Covering South American Sporting venues in UAE’s “The National”

From time to time I’ve been known to escape the confines of this blog, and this week is one of those times, as I have some stories up at The National, an English newspaper in the United Arab Emirates.

The stories – given to me by former colleague Paul Oberjuerge – were on sporting venues in South America. The three stories:

Maracana is the heart of Brazilian football

Chocolate Box of Boca is no treat for visiting clubs

Where Speed is King in Brazil

They were interesting stories to write. I talked with a few people about the venues, and was also able to add some of the knowledge I’ve picked up in Brazil to the story. All in all, a quite interesting and positive assignment and experience.

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – August 3, 2010

Despite early failures such as the one above, Jake Tapper has still managed to achieve lofty status in the D.C. media world.

News

BP Oil Disaster Wins!: I knew if we all worked separately, clinging to diverse agendas, we could make this happen. By the way, why didn’t Time convert the 4.9 million barrels into gallons? Who has a calculator?

Violence in Pakistan: We might be leaving a federal deficit for our children, but we’re also leaving them a war in Pakistan. More instability in a country that is both friend and foe.

People

Kanye West: The King of Turning Nothing into Something follows one dude on Twitter. Dude could live without it.

Mel Gibson: The one true sign that it’s over for Mel – Leonardo DiCaprio just dumped him.

Today’s Red Dawn Fetishist

Crazy bastard Paul Craig Roberts takes a look at a dark future. Six years from now:

“The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable.

As society broke down, the police became warlords. The state police broke apart, and the officers were subsumed into the local forces of their communities. The newly formed tribes expanded to encompass the relatives and friends of the police.

The dollar had collapsed as world reserve currency in 2012 when the worsening economic depression made it clear to Washington’s creditors that the federal budget deficit was too large to be financed except by the printing of money.”

Infowars is so insane, it is almost awesome.

Blogs

Crooks & Liars: The Iraq Troop withdrawal is “on schedule,” says Obama.

Paul Krugman: The economist sees a “new definition of prosperity” coming to the U.S.

Newshounds: If the media stopped reporting the dumb things she says and does, more people would like Sarah Palin.

Gay Rights: Gay couple saves life of homophobe. No word on homophobe’s current opinion of gay marriage.

Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog! Go!: Don’t be afraid to give George H.W. Bush a bit of credit for Clinton’s budget surplus. Also, Cesca put this video up, and he thinks it’s wicked cool. That’s enough for me:

–WKW

Tom Shales gets his sexism on

Warning Sign: Writing a rambling 63-word-sentence paragraphs may be a sign that your subconscious is telling you that you are a sexist, and that your opinions are invalid.

“In promotional appearances earlier in the week on ABC’s “Good Morning, America,” inevitably enough, and at the start of the new show, Amanpour announced her intention to ‘open a window on the world’ now that she runs ‘This Week,’ but the show was hardly a haven for isolationists, and refashioning it to take advantage of Amanpour’s specialty could, in a word, ruin it.”

– The Washington Post’s Tom Shales, reviewing Christina Amanpour on “This Week.”

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – August 2, 2010

Vampire Babies. Yes, we’ve reached the point of a demand for Vampire Babies. I just have to believe these are the death throes of a dying fad.

Wolfrum’s Word

Is anyone really talking that much about the Pentagon’s inability to account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi reconstruction funds?

Maybe this is just me – a naive idealist, – but I believe if I were in a national media position, I’d say “Hey, $8.7 billion? That seems like a lot.” Or something like that. Because I think there might be a story there.

News/Politics

V-I Day!: The mission is finally over in Iraq. Except for that baseball-stadium sized group we’re leaving out their to mop up.

The BP Oil Disaster: Honestly, I have no no idea whatsoever of what’s going on in the Gulf of Mexico, anymore. Notch another one for the BP/U.S. PR strategy. Someone dumb it down for me.

People

Drew Carrey: He lost 80 pounds. You suck.

Lindsay Lohan is Free: And Topless! Ok, sue me. I’m trying out the HuffPo Strategy, after all.

Blogs

Ramona’s Voices: C-Span veers to the Right. Plus: A look at some fine blogs (including this one!).

The Rational Middle: It’s time to invest in America.

Tomfoolery: Thomas Sowell is Hitler. Argument over.

The Good Blog: A question people need to start asking – Where is that $8.7 billion?

Osbourne Ink: Matt Osbourne gets trippy at Area 51:

Comment of the Week

“I happened to find this blog quite by accident and I hope that this blog and all of the subsequent post are just moronic attempts at satire. If in fact any of you are serious I hope that you remember that the majority of us Red Staters and a large amount of conservative Blue Staters are armed, well versed in woodscraft, and a good number of us are prior military. If the situations you are commenting on were to ever arise be forewarned that I, and a great many others, are probably going to actively hunt and destroy you, your family, pets, property, etc. We will not play nice with others.”

– GunGuy45 at Open Salon, responding to the post “Obama Death Squads, FEMA Camps must be liberal.” A hunch: This dude has seen “Red Dawn” 207 times.

–WKW

An Open and Honest Conversation about My Racism

“You see, you’re one of the good Blacks,” I told my friend Al, at a high school graduation party. “It’s the bad Blacks that are the niggers.”

“I think I hate you now, Bill,” said Al, walking away.

It was 25 years ago when that scene took place, and his words still haunt me. Partly because I haven’t spoken to Al since. But mostly because that those words started me on a path toward acceptance and enlightenment that I remain on to this day.

Racism toward African-Americans was instilled into me from birth. I never got a sex talk, but I got plenty of racism lessons. And until that night, those lessons formed my opinions of African-Americans.

Being racist was an unnatural fit for me, especially since the vast majority of my experiences with Black people were positive. Al, in fact, was one of the few people who I felt close to in high school from freshman year through senior year. But mind you, my casual racist mindset was on display more than just that night. And regardless of how I got that mindset, I take responsibility for every racist word that ever came from my mouth.

Plain and simple, I was an extremely ignorant boy, swimming in his own privilege. I knew nothing of the African-American community. In fact, I knew nothing other than the limited culture of an upper-middle class white home. So while I feel I’ve never been deeply racist in my heart, I grew up being deeply racist in my mind, and thought little of it.

In the 25 years since that horrible conversation, I have had myriad experiences and travels that have helped me understand my own racism. I have learned that – while I can never fully understand a culture that I am not part of – the cultures of all minorities are a vital part to American culture as a whole.

Nonetheless, I cannot ever bury that ignorantly racist 18-year-old. He exists inside me as a never-ending lesson to myself. That boy teaches me that education and experience have helped me get on the road to becoming the man I always felt I should be. He teaches me to never become self-satisfied on issues of race. And he teaches me that the road from racism to acceptance is a road that will never end.

I am an imperfect man and I always will be. But the 43-year old writing this post has a much more open mind and much more open eyes than the 18-year-old who ended his relationship with a close friend with a racist diatribe.

This is for you, Al. Someday I hope to apologize to you face to face. But I want to thank you for your words that night, because they helped turn me around and put me on a path of acceptance and self-examination.

The path I am on today began that night, a quarter-century ago. And that path has made my life better in so many ways. Accepting and learning about the cultures and lives of other races and nationalities has made me a better husband, friend, writer and man.

So along with my apologies, I send you my thanks, Al. Because of you, I aim to create love, not hate.

–WKW

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