Laying the groundwork for another seizure of big tobacco money

It's been quite a while since the federal government attacked an entire, legally operating industry for the sole purpose of extorting as much money from it as stupid juries would go along with.

From FoxNews -- WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department disclosed Wednesday it wants to require the tobacco industry to admit publicly that smoking causes a multitude of medical problems, killing 1,200 Americans every day.

The government proposed that a federal judge order the companies to say in advertisements that they lied to the public about the safety and dangers of smoking. "We falsely marketed low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain our profits," one of the government's proposed statements begins.

Am I the only one to whom it's obvious that the government wants the tobacco industry to admit guilt so that they can use it as evidence of culpability in another round of law suits against the tobacco industry? Less than 5% of the original tobacco settlement money went toward smoking cessation programs in the states. Almost all of it, at least the 66% that the shamelessly predatory trial lawyers didn't keep for themselves, was used by politicians as a slush fund to pay for vote-buying schemes to get themselves re-elected.

It's no coincidence that the feds and states, being criminally reckless in how they spend taxpayer money, are woefully short on cash and are looking desperately for a revenue source. This move is designed to get tobacco companies to go ahead and settle under the threat of high-profile law suits. If cigarettes are as much of a public menace as our self-righteous politicians tell us in preparation for legal action, then why don't they ban them altogether? Because the government is the biggest recipient of tax money from the purchase of cigarettes. Politicians don't want you to stop smoking, they can't afford it.