Dvorak News Blog

More Blackwater Allegations… Child Prostitutes, Wife Swapping, Murder… etc…

By McCullough Saturday August 8, 2009

Since the revelation earlier this week of allegations by two former employees of security firm Blackwater that its owner was complicit in murder in order to cover up the deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians, explosive charges have continued to emerge.

Perhaps the most shocking of those charges — quoted by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Thursday from the employees’ sworn declarations — is that Blackwater was guilty of using child prostitutes at its compound in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and that owner Erik Prince knew of this activity and did nothing to stop it. The declarations describe Blackwater as “having young girls provide oral sex to Enterprise members in the ‘Blackwater Man Camp’ in exchange for one American dollar.” They add even though Prince frequently visited this camp, he “failed to stop the ongoing use of prostitutes, including child prostitutes, by his men.”

One of the statements also charges that “Prince’s North Carolina operations had an ongoing wife-swapping and sex ring, which was participated in by many of Mr. Prince’s top executives.” According to the two former employees, Blackwater supervisors in Iraq sometimes sent men back to the United States for wanting to “kill ragheads,” excessive drinking, steroid use, or failure to follow weapon safety procedures, but “Mr. Prince and his executives would send them back” with a reprimand to the supervisor for costing the firm money. Blackwater even fired “those mental health professionals who were not willing to endorse deployments of unfit men.”

Maybe another name change is in order… perhaps something a little more upbeat.

Google To Apple: Up Yours! Google Voice Now Available Online

By Uncle Dave Saturday August 8, 2009

28 Comments

Apple rejected Google Voice almost two weeks ago, removing it from the app store. Now under investigation by the feds, AT&T has pointed the finger at Apple for the rejection. Now in an exciting move Google is moving its rejected application online in an effort to essentially negate any attempts by Apple to police the application.

The new app can be installed as an icon on your homescreen. The specially crafted iPhone-shaped webpage will offer all the features of the original app. In other words, in a move akin to flipping the bird to Steve Jobs, Google has essentially highlighted a way for app developers everywhere to easily publish their rejected content.
[…]
On the other hand the move could usher in a new era of freedom for iPhone users. Freed from Apple’s dictates of what apps are fit and proper, the phone’s true potential could finally be achieved. Rejected apps like eBook readers (rejected in mass over piracy concerns) could simply move online. As the New York Times’ Dave Pogue puts it, “What’s Apple going to do now? Start blocking access to individual Web sites?”
[…]
Google’s decision to defying Apple is an exciting development. And one thing’s for sure — Apple’s likely not happy and is likely trying to scheme how to stop them.

Local reporter outs Republican astroturfer

By Eideard Saturday August 8, 2009

100 Comments

Here’s a fun example of astroturfing in its purest form: A woman attending a town hall event for Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI), and–while loudly raising objections to the Democrats’ health care reform proposal–insisting she’s just a regular concerned citizen. Except, she’s actually a GOP official.

Heather Blish was vice-chairman of the Kewaunee County GOP until 2008. She actually worked for Kagen’s opponent, and, according to her own resume, is affiliated with the Republican National Committee.

I’m shocked. Will the Republicans disavow Heather Blish as a liar?

Or slap her wrist for getting caught?

Microsoft’s Project Natal In Action

By Uncle Dave Saturday August 8, 2009

16 Comments

An even better use than games will be for small time filmmakers who want to do motion capture. What took millions of $ only a few years ago should be possible using low cost graphics programs like iClone, Poser and others combined with Natal and the inevitable clones.

Inside Xbox, Tsunoda noted that Natal can be useful for more than gaming. He noted that for many first-time console users, the controller itself can be intimidating, even when trying to do things like navigate through menus. Oftentimes people get their first experience with the Xbox when they are at the house of a friend or family member who has an Xbox and they are handed a controller with lots of buttons.

“For a lot of people that can be intimidating,” Tsunoda said. “You don’t really know what to do and you’re starting to feel stupid and everyone is looking at you and you are not being successful. That’s really not a good first way to interact with our console.”

Tsunoda and Entertainment Unit President Robbie Bach both said they are confident that Natal will also have great appeal for the core gamers already spending hours a week playing on the Xbox.

“Even the folks who are hard-core Halo or Splinter Cell players, they are also going to want to play Natal games,” Bach said in an interview.

Here is Microsoft’s site for Natal.

Florida man blames pussycat for downloading child porn

By John C Dvorak Saturday August 8, 2009

23 Comments

Florida man blames cat for downloading child pornography — Uh, I’m not going any further with this gag.

Dogs have been blamed for eating homework – now a Florida man says his cat downloaded child pornography.Police are charging Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach, Florida with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after finding more than 1,000 images on his personal computer.Griffin told police he had been downloading music, and that his cat jumped on the keyboard when he left the room. He said “strange things” appeared on the computer when he returned.

Found by Pierre Bourgeois.

Madoff Bill Considered… Forcing Inmates to Pay for their Stay

By McCullough Friday August 7, 2009

48 Comments

joearpaio

A one-night stay? Ninety dollars. Need to see a doctor? Ten bucks. Want toilet paper? Pay for it yourself.

In the ever-widening search for extra income during desperate economic times, states across the nation are embracing a new idea: making inmates pay their debt to society not only in hard time, but also in cold, hard cash. In New York, GOP Assemblyman James Tedisco introduced a bill that would charge wealthy criminals $90 a day for room and board at state prisons.

Dubbed the “Madoff Bill,” after billion-dollar Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, the legislation is designed to ease the $1 billion annual cost of incarcerating prisoners. “This concept says if you can afford it, or even some of it, you’re going to help the beleaguered taxpayers who play by the rules,” Tedisco said. Several other states and some cities have gone to great lengths to squeeze money from inmates.

In Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, Sheriff Joe Arpaio calls himself America’s toughest sheriff and makes prisoners sleep outdoors in 100-degree-plus heat. Earlier this year, he announced that inmates would be charged $1.25 per day for meals. His decision followed months of food strikes staged by convicts who complained of being fed green bologna and moldy bread. In Iowa’s Des Moines County, where officials faced a $1.7 million budget hole this year, politicians considered charging prisoners for toilet paper – at a savings of $2,300 per year. The idea was ultimately dropped, after much derision.

A New Jersey legislator introduced a bill similar to New York’s, this one based on fees charged by the Camden County Correctional Facility, which bills prisoners $5 a day for room and board and $10 per day for infirmary stays – totaling an estimated $300,000 per year.

Finally a bill I can get behind. But what if the inmate refuses to pay for his accommodations?

Runaway Tire Nearly Kills Cop

By John C Dvorak Friday August 7, 2009

30 Comments

WOW!

White House to Democrats: ‘Punch back twice as hard’

By John C Dvorak Friday August 7, 2009

64 Comments

Tough guy Messina on right

White House to Democrats: ‘Punch back twice as hard’ – Carrie Budoff Brown – POLITICO.com — None of this would have happened if the lazy Congress decided not to take a month vacation, would it?

Top White House aides gave Senate Democrats a recess battle plan on Thursday, arming the lawmakers with tips for avoiding disastrous town hall meetings while showing them polling on popular aspects of the reform effort.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod and deputy chief of staff Jim Messina told senators to focus on the insured and how they would benefit from “consumer protections” in the overhaul, such as ending the practice of denying insurance
based on preexisting conditions and ensuring the continuity of coverage between jobs.

They showed video clips of the confrontational town halls that have dominated the media coverage, and told senators to do more prep work than usual for their public meetings by making sure their own supporters turn out, senators and aides said.

And they screened TV ads and reviewed the various campaigns by critics of the Democratic plan.

“If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard,” Messina said, according to an official who attended the meeting.

Meanwhile this is getting ugly. When you have a real unemplyment rate of perhaps 16-percent or higher, you don’t want this sort of thing to develop. At the end of the day, it’s something to do and fun for a lot of people. Bigger and bigger riots will happen. The vacation month just started.

Repairing Your Mac Using Only A Hammer by Rapper & Actor Ice-T

By Uncle Dave Friday August 7, 2009

36 Comments

Warning: Language may be NSFW, depending on where you work.

“Punking the Birthers? Priceless!

By Eideard Friday August 7, 2009

41 Comments

It’s looking more and more like the forged “Kenyan birth certificate” released by Orly Taitz on Sunday was a prank by a supporter of President Obama. Politijab points to an anonymous blogger at FearlessBlogging, who has uploaded four photos of the original forgery and a mocking declaration:

Fine cotton business paper: $11

Inkjet printer: $35

1940 Royal Model KMM manual typewriter: $10

2 Shilling coin: $1

Pilot Varsity fountain pen: $3

Punkin’ the Birthers: Priceless

What more is there to say?

Thanks, Mr. Justin

Stupid in America

By John C Dvorak Friday August 7, 2009

39 Comments

This is actually a couple of years old but still good to watch if you have not seen it. It’s 40 minutes long. It’s probably subject to a take down.

Congress Goes Nuts Buying New Hot Jets for Itself

By John C Dvorak Friday August 7, 2009

38 Comments

Congress Gets an Upgrade – WSJ.com — Free spending Democrats are out to prove they can be worse than the Republicans.

Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds.The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad.The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations

Found by Guilherme Cherman.

Proof of Martian Life?

By McCullough Friday August 7, 2009

27 Comments

5464_thumbzoom

THIS mysterious monument could be proof there was once life on Mars.

The rectangular structure — measuring five metres across — was photographed by a super high resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The giant monolith juts out of the planet’s surface casting a huge shadow below. Its emergence on website Lunar Explorer Italia has got space buffs speculating if it could have been constructed by creatures once living on the red planet. The monument resembles the black monolith seen in Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In the movie the structure is believed to be a key to man’s evolution. And astonishingly Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, revealed a similar monolith was detected on Mars’ moon Phobos. Speaking last week, he insisted: “We should visit the moons of Mars. “There’s a monolith there – a very unusual structure on this little potato shaped object that goes around Mars once every seven hours.

“When people find out about that they are going to say, ‘Who put that there? Who put that there?’”

This Is Your Taxidermist On Drugs

By Uncle Dave Friday August 7, 2009

10 Comments

After clicking on the pics above to take you to the Crappy Taxidermy site, click on the Archives link for a whole lot more although I think PETA would not be amused.