You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Ashcroft’s Smoke and Guns Part II: Big Tobacco, Faith-Based Initiatives, School Vouchers, and Civil Rights

Listen
Media Options
Listen

Related

    Attorney General Ashcroft has thrown the Justice Department’s important gun control case into doubt. But critics saythat he has also severely undermined the Justice Department’s case against big tobacco.

    Under former President Clinton, the Justice Department sued big tobacco because smoking costs the federal system $20billion a year in health care costs.

    But a few weeks ago, Ashcroft asked the Justice Department to see if it could settle the case out of court. At thesame time, Justice officials said publicly that they were worried about ultimately losing the suit. (Analysts saythat this was the equivalent to waving a white flag before a charge.)

    Rep. Tom Udall (D–N.M.) is so upset that last week he asked President Bush to take Ashcroft off the settlementteam.

    Guests:

    • Bill Corr, Executive Vice President of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
    • Phylis Schlafly, President and founder of the Eagle Forum.

    Related link:

    Finally, People for the American Way was one of the staunchest opponents of Ashcroft’s nomination. We’re joined nowby Elliot Mincberg, the legal director, to talk about the role of Ashcroft and the Justice Department in the debateover Bush’s “faith-based initiatives,” school vouchers, and civil and voting rights.

    Guest:

    • Elliot Mincberg, Legal Director and Vice President of People for the American Way.

    Related link:

    Related Story

    StoryMar 14, 2024Mehdi Hasan on Genocide in Gaza, the Silencing of Palestinian Voices in U.S. Media & Why He Left MSNBC
    The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

    Non-commercial news needs your support

    We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
    Please do your part today.
    Make a donation
    Top