A two-pack-a-day non-filtered guy, LBJ complained over the next four years to Califano—a three-pack-a-day smoker who would become the anti-smoking czar under Jimmy Carter as Secretary of HEW—that he couldn’t wait to leave the Oval Office, return to Austin, and start smoking again.

Owing to a familial bad heart, Lyndon checked out in January 1973—after, it should be said, he voted for Richard Nixon in 1972.

Franklin Roosevelt was restricted by his doctor to six cigarettes a day, in 1944.

Now: both presidents died at age 64, which might embolden the anti-smoking movement’s advocates. Au contraire! Both men led a stressful presidency, and the DNA of both LBJ and FDR suggests they lived to the maximum age, given all factors of their lives.

Al Gore and president-elect Obama still sneak a cig.

The health facists would have you believe that smoking, on its own, will kill you. Not necessarily so. A healthy diet combats any perceived ills of nicotine consumption.

Yours, in the continuing challenge of popular assumptions—

Look around: there is an “overweight America” surrounding you (and me).

Give a discount for cigarette smoking.

Fight the smoke Nazis.

Bloomberg is fat, because he stopped smoking. He’ll sooner die of heart disease, owing to his being overweight.