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• Fewer raise tobacco after federal buyout  

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Second attempt at a smoke-free campus fails  

EDITORIAL: Rules for civility are not genocide 

• PITTS: Hitler comparisons vandalize our national memory  

Requiring him to put up no-smoking signs, is, he reiterated, “very similar” to requiring Jews to wear yellow stars. “It might be smoking today, it might be Big Macs tomorrow, then Coca-Colas the next day, then Jack Daniel’s, then we’re in trouble.”

Yes, he actually said that. And one can’t help but recall the famous thing Martin Niemöller said about the Holocaust: “First they came for the Big Macs, and I did not speak out — because I did not eat at McDonald’s. . . .

For what it’s worth, the experience of a Jew in the Holocaust and a smoker in America are comparable in only one regard: the death toll. The Nazis killed six million Jews in 12 years. Cigarettes kill that many Americans every 13 and a half. Of course, a smoker has a choice. A Jew had none.

And the idea of equating the two is ridiculous, offensive and unworthy of serious people. That should go without saying.

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Anne Lieberman: Raese understands how freedom is lost  

There are many things we can learn from the Holocaust.

One of them is the importance of equal freedom under the law. I believe that was John Raese's point, and it's a shame that it was entirely missed, because it does bear directly on what's at stake in our own elections.

Every day we Jews have to decide what is meant by "Never Again."

It's time West Virginians decide whether Mountaineers are always free, or if that's just a dusty old slogan, devoid of meaning.

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Raese's Nazi-smoking analogy criticized 

A video of Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Raese making an analogy between smoking regulations and the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany has gone viral, and national Jewish and Democratic groups strongly criticized the remarks.

Raese told the Gazette Thursday that he stands by the comments, saying, "I don't see anything that's incorrect in any of the statements I made. It's all very factual."

In the video, apparently recorded at a campaign event in Putnam County last week and posted on YouTube, the Morgantown businessman decries smoking regulations in his home county, saying he doesn't want government telling him what he can or cannot do.

"In Monongalia County you can't smoke a cigarette, you can't smoke a cigar, you can't do anything, and I oppose that because I believe in everybody's individual freedoms and everybody's individual rights to do what they want to do, and I'm a conservative and that's the way that goes," Raese says in the video.

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• Raese blasted for Hitler comment  

Raese defended his statements Thursday.

Raese, a Morgantown industrialist, spoke at the dinner about how he doesn't want government telling him what he can or can't do "because I'm an American."

"But in Monongalia County now, I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke-free environment," Raese said. "This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County. OK?

"Remember Hitler used to put Star of David on everybody's lapel, remember that?" Raese said. "Same thing." . . .

He later added, "I'm not apologizing to anybody or any organization. It's my perfect right to make a speech about meaningful subject matters in this country."

Raese sternly dismissed the firestorm and blamed it on U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, who Raese accused of playing "gotcha." Raese said a person with a camera was following him around, a tactic that campaigns in major races use to try to embarrass the other side. Raese's remarks were posted on YouTube by the user "Raese Flubs" and first reported by Politico. Raese is aiming to beat Manchin, D-W.Va., this fall. A story about the remarks was the top story Thursday morning at The Huffington Post, a left-leaning news site.

"I am not going to be intimidated by a bunch of bullshit," Raese said.

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• GOP Candidate Equates Smoking Ban to Nazi Policy 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced West Virginia GOP Senate candidate John Raese on Thursday for equating a smoking ban to Hitler’s policy of forcing Jews to wear the Star of David.

A video posted on Youtube shows Raese saying that requiring stickers on buildings declaring them smoke-free is like how “Hitler used to put a Star of David on everybody’s lapel.”

“This inappropriate comparison betrays an ignorance of what really happened in Nazi Germany, and demonstrates a callousness to the millions of Jews murdered by Hitler’s Third Reich,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center, and Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs. “It compares signs that are meant to protect people’s health with the yellow stars designed to dehumanize and degrade millions of Jews by a racist, genocidal regime,” they added.

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center has spoken out against the manipulation and distortion of the Holocaust for political purposes in the past by the left and right, and we hope that Mr. Raese’s colleagues and fellow citizens in West Virginia will register their disgust at this inappropriate analogy,” concluded Weitzman and Cooper.

Raese, however, said that he didn’t care about the Wiesenthal Center’s reaction and said he was just “reciting history.”

“I don’t see anything that’s incorrect in any of the statements I made. It’s all very factual,” he said.

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• VIDEO: John Raese Equates Smoking Ban To Hitler Policy 

John Raese, running for U.S. Senate as a Republican in West Virginia, equated a county smoking ban with Hitler forcing Jews to wear the Star of David at a recent Republican event.

Speaking in Hurricane, W.Va., last Thursday at the Putnam County Lincoln Day Dinner, Raese turned to Monongalia County's recently enacted smoking ban as an example of government overreach.

"But in Monongalia County now, I have to put a huge sticker on my buildings to say this is a smoke-free environment. This is brought to you by the government of Monongalia County. Okay?" he said. "Remember Hitler used to put Star of David on everybody’s lapel, remember that? Same thing."

Later on in the video, Raese calls President Franklin D. Roosevelt "General Roosevelt" and "Fidel Roosevelt."

Asked by Politico about the Nazi comparison, he said: "No, this is not a standard line, nor a misstatement. It is a loss of freedom. As Ronald Reagan once said, there is no such thing as partial freedom, there is only freedom."

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Committee advances ban on Haddad park smoking  

KABLER: Statehouse beat: Smoking gets some clarifying 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In its 4-1 ruling in Harrison County Fraternal and Service Association vs. Harrison-Clarksburg Board of Health, the state Supreme Court appears to have clarified that health department regulations banning smoking in public places take priority over a long-misinterpreted state regulation that has permitted smoking in bingo halls and charitable raffles.

Affirming a circuit court order denying an exception to the Harrison County smoking ban for the fraternal groups, the high court appears to have corrected a 2003 decision that misinterpreted a 1993 law that was intended to require larger bingo and raffle operations to provide non-smoking sections.

In the 2003 ruling, the Supreme Court misinterpreted that law to conclude that, under state law, smoking could not be prohibited in such locations. . . .

While it's the fault of our timid Legislature that West Virginia is one of a minority of states without a statewide smoking ban, even our legislators are not likely to go against the groundswell of public opinion and indisputable scientific evidence to enact pro-smoking legislation in this day and age.

Ironically, it should be noted that the author of the 2003 opinion, Justice Joseph Albright, died of esophageal cancer caused by smoking in 2009.

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WVU Officials Asking 'What Do You Think About Possible Smoking Ban" 

WVU Could Go Smoke Free 

Smoking Ban Proposal Could Include Most Charleston Parks 

Does Supreme Court decision on smoking apply to bingo?