Mike Angwin wrote in a message to All:
 MA>       Has anyone raised objections to the pending settlements 
 MA> with the tobacco industry? 
Sure.  In the 10TH_AMD echo...   
 MA> It has just occured to me this is a ground breaking act that 
 MA> may prove to be the sort of history making event that we will 
 MA> all live to regret.
I've been thinking that all along.
 MA>       Consider, for a moment, what we are talking about here.  
 MA> Government is selling our right to just compensation and civil 
 MA> litigation.  Your spouse and mine, our children, if by some 
 MA> chance we should die or be disabled due to the effects of 
 MA> tobacco, will be foreever denied the fundamental right of 
 MA> taking a tobacco company to court, despite whatever evidence 
 MA> and strength of a case we may have, and receiving just 
 MA> compensation.
Not only that,  it also makes one hell of a lot of targets all of a sudden 
for the politicians to focus on,  if they get away with this one.  I was 
actually happy to see the rift between who was it,  Florida?  And the other 
parties in their suit...
 MA>       Once this door is opened what will follow? 
Lots and lots of assumed liability on the part of *anyone* who could be 
considered to be supplying products or services that could be in any way 
dangerous to "the public".  I've seen joking references to fast food places 
being next,  but how long do you think before all of the firearms 
manufacturers that are supplying the civilian market get involved in this 
crap?  And when _that_ goes down,  it won't be just for cash settlements, 
either...
 MA> Will airlines, pharmacutical compaines, who knows who be lining 
 MA> up in Washington and the state capitols seeking to buy immunity 
 MA> from civil liabilities from politicians desperate for cash to 
 MA> fund their pet programs?
You know what this brings to mind?  A scenario that'll end up like the 
situation in Japan,  where large businesses and government are *very* tied 
together,  very much different than what we have now.  And you know whose 
interests are best served in such a context.  And you know what kind of a 
culture (elite vs. serfs,  for those who aren't seeing it) that sort of a 
situation calls for,  and _needs_ to thrive.  Think about what that would 
require to come about in this country (things like removal of weaponry from 
private hands,  acceptance by the general population of a lot of crap we 
didn't used to put up with,  etc.) and see how much of that might not be 
happening NOW.
 MA>       I haven't seen this question raised by anyone and it has 
 MA> always been my belief that the right of each citizen to seek 
 MA> compensation for harm done him by anyone to be one of the most 
 MA> fundamental rights we have.  This appears to be heavy stuff!
Well,  it goes along with the way that the rest of our rights are being 
stepped on,  abridged,  infringed,  etc.
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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