oh really now

[solarbird]

I got more links as I'm getting read for Norwescon omg:

Courtesy caladri: AIPAC, the primary right-wing Israel lobby in the US, has "persuaded more than three-quarters of the members of the US House of Representatives to sign a letter calling for an end to public criticism of Israel".

A New York court has struck down genetic patents:

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York joined with individual patients and medical organizations to challenge the patents last May: they argued that genes, products of nature, fall outside of the realm of things that can be patented. The patents, they argued, stifle research and innovation and limit testing options.

John Robb at Global Guerrillas expects it to be overturned due to endemic corruption, but is pleasantly surprised at the ruling.

The type of corruption involved, of course, is this kind of corporatism, with the Washington Post playing boosterism for a merger of private corporations and government domestic internal security functions. Mike McConnell, who splits his time between government appointments (as W. Bush's Director of National Intelligence) and private-industry lobbyist (working for NSA/CIA contractor Booz Allen) is carrying the message. Mr. McConnell wants private-company spying and intelligence spying to be "seamless" and comprehensive - and, of course, beyond accountability - in such a way that conveniently boosts the profit margins of the companies for which he works. Dwight Eisenhower saw it coming, even as he helped set it up to fight the Cold War, but, that never seems to help, much.

Comments

[avram]

Any other formal ally the U.S. has a major disagreement with, it usually keeps it behind closed doors as a matter of basic courtesy.

You mean like we did with France during the build-up to the Iraq War?

Or, come to think of it, the way Israel treated the Turkish ambassador recently?

the problem is the astonishign number of Americans who seem to believe that Israel has an obligation to treat the U.S. as its ally, while the U.S. has no obligation whatsoever to treat Israel likewise.

You mean, aside from the couple of billion dollars of military aid we give them each year?

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Turkey and Israel haven't had an alliance treaty last I knew, only a cooperation treaty. As for the French, you saw how the rest of the world regarded us for that. It was no more appropriate then; I'd have hoped we would have learned better by now.

[avram]

Appropriateness aside, our treatment of France 7 or 8 years ago handily refutes your claim that "Any other formal ally the U.S. has a major disagreement with, it usually keeps it behind closed doors as a matter of basic courtesy. It's what allies do."

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

So you've already said. And the world rightfully condemned us for it.