Tales of the Sausage Factory – Page 106

TotSF: The Wireless Circle Jerk

Harold November 17, 2004 - 9:47 am February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

Sascha Meinrath has this blog posting on how Motorola’s acquisition of MeshNetworks is a prime example of corporate welfare gone wild. Of course, in D.C., we call this “the circle of life”. Taxpayers, however, may see it as the Circle of Jerk.

It is unclear to me if Motorola, one of the fiercest foes of expanding unlicensed access, is simply trying to take out a competitor or hedge a bet. I do not expect their filings to change — in fact,I expect them to leverage MeshNetworks as a means of undermining manufacturing comments from folks like Tropos. OTOH, FCC staff are not stupid, and understand how industry filings work.

Stay tuned . . .

TotSF: I agree with the American Conservative Union

Harold November 16, 2004 - 3:14 pm February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

Well, on one thing anyway. ACU — one of the backbones of the conservative movement, is opposing attempts by Congress to pass yet another stupid bill on copyright enforcement. Details in this Wired article. The quote that caught my eye was:

“’It’s just plain wrong to make the Department of Justice Hollywood’s law firm,’ said Stacie Rumenap, ACU’s deputy director.”

Couldn’t agree with them more.

Stay tuned . . .

TotSF: Speaking in Philly

Harold November 16, 2004 - 1:54 pm February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

I will be speaking tomorrow night (Wed. Nov. 17) at a community forum organized by Media Tank on the Phildelphia proposed municple wifi project and why it is cool. Not surprisingly, Comcast and other local incumbents are mobilizing to pounce upon the proposal like my cat Quantum on a lame sparrow — but with much less respect for the sanctity of life than Quantum usually shows. At least Comcast is unlikely to stuff the corpse in the vents between the walls of my house, so that when I try to sell it the inspector discovers a grave yard of bloated, dead municple infrastructure projects. Hmm… I think that analogy went on a bit too long. (Becky, please provide a link in the comments to a suitable picture of Quantum, preferably pouncing on a municiple wifi project in our computer room).

Stay tuned …

TotSF: A modest fling of Theses

Harold November 15, 2004 - 9:01 am February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

Just got back from Adam’s event at DNC. Not a bad beginning, but if this is gonna move to a real movement within the DNC it needs to energize itself ASAP.

TotSF: Fling These at the Democratic National Committee

Harold November 12, 2004 - 1:53 pm February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

Below is Adam Werbach’s of Common Assets call to arms for those not at the center of the Democratic Party structure. It is the first salvo for those who dream a different vision of this country than the Republicans and want a party that can deliver.

No surprise that I agree with Adam’s Theses. Also no surprise that I beleive we must not wait on the leadership to define our vision. We must speak for ourselves and define our own voice. I plan to be at DNC HQ on Monday Morning, Nov. 15, 430 S Capitol St, SE in Washington, DC, at 7:30 a.m. Provided I can find someone to get Aaron on the school bus.

Now, more than ever,

stay tuned . . .

TotSF: Theses on the Democratic Church Door

Harold November 12, 2004 - 1:13 pm February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

I am posting here a call to arms from Adam Werebach of Common Assets. I agree with the gist of Adam’s Theses (no surprise). And, as I have also long said, it is worth than useless to let others define your rights for you.

All of us who do not share the vision put forward by the Republican Party have an obligation to help craft a new vision. We must not remain mourners at our own funeral, waiting for a majority of the nation to “share our worldview.” Nor should we cling to the delusion that some surface, cosmetic change can make it all better.

I intend to be at DNC Headquarters at 430 S Capitol St, SE at 7:30 a.m. on November 15, if I can find someone to get Aaron to school. For anyone else interested, David Steuer has set up a new website for this.

Now, more than ever,

Stay tuned . . . .

TotSF: Indymedia Server Update

Harold November 12, 2004 - 11:25 am February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

In my favorite bellweather case for “have we sunk back to the level of McCarthyism yet?” the government has challenged the standing of IndyMedia to find out who asked the FBI to confiscate its servers, and why. Story at The Register. I may try to add my own analysis if I get a chance to read the pleadings.

Stay tuned . . .

Tales of the Sausage Factory: The Future of Open Source Politics

Harold November 11, 2004 - 6:22 pm February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

I very much liked Micah Sifry’s article in the Nation magazine called The Rise of Open Source Politcs. The article nicely captures the growing frustration of many of us with our clueless elders.

Tales of the Sausage Factory: Action Alert on Broadband

Harold November 11, 2004 - 6:05 pm February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

I’ve been distributing this for anyone interested in using unlicensed spectrum in the broadcast bands.

BTW, due to major issues going on at work (we are losing one of our three attorneys and reorganizing), I’m likely to post terse, infrequent things over the next month or two. Sorry. I swear I’ll keep trying.

Stay tuned . . . .

So much for my career as a professional prognosticator

Harold November 3, 2004 - 6:38 am February 24, 2013Tales of the Sausage Factory

Well, the only thing I can say in my defense is that a fair number of oher folks believed the same thing on Tuesday afternoon. At 5 p.m., exit polling looked very good for Kerry in almost all battleground states.

While something may turn around in OH, I admit I don’t expect it. It appears that a small but sizeable majority don’t care about economic issues nearly as much as keeping gay people from marrying. Not sure how we survive the next four years economically, but right now, I’m off to get some sleep.