Fair Play

or

You Got Yours,

Now it is My Turn

You may be wondering what the Flower Child is up to today? A Blog Post entitled "Fair Play" with the picture of a Check Book.

Most readers here know that the Flower Child is an avid reader of the print media. Especially the local version - The Telegraph published in Macon, Georgia.

Yesterday, Friday, November 21st on page 7C an article headlined "Tobacco settlement is being wasted, activists claim." Nothing new about that. Just a few years after the landmark settlement was achieved on November 23, 1998 we all read about how various states were using the proceeds of this settlement to build sidewalks, etc. The list was endless, with only a pittance being used for the publically stated purpose - Smoking Preventation, especially among the younger citizens in this Country.

I quote the Friday article, "Of the $61.5 billion divided among 46 states between 2000 and 2006, only 30 percent was spent on health care, according to federal Government Accountability Office data analyzed by the Associated Press. Less than 4 percent went to anti-smoking efforts.

..........

States defend the myriad ways they have spent their tobacco money, which is still being paid out in annual installments and is expected to total $294 billion over 25 years in today's dollars. They note that no strings were attached to the settlement reached on Nov. 23, 1998, and that anti-smoking campaigns do not cost billions."

As I read this information I was fastinated. It seems that now, in 2008, corporate America has learned one thing. If the Politicans who are sworn to protect American citizens can misuse funds obtained under the guise of smoking prevention, that they, corporate America can now get into the Federal Treasury to line their own purses and/or the bank balances of their stock holders.

Meanwhile the Tobacco Industry is continuing to write checks to the various States for alledged "Smoking Prevention" programs. I would suggest that way back in 1998 that it was appropriate for the power brokers in Washington, D.C. and the various State Governments to milk an industry for the benefit of the respective Government projects. At the time this was all happening I was a Tobacco Company employee. We were told by various individuals, including talk radio that none other than an attorney by the name of Hugh Rodham, who was the lead Lawyer for the State of Florida in the Tobacco Settlement Case was able to garner $185,000.00 for each billable hour that he labored on behalf of the State of Florida. I am not against fair pay for a fair day's work, but to receive personal gain at this rate while publically stating that these funds would go toward Smoking Prevention was the most clever guise that has ever been delivered to the Tobacco Industry and also the Citizens of America.

So, now we have major corporations seeking "Bailout/Rescue" Funds from the Government. I would humbly suggest that the power brokers of big corporations have learned their lesson well.

After all, who set the paradigm?