Eric Ehrmann
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Eric Ehrmann is a digital nomad who writes on sports and politics. He is a member of PEN and is one of the original contributors to Rolling Stone, working under co-founder Jann S. Wenner and covered the funeral of Beat icon Jack Kerouac for the publication in 1969. After a split with Wenner he lived in Europe, attended the Sorbonne during the Cold War and and wrote on politics and cultural freedom. Later in Argentina when the junta morphed into democracy his columns on politics and proliferation issues were featured in the Buenos Aires Herald and US publications including the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Journal of Commerce, National Review, New York Times and USA Today. He lectured at the University of Virginia and the University of Indiana and was writer-in-residence at the University of New Mexico in 1995. After getting mugged by C-3 colon cancer doctors gave him a prognosis of 20% for surviving five years. God, chemo and colonoscopies helped him beat the odds. Eric holds US citizenship and permanent Brazil residence. He is a Deke. His motto... "God is my co-pilot, football is my religion."

Blog Entries by Eric Ehrmann

Brazil Amps Up Human Rights as Spike Joints in to Chill Favela Fever

(0) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 4:55 PM

Dilma doing a cameo in a Spike Lee joint, and spotlighting human rights violations. Lula rolls out a new Facebook page and gets tagged at an arts crawl with Dilma. It's all part of the cultural public diplomacy designed to...

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Silver Spoon Socialists Flex Muscles In Brazil

(0) Comments | Posted May 11, 2012 | 5:06 PM

With Argentina and Bolivia expropriating big energy firms and Brazil nationalizing strike and scandal plagued World Cup projects, Latin America's often convoluted take on socialism has created a money-hungry cookie monster that's desperate for dollars to cover social costs and palliate restless workers. Boasting the world's...

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High Flying Apple Hits Turbulence In Brazil, Foxconn's Gou Calls Workers 'Animals'

(3) Comments | Posted May 2, 2012 | 12:00 PM

After Foxconn owner Terry Gou called workers animals at a company meeting, unionized assemblers of Apple IPods at Foxconn's Jundai fab near Sao Paulo are complaining about a lack of food and water and cage-space working conditions and have threatend to go on strike ...

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Brazil's Cry for Argentina Makes 'Social Equality' an Issue for Obama and Romney

(9) Comments | Posted April 25, 2012 | 3:00 PM

After the confrontational expropriation of oil dinosaur Repsol YPF president Cristina Kirchner of Argentina has published a glowing profile of Dilma Rousseff in Time magazine, praising the Brazilian leader for sharing her commitment to "social equality."

But as politicians and business leaders struggle with the role...

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Public Diplomacy With Brazil Puts Boeing Deal at Risk

(13) Comments | Posted April 4, 2012 | 10:55 AM

Brazil's reluctance to help Washington topple Syria and their support for Iran's nuclear program have drawn the ire of a White House eager to turn foreign policy into political currency during a presidential election year.

Flexing its muscles, the Pentagon abruptly cancelled a deal with defense giant Embraer and the...

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Brazil Declares War on Teen Smoking

(4) Comments | Posted March 19, 2012 | 1:05 PM

Just weeks after former president Lula was treated for smoking-related laryngeal cancer Brazil's National Health Agency (ANVISA) has prohibited the sale of flavored cigarettes and banned the use of several additive chemicals used in manufacturing tobacco products including certain adhesive substances that, like tobacco, can cause chemical...

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Corruption Could Boot Brazil Football Czar Off Golden Throne

(2) Comments | Posted February 28, 2012 | 10:45 AM

As Brazil struggles to modernize stadiums and airports in time for the FIFA 2014 World Cup federal justice officials are investigating Ricardo Teixeira, leader of Brazil's 2014 World Cup Organizing Committee and boss of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) in connection with misappropriating $5 million in funds from a FIFA...

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Carnival Confidential... Rio Governor Emerges From Strikes as Presidential Contender

(0) Comments | Posted February 14, 2012 | 4:58 PM

Although patchwork agreements with police unions have bought a temporary and uneasy peace in Bahia and Rio, law and order is now the key issue for any candidate seeking to challenge popular leader Dilma Rousseff' in the 2014 presidential race.

Rejecting federal assistance after walkouts by state police, Rio de...

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Brazil's Scofflaw Drivers Put Carnival Tourists at Risk

(4) Comments | Posted January 16, 2012 | 10:38 AM

Avoiding the big inflation predicted by financial pundits, the musical chairs government of president Dilma Rousseff has made Brazil the world's sixth largest economy, earning her high marks for her centrist approach after one year in office.

But with Carnival unfolding next month and the World Cup and the...

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Uruguay Prodded by G-20 to End Bank Secrecy

(1) Comments | Posted December 14, 2011 | 1:35 PM

As the rich flock to Punta del Este to visit their money over the long Christmas season known as la temporada, Uruguay faces diplomatic pressure from France and other G-20 nations to ease the strict bank secrecy that has earned the nation of 3.7 million the...

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Jerry Sandusky's Immaculate Deception... Sex, Lies and Locker Room Horseplay

(1) Comments | Posted November 16, 2011 | 2:06 PM

With the man the staunchly republican Forbes Magazine calls "The Penn State Pedophile" proclaiming his innocence in a high profile interview with Bob Costas it's good to know that some other folks named Sandusky give football a good name.

When Villanova tackle John Sandusky was drafted by Paul...

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Brazil Springs A WikiLeak... Assange Tags Newsman As Media Mole

(19) Comments | Posted November 3, 2011 | 2:12 PM

With a London court ruling that media activist Julian Assange must now return to Sweden to face charges of sex crimes, the WikiLeaks founder has made his last dance a Samba, outing Brazil's most trusted newscaster as what some local media are caling an informant, even suggesting the...

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Holmgren's Last Hurrah... Madden Curse Leaves Browns Prez Mulling Future

(5) Comments | Posted October 25, 2011 | 12:00 PM

Distancing himself before Sunday's forgettable win over Seattle, Cleveland Browns president Mike Holmgren may be easing himself out before getting eased out -- a possible victim of his own media relations and the NFL quality gap that's getting wider due to declining team revenue and the global recession.

"I...

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Cultural Revolution Redux... Little Red Book and Little Grey Apple Hook Up

(0) Comments | Posted October 20, 2011 | 2:53 PM

Apple's first quarterly downturn in five years is being spun by analysts as a one time event linked to planned obsolescence of an iPhone and the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. But while Jobs envisioned a mobile lifestyle people are willing to pay more for, his outsourcing-dependent business model is...

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Brazilian Soccer Star Gets Out of German Jail After Social Media Groundswell

(3) Comments | Posted October 7, 2011 | 12:17 PM

With sports bloggers and fans demanding his freedom Brazilian soccer star Breno Borges was released from high security Stadelheim prison by German authorities Wednesday 13 days after being detained on suspicion of burning down his rented villa in an affluent Munich suburb.

The 21-year-old Bayern Munich defender has been struggling...

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Does the NFL Need a Fakeologist?

(3) Comments | Posted September 27, 2011 | 4:06 PM

While league officials praise new rules that reduce dangerous hits, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has vowed to penalize teams who game the league's injury policies.

By threatening heavy fines and loss of draft picks if given "reasonable cause," the commissioner appears to have handed the ball off to...

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Billionaire Bishop Charged With Bilking Brazil's Pentacostals, Sending Money to US

(4) Comments | Posted September 21, 2011 | 5:48 PM

Tagging her "Dynamite Dilma," Newsweek is giving Americans a closer look at the first woman leader to open a session of the UN General Assembly on the cover of their latest edition. But back in Brazil she's setting off political pyrotechnics with a tough anti-corruption campaign that could...

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China Media Amps Up Latin America Coverage

(3) Comments | Posted September 12, 2011 | 10:36 AM

A new forecast by the International Monetary Fund predicting slower economic growth is providing some tough love for the global recovery. But a new highway linking Peru's Pacific ports with the Amazon and China's strategic investments in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia could provide a silver lining for Latin...

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FIFA Bullying Gets Politcial in Brazil World Cup Feud

(10) Comments | Posted September 2, 2011 | 2:42 PM

President Dilma recently expanded Brazil's anti-bullying campaign to quell aggressive behavor by delinquent kids that is rampant in public schools. Unfortunately, the program doesn't apply to Sepp Blatter, the 77 year old president of FIFA, football's world governing body. Blatter and his minions insist on telling telling the...

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Rainforest Crunch... Brazil Tags NGOs With Amazon Corruption

(5) Comments | Posted August 18, 2011 | 12:00 PM

Running an NGO out of his Assemblies of God church, Pastor Wladimir Furtado planned to attract ecotourists to Brazil's rainforest. He was arrested last week along with 35 others in "Operation Voucher," a nationwide investigation police say was designed to ferret out people who scammed government tourism funds. It is...

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