AMERICAblog: Is it time the IOC looks at alternative locations for Olympics?
Dave of the Jungle
· 1 year ago
It would be such fun to put a weed up their ass and change location.
Rab
· 1 year ago
How about poison ivy?
nicho
· 1 year ago
>>>Do people really want to travel to Beijing and be spied on everywhere, including in your hotel room?
Absolutely not. If I want to be spied on by the government, I can do it right here in the Yoo-Ess-Ay for a hell of a lot less money.
RepubAnon
· 1 year ago
Heck, yeah - when it comes to trampling on human rights and spying on their own citizens, I'll pick Cheney/Bush over anyone else. USA! USA!
Nigel Elliott
· 1 year ago
Well, the "Olympic spirit" isn't alive here either. So Brazil?
Chris From Maine
· 1 year ago
a little late for that, the olympics are a few months away and it takes years of preparation (thats why they choose so far ahead).
oh and Chris, we are all spied on here in America too. (just sayin..)
mike31c
· 1 year ago
It's the IOC's own fault. They KNEW what kind of government China really was and they KNEW their record of human rights and they STILL gave this year's Olympic games to them.
Only really delusional people with their heads up their butts in the last 50 years would actually think China was actually going to change their behavior just to make a show for the world on CNN.
And just as ignorant fools would think China would NOT spy on visitors to the Games.
And yes, when Greece fell behind the threats did work. But, unfortunately, threats won't make China change their behavior, nor will there be ANY suitable alternatives in time for opening ceremonies in August!
And even if decent nations around the world boycotted the games, the games will continue and NO CHANGE will have been brought upon the thugs that run China.
And after the games are over, China will continue to be the country they have been: Sell merchandise to Americans laced with lead, mercury, arsenic, DDT and other various poisons to make a fast $$$.
Paul_In_SF
· 1 year ago
She has a great point - go after the advertisers. In the meantime show up in San Francisco on April 9th for the running of the Olympic Torch and help draw attention to the Chinese governments actions. Let's make it so that those TV cameras can't pan anywhere without showing a protest sign.
LunaStick
· 1 year ago
It's too late to move the venue for the Olympics but what CAN be done is to make it the most unsuccessful Olypic games in history. You do that by boycotting any official sponsors and broadcasts. Don't watch 'em, don't talk about 'em. China the world stage but we control the spotlight. Let's only shine it in places they don't want seen.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 1 year ago
its 1934 all over again?
SINGING_TROLL
· 1 year ago
Whaddaya want? Monks or Sports?
BoiseNick
· 1 year ago
I will boycott ALL Olympic sponsors , , ,
F@ck the Evil Communist Chinese Government !
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 1 year ago
BoiseNick 2 minutes ago
I will boycott ALL Olympic sponsors , , ,
F@ck the Evil Communist Chinese Government ! ---
Nice Utilikilt Nick :-)
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
There really is nothing we can do against China. Really... think about it. What would happen if we made noise? I mean we can't even do anything about lead based products from China without fear of economic retaliation. Bush has sold us to China. Americans who voted for Bu$h need to realize their vote for the guy they want to drink with has consequences. Those Republican turds who flew down to Florida to stop the voting by running through county offices screaming, "Shut it down! Shut it down!" in 2000 need to realize their actions have consequences. Resentful? You betcha.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
LunaStick
It's too late to move the venue for the Olympics but what CAN be done is to make it the most unsuccessful Olypic games in history. You do that by boycotting any official sponsors and broadcasts. Don't watch 'em, don't talk about 'em. China the world stage but we control the spotlight. Let's only shine it in places they don't want seen.
-----
Very good idea, especially from someone who's a -34.
cowboyneok
· 1 year ago
By the way, what is all this sudden concern for lawmakers were sent to Iraq paid for by some shadowy Saddam Hussein group?
Notice how the file name to the html article reads "junket." Yes, three Democratic lawmakers DARED to go on a "junket" to Iraq to try to prevent the war paid for by some secret Saddam Hussein group! How DARE they try to prevent an unnecessary war. By the way, didn't we learn Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction? Yea, yea, yea Saddam was evil, bad, etc. but I don't see how this is news that should somehow pre-empt the obvious news Iraq is now devolving into Civil War again. The surge didn't work, and we shouldn't have gone in the first place, is more news than three lawmakers trying to stop the war went to Iraq from Saddam Hussein's money.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
The lawmakers just have to say "we knew the war would be a disaster and we were trying to stop it before it began."
The whack jobs won't let up on it, but all normal people will just think "too bad it didn't work."
SINGING_TROLL
· 1 year ago
The Chinese deserve no legitimacy which is exactly why Bush insists on giving it to them.
I too am disgusted that the Olympics will be celebrating the thuggish Chinese government this summer.
But before we get carried away, what about if they were scheduled for the US this summer? Wouldn't there be equal reasons to call for them to be moved as well?
This is not a fight for the US to lead.
I do think a call to boycott the opening ceremonies though has a nice ring to it.
Chris From Maine
· 1 year ago
what about the fact that the air in beijing is unsafe?
and we cant say one word about China because (thanks to Bush) they can destroy our economy in an afternoon.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
Unconventional_Conventionist
Don't you think that if the US had won for the 2008 location that most people today in the world might be agitating for exactly the same reasons?
-------
And they should be.
cambridgemac
· 1 year ago
Umm. the US has committed FAR more crimes against other peoples - and international law - than the Chinese since the last Olympics. So here's a suggestion - let's organize a boycott of the US team.
RepubAnon
· 1 year ago
If we move the Olympics, the Chinese will probably call our loans and start foreclosure proceedings...
titus
· 1 year ago
charles krauthammer on fox news came up with an idea. hold the games, don't broadcast them. report them in print, no special interest stories. what the chinese want is to show the world their success a big p.r. job. deny 'em.
GrantinHouston
· 1 year ago
Already some long distance runners are not wanting to run in the most polluted Beijing air.
Joshau Norton
· 1 year ago
It's going to be a replay of the Berlin Olympics. It was the perfect opportunity for the Nazis to prove to the world the reality of the Master Race. It gave them an opportunity to show off to the world as around 50 other countries were competing - bringing with them their assorted media.
Likewise for the propaganda crazy Chinese it is the perfect scenario.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
Exactly! It's a replay of the Berlin Olympics of 1936 and the most shameful Olympics since 1936. Attacks on the Tibetan people and on His Holiness the Dalai Lama are part of the Beijing government's constant comments. Pretending courtesy to those thugs does not protect the Tibetans, defying them and boycotting their Olympics will bring no more horror than is already in the Land of the Snows. Boycott!
Jim Olson
· 1 year ago
What if we lobbied the USOC to boycott. I'd feel bad for the athletes, but it would make the point.
msirt
· 1 year ago
I am an avid reader of Chris's postings, but I feel I need to raise a caution on this posting. Last night on the Newshour there was a segment on Tibet. The three guests were all strongly sympathetic to the Tibetan plight . However, there was absolute consensus among them that taking the olympics from China, or otherwise boycotting them and causing that embarrassment to the millions of Han Chinese who are anxiously awaiting their moment in the sun would probably cause the country to do really terrible things to the Tibetan population. I had not considered that at all. I have no sympathy for China's policy towards Tibet, mind you, but I would take the negative reaction in China towards Tibetans into consideration before rushing to Chris's IOC recommendation.
cambridgemac
· 1 year ago
Do you really think people are spied on more in China than in the US? Really? How pre-911. Seriously, get a grip. The repression in Tibet is bad. But it pales against massacres in Mexico and Korea, to name a couple of our friends that have hosted Olympics without a lot of fuss.
constantcomment
· 1 year ago
a sixth of the peeps on earth live there. and they are a hell of alot more civil than the iraqis.
CoralGables
· 1 year ago
Not sure anyone in the US should be commenting on any other country and how they treat people the same week as our Supreme Court gives the finger to the International Court concerning capital punishment. People who live in glass houses and all that.
Pallomine
· 1 year ago
I think the Olympic 'spirit' is on the wain anyway. Ever since they allowed professionals to compete, it's really sucked, in my eyes. It's become so corporate that its disgusting. This is going to be a millstone around the Olympic movements neck.
They need to take a step back, and make it something less than it is now, not something more. Make it amatures who are in school or something like that. The decline came with the dream team basketball team.
You would have thought with the collapse of the Soviet Union that it would have gone amateur all the time. But instead they did the opposite. Now they are backing a corrupt political regime. After this implosion , after the corporations loose a boat load of money on this, maybe they'll retool.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
Bush criticized China for their brutal mistreatment of the Tibetans citizens protesting China's holding Tibet as a subjugate state. Bush is full of bull again. The Chinese have killed 80 Tibetan protestors, but Bush has butchered about 1.3 million Iraqi to say nothing of millions more crippled, maimed, injured and psychologically traumatized, to say nothing 3-5 million more displaced with about half that number homeless. And add to that Bush has brutally sent to their deaths in a premeditated fashion 4,000 of our own troops, injured, maimed, crippled, and brain damaged 40,000 more Americans, with another 20,000 who have committed suicide due to participation in his international war criminal war.
While China's behavior is despicable and probably deserved to lose the Olympics, don't forget how brazen Bush has been in utilizing torture, waterboarding and even more vicious techniques on prisoners, including maiming and killing their detainees. And those Bush detainees are held without rights and number in the tens of thousands, including thousands of American citizens in this nation. Jose Padilla is widely regarded as too severely traumatized from his long, long torture and captivity but, is also just the very tip top snowflake on the iceberg.
fostert
· 1 year ago
Most people seem heel bent to deny China the Olympics. But I disagree. The Olympics will bring plenty of media attention to China, and their behavior will certainly come to light. China may want some attention, but they should be very careful about what they wish for. Think of the two hour interview that the networks will give the Dalai Lama during the Olympic coverage. China won't be happy about that. But they can't stop it because he'll be interviewed in India where China can't control the media. China is setting themselves up for a public relations disaster. Why not let them go through with it?
fostert
· 1 year ago
Shorter version: If China wants to hang themselves, shouldn't we hand them the rope?
cassie
· 1 year ago
Americans should feel right at hoe. We already live under many of those rules. Warrent less wiretapping anyone?
Mikki --SE Pennsylvania
· 1 year ago
BOYCOTT the olympics in China! Boycott the corporate sponsers of the Olympics! Ban all imports from China! Boycott US manufacturers who didn't manage to police their own imports from China because they liked that lower bottom line. Lets be realistic, the has been no real "olympic spirit" in the olympics for the last 30-40 years. It has been a totally mercantile experience, with just a new set of Committepeople to be bribed, paid off and otherwise manipulated for commercial gain. One only has to remember the fiasco of the "Winter Olympics" in Salt Lake City.
Unconventional_Conventionist
· 1 year ago
Don't you think that if the US had won for the 2008 location that most people today in the world might be agitating for exactly the same reasons?
All Comments
Absolutely not. If I want to be spied on by the government, I can do it right here in the Yoo-Ess-Ay for a hell of a lot less money.
oh and Chris, we are all spied on here in America too. (just sayin..)
Only really delusional people with their heads up their butts in the last 50 years would actually think China was actually going to change their behavior just to make a show for the world on CNN.
And just as ignorant fools would think China would NOT spy on visitors to the Games.
And yes, when Greece fell behind the threats did work. But, unfortunately, threats won't make China change their behavior, nor will there be ANY suitable alternatives in time for opening ceremonies in August!
And even if decent nations around the world boycotted the games, the games will continue and NO CHANGE will have been brought upon the thugs that run China.
And after the games are over, China will continue to be the country they have been: Sell merchandise to Americans laced with lead, mercury, arsenic, DDT and other various poisons to make a fast $$$.
F@ck the Evil Communist Chinese Government !
I will boycott ALL Olympic sponsors , , ,
F@ck the Evil Communist Chinese Government !
---
Nice Utilikilt Nick :-)
It's too late to move the venue for the Olympics but what CAN be done is to make it the most unsuccessful Olypic games in history. You do that by boycotting any official sponsors and broadcasts. Don't watch 'em, don't talk about 'em. China the world stage but we control the spotlight. Let's only shine it in places they don't want seen.
-----
Very good idea, especially from someone who's a -34.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080326/ap_on_re_us...
Notice how the file name to the html article reads "junket." Yes, three Democratic lawmakers DARED to go on a "junket" to Iraq to try to prevent the war paid for by some secret Saddam Hussein group! How DARE they try to prevent an unnecessary war. By the way, didn't we learn Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction? Yea, yea, yea Saddam was evil, bad, etc. but I don't see how this is news that should somehow pre-empt the obvious news Iraq is now devolving into Civil War again. The surge didn't work, and we shouldn't have gone in the first place, is more news than three lawmakers trying to stop the war went to Iraq from Saddam Hussein's money.
The whack jobs won't let up on it, but all normal people will just think "too bad it didn't work."
It all makes perfect sense in Bushworld.
http://www.boston-legal.org/19-stickit/ep19-sti...
But before we get carried away, what about if they were scheduled for the US this summer? Wouldn't there be equal reasons to call for them to be moved as well?
This is not a fight for the US to lead.
I do think a call to boycott the opening ceremonies though has a nice ring to it.
and we cant say one word about China because (thanks to Bush) they can destroy our economy in an afternoon.
Don't you think that if the US had won for the 2008 location that most people today in the world might be agitating for exactly the same reasons?
-------
And they should be.
Likewise for the propaganda crazy Chinese it is the perfect scenario.
Seriously, get a grip. The repression in Tibet is bad. But it pales against massacres in Mexico and Korea, to name a couple of our friends that have hosted Olympics without a lot of fuss.
They need to take a step back, and make it something less than it is now, not something more. Make it amatures who are in school or something like that. The decline came with the dream team basketball team.
You would have thought with the collapse of the Soviet Union that it would have gone amateur all the time. But instead they did the opposite. Now they are backing a corrupt political regime. After this implosion , after the corporations loose a boat load of money on this, maybe they'll retool.
While China's behavior is despicable and probably deserved to lose the Olympics, don't forget how brazen Bush has been in utilizing torture, waterboarding and even more vicious techniques on prisoners, including maiming and killing their detainees. And those Bush detainees are held without rights and number in the tens of thousands, including thousands of American citizens in this nation. Jose Padilla is widely regarded as too severely traumatized from his long, long torture and captivity but, is also just the very tip top snowflake on the iceberg.
Boycott the corporate sponsers of the Olympics!
Ban all imports from China!
Boycott US manufacturers who didn't manage to police their own imports from China because they liked that lower bottom line.
Lets be realistic, the has been no real "olympic spirit" in the olympics for the last 30-40 years. It has been a totally mercantile experience, with just a new set of Committepeople to be bribed, paid off and otherwise manipulated for commercial gain. One only has to remember the fiasco of the "Winter Olympics" in Salt Lake City.
Pot, meet kettle.