The World Cup just means more to Brazilians

While millions will be rooting on Holland or Spain in today’s World Cup Final, let us not forget the pain felt by those eliminated. In Brazil, where soccer is King, Queen and the rest of the royal court, the disappointment of seeing their side knocked out was too much for many. Especially young Salomão:

In case you need a translation: The kid is really upset.

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – June 21, 2010

BP CEO Tony Hayward, relaxing at home with the small people now that he has his life back.

News

Burn it all: Burning of oil in the Gulf of Mexico means death to wildlife. Also, there’s a lot more oil gushing than previously reported.

Politicizing the Oil Spill: It was all bi-partisan teamwork on the oil disaster until Democrats started mocking Joe Barton.

Let Them Drill: There’s no evidence that Deep Water drilling is risky, say plaintiffs.

Israel Eases Gaza blockade: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that easing the Gaza blockade will weaken Hamas. Maybe they could have figured that out pre-flotilla massacre.

Also: Rapper “The Game” shot and killed, humanitarian and former NBA fan-favorite Manute Bol dies.

Odd News

A Heady Day: Finally, we can answer the age-old question – how many human heads can you fit into three boxes?

Catholic Priorities: Remember, it’s much worse for a comedian like Louis CK to make jokes about pedophile priests than it is to defend pedophile priests.

Today in Tasering: Not wearing a seat belt? Tase him!

Put the camera away: If you happen to be being beaten by a Maryland cop, for God’s sake, don’t film it.

Sports

Brazil Handily Wins: Luis Fabiano scored twice (albeit once illegally), as Brazil continued South American domination of the World Cup with a surprisingly easy 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast. Brazil’s only complaint? Kaká being tossed from the game for allowing an Ivory Coast player to run into him.

Anarchy in France: At the 2010, the French can’t win a game and is in the midst of a player revolt. Couldn’t happen to a nicer group.

U.S. Open to McDowell: Graeme McDowell survived a tough Pebble Beach to win golf’s U.S. Open, leaving big names like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els in his wake.

Blogs

Tomfoolery: My Day with Karl Rove.

EZKool: If you watch only Fox News, you know for a fact that the British Petroleum Oil Spill is all the Federal Government’s fault.

Political Carnival: Blackwater forced to pay the price for their sins – by getting a new $120-million government contract.

Pam’s House Blend: What you missed this weekend.

Tweet of the Day

“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes Mark Kirk’s resume.”

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – June 16, 2010

Brazil fan Zé Aparecido was pensive during the first half of Brazil-North Korea World Cup match.

News

Obama on the Oil Spill: Taking to his biggest bully pulpit, President Barack Obama laid out steps the government has taken and will take in fighting British Petroleum’s oil disaster. The final step? Prayer. Lots and lots of prayer.

Ashburn Changes Course: Since being nabbed for a DUI coming from a Gay bar, California Sen. Roy Ashburn has seen the light. This Q&A showcases the new and improved Ashburn.

Prop. 8 Closing Arguments: The Federal Trial to judge whether California’s Proposition 8 is Constitutional is today. Here’s a handy guide to follow the action.

Wealth Inequality in U.S.: Not that facts should matter, but we are truly living in a second Gilded Age.

More: The first steps toward austerity in the U.S., the Truth of Bloody Sunday finally revealed, Arizona wants to toss American children out of the country, Westboro Baptist Church brainwashing children with hate.

Sports

Brazil Beats N. Korea: The North Koreans did all they could to slow down powerful Brazil, but an impossible-angle goal by Brazilian Maicon helped lead Brazil to the three points in its first 2010 World Cup match. In news from Brazil – the whole nation was up until 3 a.m. shooting fireworks after the game, my dogs are going to have a long World Cup.

Portugal-Ivory Coast Tie: Not a lot to say about this evenly matched game, except that when it comes to the top players in the world – Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo – I’ll take the humble and professional Messi over the vain and spoiled Ronaldo any time.

Bonus Portugal & Brazil Fact: You know how Polish jokes have long been a staple of American humor? Well, in Brazil they make those exact same jokes – but about the Portuguese. It’s a fact.

Lakers Force Game 7: When the Lakers are playing at their best, Boston has no chance. In Game 6, the Lakers left it all on the court, and forced a Game 7 with a remarkably efficient 89-67 victory.

Blogs

Black Politics on the Web: The election of Barack Obama hasn’t translated into more Black political candidates.

David G. Simmons: Taking a look at Obama’s speech from the Oval Office.

DagBlog: The great Libertarian wonderland of New Hampshire is not quite all it’s cracked up to be.

Tweet of the Day

“Remember when Ronald Reagan solved the Iranian Hostage Crisis thru power of Prayer (and selling arms to Iran)?”

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – June 15, 2010

“Would you just stop it with the forsaking already?”

Wolfrum’s Word

The most interesting thing to me about the much-over-hyped Tea Party movement is how easily it was for the organizers to get normal Americans to fight against their own self-interest. The overall level of ignorance at Tea Party meet-ups has been staggering. And what shows that these are die-hard ignoramuses is their reaction to the British Petroleum oil disaster. Pretty much everyone on the right, and especially on the far right, have refused to see that a corporation the size of BP doesn’t have to care about things like Freedom of the Press, liberties or anything else that’s not directly related to profit.

Basically, the dream of the Tea Party aficionados is to have a very small government, which would allow corporations like BP to rule us all. And that’s just ignorant.

News

Barack to Talk: President Barack Obama will be speaking to the public today from the Oval Office. Will he use the oil spill to kick off his push for energy legislation? Of course. But at least he’s not using an attack on the U.S. to start a war with a nation that had nothing to do with it.

Please Hold: Have you called BP to complain about their destruction of the Gulf of Mexico? You may as well be talking to yourself.

Death in Kyrgyzstan: All hell has broken loose in Kyrgyzstan, with nearly 200 killed thus far in rioting.

Death to Jesus: So a big statue of Jesus was struck by lightning? He must have pissed off Dad.

Entertainment

A Thin Sheen: Just because Charlie Sheen is a sexist, conspiracist douchebag is no reason to not let him run his cars into ditches whenever he gets the urge.

Science Channel Goes Creationist: Hey, when Morgan Freeman is involved, how could the Science Channel refuse airing non-scientific creationist clap-trap?

Sports

Brazil Takes The Field: It can’t be considered a World Cup until Brazil gets involved, and they’ll take the field today against North Korea. Barring a 30-goal effort from North Korea Leader Kim Jong-Il, look for Brazil to take three points in style.

Japan Wins: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when it comes to International soccer, Asia is the new Africa.

Stay Out of Strip Clubs: Two of the bigger sports figures that I’ve interviewed in the past have had a bad week. First, UCLA coaching legend John Wooden died at age 99. Now, Titans QB Vince Young has some explaining to do about his recent adventure at a strip club. If Bo Jackson or Archie Griffin have any trouble, let me know.

Blogs

AmericaBlog: The good thing about Margaret Thatcher being in poor mental and physical health? It makes it easier for Sarah Palin to stalk her.

Greg Mitchell: At The Nation, Mitchell gives you a cheat sheet and more links to start your Tuesday.

FreakOut Nation: The South shall rise again! Gather your armies!

LitBrit: Did you know BP had another oil spill going in Alaska?

Tweet of the Day

“Fact: That little swingy thing in the back of your throat was originally called a Vuvuzela.”

–WKW

Be like a Brazilian – Have sex and dance more

Brazil is a land of paradoxes. One one side of the coin, the nation will fight resolutely for its citizens with HIV/AIDS. On the other, a judge will announce that gay men have no business playing soccer.

But recently, Brazilian Health Minister Jose Temporao gave some advice to uptight Brazilians that Americans should heed – dance more, and have sex more.

From The Huffington Post:

Temporao says adults should be exercising more to help keep their blood pressure down – and he says a good cardiovascular workout includes sex, “always with protection, obviously.”

Temporao also recommends dancing, a healthy diet and regular blood-pressure checks.

So, for you Americans battling high-blood pressure, have more sex. And dance more. Remember, it’s like Tom Delay disappeared off the planet after being on Dancing with the Stars.

–WKW

Samba Bill & the Road to Carnival – the complete series

Last year I was luck enough to perform during Carnival in Brazil at Rio de Janeiro’s famed Sambódromo as part of the Imperatriz Leopoldinense Samba School. Below is the five-part series I wrote about the journey.
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Raquel Arantes & Simone Bischoff – Genius I know

Quite often, I sit around the house reflecting on my own genius. These are times of focused contemplation. They are also times that usually take, say, 42 seconds or so.

Because all I need to do is look toward my family to see true genius. Take for instance my Mother-in-Law Raquel Arantes and my cousin Simone Bischoff.

Raquel is an extraordinarily gifted artist, and has developed a unique tool that is making the wine world swoon. Her Wine Aerator manages to be a breakthrough in a business as old as time itself.
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This one time, on a cruise ship …

[Author's Note: This was originally posted on this site on Jan. 8, 2008. But with my wife, Emilia, out of town and me deep in the throes of missing her (Don't let her know that, tho) I thought it would be a good time for a re-post]

I try not to mention my wife, Emilia, in my work because, well, I don’t know why. She sure as hell talks about me at her work. She has several bits down pat about the adventures of the silly American in a strange land.

Generally, however, I keep Emilia in the background. But I had mentioned a story in a blog post about her innocently (I’ll testify to that in court) about something we did on a cruise ship. I feel like this might be embarrassing for her, but I thought, “hey, If I just write a really sweet post about her first, I’d probably be ok on this one.” If there’s one thing they don’t teach you about marriage, it’s this – variables. Get to know them, and play them.

So anyway, this one time, on a cruise ship …

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Pelé’s eternal beauty

Forever the most famous person to come from Brazil, the great Pelé was beauty defined on the soccer pitch. At Life Magazine, they’ve unearthed some unseen photos of the greatest soccer player ever, in honor of the 40th anniversary of his 1,000th goal. Take a look here.

–WKW

Brazil’s Blackout – Rio, Sao Paulo and others in the dark, problem not close to being solved

MINAS GERAIS, Brazil – For those seeing the news about Brazil’s blackout, here’s what I can report: Itaipu Dam, which creates power for much of Brazil’s south, has 18 generators down, with just two working – and those two send energy to Paraguay.

In a telephone interview with a spokesman for Itaipu, Globo-TV anchors asked tough questions, for which the spokesman had few answers, saying that the wind may have caused the problems. The worst part – the spokesman said it could be “2-3 days” before power is restored. Though, the fact remains that the spokesman was exceedingly vague under the tough and intelligent questioning.

I’m located in the state of Minas Gerais, which is in the southeast of Brazil, and we still have power, including the capital city of Belo Horizonte.

There have been no reports of any outbreaks of violence or crime at this juncture.

Update: Itaipu gives power to a full 20% of Brazil. The person that runs Itaipu Dam – a state-run facility – was appointed to the Job by Brazilian President Lula. The blackout is also affecting the Nation’s capital of Brasilia, as well as other states.

Update II: Heavy storms were reported in the Paraná River giving credence to the Itaipu’s claims that the outage was “weather related.”

The Itaipu Dam works under an agreement with Paraguay and Brazil, with Brazil receiving the bulk of the power. Initially, the power for the Paraguay side also went off, but was quickly returned.

Update III: According to AFB, Power has been restored after four hours.

–WKW