Today, Winston Smith would be editing Wikipedia pages

If George Orwell’s character Winston Smith were around today, his job at the Ministry of Truth would consist of a lot of time editing Wikipedia pages. The latest scrubbing truth from the records is the State of Florida:

“Newspaper: State Computers Used To Edit Wikipedia Pages”

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — People have used state-owned computers hundreds of times to make edits to the Web encyclopedia Wikipedia, ranging from the serious to the ridiculous, a newspaper reported Friday.

The edits were detailed by a new Web site that tracks changes to the publicly edited online encyclopedia, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

WikiScanner has been a media delight since it burst onto the scene this month, used to expose corporate mischief and political games in Washington, such as PCs in congressional offices being involved in Wikipedia entries trashing political rivals.

The Times found Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses attached to computers at state agencies and the Legislature that made Wikipedia edits.

“It doesn’t seem to me like the best use of a public servant’s time,” said Kevin Cate, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, where computers have been used to edit at least 124 Wikipedia entries since 2004.

…

A user at the Florida Supreme Court made an edit to note that Yuengling is not only America’s oldest beermaker, but that it produces the “finest lager brewed in this country.”

…

In April, someone using a computer owned by the Legislature removed an entry on the page for Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs. Anyone who drops by the page now will not learn that Constantine was arrested on a drunken driving charge in 2004.

History, it appears, is not just written by the victors. In the Internet age, it’s also rewritten by the losers. See who else is doing it at Wikiscanner.

–WKW

Hillary Clinton leaves door wide open for Obama and Edwards

This morning, John Edwards woke up to the knowledge that his poll numbers were starting to get a John McCain like stench, as he was nearing single digits – polling’s version of baseball’s Mendoza Line – in the battle for the Democratic nomination. Tonight, Edwards goes to sleep knowing he’s not out of this yet. Thanks to Hillary Clinton making what has to be the largest gaffe thus far in the race for the Presidency.

“Clinton: Terrorist attack would help GOP”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — She says she is the Democrat best equipped to fight terrorists, but White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton told New Hampshire voters Thursday that another attack on the United States would likely help Republican candidates at the polls.

Sen. Hillary Clinton said the Republicans would benefit politically if a terrorist attack occurred before the ’08 vote.

“It’s a horrible prospect to ask yourself, ‘What if? What if?’ ” Clinton, a New York Democrat, told a house party in Concord, according to the New York Post and The Associated Press and confirmed by her campaign.

“But, if certain things happen between now and the election, particularly with respect to terrorism, that will automatically give the Republicans an advantage again, no matter how badly they have mishandled it, no matter how much more dangerous they have made the world.”

Clinton added that if such a scenario occurred, she is the best Democratic presidential candidate “to deal with that.”

Clinton was in the crucial early voting state Thursday to unveil her health care plan.

A Clinton spokesman, Isaac Baker, told CNN “Sen. Clinton was making clear that she has the strength and experience to keep the country safe.”

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, who is also competing for the Democratic nomination, issued a statement Friday afternoon calling Clinton’s remark “tasteless.”

“Frankly, I find it tasteless to discuss political implications when talking about a potential terrorist attack on the United States,” he said.

“It is extremely important for the Democrats to nominate someone who doesn’t think like a loser. And assuming that any failure of the president’s anti-terrorism policies will automatically be a political boon for the Republican party means thinking like a loser,” wrote Josh Marshall. “It also signals a lack of confidence either in your own policies or the American people’s reasoning powers. And quite possibly both.”

“This is, I think, a disaster,” wrote Matthew Yglesias.

And it is a disaster for Clinton. And a big open door for Barack Obama. And a sign that the door is by no means closed on John Edwards.

–WKW

Turkey loses access to WilliamKWolfrum.com due to criminal idiot Harun Yahya

Recently, this blog suffered a huge blow, as WordPress (the blog software this blog and millions of others is hosted on) was banned in Turkey, due to the work of alleged criminal nutjob Harun Yahya (Who also goes by the name Adnan Oktar). This is terrible for multiple reasons, especially due to my own maniacal following amongst the Turks. I’m friggin’ huge over there.

Want to know more about this angry, stupid man who apparently takes time off from his pseudoscience work to engage in pedophilia? From the WordPress blog, “Who is Harun Yahya”:

Adnan Oktar (pen name: Harun Yahya) is claimed on his web page to be a ‘world renown and respected scholar’ who has devoted himself to writing about scientific and faith-related subjects such as the theory of evolution and miracles of God.

He is further described by supporters as a respected ’scientist’ who has publications in incredibly diverse areas of interest (actually he is not a university graduate). He speaks only Turkish. The fact is that, his publications and his foundation (Science Research Foundation) have recently been banned in Turkey, and most members of his “sect” have been sent to court. This was not due to their Islamic and scientific activities, but due to crimes such as blackmail, extortion, possession of unlicensed weapons and sexual intercourse with minors. About three years ago, upon complaints of victims and many years of suspicion, Turkish police raided residences of this group. The discoveries at the houses and testimony of the group members were shocking. Under the mask of promoting Islam and scientific facts, the group members had been found to engage in extensive criminal activity.

Click here to find out from WordPress itself about the ban. Let them know not to give in to the demands of the demented Yahya.

And perhaps let the European Union know that Turkey has no place in the EU if it treats freedom of speech so casually.

–WKW

Sportswriters avoid looking in mirror when comparing reactions to dog abuse, domestic abuse

Of the many issues to come out of the Michael Vick dog-fighting case, one of the most interesting has to be the sudden enlightenment many in the media have experienced when it comes to professional athletes. Suddenly it has struck sportswriters that perhaps there’s something wrong with a society where the public wants to hang an athlete who is a dog abuser, but will pay little or no attention to the athlete who commits domestic or sexual abuse.

There have already been several columns on this theme, all more or less covering the same ground:

– “Vick’s story sick, but it’s far from only one” (Chicago Daily-Herald)

– “The greater outrage” (Chicago Tribune)

– “Ignoring domestic abuse is the shame of the sports world” (Orlando Sentinel)

–“Don’t direct all your ire at Falcons’ Vick” (HeraldNet)

– “It’s a dog and pony show” (N.Y. Daily News)

The conclusion: Yes, what Vick did was hideous and deserving of scorn and punishment, but shouldn’t we all look at the bigger picture? Isn’t it time to start using some of that anger, and punishing the multitude of male athletes involved in domestic abuse, sexual assault and other crimes against women?

Almost all go to the same cases, mostly highlighting the offense of such athletes as Pacman Jones, Bobby Chouinard, Michael Pittman and Kobe Bryant. And every last columnist is correct in their basic premise – Male athletes have nearly gotten a completely free ride when it comes to domestic and sexual abuse, despite the fact that it’s a serious and continuous problem.

“A three-year study published in 1995 by researchers at Northwestern University found that while male student-athletes are 3 percent of the population, they represent 19 percent of sexual assault perpetrators and 35 percent of domestic violence perpetrators,” wrote Sandra Kobrin of Women’s eNews.

So the light being shined onto this problem by these columnists is a positive thing, overall. Nonetheless, one important part of the story is completely avoided by the above sportswriters – all of whom are male.

The sports world is male dominated. Obviously, there are a great deal of women who both compete, and enjoy games as fans. But it is not going out on a huge limb to say that female fans are greatly outnumbered by their male counterparts when it comes to the major sports in the U.S. (baseball, football, basketball). And as far as sportswriters and sports columnists go, it is virtually a boys club at newspapers throughout the nation.

Yet none of the above sportswriters seem to notice this. The onus is on you. Why aren’t you paying more attention to the domestic abuse and sexual assault problems so prevalent in America’s sports world? Why are you so upset about Michael Vick’s treatment of dogs, when you seem to care less about Michael Pittman trying to run down his wife?

Basically, sportswriters are ignoring and overlooking their own culpability. And just because they’ve suddenly gotten the meme that there should be more outrage over how male athletes treat women doesn’t mean they are suddenly free of the responsibility of how they’ve helped to keep the outrage quelled.

An example: Note how easily Craig Swalboski, sports editor of the Post-Bulletin in Minnesota, glosses over the domestic abuse charges of the late Twins’ star Kirby Puckett while discussing how lucky Minnesota sports fans have been through the years:

“Puckett’s image was not tarnished until after his retirement, when allegations of domestic abuse and molestation came out.

In that regard, (Kevin) Garnett was like Puckett, but without the chain saws or groping charges,” wrote Swalboski.

Make no mistake, the lack of outrage at athletes who abuse women comes partly from how it’s been reported. The world of sports writing is dominated by males, and overall, these male sportswriters have failed to shine a bright enough light on how male athletes abuse women.

Of course, by no means are sportswriters totally to blame. But what the Michael Vick case has done is opened eyes to a rather demented part of American society. It is forcing us to look at ourselves and question why we give misogynist athletes a pass.

And now it’s time for sportswriters to ask themselves these questions, and to open their own eyes to the part they’ve played in it all.

–WKW

They hate our freedoms: Michael McConnell edition

Has there ever been a time when so many with so much pull in the U.S. government have literally despised the freedoms that the United States is supposedly based upon?

Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell is the latest, arguing that any debate on the government’s spying programs will lead to dead Americans:

“McConnell: FISA Debate Will Kill Americans”

By Spencer Ackerman – August 22, 2007, 5:30 PM

With a heavy heart, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told a Texas newspaper last week that due to the public debate over revising the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Americans will die.

McConnell, who before the late July-early August FISA legislation enjoyed broad bipartisan respect, placed the predicted deaths of Americans at the doorstep of an open society. Thanks to widespread efforts to understand what the NSA’s highly classified warrantless surveillance program is — from journalists, from legal scholars, from national security experts, from elected officials — the Bush administration was forced last month to reveal too much about how the program operates, in order to correct misunderstandings. And that means, McConnell said, “Americans are going to die.”

As simply put as possible: The U.S. government continues to use terror tactics on its people to stifle debate. How is this not an outright form of terrorism by McConnell?

–WKW

George W. Bush makes Vietnam vets political pawns yet again

As Aug. 22, 2007 comes to an end, one thing is emphatically clear: This is the day that the President of the United States disrespected and spit on the memories of the nearly 60,000 U.S. troops that died in Vietnam – a war he, his vice-president, and nearly everyone involved in creating the Iraq occupation, dodged.

This is the day George W. Bush threw Vietnam veterans under the bus, make no mistake. Not satisfied with allowing them to be used as political pawns by the U.S. government decades earlier, the President went out of his way to use those that fought in Vietnam, their families, and the millions killed in that war as political pawns yet again. He took history and altered it wildly to fit his agenda. To fit his sick ideology.

Today, a man who lacked the courage to fight, who has been a failure at all he has done, who is personally responsible for 4,000 dead Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, used Vietnam veterans as a prop to scare America into continuing his horrifyingly failed “War on Terror.” A War on Terror that amounts to little more than attacking a nation that hadn’t attacked us, and taking away the civil rights of his own people, while allowing terrorist organizations to grow stronger.

Aug. 22, 2007. The day George W. Bush, beyond a shadow of a doubt, proved to the entire world that he is a cowardly, despicable failure. On Aug. 22, 2007, the true character of the President of the United States was on display for all to see. And it was a chilling, horrible and pathetic thing to see. And if we allow this childish, stupid man to attack Iran, we are all just as pathetic as he.

–WKW

Take it from Afonso: Aim high

Afonso is constantly teaching us lessons. In this case, the message is clear – never be afraid to aim high.

–WKW

Bush Administration incompetence leads to Google Blogger shutdown

The Bush Administration has once again shown how its rampant incompetence has now infected all parts of American life, including the Internet, as the long-ignored infrastructure of Google’s Blogspot has now collapsed. Of course, many are saying that this outage has been long planned by George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and those that use WordPress. For the conspiratorial, this is more a freedom of speech issue than some type of technical malfunction.

Ok, not really. I mean, I wouldn’t put it past them to pull the plug on the Internet entirely. But such is not the case now, and it appears that Google is working to fix the problem, which apparently will be solved fairly quickly. In fact, it appears to be back now. So congrats to Google for overcoming the incompetence and corruption so rampant in the Bush Administration.

–WKW

Yep, Google’s Blogspot is down

For those of you making your rounds through your morning blogs and are getting this message:

Server Error
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.

Please try again in 30 seconds.

You aren’t alone. It appears Google’s Blogspot is down for the moment, meaning all blogs using Blogger are currently unavailable.

Will update if any big news comes of it, though at this point it’s best to assume it will pop back on just as it went off. Not great timing, however, so obviously it’s some glitch rather than an intended thing. If you have any info on why it’s down, let us know.

Update: For what it’s worth, via Google’s own cache, Google did maintenance work on Blogger on Monday in the early a.m. hours, and Blogger and Blogspot were down for 10 minutes.

Update 2: And now things are back. Will be interesting to hear what happened, as along with Skype’s recent issues, that’s two fairly big outages by two big Internet players.

Update 3: Quite interesting to see comments quickly come in from Spain, Argentina, Korea, and New Zealand. I guess they call it the World Wide Web for a reason.

–WKW

Suddenly, Vietnam becomes a selling point for the Iraq Occupation

More than four years after sending his nation’s military into Iraq, suddenly George W. Bush remembers the lessons of Vietnam:

“Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pullout”

WASHINGTON (CNN) — As he awaits a crucial progress report on Iraq, President Bush will try to put a twist on comparisons of the war to Vietnam by invoking the historical lessons of that conflict to argue against pulling out.

On Wednesday in Kansas City, Missouri, Bush will tell members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars that “then, as now, people argued that the real problem was America’s presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end,” according to speech excerpts released Tuesday by the White House.

“Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left,” Bush will say.

“Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like ‘boat people,’ ‘re-education camps’ and ‘killing fields,’ ” the president will say.

The president will also make the argument that withdrawing from Vietnam emboldened today’s terrorists by compromising U.S. credibility, citing a quote from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that the American people would rise against the Iraq war the same way they rose against the war in Vietnam, according to the excerpts.

“Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently,” Bush will say.

The White House is billing the speech, along with another address next week to the American Legion, as an effort to “provide broader context” for the debate over the upcoming Iraq progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad.

President Bush has frequently asked lawmakers — and the American people — to withhold judgment on his troop “surge” in Iraq until the report comes out in September.

Just a couple thoughts on this hodge-podge of ludicrousness:

1) Bush isn’t “waiting on the progress report” – he’s writing it. And after he writes it, he’s having his career-minded general read it to the nation on Sept. 11 to add to add some drama to the theater presentation.

2) Isn’t it amazing we didn’t hear any invoking of Vietnam in the media blitz that led up to the Iraq Occupation? Those were different times in the U.S., when human rights and civilian casualties weren’t such a big deal to the nation.

3) If you were ever curious what a “Straw Man” fallacy is, but were afraid to ask, this is literally a textbook example – “Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently.”

4) If Mitt Romney really is the most “Intellectually dishonest politician in history” than he must be the most intellectually dishonest sentient being in the universe to overtake Bush and crew.

5) It’s a pretty sure bet you won’t be hearing about the lessons of Vietnam as the media blitz to attack Iran and Syria builds.

–WKW

The United States a far greater nation than Tajikistan (aside from boys soccer)

On Monday in South Korea in the FIFA under-17 World Cup, the United States team suffered a shocking 4-3 loss at the hands of Tajikistan. While this result was roundly ignored in most American sports circles, in political circles it is still a result that has bells ringing.

For in just 90 minutes of play, the U.S. has helped create something that sends shivers down the spines of foreign experts everywhere – Cocky Tajiks.

Yes, Tajiks are strutting about greater Tajikistan today with chests puffed out. Suddenly in Tajikistan, anything is possible. And as we all are aware, Satan hath no greater ally than an arrogant Tajik.

And sure, aside from the victory by its teens, Tajiks have some things to be proud of. Nearly one-third of its residents don’t live in abject poverty, after all. And if you’re an Afghani drug lord, you pretty much have no choice but to traffic your drugs through Tajikistan if you want to get them into the lucrative Russian market. Also, Tajikistan is just one of only five countries on the planet to share a border with Uzbekistan. So it’s by no means all bad there.

But the recent triumph on the soccer pitch will likely get Tajiks thinking they are on par with the U.S., and this is by no means the case, whatsoever. A simple look at the facts will show that the United States of America is far superior to Tajikistan.

Infant Mortality Rate: When ranked against other industrialized nations, the U.S. ranks second-to-last. However, Tajikistan isn’t an industrialized nation and the U.S. crushes them in this race, as just 6.37 U.S. babies die out of a thousand births. While this lags far behind nations like Sweden (2.76) and Singapore (2.30), it’s way better than Tajikistan (43.64).

Human Rights: An authoritarian state, there have been widespread allegations of torture in Tajikistan. In comparison, the United States, on average, rarely tortures its own citizens, and, for the most part, only tortures non-citizens when the President feels it absolutely necessary.

Health Care: Again, American dominance comes shining through. According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. has the No. 37 health care system in the world, trailing such health-conscious nations as Colombia, Costa Rica and Chile. Tajikistan however ranks a lowly No. 154, which is even worse than Iraq (103).

Military: The U.S. has a military that is used to invade nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Nicaragua, Grenada, etc. Tajikistan has never invaded any nation worth noting, and, in fact, American troops are currently stationed in Tajikistan to keep them from getting any ideas.

Paris Hiltons: Not only does the U.S. lead the world in Paris Hiltons (1), it is also a leader in such stars as Britney Spears (1), Lindsay Lohans (1) and Olsen Twins (2). No one famous has ever come from Tajikistan.

So while Tajiks gloat over their victory over the United States, it is imperative that they not get too excited about this. Simple statistics prove that the United States is far superior to Tajikistan, in nearly every category.

And for Americans, chin up. The loss to Tajikistan could be construed as painful. But keep in mind, compared to the average Tajik, an American lives a life of luxury. And compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. settles in nicely in the upper middle area in most categories.

So in the end, it comes down to this: while the U.S. may not technically or statistically be the “Greatest Nation on Earth,” it is a far greater nation than Tajikistan in everything that does not consist of teenage boys playing soccer.

–WKW

Rudy Giuliani as much part of the New York Yankees as Alex Rodriguez

Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who has said that he had spent as much time at Ground Zero as workers there that suffered from illness due to the cleanup effort, is now apparently a member of the New York Yankees, due to the same reasoning.

Giuliani, who spent 29 hours at Ground Zero, mostly with celebrities or other politicians, spent 58 hours at, or traveling to Yankees Stadium over the same stretch of time in 2001. Thus, by Giuliani’s earlier logic, he has as much understanding of hitting home runs or suffering a groin injury as players like Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter.

Yankees manager Joe Torre has not announced how he plans to use Giuliani during the team’s stretch run.

More on this development at Salon.

–WKW

Crackpot sues noted science blogger for calling him a crackpot

Are we seeing the next step in the creationists battle against common sense and reality? Perhaps.

Stuart Pivar, author of the book “Lifecode” and it’s re-release “Lifecode: From egg to embryo by self-organization”, is suing noted science blogger PZ Myers aka Pharyngula for libel, after Myers reviewed said book.

Myers, a developmental biologist, was unimpressed with Pivar’s work, which supports an alternative to some of Darwin’s principles, namely in structuralism and self-organization:

This is not a scientific theory, and it isn’t even a collection of evidence: it’s a jumble of doodles. I read through it all this afternoon (there really isn’t that much to read), and I have to conclude it says nothing about the development or evolution of biological organisms, although it is relevant to something else.

and:

Pivar is a classic crackpot, and Lifecode isn’t a science book by any measure. There is no theory there, and no evidence or observation. I can’t believe any scientist would be taken in by it.

Pivar, who has been pointed to as trying to further a creationist agenda by EvolutionBlog’s Jason Rosenhouse, is a wealthy businessman who can afford to toss about lawsuits – he’s been named as a plaintiff in at least 25 cases according to the Scientific America blog.

But can ordinary scientists and the science minded afford such lawsuits. And is this what our legal system is based upon? To keep creationists and the non-scientific from being debunked? Because Myers’ criticism was harsh, but he backed it up. At the very least, this is part of the scientific method at its simplest form – scientists are notoriously brutal on work which they disagree.

“What if PZ didn’t work for Seed? If people start going after individual bloggers without the resources to defend themselves, that would have a chilling effect on the whole field,” wrote Scientific American’s Christopher Mims in a comment to a blog post by Wired’s Brandon Keim.

Pivar’s lawsuit needs to be thrown out, with malice. The suit appears to be little more than a scare tactic to shut up the scientific. We already live in a world where science news is handled by the distinctly non-scientific in the mainstream media. If the truly scientific amongst us are scared away from giving honest, blunt opinions, we will have taken yet another large step to being a nation where pseudoscience and creationism reigns.

–WKW

Michael Vick: Let it forever be known he’s a twisted dog killer

Michael Vick’s career as an NFL quarterback is over. Vick has accepted a plea deal and will plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges, according to ESPN:

“Vick agrees to plead guilty in dogfighting case”

Michael Vick’s lawyer said Monday the NFL star will plead guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges, putting the Atlanta Falcons quarterback’s career in jeopardy and leaving him subject to a prison term.

The offense is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, although federal sentencing guidelines most likely would call for less.

Prosecutors, who were seeking a prison term of 12 to 18 months, have yet to formally agree to the plea, a source told ESPN’s Kelly Naqi.

“After consulting with his family over the weekend, Michael Vick asked that I announce today that he has reached an agreement with federal prosecutors regarding the charges pending against him,” lead defense attorney Billy Martin said in a statement.

“Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made. Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter.”

Vick is charged with conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture.

The career of one of the most physically gifted players in NFL history is done because of his sick mind. Michael Vick is officially untouchable now. No team or company will ever want to be associated with him again. And rightfully so. Because come next Monday when he stands before a judge, he will officially admit the he is unfit to live in a civilized world. He had it all, but he couldn’t control his sick impulse to murder and torture dogs.

Next up: Jonathan Babineaux.

–WKW

The war is over! The U.S. has finally defeated France

Well, I suppose a win is a win.

GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell on French president Nicolas Sarkozy:

“Well, as far as I’m concerned, when the French President prides himself on being a tax-cutter, jogs around Paris in an NYPD t-shirt, and spends his summer vacationing on a lake in New Hampshire, it can only mean one thing: we won. But the only people who don’t seem to have gotten the memo just took over the House and the Senate. For the last seven months, Republicans have been fighting off a raft of proposals that seem better suited to The Hague than The Heartland.

So we have that going for us. Now we can finally pull our troops out of Paris. On a side note, don’t order a Coca-Cola in France. They’ll scoff you right out of the country, victory or not.

HT AmericaBlog

–WKW

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