From Nassar Abdo to Muhammad Ali, the song remains the same

US Army Private First Class (PFC) Nasser Abdo is seeking a conscientious objector discharge from the military based on his religious beliefs as a Muslim.

While his case is polemic and has already drawn criticism and death threats, it does bring to mind another conscientious objector whose words still reverberate today, just as they did more than four decades ago:

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?” — Muhammad Ali.

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – The Danger Zone

Tommy Maddox turns 39 today. He may not have been one of the better quarterbacks in Pittsburgh Steelers history, but he never raped anyone, and that’s a good thing.

Wolfrum’s Word

Say what you will about British Petroleum’s PR effort, but as it stands now, it’s been brilliant. Just get Obama to say all’s clear, swim somewhere vaguely near the Gulf of Mexico and all is forgiven. But all is not forgotten, and won’t be for a long, long time. See more at my latest post at Alan Colmes Presents Liberaland.

News/Politics

Hurricane Earl: North Carolina braces for its imminent arrival.

Discovery Drama: The Left will point to the Right and the Right will point to the Left, but the fact is, hostage-taker James Lee was just a very sick man.

Afghanistan: More dead.

Iraq: Gosh, now that it’s over, there are just so many people to thank. We’ll let the Iraqis get their thank yous in later.

Listen

There’s been a lot of commentary around here about people getting songs stuck in their head. I feel left out, so:

You won’t get that combo of music and video out of your heads for weeks. Take that.

Blogs

Sadly, No!: There will be no signs in the Muslim-Hate Room.

TPMDC: Oh the fun we’ll have when Republicans shut down the government.

His Vorpal Sword: Dear God, Ben Smith sucks.

Open Left: What the Elites are trying to steal from us and why.

–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

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – July 28, 2010

Humans – the cure for a tranquil planet.

News/Politics

Oil Spills for All!: It seems few things are more American that having oil spew out of the ground uncontrollably. It happened in the Gulf of Mexico. It happened in the Gulf of Mexico again. And it happened in Michigan.

Static Kill!: If oil companies spent as much money protecting their product as they did in creating spectacular names for how to stop it when it starts spilling, this would be a far less oily nation.

War Supplemental Passes: Another $37 billion is heading to Afghanistan, where things continue to be quite deadly.

[Read more]

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – July 27, 2010

Paul Briggs does an outstanding imitation of how the Obama Administration handled the Shirley Sherrod video nontroversy.

News/Politics

Wikibombing: How will the U.S. react to the Wikileaks developments? Mostly with denials and bombs in Afghanistan.

Wikileaker Speaks: Julian Assange tells you all about his mission, getting the word out before the death squads show up.

The Money Hole: An audit shows $8.7 billion in Iraqi funds is unaccounted for. A nickle here, a dime there …

Islamaphobia: As a matter of fact, that Islamic Center won’t be built at Ground Zero.

He, Al Franken: The Senator talks Democratic agenda and Net neutrality: “Net neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time.”

BP’s Loss: British Petroleum announces Tony Hayward is out and that they’ve lost $17 billion after being unable to control its product.

Back in Iran: Russia once again stands between Iran and the West.

Blogging Warren: Bloggers love Elizabeth Warren – maybe because she’s one of them?

Pakistan’s Double Play: NY Times Magazine’s look at how Pakistan is playing both sides.

Jailbreak!: It’s your iPhone. Now you can do what you want with it legally.

Today in History

1967: The first ATM machine was installed. The line was ridiculous.

What Scientologists Really Believe

“A fool and his money need to be audited.”

Blogs

Good As You: What NOM really wants.

Sadly, No!: Erick and the Angry Inch.

Daily Kos: As shakedowns go, it doesn’t seem that British Petroleum has gotten the $20-billion memo.

Tweet of the Day

“Breaking: Andrew Breitbart admits release of edited Sherrod tape was result of “massage gone awry.” And meth. Shitloads of meth”

–WKW

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

A New study says 85% of you are going to die before you want. Enjoy your youth.

Wolfrum’s World

A sturdy attention span is not something our national media can claim. Which is why a story like the British Petroleum oil disaster is not for the, Look for more and more oil from the Gulf of Mexico and less and less media coverage. See more in my story at Alan Colmes’ Liberaland.

Climate Change:

Climategate? No such thing.

A Compliant Media: How to avoid having people call waterboarding torture? Make sure the media never calls it that.

Taliban Bombing: Experts say it had nothing to do with the recent Rolling Stone story, just that they’re always at war.

Sports

Pele vs. Maradona: It’s not a World Cup unless Diego Maradona picks a fight with Pele.

Tiger Woods, Ya’ll: Wasn’t only a year ago and being Tiger woods was great? Now he’s in a steroid investigation and his wife’s about to get paid.

blogs

The Huffington Post: Bob Cesca says the Republicans are sabotaging the U.S. economy.

Donklephant: The importance of people and parties.

Radar Online: Gloria Allred had something to say to Mel Gibson.

Wolfrum’s Word II

I wonder where all the pro-torture gang was when the Russian spies were busted. Sure, they admitted everything, but you don’t know everything until you electrode someone’s genitalia.

Quote of the Day

“They’re holding the American economy hostage in the most obvious political ratfuck since the Nixon years, only this time, the stakes are deadly serious. Your job. Your money. The future of the economy. They’re sabotaging all of it.”

– Bob Cesca

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – June 22, 2010

Of course, outside of the French team, soccer players rarely smash into a wall and burst into flames.

News

Runaway General: In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gen. Stanley McChrystal let’s his true feelings out. Please go to President Obama’s office, General.

Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project: The Supreme Court has spoken – help a terrorist organization and you go to jail. Even if it’s humanitarian relief you offer.

Arizona Immigration Law: By next week, look for the Department of Justice to file a suit against Arizona’s new racial-profiling law.

Time Square Bomber: “Muslim Soldier” Faisal Shahzad remorseless in pleading guilty “100 times.”

Why Stop Deep Water Drilling?: Just because your own rig exploded and is wiping out the Gulf of Mexico is no reason to take time off off-shore drilling.

Sports

Portugal Scores: While you were reading this, Portugal scored 14 more goals against a hapless and hopeless North Korea in the World Cup. Final score will still go down as 7-0, however.

French Revolution: With any luck, the WATB French national soccer team will be sent back to France today, where they can smoke cigarettes and point fingers.

Odd News

Just Stop it: Dear Miley Cyrus, we knew Britney Spears, and you are no Britney Spears.

No one could have predicted: That Rod Blagojevich wasn’t a very good governor.

Dogs Unclean?: A senior Iranian cleric has decreed dogs are “unclean” and should not be kept as pets. Let the War of Civilizations begin.

Blogs

Rachel Maddow: Sure al-Qaeda is scary. But their videos can often be just ridiculous and hilarious.

Washington Monthly: Republicans have continued their winning approach to the unemployment problem – by calling the unemployed lazy.

Digby: Darrell Issa lets corporations know the GOP will never forsake them.

Tweet of the Day

For all I’ve upset in the past, please note that I’ve changed my name to “Xe.” So everything’s cool now.

–WKW

William K. Wolfrum’s Morning – June 14, 2010

Was Chuck Liddell getting knocked cold worth it for Dana White and the UFC?

Sports

U.S. ties England: While it’s easy to point to goal keeper Robert Green’s incredible and horrifying gaffe as the reason the U.S. earned a point against England, let’s look on the positive side instead. And the main positive is this – for much of the game the U.S. side was the equal of England. It was a truly professional performance by the U.S. in a huge game against one of the best Europe has to offer. Now comes the big part for the U.S. – not letting down and winning their next two games to advance.

Italy kicks of Cup defense: Italy will take on Paraguay in its first World Cup game since beating France in the 2006 WC. The Azzurri has a tough match on its hand, as Paraguay showed a lot of class in South American qualifying.

Stop the Vuvuzela: Personally, I don’t mind the constant sounding of vuvuzelas during the World Cup. of course, I watch a lot of Brazilian soccer, so I’m used to a little chaos during the broadcast.

NBA Finals: Boston takes a 3-2 edge as they controlled Game 5 and withstood a third-quarter explosion by Kobe Bryant. This thing is going seven games, folks.

Liddell knocked cold: At UFC 115, hopefully Chuck Lidddell learned an important truth – once your chin is shot, it never comes back. Hopefully, Liddell will now never come back and find other ways to cash in on his popularity.

News

Clear skies to bomb Iran: Our allies in Saudi Arabia have opened a bombing lane for Israel’s upcoming attack on Iran.

The Never-Ending War in Afghanistan: They’ve found massive mineral deposits in Afghanistan. At least now we have a reason to be there forever. (Marc Ambinder makes the case it’s a PR stunt, BTW)

More Oil Spill Talk to Come: President Barack Obama will talk this week about the British Petroleum Oil Disaster. And then, likely, talk some more. In other news, BP continues to lie and cover up, and will likely end up getting U.S. tax payers to foot the bill for a disaster that still is likely far bigger than anyone is imagining.

Blogs

Ezra Klein: How much does a gallon of gas cost? A lot more than you’d think.

David Degraw: Will Americans passively accept the slow death of debt slavery?

Intoxination: It sort of seems that humanity is having a hard time keeping oil from spurting all over the place lately. Take a look at Utah.

Also: Mystery Candidate Alvin Greene finds a home on Twitter, Glenn Beck’s love of Nazi supporters, John McCain wants war with Iran.

–WKW

Just thinking

Some thoughts:

• If the current tension between North and South Korea had happened on the Bush Administration watch, the calls for war would be deafening from the Neo-Cons.
• The U.S. Mens’ National Soccer Squad were thumped in their penultimate friendly before the World Cup. If you recall, however, in 1980, the USSR obliterated the U.S. hockey team in a Pre-Olympic friendly. Yeah, I’ll grasp.
• I demand the arrest of Rachel Maddow after learning that she actually tortured Rand Paul on the air.
• If an effort in the middle of the ocean called “Top Kill” doesn’t bring about a Godzilla, I’m afraid nothing will.
• I think it’s quite possible that the mainstream media is catching on that Sarah Palin is not a serious person. To their credit, they did figure out that Glenn Beck was a needless distraction a while back.
• Are we really this close to a Celtics-Lakers NBA Final? You know, that’s kind of exciting.
• I’d love to see Rashad Evans beat the hell out of Rampage Jackson on Saturday.
• Of it’s many problems, one that stands out for Libertarianism is the fact that there’s always a group More Libertarian. Like any belief system, there are stages to Libertarianism. There’s the majority – people who don’t want to pay taxes. Then there are fundamentalists, who basically want Capitalist and Social Anarchy.
• Even more so than Communism – which is saying something – True Libertarianism is an unobtainable ideological fantasy. It doesn’t even look that good on paper.

–WKW

You can’t spell “Halliburton Professional” without “Rape”

Today, the job market is in turmoil. Hard-working, clean-living Americans are finding themselves out of work and on unemployment lines. Families are suffering. Life is more of a struggle then ever.

There is hope, however. Here at Halliburton/KBR we take the skills you already have and modify them to benefit us in one of the thousands of job openings we have. Plus, you can rape.

Yes, at Halliburton/KBR – located in sunny and beautiful Dubai – we have highly paid jobs available for a wide-variety of skilled workers. This is your chance to get involved in the war effort, and to be paid well for doing it. And, of course, you can rape to your heart’s delight.

At Halliburton/KBR, we have done our part to make the U.S. victorious in its wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’re always looking for more conflicts. As a private company, we’re always looking for ways to improve our services to the men and women in uniform. In fact, just last year, we saw a .03 percent drop in the number of troops electrocuted while taking a shower in Halliburton/KBR showers. Once again, private enterprise is showing how much more responsible it is than government.

So come to Halliburton/KBR. We have a job just waiting for you. A job that will give you and your family pride and financial stability. But even more importantly, you’ll be helping to make America the greatest country on Earth.

And you can rape. More or less as much as you want. Without the worries of being jailed for it. Because, 30 white guys have come together and made it clear that rape is just fine by them. Consider that the Halliburton/KBR promise – Rape is just fine by America.
—–

Read these glowing endorsements from Halliburton/KBR Employees

“In the real world, my tendency to rape was truly frowned upon. Here at Halliburton, it is actually part of the job requirement. I may not be able to fix a water heater, but I sure can rape!”

“Most other jobs I have held didn’t give me the team-building exercises I needed to truly thrive. At Halliburton/KBR, they have a team-first approach. Once you’ve gang-raped someone with your crew, you have a real connection.”

So head on over to Halliburton/KBR. Because you can`t spell “Halliburton Professional” without “Rape.” For more information about Halliburton/KBR job openings, click here.

–WKW

*Note: Story was reposted from Dec. 2009 due to formatting issues.

Sean Hannity living large on military charity donations?

What makes these allegations stronger is who they are being made by – unrepentant rightist Debbie Schlussel. And she definitely painted a dark picture of what Fox News Host Sean Hannity is doing with his “Freedom Concerts.”

“Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concerts are just a giant con,” wrote Schlussel.

I began investigating these claims, and lo and behold, I discovered that Freedom Alliance gives very little money to the children of slain troops to pay for college and even less to wounded troops. The stories of injuries to troops and how much Freedom Alliance gives them–$200 for a soldier from a poor neighborhood who lost three limbs–is heartbreaking. Soldiers with traumatic brain injuries, severe wounds to the face from disfiguring burns and explosions, and multiple amputations got $1,000 or less, with only a handful of exceptions.

The tax forms available to the public for the Freedom Alliance–for the years 2006-2008–paint a tragic story, a story of a charity that makes gazillions and spends very little for the purposes it claims, a charity that spends millions more on its small staff and crony consultants than it ever gives in scholarships to the children of the fallen or severely injured troops or in aid to the injured troops themselves. While Hannity’s Freedom Concerts take in millions, only a few hundred thousand go to the claimed intended recipients.

If a liberal made these claims – even doing the amount of research Schlussel did – they would be discarded and never brought up again. But Schlussel can’t just be waved away by the right. By breaking the story loudly, Schlussel will likely get tremendous support from both the left- and the right-wing blogospheres.

A good read from Schlussel, who gives you a look at the research she did to come up with her conclusion. Read it here and perhaps look at Sean Hannity’s schtick in a whole new way.

–WKW

A letter to the people of Iran

Dear People of Iran,

I saw that your government has been blocking foreign Web sites, so I’ll make this quick:

Could you guys please overthrow your current regime and replace it with something less strict and less crazy? Because, trust me on this, President Obama is just waiting for a good opportunity to build bipartisan support via bombing you guys into the Iraqian age. And Mr. Nobel Peace Prize will unleash hell upon you.

So if you could get started on overthrowing your current government – like, yesterday – that would really be great.

Hugs,

Bill

–WKW

The U.S. must racially profile old white guys that hate taxes

My friends, we live in a dangerous time of social and cultural revolution. And those revolutions have turned political, meaning the very fate of the United States is in the balance.

That is why we must learn from terrorists like Andrew Joseph Stack. We must not allow these type of people to again get through our guard. I speak of aging white guys who hate taxes. They will take us all down in a blood-splattered massacre and have us kneeling to the West praying to their God if they could.

And that is the truly frightening part – they have enormous numbers. You can’t swing a stunned ferret without smacking one of them. They’re easy to spot – they are white, with no discernible ethnicity aside from color. They are pissed off. Constantly. They are not young.

Look around. There are probably a couple near you as you read this very sentence. Don’t stare.

While the United States has the world’s largest military by far and could pulverize the world right now if it was how we rolled, it is not without its weaknesses. A nation as large and diverse as the United States is not able to be defended from threats inside and out. Which is why we must start being wiser.

Because while the U.S. is on the lookout for every Muhammad, Ahmed and Hamid, it is truly every Tom Dick, and in this case, Joe that we have to fear.

Think about it – not only did Stack manage to get a plane and the ability to fly it into buildings, he did so without landing on anyone’s radar. It was a security breakdown of Apocalyptic proportions.

This is why I believe that aging white guys pissed off about their taxes have become the most dangerous sector of society. It is time we take notice.

The U.S. government must start racially profiling these angry white men before we lose everything. To ignore this truth is to make the Constitution a suicide pack.

The Founding Fathers didn’t create the great experiment known as the United States of America just so some angry white guys who hate paying taxes could screw it all up. This is a fight for survival. It’s time to take the fight to them.

–WKW

America disconnected

The disconnect never fails to amaze me. Death on a personal level is a heart-wrenching, life-altering affair. The recovery is a long process, filled with grief. Losing a loved one stays with you until you finally join them. But being part of the machine that gives others the same grief on a spectacular level has little to no effect.

I’d like to say I brim with outrage every time I see mention of civilian casualties during war time. I’d like to say I vehemently protest each unmanned drone that takes out a village along with a terrorist, leaving carnage and heartache in its wake.

But I can’t. I’m American. The numbness I feel for the death of the loved ones of others is a void in my humanity. I can create the rage, using logic and compassion to seethe at the ease of which my country brings death to others, but on a day-to-day level, it barely registers. And of this I know I am not alone. I know that even some fervent anti-war Americans struggle with the ability to emotionally comprehend what our government does in the name of national security. Because while there are those that feel the pain and tirelessly fight to end it, the vast majority remain disconnected.

The fervor for war with Iraq went from maelstrom to malaise to mocking in relatively short order, essentially due to illogical nature of it and overt pressure placed upon the American people to support it. But by the time more voices joined the ant-war crusade, the carnage was in full swing.

And it still hasn’t ended. In Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and who knows where else, our military is bringing death home to countless families. And in return, countless Americans are dealing with the grief of losing their own family members.

But death becomes us. We incinerated Tokyo. We vaporized Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We pulverized Vietnam. And we burned down Dresden. So it goes.

And through it all, we remain the good guys in our hearts. We remain morally superior. We are Americans and we are exceptional. Ask the corpses and broken families.

Because of this unholy disconnect, we will continue to kill. Those who make these types of decisions want nothing more than to unleash our military machine against Iran. With no lessons learned from our forays into the Middle East, and no connection to the dead and grieving, there remains an exceedingly good chance it will happen. It will be for national security. Because two oceans, a chilling nuclear arsenal and the largest military in the history of humankind cannot protect us from two-bit, sabre-rattling dictators. Only raining death upon its innocent citizens can save us now.

We are a nation at war. And we always have been. Let there be no disconnect – as an American, we are warriors. We leave families destroyed and bodies mangled. We take lives, then change the channel. But the outrage will be there and it will grow. If not from Americans who take lives, than from others whose lives we have destroyed.

And that destruction is occurring as you read this. And those of us Americans who have suffered a loss of a loved one need to connect to those who are feeling that same pain. Because those deaths and that suffering are directly connected to each and every one of us.

–WKW

Republicans want to save oppressed Iranians – or kill them; Whatever works

As Iran is in the midst of severe domestic turmoil and an uprising of its populace, Senate Republicans are prepared to do whatever it takes to save the brave American populace from the clutches of evil dictator President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his boss, the Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Because for them, the situation in Iran has aways been about democracy.

A new bill brought forward by Republican Senator John McCain and Neo-Conservative Senator Joe Lieberman looks to target Iranians involved in rights abuses with sanctions like asset freezes or a ban on U.S travel. The bill also calls for President Barack Obama to create a public list of rights abusers and/or their enablers, according to McCain’s office.

“Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran,” said McCain, in a show of support to the democracy-hungry Iranian citizens. Lieberman was equally enthusiastic.

“The Iranian government, by its actions, has all but declared war on us and our allies in the Middle East,” said Lieberman.

A different bill from Republican Senators John Cornyn and Sam Brownback would offer non-military aid to Iranian democratic opposition groups and humanitarian aid to “victims of the current regime,” their offices said.

“The F-22 program is important to our national security because we’re not just fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Cornyn. “We have graver threats and greater threats than that: From a rising India, with increased exercise of their military power; Russia; Iran, that’s threatening to build a nuclear weapon; with North Korea, shooting intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of hitting American soil.”

Brownback agreed.

“In the global war on the cancer of terrorism, our next strategic, surgical focus needs to be Iran,” Brownback said.

It remains to be seen if either of these bills will gain traction in Washington. Just know that Republicans care about the Iranian people. They care enough to help. Or to kill them. Whatever it takes.

–WKW

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