[Random-bits] Democrats.com's strange neocon bedfellow
James Packard Love
james.love@keionline.org
Thu Apr 26 07:55:02 2007
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http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/04/25/ken_adelman/index.html
Salon : Democrats.com's strange neocon bedfellow
April 25, 2007
Andrew Leonard
Why is Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik endorsing arch neo-con Ken
"Iraq will be a cakewalk" Adelman's campaign to protect the profits of
transnational pharmaceutical companies?
"Stop the Outsourcing of U.S. Jobs to Thailand" screamed the
Democrats.com "Activist Alert" message sent out Wednesday, and signed
by Fertik. "Thailand has been taken over by a military regime hostile
to good American jobs in our science industries."
Huh?
Beneath Fertik's name, the message continued with a screed from the
Washington-based lobbying organization USA for Innovation:
The military has stolen money from Americans through the
imposition
of capital controls, has passed new discriminatory business laws
against Americans working in Thailand, and is now stealing American
medical innovations -- a direct attack on hundreds of thousands of
American scientists, doctors, teachers and researchers....
USA for Innovation is a non-profit advocacy group whose primary purpose
is to lobby for maximum strength intellectual property protection for
American corporations. Its founder and executive director is Ken
Adelman, a current member of the Defense Policy Board and long time Don
Rumsfeld crony.
USA for Innovation's beef has to do with the decision by Thailand's
Ministry of Health to issue compulsory licenses breaking the patents on
a couple of AIDS drugs made by multinational pharmaceutical companies,
including Merck's Efavirenz and Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra. The
showdown has nothing at all to do with the outsourcing of jobs; it is,
instead, ground zero in a globally intensifying struggle over making
state-of-the-art drugs affordable for sick people in developing
countries. Abbott Laboratories was initially so enraged by Thailand's
effrontery that the company has threatened to stop introducing any of
its new drugs in Thailand, but it has since backed down and offered to
sell Kaletra at a greatly reduced price.
A good argument can be had over exactly what kind of intellectual
property protections are necessary to ensure that research and
innovation in the pharmaceutical industry continues forward, while at
the same time ensuring that poor sick people in the developing world
can afford the medicines they need to stay alive. One can also be
rightfully leery of what direction Thailand's military junta is taking
the country. But that doesn't make it any less bizarre to see
Democrats.com jumping on the Adelman bandwagon, and aligning itself
with the reactionary views of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page.
Indeed, Democrats.com is setting itself against the Democratic Party's
most recently unveiled trade platform, which includes a plank
advocating fairly priced drugs for developing nations. And to give this
whole incongruous spectacle a final scoop of irony on top, consider
this: the democratically elected government of Premier Thaksin
Shinawatra was the pro-globalization regime anxious to sign exactly the
kind of free-trade deal with the U.S. that Democrats are traditionally
uncomfortable with, and spent a good part of the last election cycle
successfully bashing Republicans for pushing.
The most charitable explanation one could make for Fertik's endorsement
of Adelman's corporate front group propaganda is that he just wasn't
paying attention, and bought into the bogus framing of the issue as a
"outsourcing" outrage. If so, he might want to think about sending out
a follow up. Whose side does he want the Democratic Party on? Doctors
without Borders, and poor people suffering from AIDS, or Ken Adelman,
Big Pharma, and the Wall Street Journal's editorial page writers?
----------------------------------------------
James Packard Love
Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org
james.love@keionline.org
Washington, DC +1.202.332.2670
"If everyone thinks the same: No one thinks." Bill Walton"
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<HTML><BODY style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; =
-khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A =
href=3D"http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/04/25/ken_adelman/index.html">=
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/04/25/ken_adelman/index.html</A></DIV>=
<DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; =
min-height: 14px; "><BR class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; =
min-height: 14px; ">Salon :=A0Democrats.com's strange neocon =
bedfellow</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal =
12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">April 25, 2007</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; =
min-height: 14px; ">Andrew Leonard</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal =
normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR =
class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Why is =
Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik endorsing arch neo-con Ken</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">"Iraq will be a cakewalk" Adelman's campaign to =
protect the profits of</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">transnational =
pharmaceutical companies?</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal =
normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">"Stop the Outsourcing of U.S. Jobs to Thailand" =
screamed the</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Democrats.com "Activist Alert" =
message sent out Wednesday, and signed</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">by =
Fertik. "Thailand has been taken over by a military regime =
hostile</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">to good American jobs in our =
science industries."</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal =
12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">Huh?</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal =
normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">Beneath Fertik's name, the message continued with a =
screed from the</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Washington-based lobbying =
organization USA for Innovation:</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal =
normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">=A0=A0 =A0 The military has stolen money from =
Americans through the imposition</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of capital =
controls, has passed new discriminatory business laws</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">against Americans working in Thailand, and is now =
stealing American</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">medical innovations -- a direct =
attack on hundreds of thousands of</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">American =
scientists, doctors, teachers and researchers....</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; =
min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">USA for =
Innovation is a non-profit advocacy group whose primary =
purpose</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">is to lobby for maximum strength =
intellectual property protection for</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">American =
corporations. Its founder and executive director is Ken</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">Adelman, a current member of the Defense Policy =
Board and long time Don</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Rumsfeld =
crony.</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal =
12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">USA for Innovation's beef has to do with the =
decision by Thailand's</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Ministry of Health to issue =
compulsory licenses breaking the patents on</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top:=
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">a =
couple of AIDS drugs made by multinational pharmaceutical =
companies,</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">including Merck's Efavirenz and =
Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra. The</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">showdown has =
nothing at all to do with the outsourcing of jobs; it is,</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">instead, ground zero in a globally intensifying =
struggle over making</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">state-of-the-art drugs =
affordable for sick people in developing</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; =
">countries. Abbott Laboratories was initially so enraged by =
Thailand's</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">effrontery that the company has =
threatened to stop introducing any of</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">its new =
drugs in Thailand, but it has since backed down and offered to</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">sell Kaletra at a greatly reduced price.</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; =
min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">A good =
argument can be had over exactly what kind of intellectual</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">property protections are necessary to ensure that =
research and</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">innovation in the pharmaceutical =
industry continues forward, while at</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the same time =
ensuring that poor sick people in the developing world</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">can afford the medicines they need to stay alive. =
One can also be</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">rightfully leery of what =
direction Thailand's military junta is taking</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">the country. But that doesn't make it any less =
bizarre to see</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Democrats.com jumping on the =
Adelman bandwagon, and aligning itself</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">with the =
reactionary views of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page.</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">Indeed, Democrats.com is setting itself against the =
Democratic Party's</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">most recently unveiled =
trade platform, which includes a plank</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; =
">advocating fairly priced drugs for developing nations. And to give =
this</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">whole incongruous spectacle a =
final scoop of irony on top, consider</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">this: =
the democratically elected government of Premier Thaksin</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">Shinawatra was the pro-globalization regime anxious =
to sign exactly the</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">kind of free-trade deal =
with the U.S. that Democrats are traditionally</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">uncomfortable with, and spent a good part of the =
last election cycle</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">successfully bashing =
Republicans for pushing.</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; =
margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal =
normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">The most charitable explanation one could make for =
Fertik's endorsement</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of Adelman's corporate =
front group propaganda is that he just wasn't</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">paying attention, and bought into the bogus framing =
of the issue as a</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; =
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">"outsourcing" outrage. If so, he =
might want to think about sending out</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">a follow =
up. Whose side does he want the Democratic Party on? Doctors</DIV><DIV =
style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; =
margin-left: 0px; ">without Borders, and poor people suffering from =
AIDS, or Ken Adelman,</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: =
0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Big Pharma, and the Wall =
Street Journal's editorial page writers?</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: =
0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: =
normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; =
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"><DIV>----------------------------------------------</DIV><DIV>James =
Packard Love</DIV><DIV>Knowledge Ecology International</DIV><DIV><A =
href=3D"http://www.keionline.org">http://www.keionline.org</A></DIV><DIV><=
A =
href=3D"mailto:james.love@keionline.org">james.love@keionline.org</A></DIV=
><DIV>Washington, DC +1.202.332.2670</DIV><BR =
class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN><DIV>"If everyone =
thinks the same: No one thinks." Bill Walton"</DIV><DIV><BR =
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class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>=
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