William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

For those that keep track of such things, a little nugget from today’s Taipei Times:

Al Gore visit postponed

Former US vice president Al Gore will not be able to make it to Taiwan this September to address the issue of global warming, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said yesterday. Tien, who invited Gore to visit Taiwan to promote awareness on global warming, told reporters yesterday that she received an e-mail from the Harry Walker Agency, which has the exclusive right to arrange Gore’s speeches, saying that Gore had canceled all his scheduled events in the next six months. The visit to Taiwan had been postponed to next year, she added. Tien said the reason for the cancelation was that Gore was considering a presidential bid.

–WKW

A little fun with the F3 (Find on this page) button and the Drudge Report:

Clinton: 3 mentions
Obama: 2 mentions
Iran: 2 mentions
Iraq: 1 mention
Bush: 1 mention
Cheney: 0 mentions

–WKW

First, a simple question: How many of you heard about the golfer who lost an arm to an alligator trying to retrieve his golf ball?

Or did you hear the one about the guy who sued the cleaners for $54 million because they lost his pants?

Now, how many of you have heard that Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize?

Any guesses on which one of the above items got more play in the media?

Now take a look at some good work done at MediaTransparency.org, tracking the literally endless parade of neocons and “loyal Bushies” that are plastered on your TV screen, all day, day after day after day. Here’s a few hundred more.

And that doesn’t even count the Heritage Foundation’s virtual ownership of Fox News.

Now tell us more about how the media is so insanely liberal because many don’t wear U.S. flag pins on their lapels and that it really seems that they have a liberal agenda.

A lie, repeated often enough, will end up as truth.

–WKW

Dan Riehl on the murder of Jessie Davis:

Unfortunately, if this is what constitutes crime in the heartland of America, that heart is very sick and we can only expect more of the same.

and:

But the sad reality is that Jessie Davis was either the victim of poor self, or impulse control and poor decision-making, perhaps both, long before she became a murder victim.

From Emperor Misha:

In all of the gushing talk about St. Jessie, nobody has yet asked the question: “How the fuck did you expect the life of somebody who had, knowingly, let herself get knocked up not once, but twice by a married man to turn out?”

and:

Don’t give me any shit about how a crime like this horrid murder is a surprise to you. It was as predictable as a sunset, and it’s only going to get worse and worse until what used to be a moral nation has become a horror making the last days of the Roman Empire look like Sunday School.

Being as those on the right feel that immoral behavior means you’re just asking to be murdered and dumped in a ditch, then we can only conclude that serial adulterers John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill O’Reilly, Newt Gingrich, Bob Barr, George H.W. Bush, Tom DeLay and countless other unfaithful conservative shitbags are truly lucky to be alive.

Because I’m sure they’ll be the first to tell you that they are in no way implying that white women who have relations with black men are just asking to be murdered. Right?

Jeff Fecke and Sadly, No! tell you more about these sick fucks.

–WKW

Dead U.S. soldiers unanimously agree - they could care the fuck less about Paris Hilton.

So, what do you care about?

–WKW

We’ve all seen link compilation blogs, which appear to be automated link collectors that focus on a keyword. The creators of such blogs create hundreds, if not thousands of these blogs, trying to earn money via Google ads. These blogs are then listed on Google’s Blog Search.

A general example would be: www.freevacationinfo.com

It’s a site that’s really of no use to anyone, and the owners are basically trying to make a quick buck off of Google. Whether they are legal or deserve to be listed via Google blogs is an argument for another day.

Today, however, it is time to tell Google to get rid of blogs like this that compile posts with the world “rape” in them.

While I would never link to one of these sites, plenty have linked to me in the past, and even more have linked to real, unique content driven blogs like Shakesville when the subject is Rape. You can see what a Google Blog search for “shakesville” brings up by clicking here.

Now, here is where to go to bring these to Google’s attention, so they can eliminate them (you will need to identify each offending blog via its URL):

Obviously, this is not a request to have Google ban the word “rape” from its blog searches. And while the majority of what Google does is likely automated, this is something they should do by hand if need be.

Because as it is now, Google is paying people to exploit the word “rape.” If this is what Google is after, then they’ll ignore us. But let us bring it to their attention. This is not something Google should be a part of, and by shining a light on it for them, I believe - until proven otherwise - that Google will remove them from their searches.

–WKW

If there is one thing that the Germans have learned over the years, it’s that pseudoscience and aggressively nonsensical cults can be dangerous.

So Tom Cruise needs to go elsewhere to make a movie about Hitler.

Scientology cited for barring Cruise production

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) — Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Cruise, also one of the film’s producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.

The decision drew a sharp response from Cruise’s film producing partner, Paula Wagner, chief executive of United Artists Entertainment, who said Cruise’s “personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie’s plot, themes or content.”

Bravo to Germany. Just because a bunch of celebrities have been taken in by L. Ron Hubbard’s silly sci-fi ponzi scheme doesn’t mean governments need to just accept that it’s a religion.

–WKW

As with anywhere, there are positives and negatives when it comes to living in Brazil. Let’s look at one of the positives

A freezer full, including some seriously choice cuts for about $100-150. Should last a month or so.

–WKW

Rudy Giuliani is currently setting up his dream team to run the U.S. First, there was the felon he tried to foist on the nation. there was the accused coke dealer leading his S. Carolina campaign. Now there’s an accused pedophile as a consultant.

Giuliani’s loyalty to an accused priest

Anyone who has followed the career of Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani knows the value he places on personal loyalty. Loyalty is what inspired the former mayor of New York to make Bernard Kerik, once his personal driver, the commissioner of the New York Police Department, and then a partner in his consulting firm, and then to suggest him to President Bush as a potential head of the Department of Homeland Security.

After revelations about Kerik’s personal history derailed his bid for the federal post, Giuliani demonstrated that there were limits to loyalty. He has distanced himself from Kerik, who resigned from Giuliani’s firm and later pleaded guilty to corruption charges. Giuliani has not, however, sought to distance himself from another, much closer friend whose personal baggage is also inconvenient, and would send most would-be presidents running.

Giuliani employs his childhood friend Monsignor Alan Placa as a consultant at Giuliani Partners despite a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests. Placa, who was part of a three-person team that handled allegations of abuse by clergy for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is referred to as Priest F in the grand jury report. The report summarizes the testimony of multiple alleged victims of Priest F, and then notes, “Ironically, Priest F would later become instrumental in the development of Diocesan policy in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.”

Giuliani could not be reached for comment, because priests sodomizing children and campaign managers pushing the rock ain’t his thing. He’s just getting out lone campaign issue of 9/11 and putting together his dream team.

Seriously, a Hugo-Chavez -funded party at Rudy’s must be one seriously decadent affair.

–WKW

Already a founding member of the current cult of “kill the scary brown people,” Tony Blair will now toss of the shackles of the silly Anglican religion to go into the corporate world of Catholic nonsense:

Blair will become a Catholic

Tony Blair is “certain” to become a Roman Catholic shortly after he steps down from office next week, friends of the Prime Minister have told The Independent. They believe it will happen “sooner rather than later”.

Mr Blair is likely to discuss his conversion with Pope Benedict XVI, with whom he will hold talks in Rome tomorrow after attending his last summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

Aides say that in the private one-to-one meeting, he will also discuss his plans to set up a Blair Inter-Faith Foundation aimed at fostering closer links between people from different religions.

There have been persistent rumours that the Prime Minister would convert to Catholicism but Downing Street has always insisted that he remains a member of the Church of England.

Now friends say Mr Blair will formalise his already close affiliation to the Catholic Church. They say his “spiritual guide” in making the decision has been his wife, Cherie. They have brought up their four children as Catholics.

Before he became Prime Minister, Mr Blair regularly took communion with his wife and children at a Catholic church in Islington, north London. He ceased doing so in public after an intervention by the late Cardinal Hume, when he was leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

It is believed that Mr Blair decided to remain an Anglican while he was Prime Minister because of the possible legal and political difficulties of converting while in office.

Even as a lapsed Catholic, I’m pretty sure that they have rules that apply to those willing to lie about war and killing thousands upon thousands of innocents, even if “legally” and “politically” it’s cool.

–WKW

Taking a brief respite from its endless posts screaming for the U.S. to kill everyone, everywhere, all the time, the Power Line crew decided to talk soccer. And looked just as silly doing that.

“In this tournament, Landon Donovan was the only U.S. player I would, without qualification, rate as world class,” writes Paul Mirengoff.

Running home crying from Bayern Munich’s B team and looking lost and terrified in the World Cup apparently makes a soccer player “world class” in Mirengoff’s world.

When the rest of the world actually knows who Landon Donovan is, we’ll talk.

–WKW

Now that the AGLU (American Golf Liberties Union) has made it’s way into the golf world’s lexicon, it was only a matter of time before the infamous Golfer Supremacy Rankings made their way back to the pages of WorldGolf.com. Take a look at my latest postings on WG, if you so dare:

–WKW

The U.S. has taken down Mexico to take home the Gold Cup, 2-1, with goals by Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber.

It’s always nice to beat Mexico. Let’s see how loud Rafael Marquez and team cry about it and refuse to give the U.S. credit this time.

The folks over at Throughball will surely be having some fun with this. Head over there for some top-notch analysis. And very likely some gloating.

Now on to Copa America.

Crying update:

“Sometimes the team that plays better doesn’t always win.”

– Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez

Seriously, Mexico is quite possibly the least professional nation in all of international soccer.

–WKW

Being a real boxing fan means always being wary of the next great fighter coming out of England. Let it be known that Ricky Hatton is the real deal.

A perfect left to the body in round four put down Mexico’s Jose Luis Castillo for the 10 count,as Hatton took home some version of the Jr. Welterweight title.

The title itself is insignificant, as Hatton dazzled the Las Vegas crowd and HBO viewers by fearlessly wading in and overwhelming Castillo.

Big things and fights are yet to come for Hatton, who moves to 43-0 (31 KOs). Every top fighter from 130 through 147 will have Hatton in their sites. Perhaps we can get Juan Diaz to put on five pounds and take on the “Hit Man” from Manchester. Hatton-Diaz would be truly an exceptional match up. As would Hatton-Miguel Cotto.

With the win over Castillo, however, what Hatton does next is purely up to him. If there was any doubt before, let there be none now. He is in boxing’s elite.

–WKW

From Glenn Reynolds, circa today:

IN THE MAIL: Col. Buzz Patterson’s War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror.

I don’t think that the left wants to lose the war on terror, exactly — they just want Bush to lose the war on terror. I suspect, however, that Patterson’s theme is one that we’ll hear more in the future, especially if things go badly in Iraq.

I find Instapundit’s words hurtful and ignorant. After all, in Patterson’s own words, we’ve already won the war. Two years ago, actually

“The war is being won, if not already won, I think,” Patterson, who is retired from the U.S. Air Force, said. “[Iraq] is stabilized and we want the soldiers themselves to tell the story.”

-Buzz Patterson, July 6, 2005

–WKW