One Province
Under the IOC

The OweLympic Pledge

I pledge alliegence to the Rings

Of the International Olympic Committee

And to the corporations for which it Shills

And the Developers and Builders which it Profiteth

I shall not drink Pepsi

I shall refuse sustenance from BK or A and Dubya

And I promise to not use My MasterCard

(or mention it again)

I shall not sleep at all

for more than two weeks

Rather than sleep on a mattress from elsewhere than Sleep Country

I shall stay awake for the duration if necessary.

- And of course -

I WOULDN"T THINK OF SAYING ANYTHING CRITICAL

ABOUT THE OLYMPICS

OR AN OLYPMPIC SPONSOR OR ONE OF ITS PRODUCTS.

Put a Sock in It!


Update - Sixth Ring (for Antarctica?)


Yesterday I opened a Vancouver Olympic Brochure Sun and on the Issues and Ideas page was scolded by Stephen Hume in Stop Whining; just enjoy the Games (though he didn't emphasize that we should do so since we would be paying for them for years anyway).

Okay, folks, time to put a sock in the whining about the inconvenience imposed upon Metro Vancouver residents by the traffic disruptions, security precautions and throngs of visitors.

The Olympics are here. Like it or not, the show will go on

Duh! Or at least they will go on as long as the immense security effort hasn't wasted so many resources tracking Dr. Chris Shaw, Van2010 critic, that whoever made off with ammonium nitrate ala OK City, from Kinder Morgan is able to put it to use for something other than nutrients for a grow show.

And....

Anybody who can't find anything interesting and enjoyable in that is saying something profound about their own impoverished imagination and utter lack of curiosity. It's like the tourist who goes to Mumbai and complains constantly that it's not like West Vancouver.

...this paragraph just cries out that it was written by someone (supposedly a writer) with an "impoverished imagination and utter lack of" ability to construct a meaningful and/or relevant analogy. But I guess when one has an ax to grind, or is ordered to grind one, one comes up with what one can manage......jeez!

if you can't find any fun at all in an event of this magnitude and diversity, then you should have the decency to shut up and suffer in bored silence

Jeepers Stephen, I hope I haven't offended all the OweGames cheerleaders like yourself and Mr. Bill not so Good. Though really I'm not whining or complaining. Actually the Owelympics haven't been a disruption or inconvenience in my neighborhood. Well, unless I think of all the money to build the Airport Skytrain (when something out to the Tri-Cities was much more needed). Or maybe I think of all the hospitals and schools closed in my area while millions were spent on questionable Sea to Sky corridors, convention centers and sports palaces for elite atheletes and the rich while cutting support for sports for BC youth. Of course I could continue in this vein - but the games will be over shortly and then the proverbial waste can fly into the spinning blades of reality - or hopefully - Gordo may actually have to answer a question or two and even Stevie can't hide out in provincial legislatures and keep the doors barred on the People's House in Ottawa forever.

I will enjoy the hockey tournaments and some of the other competitions. I will root for our Canadian athelete to do well. But I also am adult enough to know that BC IS NOT THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH, though it is a wonderful place, and could be even better. I also know that if our athletes do well in the competition it will have absolutely NOTHING to do with Prince Gordo CampBull or Pudgy Steve, newly born saviour of wimmin and children (unless of course they live in Canada or seek birth control or access to family planning and reproductive choice - or are a Canadian child incarcerated in Gitmo!).

The whole Let Them Eat Cake Games can be compared to the situation in Afghanistan. As for Afghanistan I support the men and women who serve there, but question the policy makers who have sent them. With the Olympics I support ALL the athletes who are going to compete, but take issue with the organization and the manner in which it has been hi-jacked into being a corporate shill machine.

But though I will appreciate the great performances of athletes from everywhere, when it comes to cheering and rooting I have only one thing to say!


Go Canada, Go!