Smoke signals
Recommended reading today: Seeing through the Smoke, an essay by Bruce Bartlett that examines "serious questions about the conflicting goals" of the tobacco settlement in light of a report from the Council of State Governments that falling cigarette consumption will cause state revenues from the settlement to come in 20 percent lower than expected. The CSG says states will get $14 billion less from Big Tobacco than originally projected through 2010.

"Predictably, the states are whining about the lost revenue, saying it will increase pressure to cut spending. This only goes to prove once again that the settlement was never really about reducing smoking. It was always about one thing: extorting money from the tobacco industry. Were it otherwise, the states would be jumping for joy at the great success of higher prices on reducing cigarette use. That is what they always said was their goal."