Alexis de Tocqueville Institution for harlotry

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution is a perfect example of legalized prostitution, except there's no sex involved (well, as far as we can tell). [Ars Techica]

Funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing yesterday after reading about their most recent attacks on Linux, paid for by Microsoft. This latest attack has the distinction of being the most moronically stupid they've ever made, at least as far as I know.

For starters, their press release has the headline:

Torvalds claim to "invent" Linux® probably false, says new study. [Quoted in LinuxWorld]

Luckily, Linus is now reformed, and in response to the AdTI study, has explained the true origins of Linux with remarkable candor:

Ok, I admit it. I was just a front-man for the real fathers of Linux, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.

They (for obvious reasons) couldn't step forward to admit that they had gotten bitten by the computer bug, and had been developing a series of operating systems on their own during the off season. But when they started with Linux (which they originally called Freax - they do feel like outsiders, you know, and that's a whole sad story in itself), they felt that they could no longer just let it languish in obscurity. [Linux Torvalds, writing in LinuxWorld]

Update: Just to be clear, the point is that Torvalds has always been completely open about the origins of Linux and its debt to Minix and Unix. It's a joke to try to make an issue by implying otherwise.

Comments

[Salim Fadhley]

Do please check out the AdTI here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville_Institution

[Lion Kuntz]

http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20040607153801202&title=Chris%20Cox%20-%20AdTI%20director%20%28%26%2336%3B11%2C000%20donations%20from%20M%26%2336%3B%29&type=article&order=&hideanonymous=0&pid=149404#c149497

So is it just my imagination, or what? Does AdTI director, congressman Chris Cox ($11,000 donations from M$) want to attract more campaign contributions to his republican party from Microsoft? Is that what it's all about? Or, is is about M$ wanting to sell more software to the government, and paying AdTI some money for a smear campaign is one way to the get attention of Cox's Homeland Security committee?

Does a former CFO of Microsoft on the board of Heritage Foundation (who hasn't quit microsoft - keeps a VP title) influence Heritage's programs to get M$'s employee, Homeland Security director on the program, or is it Becky Dunlap, director of AdTI AND vice president of Heritage Foundation who decided that?

And what does this have to do with Townhall.com's FUD campaign that is bigger and going on longer than AdTI's? I mean, really "Is Open Source Software Equivalent to the Borg?", isn't this rather extreme, or just extreme-right? Somebody want to explain which factors are more important: is it covert political control in the name of "libertarianism"; or billionaires like SCAIFE and GATES just got to stick together; or is it minions currying favour obsequiously groping for advancement up a rung on the ladder; or scum-sucking bottom-feeders oozing out slime from every pore just can't help themselves? Your analysis on this fuzzy subject is urgently needed.

===================================
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recips.asp?ID=D000000115&sort=N&state=&cycle=A&Type=A&Page=3
MICROSOFT Corp
All Recipients Among Federal Candidates, 1989-2004

COX, Christopher (R-Calif) $11,000

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/mems.asp?ID=D000000115
MICROSOFT Corp
Money to Congress: 2004 Cycle

House -- Democrats $371,450; Republicans $283,000
TOTAL $654,450

Senate -- Democrats $224,677; Republicans $82,000
TOTAL $306,677

Incumbents: $961,127; Non-Incumbents: $33,700
===================================
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,2125901,00.htm

MICROSOFT hires national security advisor
Lisa M. Bowman, CNET News.com
CNet
November 14, 2002, 09:14 BST

Hoping to play a larger role in homeland security, MICROSOFT has tapped former US political adviser Thomas Richey for a new position counselling policymakers on IT issues

Many companies are hoping to get a piece of the homeland security business, which could provide a windfall to the tech sector. Any new homeland security department set up by the US government would need to purchase computer equipment for internal use and would likely promote new technology to help the United States fight terrorism.

What's more, government officials have said they need more cooperation from the private sector, particularly because so many of the country's tech systems are under the control of companies.
===================================
http://www.techlawjournal.com/alert/2003/01/09.asp

Chris COX to Chair New House Homeland Security Committee
1/8. The House will continue the new Select Committee on Homeland Security. Its Chairman will be Rep. Chris COX (R-CA).

On November 25, 2002, President Bush signed HR 3005 (Public Law No: 107-296), the bill creating the new Department of Homeland Security. ...

... Rep. COX was first elected to the Congress in 1988, and has since focused on technology, foreign affairs, and trade issues. He has generally been a low taxes, deregulation, free enterprise, and free trade type of Republican. He has been Chairman of the Republican's House Policy Committee since 1995. He is a senior member of the House Commerce Committee, and its Telecom Subcommittee. ...

Monday, January 13

... 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The HERITAGE FOUNDATION will host a panel discussion titled "Harnessing Information Technology to Improve Homeland Security". The speakers include James Gilmore (Chairman, Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction), Lee Holcomb (Office of Homeland Security), TOM RICHEY (Director of Homeland Security, MICROSOFT), Tom Gann (VP & GM, Siebel Systems), and Peter Brookes (HERITAGE). See, notice. Location: HERITAGE, 214 Massachusetts Ave NE.
===================================
http://www.HERITAGE.org/Press/Events/archiveJuneJan2003.cfm

Harnessing Information Technology to Improve Homeland Security
January 13

TOM RICHEY, Director of Homeland Security, MICROSOFT Corporation
===================================
http://www.HERITAGE.org/About/Staff/BeckyDunlop.cfm
BECKY NORTON DUNLOP
Vice President, The HERITAGE FOUNDATION ... She also oversees the HERITAGE Lectures and Seminars program which provides a forum for key leaders and policymakers to present their ideas for discussion and debate.
===================================
http://www.HERITAGE.org/About/Departments/trustees.cfm
* Richard M. Scaife, HERITAGE Trustee Since 1985
* Robert J. Herbold, HERITAGE Trustee Since 2003 Retired Chief Operating Officer MICROSOFT
Herbold, MICROSOFT�s recently retired CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ... HE ALSO WORKS PART TIME FOR MICROSOFT as an executive vice president, assisting in the government, industry and customer areas.
===================================
http://www.adti.net/staffemail.html
Staff and Associates
* CHRISTOPHER COX, Co-Chairman, AdTI Board of Advisors, [email protected]
* BECKY NORTON DUNLOP, AdTI Director, Democracy and the Environment Research Program
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:O1YxSDT8GZoJ:www.adti.net/staffemail.html++site:www.adti.net+%22Christopher+COX%22+ADTI&hl=en
===================================
http://www.townhall.com/
� 1991-2004 Townhall.com is a project of The HERITAGE FOUNDATION.
http://www.townhall.com/issues/InternetandTechnology/Archive/March2004.html
* Open Source, Open Questions, Small Business Survival Committee
* Intellectual Property: The Open Source Challenge (pdf), Small Business Survival Committee
* Open Source Software Presents Serious Property Rights Problems for Businesses , Small Business Survival Committee
* Has Open Source Reached Its Limits?, Institute for Policy Innovation
http://www.townhall.com/issues/InternetandTechnology/Archive/February2003.html
* Is Open Source Software Equivalent to the Borg?, Small Business Survival Committee
http://www.townhall.com/issues/InternetandTechnology/Archive/September2002.html
* Software Wars: Open Source And The New York Times, Competitive Enterprise Institute
===================================

[Lion Kuntz]

Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Subject: Alexis de SMOKEville Institution connections to the Corrupt George Mason University Libertarian Organized Crime

http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20040610033013625&title=Continuing%20the%20AdTI%20expose%20--%20here%27s%20more&type=article&order=&hideanonymous=0&pid=0#c150189

Continuing the AdTI expose -- here's more

http://www.ecosyn.us/adti/ADTI_Frauds_01.html
http://p4p.blogspot.com/

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution -- The George Mason University connection -- There was NOTHING "academic" or "scientific" in the tobacco-EPA reports put out by AdTI. They were political and selfish-interest (profit first! above integrity) motivated and crafted deceitfully. Greed is behind the slams on Linux and Open Source, delivering a gullible public into the Microsoft monopoly clutches, and leaving them No Free Choice alternatives. It is monopolistic predatory practices at it's historic worst.

Ken Brown

* http://www. digital-law.net/IJCLP/6_2001/authors/brown.html -- Kenneth Brown is the President of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution ... has a B.A. in English Literature from George Mason University.

Christopher Cox

* http://gazette.gmu.e du/articles/index.php?id=4667
* http://www.icasit.org/ecommerce/taxation.html -- ICASIT, The School of Public Policy, George Mason University
* http://reason.com/9704/ci .bd.death.shtml -- Christopher Cox was pushing legislation to repeal the estate tax ... Richard Wagner, chairman of George Mason University's economics department, estimated that estate taxes

S. Fred Singer

* http://www.sepp.org/bi os/singer/biosfs.html -- distinguished research professor at George Mason University
* http://www.sepp.org/bio s/singer/cvsfs.html -- Institute for Humane Studies, at George Mason University 1994-
* http://www.atlasusa.org/highlight_archive/1995/H1995-02-Environment.html< /A> -- In January 1995, the Science & Environmental Policy Project moved to Fairfax, joining Atlas, the Institute for Humane Studies, The Locke Institute, and the Center for Market Processes at "4084 University Drive" near George Mason University. Atlas provided a grant to IPPS to facilitate the move and help fund the organization during its first year in Fairfax.

Gary Anderson

*
http://econ1.csun.ed u/Economics/FacultyPhotos.htm -- 1987 Ph.D. George Mason University
* http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/alumni.html -- Center Alumni, 1986, Gary Anderson

Gordon L. Brady

* http://www.iaes.org/jour nal/aej/march_03/ -- George Mason University
* http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipien t.php?413 -- Fellowship Research Grant, Gordon L. Brady, Center for the Study of Public Choice, Earhart Foundation

Jeffrey Clark

* http://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/parttime.html -- Faculty Directory: Part Time Faculty (same one?)

Thomas Hopkins

* http://www.cob.rit.ed u/directory/bio.html?eid=50 -- Dean of the College of Business at Rochester Institute of Technology, member of the Advisory Board, Mercatus Center Regulatory Studies Program, George Mason University.

Dwight R. Lee

* http://www.terry.uga.edu/~ dlee/bio.html -- has had full time tenured faculty appointments at the University of Colorado, Virginia Tech University, George Mason University, and the University of Georgia where he has been the Ramsey Professor of Economics and Private Enterprise since 1985.

Robert D. Tollison

* http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/economics/btollison/biography.html -- is the Robert M. Hearin Professor of Economics in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Mississippi ... has served on the faculties at ... George Mason University, ... as Director of the Center for Study of Public Choice at George Mason (1984-1998). He also held endowed chair at ... George Mason Universit[y].

Richard Wagner

* http://w ww.gmu.edu/departments/economics/facultybios/wagn.htm -- Hobart R. Harris Professor of Economics, is the Graduate Director of the Economics Department, joined the faculty of George Mason University in 1988, after having held positions ... Auburn University.
* http://www.indep endent.org/tii/tii_info/advisors.html -- Board of Advisors, Independent Institute
* http://www.limitedgovernm ent.org/wagner.html -- is the Holbert R. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia where he has taught since 1988.

Richard Vedder (Other, not GMU)

* http://www.limitedgovernm ent.org/vedder.html -- National Academic Advisory Board (with Wagner).

Mark Thornton (Other, not GMU)

* http://www.mises.org/faculty.asp< /A> -- Senior Faculty, Mises Institute, [email protected]

Malcolm Ross (SEPP, not GMU)

*
http://www.gswweb.org/mi nutes/GSW1995.htm -- Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
* http://www.consumeralert.o rg/info/staff.htm -- Advisory Council, Consumer Alert

Gerhard Stohrer (SEPP, not GMU)

* http://www.sepp.org/artcomm/ 1994.html -- July, in Chemical & Engineering News (7/18/94) "A pause on environmental policy," letter to the editor by Dr. Gerhard Stohrer and Dr. Frederick Seitz, mentions SEPP.

The Web behind the people behind AdTI's phoney tobacco whitecoats reports:

Organizations sharing the Institute of Humane Studies address (4084 University Drive, Suite 101, Fairfax, VA)

* http://www.wrlc.org/gmason.htm -- Institute for Humane Studies, 4084 University Drive, Suite 101, Fairfax, VA 22030, (703) 934-6920
* http://www.atlasusa.org/highlight_archive/1995/H1995-02-Environment.html< /A> -- SEPP/Science & Environmental Policy Project
* http://www.atlasusa.org/directory/institute_profile.php?ref er=directory&org_id=101 -- Atlas Economic Research Foundation, 4084 University Drive, Suite 103, Fairfax, VA 22030, (703) 934-6969
* http://publi cchoice.info/TullockTales/LibertyFundConf.pdf -- The Locke Institute, 4084 University Drive., Suite 103, Fairfax, VA 22030, 703-934-6934 Fax: 703-934-6927
* http://www.free- 4u.com/koch_summer_fellow_program.htm -- Koch Summer Fellow Program, 4084 University Drive, Suite 101, Fairfax VA 22030-6812, 703/934-6920 or 800/697-8799, FAX: 703/352-7535

The Moneybags behind the people behind AdTI's phoney tobacco whitecoats reports

Koch Industries (and Scaife) connections to Institute for Humane Studies and George Mason University

* http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/displ ay_recipients_by_charles_koch_total.htm -- 1) George Mason University Foundation, Inc. $14,048,850, 7) George Mason University $1,042,605, 11) Institute for Humane Studies $534,000, 14) Mercatus Center $400,000, 33) Atlas Economic Research Foundation $40,000, 52) John Locke Foundation $17,000.
* http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/display _recipients_by_david_koch_total.htm -- 7) Institute for Humane Studies $2,100,000, 10) George Mason University $1,400,000, 25) George Mason University Foundation, Inc. $350,000.
* http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/display_reci pients_by_lambe_total.htm -- (KOCH) 3) George Mason University $2,311,149, 4) George Mason University Foundation, Inc. $2,074,893, 12) Institute for Humane Studies $455,000, 43) Atlas Economic Research Foundation $28,500, 52) John Locke Foundation $15,000, 54) Alexis de Tocqueville Institution $12,500.
* http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/displ ay_recipients_by_sarah_scaife_total.htm -- 20) George Mason University Foundation, Inc. $2,670,000, 41) George Mason University $1,656,000, 70) Atlas Economic Research Foundation $920,000, 96) Institute for Humane Studies $520,000.
* http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/display_r ecipients_by_carthage_total.htm -- (SCAIFE) 14) Atlas Economic Research Foundation $855,000, 38) Institute for Humane Studies $430,000, 116) George Mason University Foundation, Inc. $75,000.
* http://www.theihs.org/ people.php/75934.html -- John Hasnas is an associate professor of law at George Mason University ... Between 1997 and 1999, Professor Hasnas served as assistant general counsel to Koch Industries, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas.
* http://www.theihs.org/ pdf/materials/502.pdf
* http://www.kochind .com/newsroom/bio_detail.asp?ID=1 -- Charles G. Koch, chairman of the Institute for Humane Studies, the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation and the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, on the board of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and as a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
* h ttp://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/1999-07/staffingup.html -- The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation has announced that Wayne Gable is the foundation�s new president. Currently the managing director for federal affairs at Koch Industries, Mr. Gable has also worked as the president of the Center for Market Processes, Tax Foundation, and Citizens for a Sound Economy. In addition, the foundation�s vice president, Victoria Hughes, will be leaving to establish the Bill of Rights Institute, a nonprofit organization that will focus on educating high school students and teachers. Joining the foundation as vice president will be Kelly Young. Mr. Young has worked at the Koch Foundation and is currently assistant dean for special projects at George Mason University School of Law.
* http://bov.gmu.edu/fink.html -- Richard Fink of Centreville is executive vice president and a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries, Inc., in Washington, D.C. A member of George Mason's economics faculty from 1980 to 1986, he was founder and director of the Center for Market Processes (now part of the Mercatus Center). He also served as executive vice president for advancement and planning at George Mason in 1989-90. On the Board of Visitors, Fink is Vice Chair of the Faculty and Academic Standards Committee and serves on the Student Affairs Committee. Founder and former president of Citizens for a Sound Economy in Washington, D.C., Fink is a trustee and former president of the Charles G. Koch and Claude R. Lambe charitable foundations, and serves on a number of boards, including the George Mason University Foundation, the Progressive Policy Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, and George Mason's Center for Study of Public Choice.
* http://www.mercat us.org/people.php/143.html?menuid=1 -- Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Richard Fink
* http://www.iwf.org/ab out_iwf/pfotenhauer.asp -- Independent Women's Forum President, Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer joined IWF in 2001 from Koch Industries, where she was director of the Washington Office. ... holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Georgia and a Masters of Arts degree in economics from George Mason University.
* http://tobaccodocu ments.org/pm/2025528294-8299.html -- (1991 estimated date) Candace Crandall Executive Vice President of the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP). SEPP will co-sponsor a conference with George Mason University in May on scientific integrity in the political process. Crandall has arranged for a number of prominent scientists to be participants, including Dr. Bernard Davis of Harvard University and Sir William Mitchell of Oxford University. Crandall is Dr. Fred Singer's wife.