Dvorak News Blog

Clueless Congressman Thinks Onion Article on ‘Abortionplex’ Was Real

By Uncle Dave Saturday February 11, 2012

Click pic to embiggen

How bad has education gotten in this country that an electorate could produce (a Dr. yet!) and vote into office someone who hasn’t learned how to do even the most trivial of critical thinking?

Rep. John Fleming has deleted his Facebook post linking to an article in The Onion about a fictional Planned Parenthood “Abortionplex.”

In a Facebook status on Friday, the Louisiana Republican alerted his followers to The Onion’s May 18, 2011 article, “Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex” and wrote “More on Planned Parenthood, abortion by the wholesale.” Fleming’s spokesman Doug Sachtleben confirmed to POLITICO the post has since been removed from the congressman’s Facebook page and said the office had no further comment.
[…]
The fictional Abortionplex includes more than 2,000 rooms dedicated to the procedure, as well as “coffee shops, bars, dozens of restaurants and retail outlets, a three-story nightclub, and a 10-screen multiplex theater — features intended not only to help clients relax, but to foster a sense of community and make abortion more of a social event.”

The Onion’s editor, Joe Randazzo, said the publication is proud to count Fleming as a reader.

You might also enjoy some comments made by less gullible readers of the Onion article.

AT&T – worst email service ever!

By Marc Perkel Friday February 10, 2012

43 Comments

Amazing – if you have an SBCGLOBAL email account – now AT&T and run by Yahoo – there’s no way to change your email password online. Un believable!!!!

How do these people stay in business?

Oh – and – it’s not my account. I’m helping a friend.

Could this New Movie Be Worse than
Starship Troopers 3?

By John C Dvorak Friday February 10, 2012

66 Comments

Pissed-off Dad Blows Up in Public Over Daughter’s Facebook Rant

By John C Dvorak Friday February 10, 2012

71 Comments

This family is a piece of work. Who does this sort of video?? Is this what family realtions have come to? Back-and-forth bickering on Facebook? Maybe this was an elaborate hoax. Let the parodies begin!

Newt or Romney?

By Marc Perkel Friday February 10, 2012

70 Comments

No Agenda Show
Acquisition Malpractice

By John C Dvorak Thursday February 9, 2012

20 Comments

Sign up for No Agenda Mailing List here.

Executive Producers: Moiz Kahn, Sir R. Daniels
Associate Executive Producers: Eric Wilka, Joe the Dish Slave, Sir Scott Hankel, Allen Cavedo III, Andrew Gardner, Christopher Skalenda, Sid Incognito, Mark Morley
Art By: Thoren
Donate to show here or here.

Listen to show by clicking ►

Direct link to show.
Show Notes here.
Show forum here.

Sign up for No Agenda Mailing List here.
Sites to consider: No Agenda Nation, No Agenda Films, No Agenda Records

LA County Gov’t. Nazis Outlaw Playing on the Beach

By McCullough Thursday February 9, 2012

67 Comments

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home.

The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County.

In passing the 37-page ordinance on Tuesday, officials sought to outline responsibilities for law enforcement and other public agencies while also providing clarification on beach-goer activities that could potentially disrupt or even injure the public. The updated rules now prohibit “any person to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll” any object other than a beach ball or volleyball “upon or over any beach” between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Exceptions allow for ball-throwing in predesignated areas, when a person obtains a permit, or playing water polo “in or over the Pacific Ocean”.

However, during the winter off-season, the new rules will be relaxed.

Officials warned that any activities that could potentially harm “any person or property on or near the beach” should not be allowed during the peak summer season.

Permit=tax.

GOP turnout has taken a dive – Any ideas why?

By Eideard Thursday February 9, 2012

55 Comments

Beneath Rick Santorum’s stunning three-state sweep on Tuesday stands another stubborn sign of dissatisfaction with the status quo: Republican turnout is down. I’m talking embarrassingly, disturbingly, hey-don’t-you-know-it’s-an-election-year bad. It is a sign of a serious enthusiasm gap among the rank and file, and a particularly bad omen for Mitt Romney and the GOP in the general election.

Too young to remember when conservatives defended civil rights?

By Eideard Wednesday February 8, 2012

139 Comments

Ted Olson is a constitutional lawyer and a long-time conservative voice in the Republican Party. He was George W’s attorney in the 2000 election case Bush v Gore. Later, he was appointed Solicitor General of the United States by George W. Bush.

He joined with his opponent in the 2000 election case, David Boies, in filing suit against Prop 8 which had overturned California law allowing gay marriage.

Here’s what he has to say about the 9th Circuit Court backing the latest victory over Prop 8 – and taking the case to the Supreme Court:

Brits Forecast Internet Rationing During Olympics

By honeyman Wednesday February 8, 2012

20 Comments

British businesses are being warned that they could lose their internet connections during the Olympics due to a surge in the number of people going online at key times. The demand could be such that internet companies might be forced to ration access, according to official advice.

The warning, in the Cabinet Office’s official advice, Preparing your Business for the Games, says that the country’s telecoms system may be unable to cope with demand to access the internet in certain areas. Businesses are being encouraged to offer staff flexible working arrangements to try to ease the pressure.
[snip]
The Department for Transport (DfT)will launch Operation StepChange, a week-long pilot across Whitehall departments, in which many staff will work from home. Ministers believe the project could result in a “permanent revolution” in which home-working becomes common practice for civil servants, who are expected to use technology such as video conferencing to communicate with colleagues.

However, the initiative is not without its setbacks. The DfT conducted Operation Footfall, a pilot, last August, that resulted in participating staff experiencing internet connection problems, according to those familiar with the project.

Millions of teenagers will suffer from social media withdrawal. Oh the humanity!

DH Unplugged
Baltic Dry Index!

By John C Dvorak Tuesday February 7, 2012

12 Comments

Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. We discuss the Super Bowl and more indicators.
Click here for non-Flash version.click ► to listen:

Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.

Contribute to the future of the show here.

Update: Russians Scientists OK! Speculators Seek the Remains of Hitler and Eva Braun!

By McCullough Tuesday February 7, 2012

39 Comments

After decades of drilling , Russian scientists have finally managed to pierce through Antarctica’s ice sheet to reveal the secrets of a unique sub-glacial lake, Vostok, that has been sealed there for the past 20 million years, a scientific source said on Monday. “Yesterday, our scientists stopped drilling at the depth of 3,768 meters and reached the surface of the sub-glacial lake,” the source said.

Explorers hope Lake Vostok, which is the largest of Antarctica’s buried network of icebound lakes and also one of the largest lakes in the world, could reveal new forms of life and show how life evolved before the ice age. Lake Vostok could also offer a glimpse of what conditions exist for life in similar extreme conditions on Mars and Jupiter’s moon, Europa, according to RedOrbit scientific news portal. With the current events happening at Lake Vostok, an old theory saying that German Nazis may have built a secret base there as early as the 1930s, has resurfaced.

President Roseanne Barr

By Uncle Dave Tuesday February 7, 2012

29 Comments

Hey, if Newt “The Whiner” Gingrich can be considered a serious candidate given his dubious accomplishments and dalliances, then why not anyone? After all, she apparently has the bong hit vote. Not that stoners are likely to get off the couch to vote unless there are free bowls of Cheetos at the polls.

Roseanne Barr is serious about her bid for the presidency in 2012. Seriously. No, really. She means it. She’s filled out the paperwork for the Green Party and everything.

Trouble is, third-party candidates usually rely on young voters, as the Christian Science Monitor points out, yet young voters aren’t likely to know who Roseanne Barr is. Or was, as they say in Hollywood. The sitcom that made Roseanne Barr famous ran way back in the 1980s, when young voters hadn’t been born yet.

“If this were someone like Chelsea Handler or even Tina Fey who is very visible right now, then it might be clearer who will pay attention to her bid,” Lara Brown, political science professor at Villanova University, told the Monitor.

Drinkin’ The KoolAid Dept – A Whole Lotta People Wanna Bomb Iran

By Uncle Dave Monday February 6, 2012

107 Comments

I wonder how many of those in favor of doing so realize what would happen if we/Israel did? Here is an interesting rumination (from two years ago!) about the implications.

Nearly half of likely voters think the United States should be willing to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to this week’s The Hill Poll. Forty-nine percent said military force should be used, while 31 percent said it should not and 20 percent were not sure.

Sixty-two percent of likely voters said they were somewhat or very concerned about Iran making a terrorist strike on the United States, while 37 percent said they were not very concerned or not at all concerned about it.

Nearly half — 49 percent — of likely voters also said they opposed cutting military spending to balance the federal budget, while 40 percent said it should be reduced.
[…]
The findings were based on a nationwide survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted Feb. 2 by Pulse Opinion Research, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

As for not cutting military spending, apparently those against it are expecting another WWII-type war to break out. Or don’t want to lose their military contract money.

There ain’t always unity in Class Warfare

By Eideard Monday February 6, 2012

70 Comments

This morning, Lloyd Blankfein, the head of one of the most prestigious investment firms in America released a video on YouTube for the Human Rights Campaign. Supporting equal rights for same-sex marriage.