Bush signed the U.N. tobacco treaty during the 2004 campaign, then shoved it in his back pocket -- effectively bolstering the American culture of death.
What does the United States have in common with the forward-looking, "culture of life" moral beacons of the world like Cuba, Haiti, Yemen and Burkina Faso?
They all have refused to ratify a treaty they signed in 2004 that would curtail one of the planet's deadlier scourges - tobacco. The World Health Organization
Framework on Tobacco Control was signed by President Bush with a flourish just six months before he was to be returned to office. But since then, he has refused to even submit the treaty to the Senate for ratification.
The treaty may look harsh to the corporations that finance the Republican party, as it would require restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion; establish new packaging and labeling of tobacco products and establish clean indoor air controls.
As the only consumer product that kills more than half its users, tobacco is on the verge of becoming the leading cause of death worldwide. Apparently American values of democracy and free enterprise are worth the 200 million lives the U.N. says would be saved in the next 45 years.
Hey, those people would have just been anti-American anyway, right?