Dvorak News Blog

EU’s new figurehead believes climate change is a myth and the EU stinks

By John C Dvorak Saturday January 3, 2009

EU’s new figurehead believes climate change is a myth – Times Online — Exactly why does there have to be a “figurehead” position in the EU. Who really runs this thing?

The European Union’s new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.

The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.

The Czech president, who caused a diplomatic incident by dining with opponents of the EU’s Lisbon treaty on a recent visit to Ireland, has a largely ceremonial role.

But there are already fears that, after the dynamic EU presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy – including his hyper-active attempts at international diplomacy over the credit crisis and Georgia as well as an historic agreement to cut greenhouse gases – the Czech effort will be mired in infighting and overshadowed by the platform it will give to Mr Klaus and his controversial views.

Found by Joe Carlson.

Cool Crazy Flying Humans

By McCullough Saturday January 3, 2009

14 Comments

Bust Out the Weed: It’s Legal Now (Kinda Sorta Not Really)

By Eideard Saturday January 3, 2009

40 Comments

Thanks to Massachusetts voters passing Question 2 on the ballot in November, possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is decriminalized as of Friday.

Now, getting caught with weed is like getting a parking ticket, or as the Globe puts it, a building code citation. If caught with pot, you’ll have to pay $100 or dispute the citation in court within 21 days.

Sounds like less of a hassle than getting arrested, if nothing else. Anyway, we’d like to declare January 2 Marijuana Possession Day in Massachusetts.

It’s a “token” holiday. Har!.

The Horror of the Insidious “Pink Plague”

By Uncle Dave Saturday January 3, 2009

30 Comments

PC CAMPAIGNERS want to stop girls’ toys from being made in pink because it forces them to become “little princesses”.

They say that girls are becoming so hooked on pink they stop thinking for themselves.

Child expert Sue Palmer, 60, says one study showed children can easily identify the colour blue, but when shown something pink they called it “Barbie”.

She added: “I’m worried about the pink plague.

It shows how commercial forces can get under their skin even by the age of three.”

“Forced” to be little princesses! And you thought child slavery was illegal. Here’s more on this nightmare. I say it’s time to start a telethon to combat the Pink Plague wherever it exists. Donate now! Where’s Sting and Bono when we need them?

Missing Angels — i.e., The Dead Baby Website

By Uncle Dave Saturday January 3, 2009

28 Comments

While it’s admirable to help families who have suffered a stillbirth and to help in the research of SIDS, showing off pictures of your dead kid is a little creepy and disturbing.

Beware those with sensitive constitutions. The pictures on the website are exactly what the above headline says.

The Missing Angel Foundation

His name is Will…. and he is “still”.

If you didn’t know he was stillborn you might have thought he was a baby sleeping in his stroller. That’s because Will is hardly the image most people conjure up when they hear a baby was “stillborn”. But for the lack of a beating heart, he would be just like any other baby. Except for one brief moment in time, his parents will never get to hold him in their arms again.

Some stillborn babies have physical deformities, but they’re few and far between. And some stillborn babies, who are not delivered until days after their death, will not have Will’s pink cheeks. But they are beautiful nonetheless. Ten fingers, ten tiny toes, and a turned up nose. Just “still”.
[…]
For the fight against stillbirth to be successful we need to enlist public aid by helping them to understand that our stillborn children were really B-A-B-I-E-S!

We’ve all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. We know there must be hundreds of proud stillbirth parents who have a cherished picture of their baby like Will that they are willing to share with the world. Our goal is to assemble enough pictures to be able to demonstrate that yes, these were really B-A-B-I-E-S.

Should The US Government Provide $1 Trillion To The States?

By Uncle Dave Saturday January 3, 2009

68 Comments

To update Sen. Dirkson’s brilliant quip: A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money.

Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country’s 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.

The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin — all Democrats — said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues.

Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states now have budget deficits totaling some $100 billion as tax revenues plunge.

“It’s clear that the federal government needs to step in and jump-start the economy,” said Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.

The latest package calls for $350 billion to create jobs by building or repairing roads, bridges and other public works; $250 billion to maintain education; and another $250 billion in “counter-cyclical” spending such as extending unemployment benefits and food stamps, which are typically a responsibility of the states.

The remainder would be used to fund middle-class tax cuts, stimulate the embattled housing market, and stem the tide of home foreclosures through a loan-modification program.

Woman Continues to Breast Feed 6 year old Boy… which he calls “nummies”

By McCullough Friday January 2, 2009

49 Comments

ABC News- Robyn Paul, her husband and their three children look like the classic American family — until you find out that Tiernan, their kindergartner, is still breast-feeding. Many people are shocked by the idea of nursing a child who is nearly 6 years old, but Paul remains determined to do what she says is best for her child. “In this culture, breasts are viewed as sexual,” Paul said. “We use breasts to sell everything from beer to motorcycles, then a toddler is in mom’s arms nursing for what they’re supposed to be used for and everybody freaks out.” No one is sure how many women in the United States are breast-feeding older children, but Paul said she suspects the number is higher than you might think. Most won’t admit it, she said, because of the stigma.

“There are those women that do nurse that keep it under wraps because they’re afraid of what others are going to say about it,” she said.

I dunno… seems a little creepy to me.

2nd Video found by Zybch

When is a school not a school? When it’s run by politically-correct dimwits who drop the word “school” as too negative!

By Eideard Friday January 2, 2009

12 Comments

A new £4.7m primary school in Sheffield is facing criticism for dropping the word “school” from its title after governors decided the term had “negative connotations”.

The headteacher of Sheffield’s Watercliffe Meadow, Linda Kingdon, said the south Yorkshire school, which is due to open on Monday, will instead be called a “place for learning”.

“We decided from an early stage we didn’t want to use the word ‘school’,” she told local newspaper the Sheffield Star.

“This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school.

If you drink too much Earl Grey tea your brain goes soft.

50 Year Old War Veteran Recalled to Active Duty, deployment to Iraq!

By McCullough Friday January 2, 2009

42 Comments

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq. The last time Paul Bandel, 50, saw combat was in the early 1990s during the Gulf War. “(I was) kind of shocked, not understanding what I was getting into,” said Bandel.

In 1993, Bandel took the option of leaving the Army without retirement and never thought he would be called back to action. “Here he’s 50 years old, getting his AARP card, and here he’s being redeployed with all these 18-year-olds,” said Paul’s wife, Linda Bandel. “I can understand, say, ‘Here, we have this assignment for you stateside. Go do your training,'” said Paul Bandel. “But, ‘Hey, here’s a gun, go back to the desert.'” Involuntary recall allows the military, regardless of age or how long someone has been out of service, to order vets back into active duty. “Anger’s not the word. I was more concerned about the financial impact it’s going to do. My pay’s probably cut in half,” said Paul Bandel.

“Right now, I’m just in disbelief because it’s like the disbelief that this could be happening 15 years after being out of the military. It’s like a dream or a nightmare,” said Linda Bandel. The veteran is dusting off his old uniforms and torn between his duty to his country and obligations as a grandfather. “I certainly never thought I’d be going back there at this point in my life,” said Paul Bandel. The last missile system the veteran was trained to operate is no longer used by the military. Calls to the Army and the Pentagon about how many men and women in their 50s are being called back to duty were not returned Wednesday.

Holy Smokes….That’s only a couple years from my age, I better check my enlistment contract, and get my attorney on the phone.

Did A Comet Blast Us 12,900 Years Ago?

By John C Dvorak Friday January 2, 2009

26 Comments

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Diamond clues to beasts’ demise

The controversial idea that space impacts may have wiped out woolly mammoths and early human settlers in North America has received new impetus. Nano-diamonds and other exotic impact materials have been unearthed in thin sediments, Science magazine reports.

The age of these materials coincides with the start of a millennium-long climate cooling event known as the Younger Dryas – some 13,000 years ago. Many large animals vanish from the archaeological record at this time. It is also the period in Earth history that sees the demise of Clovis culture – the prehistoric civilisation that many regard as the first human occupation of North America…

Doug Kennett doubts the theories of over-hunting, climate change and disease used to account for their extinction. There are not enough Clovis kill sites to suggest that the animals were over-hunted, for example, he said.

The animals’ disappearance coincides with that of Clovis artefacts in the archaeological record 12,900 years ago. Prehistoric Clovis Indians lived broadly across North America for a few hundred years. They were big game hunters, who introduced a sophisticated new Stone Age technology – the fluted spear point, known today as the Clovis Point.

The Paleo-Indians vanish at the onset of the post-Ice Age Younger Dryas, or Big Freeze, that snapped Earth back to near glacial conditions, where it lingered for about 1,200 years. The causes of the woolly mammoth extinction, the collapse of Clovis culture and the onset of the cold snap have long been debated. But only the impact theory accounts for the simultaneous occurrence of all three, said Doug Kennett.

Man Snowplows Neighborhood at his own expense, County Bureaucrat Weenies Shut Him Down

By McCullough Friday January 2, 2009

32 Comments

SPOKANE VALLEY – One Valley neighborhood has been kept clear of snow and ice thanks to one generous neighbor but on Thursday Valley police told Troy Garcia to stop plowing the street. Garcia’s been using his four wheeler with a blade on the front to plow out his neighbors and clear the street of our record snowfall. Almost all the neighbors say Garcia is the only reason they’ve been able to get out the past two weeks. But one neighbor, who is a county roads supervisor, called police and reported Garcia is plowing snow into the street, which is illegal, so police told him to stop. Neighbors say Garcia is not leaving snow in the street and that he’s plowing snow into the berms left by the county plows.

Garcia is frustrated as he just wanted to help his neighbors and now can’t. “I don’t think it’s very fair we get out tight community, we jut get them down to the road so they can go do their business or in case of emergency that’s all we’re doing. We’re not trying to take anyone’s job or start any fires,” Garcia said. Valley police say that pushing snow into the street is a crime and falls under disorderly conduct. Even thought Garcia isn’t really leaving snow in the right of way, Valley police say it’s illegal to use a four wheeler on city streets and could result in a $124 ticket.

I suspect the County Roads Supervisor just wanted a reason to stay home, fully paid of course. This guy would be welcome at my house… anytime.

Uncle Dave Reviews His New Macbook

By Uncle Dave Friday January 2, 2009

49 Comments

While I mainly use Windows machines for work and at home, I’ve also used Apples since the late ’70s. Among my computers is an old PowerPC Mac Mini, but I needed a new laptop so for Festivus I bought myself a new Macbook.

It’s one of the aluminum ones with the LED-backlit screens. The screen is amazingly bright and easy to read. I’ve always preferred non-glare screens, so I was wary of the gloss screen the Macbook has, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Aside from having a lamp directly behind me that reflects its image on the screen, it isn’t a problem. In fact, it actually seems to make what’s on the screen more readable and, well, shiny.

Matron leaves disabled man in freezing bus overnight. She was late for church.

By Eideard Friday January 2, 2009

16 Comments

A severely disabled Manhattan man spent 17 terrifying hours trapped alone on a dark and frigid school bus when he was abandoned in a parking lot on one of the coldest nights of the year.

Bus matron Linda Hockaday, who has been charged with reckless endangerment,told police she left Ed Wynn Rivera sleeping in his seat “because she was late for church,” police sources said.

“She knew he was there,” the source said. “She was hoping one of the other workers would notice him.”

Rivera,who is 22 but has the mental capacity of a toddler, might have been rescued sooner, but Brooklyn cops missed him in a search of the bus depot. Cops searched the wrong lot while Rivera sat strapped helplessly in his seat in a lot hidden behind a corrugated steel fence.

He sat there all night long on New Year’s Eve as the mercury plunged to 15 degrees.

He’s lucky he didn’t die from hypothermia. Good thing his family kept pushing everyone “in charge” to keep up the search.

Bombs Scare Targets the Rich in Aspen Colorado

By McCullough Friday January 2, 2009

10 Comments

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) – A one-time resident of this city who had been bitter over its transformation into a playground for the rich left four gift-wrapped bombs downtown in a bank-robbery attempt, turning New Year’s Eve celebrations into a mass evacuation, police said Thursday. The dangerous bombs were made of gasoline and cell phone parts and came with notes warning of “mass death.” The 72-year-old man suspected of placing them in two banks and in an alleyway on Wednesday shot and killed himself a short time later, police said. The body of James Chester Blanning, who grew up in Aspen and lived in Denver since 2003, was found Thursday, police said.

Blanning walked into two Aspen banks about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and left packages wrapped in holiday paper along with notes saying the boxes contained bombs, police said. The notes threatened “mass death,” demanded $60,000 cash and included criticisms of President George W. Bush, Assistant Aspen Police Chief Bill Linn said at a news conference.

The threats prompted police to clear nearly all of downtown Aspen – 16 blocks that otherwise would have been filled with tens of thousands of New Year’s revelers. Residents were allowed to return at 4 a.m. Thursday, and the town’s holiday fireworks were rescheduled for Thursday night. On the outside of the envelope containing the note was Blanning’s handwritten “last will and testament,” which left three Denver properties to two men. He gave no motive, but wrote, “I was and am a good man.”

Aspen has gotten far too expensive for anyone except the rich, the working class of Aspen are forced to commute. You should expect more class warfare in the near future.