DEAN URGES BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE RATIFICATION OF TOBACCO TREATY

By Anonymous -
From the Dean campaign...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 19, 2003

DEAN URGES BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO ENSURE RATIFICATION OF TOBACCO TREATY

BURLINGTON, VT- Governor Howard Dean applauded the Bush Administration's reversal resulting in the decision to vote in favor of the current version of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at the World Health Assembly meeting and urged the Administration to shepherd the treaty through Congress to ensure its speedy ratification.

"We have taken great strides to protect the children of this country from the predatory marketing practices of Big Tobacco. Now that the tobacco industry has apparently shifted its sights overseas to developing economies in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere, it is clear that a strong international approach is warranted. The FCTC reflects the most concrete action the world has ever seen to reduce tobacco consumption, especially among children."

"I just hope that this is not another instance where the Bush Administration's actions fail to match its rhetoric. Once the treaty is approved by the World Health Organization delegates, I urge President Bush and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson to guide the agreement through Congress to ensure its speedy ratification. We cannot permit this treaty to languish."

Governor Dean was referring to instances where the Bush Administration’s actions have failed to match its rhetoric, such as its failure to adequately fund the "No Child Left Behind Act," its failure to allocate sufficient Homeland Security funds to first responders, and its failure to date to demonstrate the necessary commitment to stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan.

###

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A fair solution to Jerusalem

By Aziz P. -
I remember reading one of the books by Tom Clancy in which Jack Ryan was credited with coming up with a solution for Middle East peace which was pointedly never actually detailed in the novel. It was just a way to give his character some foreign policy cred, but ended up like that mysterious suitcase in Pulp Fiction. I couldn't help but be reminded of that, though, when I read former New York mayor Ed Koch's innovative solution to resolving the status of Jerusalem . Instead of putting the hot-button issue of Jerusalem last on the agenda, the issue should be addressed first. If the Jerusalem question is solved, everything else should fall into place more easily. I believe there is a way to keep Jerusalem unified. I am talking not only of the old walled city, which is a very small part of the city of Jerusalem, but the whole city, east, west, north and south. [...] My suggestion is to situate the new Palestinian capital in that part of East Jerusalem that is occupied overwhelming
Read more

Conservatism's shari'a, liberalism's ijtihad

By Aziz P. -
An interesting meta-debate by intellectual conservatives over conservatism's future is playing out. It started with David Frum's Waterloo essay, which led to his political excommunication. Julian Sanchez observed that this represented an epistemic closing of the conservative mind , a thesis that was validated by the retribution visited upon Jim Manzi for daring to suggest that conservatives will achieve more persuasion by using honest, strong arguments instead of weak, emotional ones. All of this has led John Quiggin at Crooked Timber to argue most wisely that as conservatism implodes, liberalism needs to find its own rationale that is more than just "not conservatism". Quiggin has a list of priorities for the liberal movement to address, and closes with the general plea, ...the left has to stand for something more than keeping the existing order afloat with incremental improvements. We need to offer the hope of a better world as an alternative to the angry tribali
Read more