Heartland Institute has a notion of software freedom

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. Heartland Institute has a notion of software freedom. Intl. J. Inact., 2:92–93

I have to admit, I’m somewhat uncomfortable with writing about global warming inactivism, because climate is such a diffuse phenomenon which I can’t simply directly tinker with in a lab. Thankfully, our old climate inactivist friend, the Heartland Institute, started talking nonsense about computer software, something I have somewhat more experience with. After publishing an essay by one James Lakely on their web site about the oh-so-scary Marxist plot behind the Free Software movement, they’ve put up another essay by Lakely which says this: [cached]

Apple has approved the creation of more than 65,000 applications (apps) for its wildly popular iPhone.⁵¹ Yet this year, it denied one — Google Voice — for the very good reason it would supplant the iPhone’s core software design and functionality. That decision by Apple prompted the FCC in the summer of 2009 to launch a net neutrality-related inquiry, creating the impression that anything less than approval of all applications may be presumed to be a violation of the FCC’s broadband principles. That is alarming, and absurd. [...]

If a manufacturer or carrier does not have the latitude to reasonably restrict applications to ensure they abide with contracted terms of use and a viable business model/offering, then a provider effectively would have no property rights under the U.S. Constitution. That wireless provider also would have no meaningful design, operating, or business role to differentiate its product or service from competitors. [...]

As more and more smart phones, netbooks, notebooks, and laptops are enabled to exploit wireless broadband, where would the line logically be drawn where the FCC’s wireless innovation regulation would stop? [...]

Well, as you may remember, the other day I wrote a program which crawls through web sites and IP addresses. In the current proto-Marxist regime, I can just load up the program and run it:

$ ./labyrinthvs.pl go http://climatescienceamerica.org/
labyrinthvs: created directory /home/.../.labyrinthvs
labyrinthvs: created db
labyrinthvs: rolled back any uncommitted db changes
labyrinthvs: created any uncreated tables and indices
labyrinthvs: created web ua LABYRINTHVS libwww-perl/5.805
labyrinthvs: added pending url http://climatescienceamerica.org/ (priority 4a957c61.00000000)
labyrinthvs: processing url http://climatescienceamerica.org/
labyrinthvs: ... resolved climatescienceamerica.org to 68.178.254.234

…

Now, if I live in a capitalist world with clear product differentiation and perfect respect for property rights, I’ll probably first need to submit my application to the PC manufacturer for approval, perhaps like an acolyte of yore:

Acolyte (me): O Great Computer Manufacturer Most Wise, Most Capitalist, and Most Free, would you approve my application, that I may use it to perform computations in your honour?

Then the Great Computer Manufacturer will carefully scan my program code for any signs of Marxism, or anti-Apple sentiment, or criticisms of Thomas Jefferson — and if all’s clear, they’ll finally tell me that my software has been approved for running, in accordance with the property rights protections as codified in the Constitution of the United States.

In other news, the Bonner and Associates fiasco continues.

You are in a maze of little twisting think-tanks, all different: Dobrý den!

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. You are in a maze of little twisting think-tanks, all different: Dobrý den! Intl. J. Inact., 2:91

It seems that Czech President Václav Klaus, in his effort to promote global warming inaction, has started a new (advocacy? policy study?) group called the Prague Network. [cached]

Now this isn’t very interesting in itself; what is interesting, well, is that there’s a web site praguenetwork.org owned by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group which is — let’s put it this way — not based in Prague. [cached]

(Hmm. So how does the free-market think-tank-o-sphere work exactly? Does a new ‘free-market group’ undergo some sort of ‘incubation programme’ during which they live on some larger group’s web space, until they attract enough hack writers to get their own web site?)

Change needed

OK, here’s the thing: I’ve been blogging here for somewhat more than a year, and while I like WordPress, I can’t help feeling that it takes a long time to merely post a blog entry — the log-in/log-out, the dashboard, and the blog post editor (well, especially the editor) take quite a good while to come up.

So, I’d like to have this changed. Does anyone have any recommendations of lightweight blog hosting services which I can try? Alternatively, any suggestions on how to make WordPress less time-guzzling?

Not political activism III: watch out, it’s Wealth Transfer!!!

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. Not political activism III: watch out, it’s Wealth Transfer!!! Intl. J. Inact., 2:89–90

Meteorologist and global warming ‘skeptic’ Anthony Watts once more shows how he’s opposed to the theory of man-made global warming for purely scientific reasons, and how extremely willing he is to focus on the climate science and keep politics out of it: [cached]

The Copenhagen Climate Change Treaty Draft – wealth transfer defined, now with new and improved “dignity” penalty

Wealth transfer! Goodness gracious! Now that is a purely scientific reason to deny global warming if I ever saw one. And the blog commenters helpfully elaborate on this by offering up their nuggets of total science:

Best ‘grassroots’ campaign ever

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. Best ‘grassroots’ campaign ever. Intl. J. Inact., 2:88

DeSmogBlog recently mentioned a message broadcast by a group called “America’s Power Army” regarding the US’s climate change bill, asking people to lobby for pro-coal loopholes in the bill. The web page’s style sheet makes use of images from the web page of a PR firm, the Hawthorn Group; and the message itself was signed by Suzanne Hammelman, who happens to be Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of Hawthorn, although for some reason she decided not to mention that in the message. What’s more, the America’s Power Army web site is registered to another PR firm, Triad Communications, Inc. (Why two PR firms, not one? Good question.) [cached: 1, 2, 3, 4]

Random image VI

No, I did not make up this diagram. I saw it on a blog calling itself Ragnarok; [cached] clearly the blog is either written by a truly paranoid wingnut or written as a very good parody of the wingnut mind. The blog attributes the diagram to a “SharpRightTurn.com” web site, but unfortunately the web site is no more — perhaps it was secretly destroyed by the New Left Red Diaper Babies.

Or was SharpRightTurn.com actually owned secretly by New Left Red Diaper Babies in the first place? Well, unfortunately there are no answers.

4th I‘C’CC: pay no attention to the exhibitors

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. 4th I‘C’CC: pay no attention to the exhibitors. Intl. J. Inact., 2:87

From the web site of the climate inactivist Heartland Institute’s Fourth International ‘Conference’ on Climate Change: [cached]

We are pleased to offer 14 table-top exhibit spaces [at the conference] in a prime location at this year’s host hotel, the Marriott Magnificent Mile, Chicago. [...]

Booth fee of $1,000 includes:

• 2 full conference registrations (includes all meals and sessions)
• 1 six-foot table
• 2 chairs
• 1 wastebasket

Meanwhile, event “co-sponsors” do not need to fork out any cash; they just need to provide speakers and an audience. Which means the exhibitors are co-sponsors, while the “co-sponsors” are attendees. Or perhaps the exhibitors are actually “Cosponsor Exhibitors” [cached], while the “co-sponsors” are, I don’t know, co-sponsoring co-sponsors. Or something.

4th I‘C’CC: who are these people?

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. 4th I‘C’CC: who are these people? Intl. J. Inact., 2:86

While looking at the Heartland Institute’s list of hitherto confirmed speakers for its coming Fourth International ‘Conference’ on Climate Change [cached], I saw the following names which were unfamiliar to me:

• Helen Roe, Queens University of Belfast
• Gary Sharp, Center for Climate/Oceans Resources Study
• Graeme T. Swindles, University of Bradford

Does anyone happen to know who these folks are, and why they’re willing to associate themselves with an organization like the conspiracy-theorizing Heartland Institute? I’m really curious to know.

You are in a twisty little maze of think-tanks, all different

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. You are in a maze of twisty little twisty maze of little think-tanks, all different. Intl. J. Inact., 2:85

Here’s an update to the diagram of the convoluted labyrinth of free-market-loving ‘policy think-tanks’. The most major change since the last time is probably the emergence of a few more think-tanks at 198.161.90.96 (Nexus Vasingtoniæ) — namely

• the Macdonald Laurier Institute, Canada, “coming soon” (macdonaldlaurier.ca);
• the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Washington (effwa.org); and
• the Blueglass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Kentucky (bipps.org).

A newsfeed devoted to Bonner and Associates

cite as: F. Bi. 2009. A newsfeed devoted to Bonner and Associates. Intl. J. Inact., 2:84

The Bonner and Associates fake letters scandal — in which it was found that a lobbyist group was sending out anti-climate-regulation letters in the guise of various non-governmental organizations — is developing so fast, that I’m now having trouble keeping up with it in the MLP section of this blog.

So instead of trying to keep up, I’m now adding a newsfeed to the “Bonner and Associates” category from DeSmogBlog. You can watch the astroturf fiasco slowly unravel by visiting the right-hand sidebar of this little blog.

Have fun. ;-)