Dvorak News Blog

Carbon Credits for Birth Control or Abortion?

By Marc Perkel Sunday October 4, 2009

I read somewhere that the average American child will generate 9441 metric tons of carbon dioxide in their lifetime. At $50/metric ton that’s $472,050 in carbon. So if I go to the local high school and pass out 100 condoms and birth control pamphlets, or pay for a poor teenage girl to get an abortion, haven’t I earned the right to get a few plastic bags at the grocery store when I go shopping?

My 2 cents. What do you think?

New York man accused of using Twitter to direct protesters during G20 summit. ARRESTED.

By John C Dvorak Sunday October 4, 2009

36 Comments

New York man accused of using Twitter to direct protesters during G20 summit guardian.co.uk — For some reason the videos of this have been taken off line too. Yes, we must all do the bidding of the globalists.

A New York-based anarchist has been arrested by the FBI and charged with hindering prosecution after he allegedly used the social networking site Twitter to help protesters at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh evade the police.

Elliot Madison, 41, from Queens, had his home raided and was put on $30,000 (£19,000) bail after he and Michael Wallschlaeger, 46, were tracked to the Carefree Inn motel in Pittsburgh during the summit on 24 and 25 September.

The pair were found sitting in front of a bank of laptops and emergency frequency radio scanners. They were wearing headphones and microphones and had many maps and contact numbers in the room.

Official police documents allege the two men used Twitter messages to contact protesters at the summit “and to inform the protesters and groups of the movements and actions of law enforcement”.

E. Coli in burgers paralyzes Minnesota woman

By Jacob Galt Sunday October 4, 2009

17 Comments

NEW YORK TIMES – Ms. Smith, 22, was found to have a severe form of food-borne illness caused by E. coli, which Minnesota officials traced to the hamburger that her mother had grilled for their Sunday dinner in early fall 2007.

Meat companies and grocers have been barred from selling ground beef tainted by the virulent strain of E. coli known as O157:H7 since 1994, after an outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants left four children dead. Yet tens of thousands of people are still sickened annually by this pathogen, federal health officials estimate, with hamburger being the biggest culprit. Ground beef has been blamed for 16 outbreaks in the last three years alone, including the one that left Ms. Smith paralyzed from the waist down. This summer, contamination led to the recall of beef from nearly 3,000 grocers in 41 states.

NY City nanny-staters ban school bake sales!

By SN Sunday October 4, 2009

10 Comments

New York Times – October 2, 2009:

There shall be no cupcakes. No chocolate cake and no carrot cake. According to New York City’s latest regulations, not even zucchini bread makes the cut.

In an effort to limit how much sugar and fat students put in their bellies at school, the Education Department has effectively banned most bake sales, the lucrative if not quite healthy fund-raising tool for generations of teams and clubs.

The change is part of a new wellness policy that also limits what can be sold in vending machines and student-run stores, which use profits to help finance activities like pep rallies and proms. The elaborate rules were outlined in a three-page memo issued at the end of June, but in the new school year, principals and parents are just beginning to, well, digest them.

“We have an undeniable problem in the city, state and the country with obesity,” said Eric Goldstein, the chief of the office of school support services. “During the school day, we have to focus on what is healthy for the mind and the body.”

Unsurprisingly, the rationale is getting a cool reception among students. At Fiorello H. La Guardia High School on the Upper West Side, students are used to having bake sales several times a month. Now, Yardain Amron, a sophomore basketball player, laments that his team will not be able to raise money for a new scoreboard.

Another La Guardia student, Eli Salamon-Abrams, 14, said that when the soccer team held a bake sale in May, his blueberry muffins sold out in 15 minutes. He said of the ban: “I think it’s kind of pointless. I mean, why can’t we have bake sales?”

Will California become America’s first failed state?

By Jacob Galt Sunday October 4, 2009

30 Comments

Los Angeles, 2009: California may be the eighth largest economy in the world, but its state staff are being paid in IOUs, unemployment is at its highest in 70 years, and teachers are on hunger strike. So what has gone so catastrophically wrong?

[…] Yet California is currently cutting healthcare, slashing the “Healthy Families” programme that helped an estimated one million of its poorest children. Los Angeles now has a poverty rate of 20%. Other cities across the state, such as Fresno and Modesto, have jobless rates that rival Detroit’s.

[…] “I believe in California. It pains me at the moment to see it where it is, but I still believe in it,” said Michael Levine.

School Hands Out Cigarettes To Students But Bans Teacher Smoking

By Uncle Dave Sunday October 4, 2009

7 Comments

A school that hands cigarettes out to pupils has been considering erecting a smoking shelter for youngsters, the Echo can reveal today.

Headlands School in Penarth has confirmed staff discussed the possibility of establishing an outdoor shelter for seven young people on its smoking reduction programme.

The programme enables teachers to monitor pupils’ tobacco intake by locking away “smoking implements” and allowing the teenagers to access them in a controlled manner, even though staff at the school are not allowed to smoke on site.

So, when will schools start handing out other things kids aren’t supposed to have like pot, porn and booze in order to ween them off of these evil items? And will teachers be banned from using them, too?

Homeowner Calls 911… Gets Shot by Police, Twice, While on Ground Helpless. Police Try to Cover it Up.

By John C Dvorak Sunday October 4, 2009

45 Comments

Courthouse News Service — You have to read this entire account. Jaw dropping.

A homeowner says a Phoenix police officer shot him six times in the back during a 911 home-invasion call, and the 911 tape recorded the officer’s partner saying, “That’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I got your back. … We clear?” The family says the officers were not aware that the 911 call was still recording as they spoke about covering up the shooting…

The Arambulas say the officers later dragged Anthony onto gravel, then put him on top of the hot hood of a squad car, and “drove the squad car down the street with Tony lying on top, writhing in pain.”

Found by Keith Ray.

Air India pilots, crew slug it out in Fist Fight at 30,000 ft

By John C Dvorak Saturday October 3, 2009

22 Comments

Air India pilots, crew slug it out at 30,000 ft – The Times of India — Remind me not to fly on this carrier.

The Maharaja witnessed his first in-flight Mughal-e-Azam at 30,000 feet above sea level on Saturday, as two members of the cabin crew—one male and one female—slugged it out with the pilot and co-pilot.

Endangering the lives of 106 passengers and grossly violating safety norms, the airline staffers came to blows in the cockpit and galley of the Indian Airlines Airbus A-320 as the aircraft cruised over Pakistan en route to Delhi via Lucknow from Sharjah.

The cabin-vs-cockpit tiff originated on the ground in Sharjah itself and then turned into a full-blown fight once IC 884 took off soon after midnight.

Found by Brian Thomson via Twitter.

Obama: We can’t have job growth without health care reform

By Jacob Galt Saturday October 3, 2009

64 Comments

The administration has stopped short of calling for a second economic stimulus package to augment the $787 billion measure approved this year. But with the jobless rate continuing to climb, President Barack Obama said Saturday he is exploring “additional options to promote job creation.”

In his weekly radio and Internet video address Saturday, Obama said his proposed health care overhaul would create jobs by making small business startups more affordable. If aspiring entrepreneurs believe they can stay insured while switching jobs, he said, they will start new businesses and hire workers.

It is amazing that people still believe Obama and the government in general after this. They haven’t managed to create any jobs and blame it on lack of government involvement.

Glenn Beck Crying On Cue Using Vicks under His Eyes

By John C Dvorak Saturday October 3, 2009

63 Comments

Apparently done for a photoshoot. You have to wonder why they do not use glycerine or just water? Why all this trouble? I suspect this is the model for the show too despite what all the Glenn Beck sycophants think. Apparently phony crying on a photoshoot is OK and sincere.

Found by Anthony Fox.

“I Gotta Feeling” in One Take

By hhopper Saturday October 3, 2009

27 Comments

172 communication students at the University of Quebec at Montreal recorded this video in one take on September 10th. Directed by Luc-Olivier Cloutier and Marie-Eve Hebert. the finished product was the second take. They couldn’t plan it ahead because they didn’t know how many students would show up for the shoot! Song by The Black Eyed Peas.

From Miss Cellania.

BBC NEWS Ireland backs EU’s Lisbon Treaty — Another brick in the wall.

Irish opinion is thought to have swung behind the “Yes” vote this time because of the severity of the economic downturn, as well as the legal “guarantees” on Irish sovereignty that the EU pledged after the first referendum.

The legally binding “guarantees” state that Lisbon will not affect key areas of Irish sovereignty, such as taxation, military neutrality and family matters such as abortion – significant issues in last year’s campaign in Ireland. But they have not yet been attached to the treaty.

I think I would have waited for these “guarantees” to be added. This is like signing the dummy contract with a “don’t worry, we’ll fix it later” assurance.