Op Ed: Lies Repeated
Proves Deceptive Intent
By Big Tobacco

Tobacco Ad Echos False Claims In Prettified Graphs

Art courtesy: sonofthesouth.net

(BEND, Ore.) - There is something that forces Big Tobacco to lie, cheat, distort and pervert known facts.

What could be their motivation?

It’s simple to see when one seeks out the controlling facts now clearly driving this latest open attack on citizen understanding and credibility: Big-T is losing the war for young buyers of that noxious weed known to waste away its users for centuries now, yet still permitted sale by every persuasive technique “legally”.

Tobacco sales across the board, to every age group and in every form, are dropping steadily as more millions learn the century-old truths about the lingering, painful result of long-continued use.

That steadily slices into Big-T profits; the painful results to bottom-line profits motivates massive means to prevent still further damage to those mean dollars thus harvested at huge personal costs from the painful demise of many more in later years. (Big-T spent $70 million for similar purposes last year in Colorado and Missouri.)

That’s why the desperately-repeated “same-old-story” stuff falls flat on its media-face when thrown at Oregonians once again; no matter how neatly, colorfully and repeatedly those manipulated facts are presented to Oregonians; via a docile and also-manipulated on-air media.

This series of ad impacts works far too well by oft-repeated visual displays via on-air media, always vulnerable to hit-and-run display of distorted “information” by rapid-impact, measured in seconds-seen; which is why Big-T puts its dollars on line there, avoiding the more rational, reasonable approach for honest, thoughtful consideration still the unique principle of the print-page in the daily newspaper.

It matters not a whit to Big-T and its well-paid ad agency adherents that The OREGONIAN --in its ongoing leadership for factual statement-- has already destroyed the credibilities of those colorful graphics purportedly proving up the erroneous claims clearly presented on-air via confident-voiced narration.

The OREGONIAN 9/7/07 termed the Reynolds ad “mendacious”, “contemptibly misleading”, “oily spittle”. On what the graphics purportedly show, Big O said: “Utterly untrue.”

Those “Unexpended Funds”-mentioned are simply solid, rational, reasonable dollar-management by your own elected representatives; that “open check” for huge further “futilized and wasted” dollar-usage does NOT exist; each and every expenditure action by YOUR Legislature requires open, public action --in this situation, clearly and cleanly sure to be well and widely reported rapidly, and also insistently --even by broadcast media profiting the most from this huge “ad-buy” by Big T. ($227,000 for the opening two.)

This time --as repeatedly in our recent past-- Oregonians again are preparing to administer still another reasonable, rational blow to excessive and extremely damaging public access to a known-and-proven clean air poison.

That poison is still freely available to immature and unknowing new purchasers --ironically, the same ones “this lawful initiative, proposed by elected representatives”, seeks to protect and preserve via “much-strengthened and broadened public health initiative”.

Surely that action by our governance system is the reasonable end we all seek from our sometimes failing system; thus deserving of our full and surely-applied strength-in-action: OUR VOTE ON THIS INITIATIVE.

Given past proven performance by thinking persons widely distributed throughout the population, and in every “class” and political-group, there was --and remains-- little doubt about the passage of the initiative under-attack by this obvious and intentionally-”erroneous” series of dollar-driven “corporate political speech” ads by Big-T.

It is simply another example of the truly horrendous consequences of paid-for/and/delivered “erroneous decision” by the U.S. Supreme Court --in the Railroad Era-- awarding the business-side “legal fiction” form-for-enterprise the further legal-fiction format of “corporate person-hood”, thus worthy of First and Fourteenth Amendment protection.

It is from that erroneous action --so described by a famous Supreme Court judge in later years-- that the continuing horrendous consequences and economic, social, cultural costs thus imposed, arise from the now-notorious usages of “corporate campaign contributions”.

In Oregon we know all too well what kind of confrontation that can and does purchase, vs cooperative action in the commonweal interest --the sworn duty of every elected representative.

It is our Oregonian youth who are thus well on the way to becoming “the latest victims” in this greedy, person-destroying industry, where profit wins over even modest morality. If current purchase-price levels are to “remain untouched and untouchable” via manipulation of normal, legal, Constitutional action by all thinking citizens --distorting their strongly-repeated previous decision, the young people lose.

Main purpose of this reasonable addition to purchase cost for those “death-sticks” so strongly and widely offered to our Oregonian youth is EARLY PREVENTION, properly applied where it can do the most good --right on the purchase-cost so painfully felt by those-protected.

That application, by repeated usage widely around the world, has proven its effectiveness and its efficiency, resulting in less usage and more rapid prevention of otherwise-inevitable health care costs falling to taxpayer compensation.

For others also involved, simple common sense will surely show that the preventive impact is also well worth the small economic pain --considerably less than that sure-to-be/felt physically later, if addiction --the best offensive weapon Big-T can flourish!-- is further allowed to prevail.

“Fair” enough? Any freedom has its price.

Freedom of choice for any publicly-accessible poison must, by any application of common sense, be allowed to fall within the domain of governance by legally-constituted and authoritative agency.

Here that agency is the Legislature --seeking the wit, wisdom and the will of all Oregonians via Constitutional authority reflected -- AGAIN--- as this well-supported public-vote initiative.

That’s the very process Big Tobacco seeks to first distort, and then pervert, by these distorting, perverting ad-attacks.

Will it work? It never has, in repeated previous tries.

Oregonians know malign intent and hypocritical action when they “see it with own eyes”.

That’s a fact of life most probably invulnerable to even such dollar-pile/driven attack as demonstrated by Big Tobacco --AGAIN! -- this time.

We can prove up that precious reality of our democracy, if YOU WILL so choose --AGAIN!!-- this time, too.