indoor Smoking Bans

Myocardial infarction rates continue to fall 3 years after indoor smoking bans are implemented, according to a study in MMWR [Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report].

The CDC notes that nine studies have shown quick drops in hospitalizations for myocardial infarctions after laws go into effect prohibiting smoking at work and in public places, but the report is the first to show this reduction continues for several years.

The study examined the rate of hospitalization for myocardial infarction in Pueblo, Colorado, after a smoke-free ordinance took effect in 2003. Rates dropped 27% in the first 18 months and an additional 19% in the next 18 months.

'These findings provide support for considering smoke-free policies an important component of interventions to prevent heart disease morbidity and mortality,' the CDC concluded."

Don't burn tobacco; burn Jews!

Before reading this Wikipedia page I had no idea that Hitler hated anything more than minorities. It is also nice to see that not only did Hitler carry out one of the worst genocides in history, but he managed to turn smoking into a taboo based on discriminatory views on women, using the argument that "Women who smoked were considered to be vulnerable to premature aging and loss of physical attractiveness; they were viewed as unsuitable to be wives and mothers in a German family." I hate it when evil people get some things right (the non-smoking thing, not the sexism thing).

Hitler was evil, but had this one good campaign (I know that one could argue that the reconstruction of a German identity was a good thing, but for the sake of a comedic argument let's assume this was his only good campaign). Who best epitomizes the reverse of this? That is, which good person in a very public position has openly endorsed, supported, and/or led a campaign based on ignorant hatred? I am struggling to come up with a decent example of the type of person about which I am thinking. Any thoughts?