Democracy Now! December 28, 1998

(33 Minutes) Mandatory Minimum Drug Laws and Congress For years, members of Congress have been trying to out-do each other in terms of their support for tough counter-drug legislation. One example of this politicking can be seen in the stringent mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws which have been in effect since 1986. These laws limit a judge's ability to hand down sentences in drug convictions according to the particular consequences of a case. GUESTS: Eric Sterling, atty. of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. Virginia Resner, Coordinator of CA Chapter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Retired Judge Jerome Marks, Susan Stoner, wife of convicted drug possesser. (17 Minutes) Banana Wars and the Clinton Administration Escalating a nasty trade fight with the European Union over Bananas, the Clinton Administration announced last week that it will slap hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive tariffs on European products. This decision is being seen by some as a multi-million dollar Christmas present to the Cincinnati-based Chiquita Banana company. Its politically-influential boss, millionaire businessman carl Lindner, blames much of its 457 million dollar losses since 1992 on what he sees as the European Union's unfair trade practices GUEST: Larry Birns, exec. dir. of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, who has been watching these developments closeley for several years.