Bush whorin' for baccy, dangerous Canadians and the new iBling

The Washington Post is righteously angry over the Bush Administration's efforts to redraw an international treaty on tobacco, to make it easier for tobacco companies to push around small nations, and prey upon teenagers. (link from Nick) Real compassionate conservatism:

Although domestic sales of cigarettes are shrinking, Philip Morris International announced that it expects its earnings to grow 10 percent this year, continuing the trend of this decade. In many of its growing markets, such as Russia, Cambodia and Poland, there are fewer obstacles to practices such as distributing free cigarettes in clubs teenagers are known to frequent. For these countries, the treaty is the best defense against the lobbying of big tobacco companies. Like any international treaty, this one would lose clout if the United States failed to sign. But it would lose all its meaning if the Bush administration won this last concession.

A dangerous Canadian writes that "U.S. says Canada cares too much about liberties," in the Ottowa Citizen. It's all in response to a report from the US State Dept. about terrorism trends and lazy unsecured Canucks. This has much to do with Canadian privacy rights, and even Canadian policy on marijuana.

The same report took issue with Canada's move to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a ticketing offence rather than a criminal one. "This will not only harm Canadian society, but have consequences for the United States as well," the report said. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon reiterated yesterday that legislation to decriminalize marijuana will be tabled soon.

Don't the maple leaf people understand moral certainty?!(slashdot link) I wonder what the consequences of that legal reform would be for a border state like us. Hmmmmmmmm...

On a very positive digital note, Apple Computer's new iTunes Music Store sold more than a million songs in its first week. Apple released iTunes 4, which has sweet new features such as streaming your whole music library over networks. The mighty Steve Jobs happily declared, "In less than one week we?ve broken every record and become the largest online music company in the world. Apple has created the first complete solution for the digital music age?you can purchase your favorite music online at the iTunes Music Store, mix your favorite tracks into playlists with iTunes, and take your entire music collection with you everywhere with the super-slim new iPods." The man has a touch of hubris, but he's right. Apple wins! I am pleased as punch to be an Apple shareholder today. Hells yeah!

Posted by HongPong at May 5, 2003 12:31 PM
Listed under News , Technological Apparatus , The White House .