Posted on 03/01/2005 10:37:37 AM PST by SheLion
(Updates with judge's order)
WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Government efforts to penalize cigarette makers are severely constrained by a recent appeals court ruling that rejected any disgorgement of past industry profits, the trial judge in the tobacco racketeering suit said on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said government efforts to pursue other remedies, like funding smoking cessation programs, were also undercut by the Feb. 4 appeals court opinion that ruled out a $280 billion disgorgement.
The trial has been underway since September, with the government calling dozens of witnesses to argue that cigarette makers violated U.S. racketeering laws by conspiring to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.
The appeals court opinion, written by judge David Sentelle, bars Kessler from imposing any remedies designed "to prevent and restrain the effects of past (wrongdoing)."
In her written order on Monday, Kessler said the Justice Department was continuing to argue for tough remedies against the industry "as if judge Sentelle had never written his opinion."
Saying she strenuously disagreed with the 2-1 appeals court ruling, Kessler said it would be "premature" to rule out any of the government's remedies because government lawyers still could make arguments other than the ones already offered.
"The fact of the matter is that those arguments were rejected by Judge Sentelle in his 2-1 opinion and are simply not the law to be followed at this time," Kessler wrote.
Despite the appeals court ruling, the government has said it would continue to seek other potentially costly remedies, including youth smoking prevention programs.
Government lawyers have said they plan to seek a rehearing of the disgorgement issue before the entire appeals court and possibly even the U.S. Supreme Court.
In her order, Kessler instructed lawyers for the tobacco industry to begin presenting evidence in their defense on March 7, weeks earlier than had previously been anticipated.
The directive means the government will be allowed to delay an upcoming portion of the trial in which it was scheduled to outline its case for stiff penalties against the industry.
Targeted in the government's lawsuit are Altria Group Inc. (MO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.'s (LTR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group (CG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) ; Vector Group Ltd.'s (VGR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s (RAI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc (BATS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.
The tobacco companies deny they conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically changed marketing practices as part of the 1998 settlement with state attorneys general.
This is total BS. People have known since back in the 50's that smoking wasn't good for us! Cigarette packs for years listed the tar and nicotine contents on the sides of the packages.
I being a 34 year smoker have always said either get off big tabbaci's back or make it illegal and remove it from the market.
They do that to everything else (vioxx) dont they?
I being a 34 year smoker have always said either get off big tabbaci's back or make it illegal and remove it from the market.
They do that to everything else (vioxx) dont they?
You are correct. If smoking is so damn bad for us, just pulled it off the shelves and be done with it. I'd love to see a civil war. LOL!
But Vioxx is controlled by the FDA, and tobacco is not. Hey, they are bringing Vioxx back!!!
I wonder why the FDA doesnt touch tabbaci, could it be all the TAXES?
Now if they treated pot like tabbaci at least I could die a slow and painful death with a smile on my face!~}
I wonder why the FDA doesnt touch tabbaci, could it be all the TAXES?
If tobacco came under the control of the FDA, they could not deem it safe and WOULD have to ban it. So, at least for now, the fights are working to keep cigarettes out of their hands.
Now if they treated pot like tabbaci at least I could die a slow and painful death with a smile on my face!~}
Well, I know nothing about pot. I do know that people can get prescriptions for it if they have cancer and a lot of pain. And since their insurance company's pay for it, taxes wouldn't be involved. If pot were made legal, then the government could stick a hefty tax on it.
The WORST thing you could do to short-term government is to ban tobacco. The taxes from tobacco are reliable, and huge.
As a smoker, I support the ban of tobacco.
Withdrawel is worth the damage to government revenue.
It sure would wake up the government as to where they are getting their money wouldn't it? If every smoker across the United States would stop buying cigarettes for even one month, our government would come to a halt. heh!
We would still be able to get tobacco and cigarettes though, even if it's from the black market.
here ya go
How neat! Thanks so much!! I saved it !!!!!
The Toque ^ | Feb.23,2005
Posted on 02/24/2005 2:44:06 AM EST by kingattax
IN THE FORUMS-- He lingers in the shadows like a Quake-playing camper, a witless coward waiting to shoot someone in the back with a half-conceived verbal sniper-shot. He hides behind ill-conceived pseudo-names, like W1NGNUT or LAM3R or PAUL, disguising his true identity in order to protect himself from the scorn of his Real Life peers. He roams from forum to forum looking for someone or something to denounce, because he's a bitter, frightened, nerd-of-the-ages. This creature is the farking troll.
Welcome to our continuing series on Internet Inhabitants. This week we look at the farking troll, a dimwitted loser that thrives on discord and discontent in online forums. fark troll flamer flamewar forum The farking troll tries to use his verbal diarrhea to impress other forum readers.
The farking troll is a less-than-fascinating creature, having nothing of value to contribute to society. Yet everywhere we surf, this vomit-writing forum-leecher is rampant, puking up words that add to the verbal sewage that purveys many online communities.
How does this bottom-dwelling scab-sucker thrive? His vocabulary and spelling are as weak as his under-developed muscles, and he thinks that "grammar" is the woman married to "grampar." It's surprising that this organic virus has enough brain power to maintain his own breathing.
Yet somehow, this bed-wetting boor consistently finds fodder upon which to feed on, and is able to spew out his dribble like a crack-induced soothsayer.
His critical attacks are simple but venomous, and his words are like a poisonous, hate-inducing propaganda, intended to disturb the shit upon which stands the frail structure of the online community. Too many times does the farking troll succeed in this, for his power grows from the ignorant, pre-teen community members who treat his ass-wiped, shit-smear postings like verses of gospel.
Never mind that the farking troll has absolutely nothing intelligent to say, and rarely knows anything about any of the subjects being discussed--those things matter not to the uneducated. His only goal is to insult, and then enjoy the attention he receives from his fatuous feedback, like the spoiled child who constantly yells "look at me!" to his tired mother.
Comment like "worst...link...ever" or "this sucks" or "where is the funny?" are the most common telling indicators of a farking troll. To him, these simple words are the throwing stones of a puerile youth who grew up in the school yards yelling out replies such as "oh yah?" and "I know you are, but what am I?"
But fear not, for these terse statements are about as inflammatory as the farking troll can get. Anything more spirited or preconceived would be beyond his comprehension. An when there is the rare example of a clever retort, it is usually found when the farking troll copies and pastes it from another forum member's valid critique.
These simplistic characteristics of the undersized brain of the farking troll are just its natural method of establishing a place within the forum hierarchy. This agonistic pattern of behavior is consistent with the farking troll's unsatisfactory sex-life (a direct result of his undersized genitalia), and mostly likely from childhood confusion arising from a long period of sexually satisfying his own step-father.
A problem with this sticks-and-stones behavior is that once the hierarchy is established, and an alpha farking troll is pronounced, immature challengers will learn to act imitate the leader using observational learning. They will copy and mimic the alpha farking troll by repeating his catch-phrases and posting their own foul fecal feedback. When the alpha puts down a particular comment, link, or story, the submissive forum posters will always follow, like ass-licking sycophants looking to impress their master.
We loathe the existence of the farking troll, but somehow we find a reason to pity this brain-damaged malcontent. Is it because this fat-fuck is only lashing out because his mother breast-fed him until he was nine, and now his misdirected anger is focused on the nameless, faceless individuals of the Internet who can't possibly fight back? Is he jealous of all others who can form complete sentences? Does he regret spending his teenage years playing Minesweeper and Tetris while his friends sought an education and pursued careers? Or is it because the farking troll cannot afford a decent computer, and is pounding away with his sweaty sausage-like fingers on the sticky keyboard of his pathetic Pentium-90 machine?
You can just imagine the farking troll in his own dirty environment, wallowing in his own sweat in a torn "Linux Sucks" t-shirt and soiled sweat pants, subsisting on a diet of Ding Dongs, Cheezies, and Red Bull. He probably hasn't seen an exercise bike in his life. It wouldn't be hard to conclude that he has never known the company of a woman, and the outside world frightens him like a child trying to cross the street for the first time. Of course he's unemployed, living off his parents' allowance or mooching off of his roommate. This unambitious financial freedom allows the farking troll those hours of extra time to post his empty opinions.
Should we condemn or pity the farking troll? Do we blame the mosquito for slowly sucking the life out of us, or do we just slap at it without giving it a second thought? Do we The farking troll deserves no more attention than the bubble gum that sticks to the bottom of your running shoe. But occasionally, that gum will get stuck in your hair and needs to be removed like a bad thread from a comfortable sweater.
(I have no fear of reprisal from this article, as it is unlikely the farking troll would have understood its retaliatory nature, and is probably still trying to figure what the word "fatuous" means--Ed)
i dont have photoshop..someone with that would have to do it.
thats so cool of gray davis LOL
Isn't it? I have had since back in the days California was trying to "flush Davis," and it worked. I only wish we could do the same with the Maine Governor.
But I sure appreciate YOUR work. You do really well with animation. That is something that I have to learn how to do. The best I could come up with was this:
the "shelion" pic is cool......where you get that ?
Thank you! I was just fooling around in PSP8 one day with animation and hit upon this by luck.
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