Dvorak News Blog

Michael Moore Appeals to the President on Afghanistan

By McCullough Monday November 30, 2009

mikesface

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That’s the way General Washington insisted it must be. That’s what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. “You’re fired!,” said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in’ hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea — “Let’s invade Afghanistan!” Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

FYI. You can read the whole thing here.

West Virginia Man Sues For Photoshopping his Mugshot

By McCullough Monday November 30, 2009

26 Comments

A McMechen man whose mugshot won a measure of Internet fame is planning to sue companies he says are profiting from the image. Patrick Tribett was arrested in Bellaire, Ohio, in 2005. Police say he had been huffing the fumes from gold spraypaint, and the lower half of his face was golden in his mugshot.

New Martinsville lawyer H. John Rogers says the image has appeared on T-shirts, coffee mugs and even a billboard in Europe. Rogers says he’s preparing lawsuits against four companies for using Tribett’s image for financial gain.

Chuckle. Why would you need to photoshop this clown?

Saddam Hussein TV channel launched

By Eideard Monday November 30, 2009

11 Comments

A television channel dedicated to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has appeared on Arab satellite networks. Its launch came on the third anniversary, on the Islamic calendar, of the former president’s execution.

It is not clear who is behind the channel which broadcasts the speeches, images and even poetry of Saddam Hussein, backed with patriotic music.

It is broadcast from outside Iraq and some analysts suspect his former political supporters of bankrolling it…

The ‘al-Arab’ channel, dubbed Saddam TV in Iraq first appeared on Bahrain-based Noorsat and Egypt-owned NileSat on Friday and is also streamed on the Internet…

One Baghdad resident told the BBC that the channel has become his favourite even though watching it makes him sad for reminding him of when Iraq was safe. However the BBC’s Natalia Antelava in Baghdad says that many in the city are indifferent to the news of the channel’s launch.

Doesn’t every electron in the world have to answer to Congress?

New! No Agenda. Attack of the Icebergs!

By John C Dvorak Monday November 30, 2009

2 Comments

This Episode’s Executive Producers:
Shady Lane – Roy Strahan – Fabrice Roux

Listen to show by clicking ►

Direct link to show.
show notes here.
Donate to show here.

Insane Brit Study Says Bowling Alleys Are Too Dangerous

By Uncle Dave Monday November 30, 2009

26 Comments

This sounds like the setup for a Monty Python sketch.

It’s a peril that only a crack team of health and safety experts could have uncovered.

After two years and £250,000, they found that ten-pin bowling alleys up and down the country could be a ‘very dangerous’ environment for families. They concluded that it was too easy for children or teenagers to run down lanes and get trapped in machinery that sets up the pins – even though there was no record of any such accident having happened. The bizarre Health and Safety Executive report found that members of the public would be at risk if they walked along the 60-foot lanes to knock over pins by hand.

Its authors even considered ordering every bowling alley to put barriers across lanes. But they were forced to admit defeat – after realising that bowlers must be able to see what they are aiming at.
[…]
John Ashbridge, of The Ten-Pin Bowling Proprietors Association, […] said he had watched HSE inspectors examining a bowling centre and he found their attempts to detect possible dangers ‘hilarious’.
[…]
The two-year investigation also concluded that staff must wear earmuffs to mask the noise of balls hitting pins.

Republican Party Not In Sync With Republican Voters

By Uncle Dave Monday November 30, 2009

50 Comments

Yeah, that headline is not exactly a shocker. The same could be said for the Democrats. Independents don’t like either. Each party’s fringe is in control. When will we ever get back to politicians that actually represent the middle of the road views of the majority? At this point that seems like asking when will politicians stop being corrupt.

The Republican rank and file is largely in sync with GOP lawmakers in their staunch opposition to efforts by President Obama and Democrats to enact major health-care legislation, but a new Washington Post poll also reveals deep dissatisfaction among GOP voters with the party’s leadership as well as ideological and generational differences that may prove big obstacles to the party’s plans for reclaiming power.
[…]
But for all the talk among Republican elected officials about a nascent comeback after gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey this month, there is also broad frustration among Republican voters about the party’s direction, detachment from its congressional representatives and a schism over its priorities.

Fewer than half of the Republicans and Republican-leaners surveyed by The Washington Post see the party’s leadership as taking the GOP in the “right direction,” down sharply from this time four years ago. About four in 10 are dissatisfied with the policy proposals being offered by congressional Republicans, and similar numbers see the current crop of GOP legislators as out of touch with their problems and personal values. Nearly a third say the Republicans in Congress are not standing up for the party’s core values.

Jesus appears on Massachusetts woman’s iron

By Eideard Sunday November 29, 2009

45 Comments

“I didn’t panic,” [Mary Jo] Coady told the Herald. “I was carrying the laundry, looked down at the iron and there was the image of Jesus. I picked it up and asked my daughters to take a look at it to make sure I wasn’t crazy.”…

My faith was down, but seeing this made me think, wow, Jesus is there.”

To me, it looks more like René Descartes. But I’m probably just in denial.

Thanks, K B

UPDATED: Four Police Officers Shot Dead in Coffee Shop

By hhopper Sunday November 29, 2009

71 Comments

Lakewood, Washington (CNN) — Four Lakewood police officers were fatally shot Sunday in what police said was an ambush in a coffee shop.

The officers were sitting in the coffee shop before the start of their shifts, reading on their computers, when the shooting occurred, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer said. Authorities believe the officers were meeting and going over cases or doing paperwork, he said.

A gunman came inside and shot all four officers, Troyer said. Two coffee shop employees and other customers inside the shop were unharmed, said Troyer, who said the shooting “was a targeted, selected ambush.”

“As you can imagine, they are traumatized,” he said of those inside the coffee shop. “Some are in shock.”

Families of the officers have been notified, Troyer said. All of the officers — three males and a female — were in uniform, wearing vests and had marked patrol cars parked outside, he said.

A $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest, Troyer said.

Update:

One of four police officers killed in an ambush at a coffee house Sunday fought with the gunman and may have wounded him before the officer died just outside the doorway, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer told reporters that investigators were asking area medical providers to report any people wounded by gunshots.

Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were shot dead while sitting in the shop, and a third was killed after standing up. The fourth apparently struggled with the gunman out the doorway and “gave up a good fight,” getting off a few shots before he was either shot there or succumbed to earlier wounds.

Update:

Troyer said authorities are seeking Maurice Clemmons, 37, of Pierce County as part of their investigation, though he did not identify Clemens as a suspect.

“We believe he is intentionally avoiding us,” Troyer said, identifying Clemmons as a “person of interest.”

Clemmons has “extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. He also was recently charged in Pierce County for assaulting a police officer and the rape of a child, according to the statement.

Dvorak Poll: If (When) Science Can Make You Live Forever, Would You Want To?

By Uncle Dave Sunday November 29, 2009

64 Comments

Researchers at the Maximum Life Foundation met recently to discuss their latest anti-aging findings. Their goal is to extend the human lifespan indefinitely by 2029… though it’s not yet clear how that’ll actually work.

The Huntington Beach-based Foundation held a Longevity Summit earlier this month, where biologists and geneticists shared their research into how humans might live longer — much longer. Futurist author Ray Kurzweil, speaking at the conference, put it thusly: “We are very close to the tipping point in human longevity… we are about fifteen years away from adding more than one year of longevity per year to remaining life expectancy.”

Among those in the business, this threshold is known as “longevity escape velocity,” and many of the Summit speakers seemed to think we’ll get there in the next twenty years.

The speakers came from different backgrounds and specialized in widely different fields, according to press coverage; they appear to have had little in common except a commitment to defeating the aging process. Some of the techniques up for review: organ cryopreservation; tissue replication via stem-cell therapy; chemical supplements to encourage telomere lengthening; and tinkering with cell structures in order to situate our mitochondria more favorably.

UPDATED : Swiss right forces referendum on mosque minarets

By honeyman Saturday November 28, 2009

77 Comments

hagia_sophia

Swiss to vote on mosque minarets ban – Guardian — Racist? Stupid IMHO. Some of the most beautiful architecture on the planet is Islamic. How can there not be a Christian vs. Muslim aspect to this?

UPDATE : Swiss vote yes on the referendum

The Swiss are to decide this weekend whether to ban minarets on mosques, in what is in effect the first direct vote in a European country on Islam and the practices of Muslims.

The controversial referendum on Sunday, accompanied by a prohibition campaign denounced as racist and in violation of human rights, is the latest tussle in Europe over the limits of multiculturalism and immigrant lifestyles.

Pushed by anti-immigrant rightwing populists, it has triggered months of debate in a country that uses direct democracy for single-issue politics. The referendum has turned into much more than a vote on architecture and urban planning.

“The minaret has got nothing to do with religion. It’s a symbol of political power, a prelude to the introduction of sharia law,” argued Ulrich Schlüer, of the rightwing Swiss People’s party, an architect of the campaign.
[…]
The rightwing anti-immigrant lobby has led the campaign, but it has been joined by some secularist leftists and liberals fiercely critical of Islam. Julia Onken, a prominent feminist and psychologist and bestselling author of self-help books, last week called on women to vote for the ban. “Mosques are male houses, minarets are male power symbols,” she declared. “The building of minarets is also a visible signal of the state’s acceptance of the oppression of women.”

There are about 400,000 Muslims in Switzerland, 5% of the population. Most are immigrants from the Balkan regions of Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and are not practising Muslims.

10,000 E. African albinos in hiding after killings

By John C Dvorak Saturday November 28, 2009

22 Comments

10,000 E. African albinos in hiding after killings — Cripes. What next?

The mistaken belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa’s albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make up to $75,000 selling a complete dismembered set.Mary Owido, who lacks pigment that gives color to skin, eyes and hair, says she is only comfortable when at work or at home with her husband and children.”Wherever I go people start talking about me, saying that my legs and hands can fetch a fortune in Tanzania,” said Owido, 36, a mother of six. “This kind of talk scares me. I am afraid of going out alone.”Since 2007, 44 albinos have been killed in Tanzania and 14 others have been slain in Burundi, sparking widespread fear among albinos in East Africa.At least 10,000 have been displaced or gone into hiding since the killings began, according to a report released this week by the International Federation for the Red Cross and Crescent societies.East Africa’s latest albino murder happened in Tanzania’s Mwanza region in late October, when albino hunters beheaded 10-year-old Gasper Elikana and chopped off his leg, the report said. The killing left Elikana’s father, who tried to defend his son, seriously injured.

Ballmer Selling Windows — Except In Nebraska

By Uncle Dave Saturday November 28, 2009

22 Comments

Help Wanted: Lap Dance Researcher

By Uncle Dave Saturday November 28, 2009

10 Comments

The advertised position, in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, is for: “Research Officer – The rise and regulation of lap dancing and the place of sexual labour and consumption in the night time economy”.

The advertisement further stipulates that “prior experience of conducting research in the female sex industry” is essential.

Having got the post, the successful applicant would work with the school’s team on a research project to examine the “rise, tolerance and integration of sexual consumption and sexual labour displayed through the erotic dance industry”, and the commercialisation of female sexuality and the female body.

Global Warming Helped Cause The Great Eggo Waffle Shortage of 2009

By Uncle Dave Saturday November 28, 2009

14 Comments

In a tizzy over news that Eggo waffles will be in short supply nationwide through mid-2010, lazy breakfasters have begun hoarding and protesting. “What will America run on?” says Hamilton Nolan at Gawker. “America doesn’t run on Dunkin…To remove Eggos from our morning routine…threatens the American Morning.” Kelloggs cites factory difficulties to explain the sudden dearth of toaster-ready waffles, but conspiracy theories abound. What’s behind the shortage?

Read the article to find out. Personally, I think it’s space aliens who can’t get Eggos on their planet. Of course, there’s the terrorist angle to consider. Or it really was a shortage of the eggs that go into Eggos because they were needed to make the swine flu vaccine. Or…

UPDATED: Tiger Woods hurt in weird crash

By John C Dvorak Friday November 27, 2009

62 Comments

Tiger Woods hurt in crash — OrlandoSentinel.com — This is developing. Sounds weird.

Professional golfer Tiger Woods was seriously injured in a car accident early this morning, the Florida Highway Patrol just reported.

Woods, 33, pulled out of his driveway in the Isleworth community about 2:25 a.m. when he struck a fire hydrant, and then drove into a tree at his neighbor’s property, FHP reported.

Woods was transported to Health Central

Hospital in Ocoee in serious condition, FHP said. No other information about his condition has been released.

UPDATE: Tiger is telling a VERY different story! Pictures of the car.