Tobacco
> > But I stand with Justin on one thing: YOU put the > smoke to yer mouth. > YOU inhale. > What I do for the tobacco compnaies is antitrust work, not product liability defense. Though the firm does do PL defense, and I would do it for tobacco compnaies if asked. I'm a former pipe smoker myself . . . __ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
Re: Tobacco
with second-hand smoke, SOMEONE ELSE puts the smoke in your mouth and nose, while YOU have little choice but to inhale. Jim -Original Message- From: andie nachgeborenen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sat 11/1/2003 3:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Subject: [PEN-L] Tobacco > > But I stand with Justin on one thing: YOU put the > smoke to yer mouth. > YOU inhale. > What I do for the tobacco compnaies is antitrust work, not product liability defense. Though the firm does do PL defense, and I would do it for tobacco compnaies if asked. I'm a former pipe smoker myself . . . __ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
Re: Tobacco
I wasn't talking about second hand smoke... That's another topic. There are laws against smoking in public places. Nothing wrong with those. Ken. >with second-hand smoke, SOMEONE ELSE puts the smoke in your >mouth and nose, while YOU have little choice but to inhale. >Jim > > -Original Message- > From: andie nachgeborenen >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sat 11/1/2003 3:07 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: > Subject: [PEN-L] Tobacco > > > > > > > But I stand with Justin on one thing: YOU put the > > smoke to yer mouth. > > YOU inhale. > > > > What I do for the tobacco compnaies is antitrust work, > not product liability defense. Though the firm does do > PL defense, and I would do it for tobacco compnaies if > asked. > > I'm a former pipe smoker myself . . . > > __ > Do you Yahoo!? > Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears > http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/ > > >
evils of tobacco
Shouldn't it be "http://www.tobaccoevils.org" rather than "http://www.tobaccofacts.org"? We forget about the _benefits_ of tobacco: by killing people off, it allows the social security system to remain solvent longer. Also, by killing off those with weak wills, it could improve the quality of the gene pool. (This is a joke on my part, but there are actually people out there who make such an argument.) in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html Economic theories "have become little more than vain attempts to revive exploded superstitions, or sophisms like those of Mr. Malthus, calculated to lull the oppressors of mankind into a security fo everlasting triumph." -- adapted from Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Re: evils of tobacco
James Devine wrote: > We forget about the _benefits_ of tobacco: by killing people off, it allows > the social security system to remain solvent longer. Also, by killing off > those with weak wills, it could improve the quality of the gene pool. (This > is a joke on my part, but there are actually people out there who make such > an argument.) > Perhaps the most prominent is Kip Viscusi. Rumor has it that he gets a lot of money from the tobacco industry for his research that claims to show smoking is a net economic benefit. Does anyone have evidence to support this? (Evidence on tobacco money, not tobacco deaths!) Peter Dorman
Re: evils of tobacco
James Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> sez:
>We forget about the _benefits_ of tobacco: by killing people off, it
allows
>the social security system to remain solvent longer. Also, by killing
off
>those with weak wills, it could improve the quality of the gene pool.
(This
>is a joke on my part, but there are actually people out there who make
such
>an argument.)
interestingly, the brilliant comic Bill Hicks made similar on-stage
jokes---until he died of pancreatic cancer in February '94...
Daevid MacKenzie, UltimaJock!
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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usually turn up making the world safe for Fascism."---NORMAN CORWIN
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Daevid's Great Mate Hunt is on at
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Tobacco and indentured servitude
Jordan Goodman, "Tobacco in History" (Routledge Press, 1993): Little is known about the early years of the transition in the cultivation of tobacco from an Amerindian to a European crop. Certainly it was rapid and there is little doubt that in these years, and in places such as Trinidad and Venezuela, Amerindians and Europeans worked side by side. Not only was the transition period rapid, it was extremely short as the previous chapter showed. By the time tobacco began its rise in the Chesapeake the Amerindian connection with tobacco was both severed and forgotten, and its association with Europeans firmly established. The rapid transformation of tobacco from an Amerindian to a European commodity was reflected in the rapidity with which Europeans reversed the original direction of the tobacco exchange and began, increasingly, to dispense European tobacco and European smoking instruments to Amerindians. There was, however, nothing predetermined about tobaccos early connection with Europeans. That is to say, there was no particular characteristic of the plant that made it European, in contrast to sugar which, from its early beginnings in the New World, was inexorably linked to African slave labour. The contrast between tobacco and sugar in ethnic or cultural terms is one of the great and enduring themes in the history of the plant, and it needs explaining. Two main factors can account for tobaccos Europeanness. The first is economic. There were no economies of scale in tobacco cultivation: that is to say, any increase in the area of land under tobacco demanded a proportional increase in labour and capital. The economic size of the tobacco holding could therefore vary quite widely. Smallholders were not at an economic disadvantage as they were, for example, in sugar cultivation. Tobacco cultivation could thus be embedded within a European mode of agricultural production, typically the peasant or independent farmer. It is not surprising that when tobacco was grown in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was grown by the peasantry and the independent yeomanry. There is no reason to doubt, therefore, that in principle the same kind of labour system would have prevailed in New World tobacco cultivation. Indeed Dutch tobacco growers were invited to migrate to New Netherland in the seventeen century for this very reason, and all the available evidence confirms tobacco cultivation in the colony was similar to that in Holland. The problem for the Chesapeake, however, is that the colony, especially in its formative years, did not attract these kinds people, and labour shortage undermined the colonys future prospects. Not only was the flow of people to the Chesapeake slow 1,700 between 1607 and 1616 but mortality was so high as to make the settlement precarious: death rates in Jamestown varied from 46 per cent to 60 cent per annum between 1607 and 1610. The combination of open land and short free-labour supply provided fertile ground for solving the colonys problems by coercing labour through some sort of bound contract. It is at this point that the Chesapeake faced conditions that prevailed throughout the colonies further to the south were solved there by resorting to the importation of African slaves. Here then, is the second factor. Rather than turning to Africa, England turned to its own people. In England a system of servitude existed typically involving men and women aged between 13 and 25: The servant lived in the masters household under a contract norm lasting one year. The Virginia Company looked to this institution to solve its problems of labour recruitment. The indentured system in the Chesapeake was transformed by stages between 1609 1620 by which time it had elements specific to the conditions in colony as well as the changes taking place in the relationship between immigrants, the planters and the Virginia Company. Indentures lasted anywhere from four to seven years and, after the servant had repaid the cost of passage, he was, in principle, free to establish lair as an independent planter, for example. Whether in the Chesapeake or later in Bermuda and the West In indentured servitude, settlement and tobacco cultivation were inextricably linked. The flow of indentured servants to Chesapeake increased rapidly as the tobacco economy began to boom. Between 1617 and 1623, for example, at least five thousand English people emigrated to the Chesapeake. In the 1630s over ten thousand emigrated and the upward trend reached its high point in the 1650s, when an estimated 23,100 immigrated, at least two-thirds of whom were bound in servitude. After 1660 the migration of indentured servants fell back to a level 20 per cent below the peak of the 1650s, but thereafter the pool of English people willing to migrate in indenture began to shrink considerably despite efforts to attract these people to the colonies. Nevertheless, this flow, together with an appreciable decline in
[PEN-L:749] tobacco
One reason tobacco is more used elsewhere than in the U.S. was its wonderful qualities of addition. States used it to raise taxes. France, for example, forbade the planting of the crop. It was easier to control as an import. Then it used the drug as a cash cow. I would not be surprised if Eastern Europe had done the same thing. The most curious feature of smoking is its identification with intellectuals. Poets, like politicians, are often thought of as sitting in smoke filled rooms. Professors, smoking pipes. Deeply inhaling, while deeply thinking. When did that image begin? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:738] Tobacco
>Today's Financial Times has an article on how Eastern European are taking >up American smokes. Of course the marketing prowess of U.S. tobacco has a >lot to do with this, not to mention the "mystique" of America. But, why'd >so many Eastern Europeans smoke in the days when there was no advertising? > >Doug Probably for the same reason so many Russians abused vodka. If you were living in a society that you had no control over, lived in oppressively monotonous housing, had no chance of material improvement, wouldn't you take advantage of every little "kick" that came along? Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
Tobacco capital's global monopoly practices
It is not common to be able to catch monopoly capitalist companies in specific monopoly practices rather than merely activities that tend to perpetuate domination by large finance capitalist companies. But ASH, Action on Smoking and Health, http://www.ash.org.uk/ appears to have done it! >>> More damning evidence of corporate mal-practice emerges today as The Economist highlights documents revealing that British American Tobacco was engaged in price fixing negotiations with its competitors in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The documents describe meetings between BAT and its competitors, Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds at which prices were fixed in key markets the idea being to control price competition and reduce the marketing costs associated with competing with each other. The documents also show BAT executives trying to conceal what they were doing, for example by insisting that colleagues stick to verbal communication instead of writing. Clive Bates, Director of ASH, said: BAT and the others have been running a classic cartel covert anti-competitive meetings to carve up key markets to make more money with less effort. As if killing their customers isnt enough, the big tobacco companies have been ripping them off as well. ASH said this raised more questions for Kenneth Clarke, the Deputy Chairman of BAT and Tory leadership hopeful. Clarke should immediately investigate and find out if this is still going on said Bates he is the senior non-executive director at BAT and the rogue behaviour and unacceptable business practices of his company should be his over-riding concern. If he wants to concentrate on politics he should step down from BAT. If he wants to carry on at BAT, he should withdraw from politics. We want to know what Kenneth Clarke intends to do about the BAT staff that were behind this is he just going to turn a blind-eye and laugh it off, or is he going to take his corporate governance responsibilities a seriously? ASH has forwarded copies of the documents to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, with a request that the DTI investigation of BAT and its role in smuggling be extended to include price fixing. Clive Bates said: These documents show yet more misconduct from BAT with very senior personnel involved right up to board level. THE DTI should add these price fixing documents to the hundreds relating to smuggling that are already under investigation. The DTI has the power to disqualify directors and it should use these powers to tackle the people in charge at BAT. For an example see http://www.ash.org.uk/html/smuggling/pdfs/220.pdf or contact ASH Contact: Clive Bates 020 7739 5902(w) 077 6879 1237(m) 020 8800 1336(h)
Re: Tobacco and indentured servitude
Two further details on the tobacco in the Chesapeake colonies. One of the earliest and most successful of the tobacco planters in Virginia was the son of John Rolfe and Pocahontas (real name: Mataoka). He was born in England where his mother died but returned to her home in Virginia later. In Virginia tobacco, and later, receipts for tobacco, was used as money. It eventually even achieved a legal status, with the receipts usable for paying taxes. This led to an excessive cultivation of tobacco with the price crashing in the 1680s. This coincided with a major economic and social upheaval. Barkley Rosser (down here in ole' Virginny) -Original Message- From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 11:40 AM Subject: [PEN-L:4770] Tobacco and indentured servitude >Jordan Goodman, "Tobacco in History" (Routledge Press, 1993): > >Little is known about the early years of the transition in the cultivation >of tobacco from an Amerindian to a European crop. Certainly it was rapid >and there is little doubt that in these years, and in places such as >Trinidad and Venezuela, Amerindians and Europeans worked side by side. Not >only was the transition period rapid, it was extremely short as the >previous chapter showed. By the time tobacco began its rise in the >Chesapeake the Amerindian connection with tobacco was both severed and >forgotten, and its association with Europeans firmly established. The rapid >transformation of tobacco from an Amerindian to a European commodity was >reflected in the rapidity with which Europeans reversed the original >direction of the tobacco exchange and began, increasingly, to dispense >European tobacco and European smoking instruments to Amerindians. > >There was, however, nothing predetermined about tobaccos early connection >with Europeans. That is to say, there was no particular characteristic of >the plant that made it European, in contrast to sugar which, from its early >beginnings in the New World, was inexorably linked to African slave labour. >The contrast between tobacco and sugar in ethnic or cultural terms is one >of the great and enduring themes in the history of the plant, and it needs >explaining. > >Two main factors can account for tobaccos Europeanness. The first is >economic. There were no economies of scale in tobacco cultivation: that is >to say, any increase in the area of land under tobacco demanded a >proportional increase in labour and capital. The economic size of the >tobacco holding could therefore vary quite widely. Smallholders were not at >an economic disadvantage as they were, for example, in sugar cultivation. >Tobacco cultivation could thus be embedded within a European mode of >agricultural production, typically the peasant or independent farmer. It is >not surprising that when tobacco was grown in Europe in the seventeenth and >eighteenth centuries it was grown by the peasantry and the independent >yeomanry. There is no reason to doubt, therefore, that in principle the >same kind of labour system would have prevailed in New World tobacco >cultivation. Indeed Dutch tobacco growers were invited to migrate to New >Netherland in the seventeen century for this very reason, and all the >available evidence confirms tobacco cultivation in the colony was similar >to that in Holland. The problem for the Chesapeake, however, is that the >colony, especially in its formative years, did not attract these kinds >people, and labour shortage undermined the colonys future prospects. Not >only was the flow of people to the Chesapeake slow 1,700 between 1607 and >1616 but mortality was so high as to make the settlement precarious: >death rates in Jamestown varied from 46 per cent to 60 cent per annum >between 1607 and 1610. The combination of open land and short free-labour >supply provided fertile ground for solving the colonys problems by >coercing labour through some sort of bound contract. It is at this point >that the Chesapeake faced conditions that prevailed throughout the colonies >further to the south were solved there by resorting to the importation of >African slaves. Here then, is the second factor. Rather than turning to >Africa, England turned to its own people. In England a system of servitude >existed typically involving men and women aged between 13 and 25: The >servant lived in the masters household under a contract norm lasting one >year. The Virginia Company looked to this institution to solve its problems >of labour recruitment. The indentured system in the Chesapeake was >transformed by stages between 1609 1620 by which time it had elements >specific to the conditions in colony as well as the changes taking place in >the relations
Is tobacco industry the exception?
The world health organization released a report today on the action by top executives of tobacco companies to subvert WHO anti-smoking efforts. Not to demean the seriousness of the charges, but is there anything to suggest that the actions of the tobacco industry are any different from the lobby activities of other industies? Oil? Banking? Arms? Doesn't the IMF design and set in motion elaborate strategies (Structural Adjustment) to subvert public health organizations? The tobacco giants formulated an "action plan", claims the report, which identified 26 "global threats" to the industry and strategies to counter each of them. "That top executives of tobacco companies sat together to design and set in motion elaborate strategies to subvert a public health organisation is unacceptable and must be condemned," says the report. Other damaging allegations suggest that Philip Morris and British American Tobacco orchestrated a "dirty tricks" campaign to disrupt a major tobacco and health conference in 1992. These included, claimed the report, "training" journalists to both "hound a conference participant", and take over a press conference. In addition, the industry managed to place its own "consultants" at the WHO to monitor its anti-smoking efforts, secretly monitoring meetings and obtaining confidential documents. International anti-smoking campaigners Action on Smoking and Health have welcomed the report. Ash director Clive Bates said: "I think it shows that the tobacco industry is entirely unscrupulous and will stop at nothing to get its own way, breaking any boundaries of acceptable behaviour. Temps Walker Sandwichman and Deconsultant
[PEN-L:739] Re: Tobacco
Louis Proyect wrote: >Probably for the same reason so many Russians abused vodka. If you were >living in a society that you had no control over, lived in oppressively >monotonous housing, had no chance of material improvement, wouldn't you >take advantage of every little "kick" that came along? If I'm remembering my stats right, the U.S. has some of the lower smoking numbers in the northern hemisphere. So does that mean we're just the opposite of all these things? Doug
[PEN-L:745] Re: Tobacco
At 01:01 PM 8/11/98 -0400, Louis Proyect wrote: >Probably for the same reason so many Russians abused vodka. If you were >living in a society that you had no control over, lived in oppressively >monotonous housing, had no chance of material improvement, wouldn't you >take advantage of every little "kick" that came along? Lou, that is bull. Alcohol consumption in EE was deliberately encouraged under the feudal regime (which lasted until 1883) to increase the profits of landowners who also controlled alcohol production. I do not know if that that is also true for tobacco, though. Alcohol and tobacco served an important social function, though - as an ice-breaking and male-bonding ritual. My Dad who was an exec in the shipbuilding industry said that no deal with the Russians was possible without talking it over the table filled with bottles. PS. Your essay on Private Ryan was superb! Regards, Wojtek Sokolowski
[PEN-L:750] Re: tobacco
>The most curious feature of smoking is its identification with >intellectuals. Poets, like politicians, are often thought of as sitting >in smoke filled rooms. Professors, smoking pipes. Deeply inhaling, >while deeply thinking. When did that image begin? > >-- >Michael Perelman Interesting point. Back when I was a freshman at Bard College, everybody smoked. Everybody. The really cool people smokes Galuoise, which I couldn't stand the smell of. Some guy named Fortune Ryan who was always raving about Berdayev smoked Galuoises continuously. You knew he was coming from 50 feet away. The smell of the smoke gave us warning. Godard films were filled with smokers. Jean-Paul Belmondo chained-smoked in "Breathless." The screenwriter character in "Contempt" who idolized American movies--especially "Oceans 11," never let a cigarette out of his mouth. Nicaraguans smoked heavily. All the gringo computer programmers I used to bring down wore sandals, ate granola and went jogging in the morning. The Nicaraguans smoked unfiltered cigarettes, the women wore makeup and enjoyed read meat. Personally I quit smoking the day the surgeon general's report came out in 1963 linking cigarettes to cancer. I used to smoke a pack of Pall-Malls a day and really enjoyed them. Nowadays I have no bad habits except quarreling on the Internet. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:776] Re: tobacco
>The most curious feature of smoking is its identification with >intellectuals. Poets, like politicians, are often thought of as sitting >in smoke filled rooms. Professors, smoking pipes. Deeply inhaling, >while deeply thinking. When did that image begin? For one thing, I'm given to believe there's a bit of physiology at the base of it. Smoking demonstrably enhances memory (at least, in smokers) and, of course, raises blood pressure - forcing more blood through the brain, I guess. I need to smoke when I think - how much of that is addiction at play, or unconscious media-induced roleplay or physiologically enhanced acuity, I dunno - but of the enhanced acuity bit at least I'm quite convinced. Whatever lack of acuity is evident in this post, I shall put down to the draconian anti-smoking laws here (I haven't thought of an excuse for the others yet). If I were on smack, I'd get methodine for free, a clinic for the cold turkey, and a whole heap of sympathy (albeit not from everybody, of course), but I'm on nicotine - demonised whilst smoking, and always expected to give it up, smile at people and remain moderately intelligent. Which is a pity as I've tried, and am always reduced to a sociopathic inarticulate fool. In sum, as heroin is illegal, government and industry (Castell's reservations notwithstanding) make nothing out of it - so the industry is at fault and the user is the victim. As smokes are legal, enriching government and industry alike, addicts are at fault and non-addicts the victims. I've made myself so cross I have to nip out for a gasper now. Cheers, Rob.
[PEN-L:742] Re: Tobacco
There is a famous paper from the late 1940s by Radford on how cigarettes emerged spontaneously as a medium of exchange in prisoner-of-war camps in WW II. Apparently they similarly function in most jails and prisons. Anyway, under ancien regime in the Soviet bloc certain US cigarette brands functioned similarly also. There was a period of time when Kent cigarettes played this role in Romania. It was always known that for an American visitor to the USSR it was wise to take along a carton of Marlboros and some panty hose to use for getting small favors done. Barkley Rosser On Tue, 11 Aug 1998 13:01:53 -0400 Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Today's Financial Times has an article on how Eastern European are taking > >up American smokes. Of course the marketing prowess of U.S. tobacco has a > >lot to do with this, not to mention the "mystique" of America. But, why'd > >so many Eastern Europeans smoke in the days when there was no advertising? > > > >Doug > > Probably for the same reason so many Russians abused vodka. If you were > living in a society that you had no control over, lived in oppressively > monotonous housing, had no chance of material improvement, wouldn't you > take advantage of every little "kick" that came along? > > > > Louis Proyect > > (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html) > -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web site on evils of tobacco
There's a terrific new web site focusing on the evils of tobacco: The URL is http://www.tobaccofacts.org Especially useful for teachers and other moulders of minds. Sid Shniad
Re: Tobacco capital's global monopoly practices
http://www.cpusa.org/articles/Big%20Tobacco%20undermines%20the%20American%20 way.htm Big Tobacco undermines the American way Kelle Louaillier First the parade passes. Then dusk descends, the sky explodes. It's the grand annual celebration of the foundations of American ideals: freedom, equality, and democracy. The 4th of July reminds us that for all of the continuing injustices in the U.S., our country born in revolution allows us to continue to fight oppression. For many, the flag symbolizes that freedom. Yet on this day, and on every day for the past 55 years, another symbol has crept throughout the American landscape, leeching off of our ideals. The cowboy that represents "individualistic rebellion" - this desperado - has served to profit a single deadly American entity: Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco corporation. After decades of public deception and outright lies, Philip Morris still clings to this powerful symbol. It claims the Marlboro Man does not target children and young people, yet its own internal documents tell a different story. Jack Landry, the creator of the Marlboro Man, declared it was "the right image to capture the youth market's fancy." Philip Morris cloaks its defense of advertising and promotion of a deadly and addictive product in "free speech" rhetoric. By spending almost $154 million, including its prime time TV spots, to tout its philanthropy - on which it spends only 114 million dollars - Philip Morris tries desperately to bolster its public image. By hiding behind the wholesome image of its Kraft Foods division, Philip Morris attempts to buy credibility with consumers. Through political contributions totaling over $3.8 million in the 2000 election cycle, Philip Morris attempts to turn the ears of public officials away from their constituents. For Philip Morris, free speech means ensuring that its voice is heard over the people's. Less than a month ago, another national celebration took place. Led by Infact, the organization behind the Kraft Boycott, concerned community members in every state visited Philip Morris and Kraft offices. They delivered copies of Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft, and Global Tobacco Addiction. Each individual exercised his or her own right to Free speech, and demanded that the Marlboro Man be cast away. People across the U.S. are outraged by the Marlboro cowboy's global rampage. As the powerful image leads the way in spreading tobacco addiction around the world, its most deadly legacy may yet be in economically poor countries. The Marlboro Man, whether glimpsed in silhouette on an umbrella in Vietnam, or seen as peering eyes under a cowboy hat brim on a billboard in the Czech Republic, is now a prevalent American icon internationally symbolizing freedom and rebellion. Recently, tobacco addiction has increased dramatically around the world, causing an unbearable healthcare crisis in many countries as the epidemic spreads. According to the World Health Organization (WHO,) if current trends continue, by 2030 ten million people will die annually of tobacco related illnesses, making tobacco the world's leading cause of death. In response, the WHO is driving the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC,) a global tobacco treaty that could set limits on the tobacco industry's advertising and promotion, and curtail its political influence. In May, while the U.S. worked hard to undermine advertising and trade restrictions in Geneva, other nations joined together in a revolution of their own - one against corporate tyranny. Led by small Pacific Island countries, including Palau, members of the World Health Assembly (WHA,) the WHO's governing body, overcame resistance from the U.S. and other powerful countries and passed a resolution challenging tobacco transnationals' undue influence over governments and the World Health Organization. The resolution passed by the WHA calls on the WHO to monitor the impact of the political activities of the tobacco corporations, and urges governments to be open about any connections between their representatives and the tobacco industry. This is embarrassing for the U.S., whose lead delegate, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, has close ties to Philip Morris. This is all a bit distant from our parade. What remains nearby is the wholesome image Philip Morris is portraying by hiding behind its Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Kool-Aid, Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and other names that are dear Americana. Also dear were the 400,000 Americans who died last year from tobacco related diseases. What symbolizes America to you? The Marlboro Man - the cultural icon used to hook generations of young people? For those who say no, you can say it directly to Philip Morris by joining the growing national Boycott of Kraft. - Kelle Louaillier is campaign director for Infact's, which has been exposing life-threa
Re: Re: Tobacco and indentured servitude
BTW, I can't help noting for fans of chartalism on the list (more numerous over on pkt, actually) that the use of tobacco and tobacco receipts as money in colonial Virginia initially started in use as a medium of exchange in the face of a shortage of the officially approved British pounds. It was only later that the colonial government began accepting such stuff as payment for taxes (although I suspect that Michael P. would prefer not to have an outbreak of controversy on this list of the rather sectarian battles over this issue :-)). Another btw, I don't wish to offend any vegetarians on the list by wishing anybody a happy turkey day tomorrow, but I can't help noting that the county in which I reside (Rockingham, although technically in VA cities are separate from counties and so I am merely surrounded by Rockingham County but not in it) calls itself the "Turkey Capital of the World." Turns out the modern tech of turkey raising (artificial insemination and putting them in houses) was innovated here in the 1930s by a Mennonite woman (my daughter is a friend of her great-great granddaughter). But, of course, there are a lot of wisecracks regarding just who are really the turkeys around here:-). Barkley Rosser http://cob.jmu.edu/rosserjb -Original Message- From: J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 1:31 PM Subject: [PEN-L:4779] Re: Tobacco and indentured servitude > Two further details on the tobacco in the >Chesapeake colonies. >One of the earliest and most successful of >the tobacco planters in Virginia was the son of >John Rolfe and Pocahontas (real name: Mataoka). >He was born in England where his mother died >but returned to her home in Virginia later. > In Virginia tobacco, and later, receipts for >tobacco, was used as money. It eventually even >achieved a legal status, with the receipts usable >for paying taxes. This led to an excessive cultivation >of tobacco with the price crashing in the 1680s. This >coincided with a major economic and social upheaval. >Barkley Rosser >(down here in ole' Virginny) >-Original Message- >From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 11:40 AM >Subject: [PEN-L:4770] Tobacco and indentured servitude > > >>Jordan Goodman, "Tobacco in History" (Routledge Press, 1993): >> >>Little is known about the early years of the transition in the cultivation >>of tobacco from an Amerindian to a European crop. Certainly it was rapid >>and there is little doubt that in these years, and in places such as >>Trinidad and Venezuela, Amerindians and Europeans worked side by side. Not >>only was the transition period rapid, it was extremely short as the >>previous chapter showed. By the time tobacco began its rise in the >>Chesapeake the Amerindian connection with tobacco was both severed and >>forgotten, and its association with Europeans firmly established. The rapid >>transformation of tobacco from an Amerindian to a European commodity was >>reflected in the rapidity with which Europeans reversed the original >>direction of the tobacco exchange and began, increasingly, to dispense >>European tobacco and European smoking instruments to Amerindians. >> >>There was, however, nothing predetermined about tobaccos early connection >>with Europeans. That is to say, there was no particular characteristic of >>the plant that made it European, in contrast to sugar which, from its early >>beginnings in the New World, was inexorably linked to African slave labour. >>The contrast between tobacco and sugar in ethnic or cultural terms is one >>of the great and enduring themes in the history of the plant, and it needs >>explaining. >> >>Two main factors can account for tobaccos Europeanness. The first is >>economic. There were no economies of scale in tobacco cultivation: that is >>to say, any increase in the area of land under tobacco demanded a >>proportional increase in labour and capital. The economic size of the >>tobacco holding could therefore vary quite widely. Smallholders were not at >>an economic disadvantage as they were, for example, in sugar cultivation. >>Tobacco cultivation could thus be embedded within a European mode of >>agricultural production, typically the peasant or independent farmer. It is >>not surprising that when tobacco was grown in Europe in the seventeenth and >>eighteenth centuries it was grown by the peasantry and the independent >>yeomanry. There is no reason to doubt, therefore, that in principle the &
$145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital !
Glory and Honour to Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, lawyers for the class action against tobacco capital in winning the judgement today from a Florida Court of exemplary punitive damages of $145 billion for 700,000 sufferers! No matter that the companies will haggle, if allowed, for the next 75 years. No matter that this is a victory entirely in the realms of bourgeois right. Except that the right to bring a class action allows ordinary working people occasionally to outface the workings of a legal system in which justice always tilts its hands towards money. No matter that Florida has enacted a ceiling on punitive damages lest it bankrupt a company. Contesting that will only reveal more clearly the class nature of the justice system. No matter that it is a victory won in a bourgeois court by non-violent peaceful means. No matter that this victory will be diluted in practice. It is a bench mark of public outrage against capitalist control of the means of production. Marx said the following in his address to the founding congress of the Workers International "After a thirty years' struggle, fought with most admirable perseverance, the English working classes, improving a momentaneous split between the landlords and the money-lords, succeeded in carrying the Ten Hours Bill. Through their most notorious organs of science, such as Dr Ure, Professor Senior, and other sages of that stamp, the middle class [bourgeoisie] had predicted, and to their heart's content proved, that any legal restriction of the hours of labour must sound the death knell of British industry, which, vampire like, could but live by sucking blood, and children's blood too... The struggle about the legal restriction of the hours of labour raged the more fiercely since, apart from frightening avarice, it told indeed upon the great contest between the blind rule of the supply and demand laws which form the political economy of the middle class, and social production controlled by social foresight, which forms the political economy of the working class. Hence the Ten Hours Bill was not only a great practical success; it was the victory of a principle; it was the first time that in broad daylight the political economy of the middle class succumbed to the political economy of the working class." Chris Burford London
[PEN-L:740] Re: Re: Tobacco
>If I'm remembering my stats right, the U.S. has some of the lower smoking >numbers in the northern hemisphere. So does that mean we're just the >opposite of all these things? > >Doug No, what it shows is the importance of public education. The mammoth anti-smoking campaign in the US has been an important factor in reducing tobacco usage. Most enlightened drug policy spokespeople argue that cocaine, heroin and marijuana should be treated like tobacco. They should be legal and there should be extensive education about their dangers. Of course, the interesting thing is that tobacco is the most dangerous substance of all these. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
[PEN-L:411] perjury, tobacco, & Clinton
Perjury, Clinton, tobacco execs A lot of lawyers have written about perjury since Clinton's testimony came out. Most that I've seen assert that it is a terrible crime which strikes at the heart of justice and which is often prosecuted. Some say it is seldom prosecuted, and tough to convict on. I've followed the discussion from different viewing points. I make part of living, such as it is, as an expert witness. I've sat through many hearings in adminstrative law and through trials in Federal and State courts and watched witnesses skirt telling the truth. Not many tell "the whole truth." None really get challenged -- opposing lawyers try to leave the impression of incredibility. Who knows what impressions the judge forms? Twice I've witnessed outright lying -- once when everybody, including the lawyer for the witness -- agreed that it was lying. The second time the testimony was so incredible that, sitting in the audience I waited for the judge to stop it. That witness, wrapped in corporate credibility, was believed by the judge! (I say outright lying, as distinct from what most would say "that's a lie!") Still, nothing was pursued. In the world I've witnessed, telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth is rare, and failing to do it is unpunished. From another, more personal, vantage point I hold the image in my mind of the tobacco executives raising right hands and swearing to tell the truth to Congress. I doubt if anybody hearing them believed they told the truth, and there may be documents that could convict them of perjury. Which takes me to Clinton and Reno. I'm sure there was never much interest in the Clinton administration or the Reno Justice Dept. to pursue perjury charges against corporate chiefs. (Which is not to say that other Adminstrations would go after corporate criminals.) But there is an additional free pass for the tobacco executives in Clinton's woes. Clinton obviously can't be in favor of any high-profile perjury prosecutions just now. The idea that perjury should be prosecuted, just when Clinton is under that threat, is something the Justice Department is not going to pursue. So the tobacco executives will get a pass from Justice, unless Clinton is impeached. And though the House may impeach Clinton, Congress will never go after the tobacco executives. Congress does theater. Gene Coyle
Re: Web site on evils of tobacco
Evils of tobacco? What next, evils of sex? steve On Tue, 4 Nov 1997, Sid Shniad wrote: > There's a terrific new web site focusing on the evils of tobacco: > > The URL is http://www.tobaccofacts.org > > Especially useful for teachers and other moulders of minds. > > Sid Shniad >
Unique tobacco co. sales channels -- part II
Ottawa back in court against tobacco firms By KIM LUNMAN Globe and Mail Update Aug. 14, 2003 OTTAWA The federal government resurrected its legal battle against Big Tobacco yesterday to recover $1.5-billion in taxes it claims it lost to a cigarette smuggling scam during the early 1990s. "We allege [the tobacco companies] devised and implemented a scheme to make illicit profits out of the smuggling trade," said Gordon Bourgard, a Justice Department spokesman. The lawsuit, filed in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto, alleges that R.J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco groups of companies were behind the scheme. The companies named as defendants include: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International Inc., JTI-Macdonald Corp., Northern Brands International Inc., Japan Tobacco Inc., JT International SA, JTI-Macdonald TM Corp., JT Canada LLC II Inc., JT Canada LLC Inc., JT International Holding B.V., JT International B.V. and JT International (BVI) Canada Inc. In a statement issued last night, JTI-Macdonald Corp. called the government's latest lawsuit "ill conceived," noting that it had already spent $20-million on a similar claim in the United States that was dismissed. "These worn-out allegations are being pumped up by an overzealous antitobacco lobby whose very existence depends on repeatedly attacking the Canadian tobacco industry." In December of 1999, Ottawa filed a lawsuit in the United States against RJR-Macdonald Inc., claiming $1-billion (U.S.) in lost tax revenue stemming from alleged cigarette smuggling by RJR affiliates. The U.S. Federal Court dismissed the suit, stating that U.S. courts can't be used to collect taxes for another country. A U.S. appeals court later declined to hear the case and a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected last November. The new lawsuit alleges that the defendants used the St. Regis Mohawk/Akwesasne reserve on the Canada-U.S. border as "a funnel for the smuggling of RJR-Macdonald's tobacco products. "The conspirators [RJR-Macdonald and RJR International] agreed and conspired together to implement an unlawful scheme, the purpose of which was to injure the plaintiff, deprive the plaintiff of excise and import tax revenues and force the rollback of Canadian excise taxes and duties." In the early 1990s, increased taxes in Canada doubled the price of cigarettes. Tobacco products cost half as much in the United States, creating a huge black market for the product. "This is good news," said Garfield Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, which has been lobbying the government to pursue the case. "The health community is extremely pleased the Attorney-General has filed this lawsuit." In March, eight top tobacco executives with JTI-Macdonald Corp. (formerly known as RJR-Macdonald) were charged in Toronto with fraud and conspiracy after a four-year RCMP investigation into what has been described as "an unholy alliance" between the tobacco giant and smugglers. Ottawa launched the first lawsuit with fanfare in late 1999, alleging that the company ran a vast illegal smuggling operation designed to thwart federal efforts to deter Canadian teens from smoking. According to court documents, Ottawa alleges that the tobacco company and related firms began extensive smuggling operations in the early 1990s that involved shipping products to the United States and then smuggling them into Canada through the St. Regis Mohawk reservation. Mohawk territory -- the St. Regis reservation in New York state, the Akwesasne reserve on the Canadian side -- straddles the international border and the Quebec-Ontario boundary.
RE: $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital !
A not too-well recognized hero in this whole struggle is Stanton Glantz at Stanford University. He has been instrumental in bringing secret corporate documents of the big tobacco companies into the light of day and also in promoting the perspective that anti-smoking means a critique of corporate power, not a moralistic crusade against individual bad habits. This information and perspective have created a sea-change in how cases such at the one in Florida are viewed by members of juries. Back in the 60's he was part of the Science for the People group that criticized Stanfords affiliation with the war-fare state, e.g., SRI, the Hoover Institute, etc. Golly, I guess one of those people who has felt accountable for his actions through-out his life-cycle (not to push a sore point). A tribute to his effectiveness is that a few years ago an Act of Congress was actually passed to ban the funding of one of his grants funded here at NCI. He wanted to investigate how big tobacco money is used to influence state legislation. There is a ban against any research funding of operations of the federal government, but this does not apply to state governments. The grant went through the standard peer review process and was highly ranked. So tobacco interested had to get their bought-off congressional lackeys to "defund" it. -Original Message- From: Chris Burford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 4:49 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:21714] $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital ! Glory and Honour to Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, lawyers for the class action against tobacco capital in winning the judgement today from a Florida Court of exemplary punitive damages of $145 billion for 700,000 sufferers! No matter that the companies will haggle, if allowed, for the next 75 years. No matter that this is a victory entirely in the realms of bourgeois right. Except that the right to bring a class action allows ordinary working people occasionally to outface the workings of a legal system in which justice always tilts its hands towards money. No matter that Florida has enacted a ceiling on punitive damages lest it bankrupt a company. Contesting that will only reveal more clearly the class nature of the justice system. No matter that it is a victory won in a bourgeois court by non-violent peaceful means. No matter that this victory will be diluted in practice. It is a bench mark of public outrage against capitalist control of the means of production. Marx said the following in his address to the founding congress of the Workers International "After a thirty years' struggle, fought with most admirable perseverance, the English working classes, improving a momentaneous split between the landlords and the money-lords, succeeded in carrying the Ten Hours Bill. Through their most notorious organs of science, such as Dr Ure, Professor Senior, and other sages of that stamp, the middle class [bourgeoisie] had predicted, and to their heart's content proved, that any legal restriction of the hours of labour must sound the death knell of British industry, which, vampire like, could but live by sucking blood, and children's blood too... The struggle about the legal restriction of the hours of labour raged the more fiercely since, apart from frightening avarice, it told indeed upon the great contest between the blind rule of the supply and demand laws which form the political economy of the middle class, and social production controlled by social foresight, which forms the political economy of the working class. Hence the Ten Hours Bill was not only a great practical success; it was the victory of a principle; it was the first time that in broad daylight the political economy of the middle class succumbed to the political economy of the working class." Chris Burford London
Re: RE: $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital !
Martin, I did not know that Glantz was part of your group. Yes, he showed enormous integrity. What is more surprising is that his case was perhaps the only time I know of where the administration of the University of California acted with integrity and courage. "Brown, Martin (NCI)" wrote: > A not too-well recognized hero in this whole struggle is Stanton Glantz at > Stanford University. He has been instrumental in bringing secret corporate > documents of the big tobacco companies into the light of day and also in > promoting the perspective that anti-smoking means a critique of corporate > power, not a moralistic crusade against individual bad habits. This > information and perspective have created a sea-change in how cases such at > the one in Florida are viewed by members of juries. Back in the 60's he was > part of the Science for the People group that criticized Stanfords > affiliation with the war-fare state, e.g., SRI, the Hoover Institute, etc. > Golly, I guess one of those people who has felt accountable for his actions > through-out his life-cycle (not to push a sore point). A tribute to his > effectiveness is that a few years ago an Act of Congress was actually passed > to ban the funding of one of his grants funded here at NCI. He wanted to > investigate how big tobacco money is used to influence state legislation. > There is a ban against any research funding of operations of the federal > government, but this does not apply to state governments. The grant went > through the standard peer review process and was highly ranked. So tobacco > interested had to get their bought-off congressional lackeys to "defund" it. > > -Original Message- > From: Chris Burford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 4:49 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:21714] $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital ! > > Glory and Honour to Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, lawyers for the class > action against tobacco capital in winning the judgement today from a > Florida Court of exemplary punitive damages of $145 billion for 700,000 > sufferers! > > No matter that the companies will haggle, if allowed, for the next 75 years. > > No matter that this is a victory entirely in the realms of bourgeois right. > Except that the right to bring a class action allows ordinary working > people occasionally to outface the workings of a legal system in which > justice always tilts its hands towards money. > > No matter that Florida has enacted a ceiling on punitive damages lest it > bankrupt a company. Contesting that will only reveal more clearly the class > nature of the justice system. > > No matter that it is a victory won in a bourgeois court by non-violent > peaceful means. > > No matter that this victory will be diluted in practice. It is a bench mark > of public outrage against capitalist control of the means of production. > > Marx said the following in his address to the founding congress of the > Workers International > > "After a thirty years' struggle, fought with most admirable perseverance, > the English working classes, improving a momentaneous split between the > landlords and the money-lords, succeeded in carrying the Ten Hours Bill. > > > Through their most notorious organs of science, such as Dr Ure, Professor > Senior, and other sages of that stamp, the middle class [bourgeoisie] had > predicted, and to their heart's content proved, that any legal restriction > of the hours of labour must sound the death knell of British industry, > which, vampire like, could but live by sucking blood, and children's blood > too... > > The struggle about the legal restriction of the hours of labour raged the > more fiercely since, apart from frightening avarice, it told indeed upon > the great contest between the blind rule of the supply and demand laws > which form the political economy of the middle class, and social production > controlled by social foresight, which forms the political economy of the > working class. Hence the Ten Hours Bill was not only a great practical > success; it was the victory of a principle; it was the first time that in > broad daylight the political economy of the middle class succumbed to the > political economy of the working class." > > Chris Burford > > London -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: RE: $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital !
At 17:27 14/07/00 -0400, you wrote: >A not too-well recognized hero in this whole struggle has been >instrumental in >promoting the perspective that anti-smoking means a critique of corporate >power, not a moralistic crusade against individual bad habits. That is where a marxist perspective can inform and transform struggles. That is not to say he was a marxist for public, or indeed private record. An old member of the South African Communist Party once said to me they had a saying that the best people were communists without knowing it. The point is that this is a strategic theoretical perspective that links literally millions of personal tragedies with a materially-based class analysis of who is the main enemy and how to unite the overwhelming majority of people against that main enemy. And it works even in the belly of the beast, the USA. Of course sometimes at great cost. Chris Burford London
[PEN-L:323] [Fwd: TIAA-CREF Tobacco Divestment]
I beg pardon for useless or otherwise crosslisting this. A mass mailing seemed efficient. As I am writing about accountability in the apparel business as we speak, so to say, if I have inconvenienced or offended you, fire away. It is, I note, six years, three months, 24 days since my last puff. Bob -- Robert J.S. Ross, Ph.D508 793 7376 Professor and Chair of Sociology fax: 508 793 8816 Clark University Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 950 Main Street Http://Www.clarku.edu/~rross Worcester, MA 01610 Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 30 Sep 1998 22:00:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 22:00:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Eugene Feingold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: TIAA-CREF Tobacco Divestment To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] HELP SPREAD THE WORD: THERE'S ANOTHER CHANCE, IN EARLY OCTOBER, TO VOTE FOR GETTING EDUCATORS' CREF RETIREMENT SAVINGS OUT OF LETHAL TOBACCO Former Surgeon General C.Everett Koop, M.D., is co-sponsoring a tobacco divestment proposal which nearly two million CREF participants will have a chance to vote on this October. TIAA-CREF has confirmed that our proposal will appear on the mail-in ballot which CREF participants should receive in early October. If you have not received TIAA-CREF's mailing by October 15, phone them (800, 842-2733) to request it. In a supporting statement that will be included in the CREF mailing, Dr. Koop and his three co-sponsors declare it is financially risky and ethically outrageous that CREF has invested nearly $2 billion of educators' retirement savings in "tobacco products which when used as directed produce disease and premature death for a third of their longtime users, including our own students." The proposal calls for CREF to "begin an orderly divestment of all tobacco investments." Please be sure to vote FOR our proposal. If you can, use e-mail to urge your friends and colleagues to vote for it. Call prospective voters' attention to the fact that the issue will be on the ballot by making announcements at campus meetings and/or sending press releases or letters to the editor to campus newspapers. And consider attending the CREF annual meeting (10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10, in the TIAA-CREF building, 730 Third Ave., New York City), to ask questions and/or speak for tobacco divestment. The TIAA-CREF mailing will include instructions about requesting a ticket to the annual meeting. Last year support for CREF tobacco divestment increased significantly. With your active help we can win this battle to end collegiate camouflage for cancer ! From: Educators for Tobacco-Free Investments by TIAA-CREF, Box 4151, Ann Arbor, MI 48106; Phone (734), 662-8788; FAX (734) 662-2713.
RE: Re: RE: $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital !
A sister group at Stanford. Both groups published "expose" pamphlets about UC and Stanford respectively. You know, youthful indiscretions we should now be ashamed of. I think you are right that he is now at UC not Stanford. -Original Message- From: Michael Perelman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 5:41 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:21724] Re: RE: $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital ! Martin, I did not know that Glantz was part of your group. Yes, he showed enormous integrity. What is more surprising is that his case was perhaps the only time I know of where the administration of the University of California acted with integrity and courage. "Brown, Martin (NCI)" wrote: > A not too-well recognized hero in this whole struggle is Stanton Glantz at > Stanford University. He has been instrumental in bringing secret corporate > documents of the big tobacco companies into the light of day and also in > promoting the perspective that anti-smoking means a critique of corporate > power, not a moralistic crusade against individual bad habits. This > information and perspective have created a sea-change in how cases such at > the one in Florida are viewed by members of juries. Back in the 60's he was > part of the Science for the People group that criticized Stanfords > affiliation with the war-fare state, e.g., SRI, the Hoover Institute, etc. > Golly, I guess one of those people who has felt accountable for his actions > through-out his life-cycle (not to push a sore point). A tribute to his > effectiveness is that a few years ago an Act of Congress was actually passed > to ban the funding of one of his grants funded here at NCI. He wanted to > investigate how big tobacco money is used to influence state legislation. > There is a ban against any research funding of operations of the federal > government, but this does not apply to state governments. The grant went > through the standard peer review process and was highly ranked. So tobacco > interested had to get their bought-off congressional lackeys to "defund" it. > > -Original Message- > From: Chris Burford [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 4:49 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:21714] $145 billion fine for Tobacco Capital ! > > Glory and Honour to Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, lawyers for the class > action against tobacco capital in winning the judgement today from a > Florida Court of exemplary punitive damages of $145 billion for 700,000 > sufferers! > > No matter that the companies will haggle, if allowed, for the next 75 years. > > No matter that this is a victory entirely in the realms of bourgeois right. > Except that the right to bring a class action allows ordinary working > people occasionally to outface the workings of a legal system in which > justice always tilts its hands towards money. > > No matter that Florida has enacted a ceiling on punitive damages lest it > bankrupt a company. Contesting that will only reveal more clearly the class > nature of the justice system. > > No matter that it is a victory won in a bourgeois court by non-violent > peaceful means. > > No matter that this victory will be diluted in practice. It is a bench mark > of public outrage against capitalist control of the means of production. > > Marx said the following in his address to the founding congress of the > Workers International > > "After a thirty years' struggle, fought with most admirable perseverance, > the English working classes, improving a momentaneous split between the > landlords and the money-lords, succeeded in carrying the Ten Hours Bill. > > > Through their most notorious organs of science, such as Dr Ure, Professor > Senior, and other sages of that stamp, the middle class [bourgeoisie] had > predicted, and to their heart's content proved, that any legal restriction > of the hours of labour must sound the death knell of British industry, > which, vampire like, could but live by sucking blood, and children's blood > too... > > The struggle about the legal restriction of the hours of labour raged the > more fiercely since, apart from frightening avarice, it told indeed upon > the great contest between the blind rule of the supply and demand laws > which form the political economy of the middle class, and social production > controlled by social foresight, which forms the political economy of the > working class. Hence the Ten Hours Bill was not only a great practical > success; it was the victory of a principle; it was the first time that in > broad daylight the political economy of the middle class succumbed to the > political economy of the working class." > > Chris Burford > > London -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:348] Query: PolEcon studies of tobacco trade
Hi folks: Does anyone know of good articles on the political economy of the tobacco and cigarette trade, particularly as it relates trade/investment liberalization? Jeff
[PEN-L:8043] Re: Tobacco advertising to end in UK
The tobacco industry, a state monopoly, is very powerful in China. China is the biggest market for international tobaco. On this issue, China is among the most backward nation in the world, although smoking has recently been banned in public places in major cities. The reason for this backwardness can be traced to the use of tabacco by veteran revolutionaries to help them withstand the hardship of their early struggles underground. And after the revolution, by the time tobacco smoking is universally recognized as generally not benign, the leadership was unable to deal objectively with the problem. When elders do, youth follows. Instead of bogus human rights issues, it would be more constructive for progressives of the world to pressure China to face its tobbacco curse. Henry C.K. Liu Chris Burford wrote: > The UK government is to issue regulations today which will end tobacco > advertising on hoardings and in magazines by the end of the year. This is 2 > years earlier than the EU deadline. > > There are embarrassments for Blair in this, because there will be > extensions for certain sports including motor racing. Ecclestone, a racing > capitalist, gave New Labour 1 million pounds. > > But hypocrisy is hypocrisy, and cannot be eliminated from politics, only > made bare. What do we expect? > > The good news is that this is further progress for what Marx called "social > production controlled by social foresight". > > Perhaps I will quote the wider passage from his inaugural address to the > First International 1964. > > A word of caution: in this context "middle class" means the capitalist > class, not, as today, the educated layer of the working class who are > "class conscious" in the negative sense of the term. > > "The struggle about the legal restriction of the hours of labour raged the > more fiercely since, apart from frightened avarice, it told indeed upon the > great contest between the blind rule of supply and demand laws which form > the political economy of the middle class, and social production controlled > by social foresight, which from the political economy of the working class. > Hence the Ten Hours' Bill was not only a great practical success; it was > the victory of the middle class succumbed to the political economy of the > working class." > > Chris Burford > > London
[PEN-L:414] Kenneth Starr and the tobacco connection (fwd)
Forwarded message: >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Jul 31 19:40:28 1998 Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 19:05:28 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Sid Shniad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Kenneth Starr and the tobacco connection Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Status: X-UID: 471 The Los Angeles Times Tuesday, July 28, 1998 COLUMN LEFT Setting Fire to Tobacco Legislation Kenneth Starr lives in a glass house when it comes to conflicting duties. By ROBERT SCHEER They should name a new cigarette brand after Kenneth Starr. One aimed at adolescent smokers who might thereby be better able to recall the independent counsel when they get lung cancer. Whatever his motives, and they may be as varied as they are murky, the gutting of anti-tobacco legislation has been the main achievement of Starr's constant efforts to undermine Bill Clinton. No group has benefited as much from the weakening of this president as the tobacco industry, which employs Starr as a legal hit man. Clinton is the first president to seriously try to bring the tobacco industry to heel, particularly in its seduction of the young. The failure of that effort at the hands of the GOP is his most stunning defeat. It's unconscionable that Starr, while so aggressively pursuing the president, represents Big Tobacco when its very fate is being decided in the battle between the president and the pro-tobacco, Republican-controlled Congress. The toadying of the Republican leadership can be explained by the huge contributions of the tobacco lobby, which treats the Democratic Party as its worst enemy. Recently, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), Big Tobacco's most indefatigable foe, revealed that the tobacco companies routinely make their corporate jets available for leading Republicans, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. When I asked Waxman to explain Congress' failure to pass tobacco regulation, he replied: "The tobacco industry is Washington's most powerful special interest. It gives millions more in campaign contributions than any other industry. Its fleet of private jets has become the official airline of the Republican Party. And when the companies wanted to be sure to get President Clinton's attention, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. hired Ken Starr--the one man with unlimited power to investigate the president--to be their lawyer." Starr's conflict of interest is long-standing. In 1995, when he was investigating Clinton's involvement in Whitewater, he represented Brown & Williamson in a lawsuit against Waxman and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The members of Congress had revealed that Brown & Williamson had known for 30 years that nicotine was addictive but had concealed that information from the public. Joseph A. Califano Jr., who was Health secretary in the Carter administration, testified that had that information been known at the time, "the 1979 surgeon-general's report would have found cigarettes addictive, and we would have moved to regulate them." The surgeon-general did not rule that cigarettes are addictive until 1988. Smoking causes 400,000 deaths a year; I leave it to readers to do the depressing math here. Not at all contrite, Brown & Williamson took the offensive and said that internal company documents were leaked by a paralegal employee which, Starr argued unsuccessfully before an appellate court in 1995, violated attorney-client privilege. This is the same Starr who seeks to bring Clinton's lawyer before a grand jury, attorney-client privilege be damned. If Starr had been on the other side of the tobacco debate, it's doubtful that he would have gotten the special prosecutor appointment at all. He was chosen by a three-judge panel led by David B. Sentelle, a hometown protege of North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, Big Tobacco's most loyal soldier; Helms had sponsored Sentelle, a former county Republican chairman in North Carolina, for the federal bench. Just prior to Starr's appointment, Sentelle had lunch on Capitol Hill with Helms and Lauch Faircloth, another pro-tobacco senator from North Carolina. It was Faircloth who had led the attack on Robert Fiske, Starr's predecessor as Whitewater independent counsel. Fiske, a Republican and a respected leader of the American Bar Assn., who unlike Starr took a leave of absence from his law practice, was removed on the grounds that his appointment by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno created the appearance, though not the fact, of a conflict of interest. Clearly, Starr has both. Shortly after Starr's appointment, Sentelle's wife went to work in Faircloth's Senate office. It is Sentelle who has since approved th
[PEN-L:372] Re: Query: PolEcon studies of tobacco trade
>Hi folks: > >Does anyone know of good articles on the political economy of the tobacco >and cigarette trade, particularly as it relates trade/investment >liberalization? > >Jeff This may be outside of what you are looking for, but Gary Becker did an article on cigarette addiction and how to price to take advantage of that. I believe it was in the AER. Can't find it amongst the litter here. If you want it and can't find it, let me know and I'll go down another layer. Gene Coyle
[PEN-L:373] Re: Re: Query: PolEcon studies of tobacco trade
Becker, Gary and Kevin M. Murphy. 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction." Journal of Political Economy, 96 (August): pp. 675-700; and Stigler and Becker.They argue that addicts are rational, forward looking utility maximizers, who make decisions in light of full knowledge of the consequences of their addiction. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
