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Friday, July 23, 2021
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Venezuelans are going hungry. But the country’s Olympians will get free housing and cash.
August 22
As a young man, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro played electric guitar, not sports. But like the men who mentored him, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and the late Hugo Chávez, he views the country’s Olympic achievements as a validation of his economic and social policies. Also, he is fond of wearing track suits in the colors of the national flag.
It’s perhaps understandable, then, that Maduro was in a generous mood Monday when he welcomed home the 87 members of his country’s Olympic team with the announcement that they would all receive free houses and cash.
To be sure, plenty of Olympic athletes around the world reap material rewards from their governments and sponsors for their athletic feats. But in Venezuela, a country where you can spend more time waiting in a supermarket line than it takes to run a marathon, cash is perhaps the last thing the government has to give away.
Amid economic hard times, Venezuelans turn to city farming
Play Video1:53
Facing a national food crisis, Venezuela's pumpkin-growing socialist president is exhorting compatriots to grow fruit and vegetables on balconies and roofs and in barracks across the country. (Reuters)
Maduro called it an “extra incentive” for the country’s athletes, who also learned they would not have to worry about the country’s rapidly depreciating currency, the bolívar. The athletes and their coaches will receive the cash in U.S. dollars, Maduro said, without specifying how much their rewards would be.
For Maduro, the Rio Games have provided a much needed national distraction from months of unrelenting bad news about the economy.
Venezuela faces a 10 percent economic contraction this year and is considered the world’s leader in inflation. Maduro’s gesture came on the same day economists announced that the cost of basic goods last month had increased 773 percent since July 2015.
Maduro ordered a 50 percent increase in the minimum wage last month, but the latest studies show that salaries still fall far short of the amount needed to obtain basic household goods and food. The government’s slow-footed economic interventions are being outpaced by Venezuela’s Olympic-level inflation.
Despite facing the oil-exporting country’s worst crisis in history, the Venezuelan president said he has also ordered a 50 percent increase in spending on high-performance athletics in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, a move that would benefit more than 1,000 Venezuelan Olympic hopefuls.
Venezuela’s most decorated Olympian, triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, received a car earlier this year from Maduro. She won silver in Rio, “thanks to the Bolivarian revolution, our commander Chávez and the athletic revolution,” Maduro said.
The “Bolivarian revolution” refers broadly to the socialist-inspired system implemented by Chávez from his inauguration as president in 1999 to his death in 2013.
One of the most visible members of the country’s Olympic team, fencing competitor and former sports minister Alejandra Benítez, 36, wore symbolic tributes to Chávez on her uniform and recorded pro-government videos from Rio. She appeared at Maduro’s side during Monday’s ceremony.
The Venezuelan team also won a bronze medal in boxing, and another bronze in BMX cycling. The country finished 65th in Olympic rankings, tied with Bulgaria.
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Friday, July 22, 2016
Catholic Priests Leads Interreligious Center at the Olympics
NEWS
Jul 21 2016 - 10:34am | Lise Alves - Catholic News Service
An aerial view of Rio de Janeiro on July 16 shows the Christ the Redeemer statue with Maracana stadium in the background. (CNS photo/Ricardo Moraes, Reuters)
About two weeks before the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Father Leandro Lenin Tavares was putting the final touches on what he hopes will be a very successful spiritual mission: coordinating the interreligious center for athletes at the Olympic Village.
"We hope that the center will encourage harmony and unity among different countries and among different religions," Father Tavares told Catholic News Service.
He said the center would be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, from July 24-Aug. 24 for Olympic athletes and their delegations and Sept. 1-21 for Paralympic athletes and delegations.
The center will have five meeting rooms, each occupied by one of the five faiths chosen by the International Olympic Committee: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. The Catholic Church will represent the Christian faith.
The center will host not only group meetings and Masses but also will offer individual guidance to those who seek religious support.
In the Catholic space, Masses will be held in Spanish, Portuguese and English on a daily basis, but Father Tavares said there would be priests who speak also French and Italian, for individual or group support. He said some delegations have chosen to bring with them their own religious leader, and that they will also be able to use the interreligious center for their spiritual needs.
"The German delegation, for example, is expected to bring its own chaplain," said the priest who participated in a similar center at the 2015 Toronto Pan-American Games.
Father Leandro said although he understands the criticism the center's organizers recently received from leaders of other religions that were not included in the center, the Olympic Committee made the choices based on overall religious representation of the athletes competing.
"Athletes who seek these types of services come not only for spiritual guidance, but to find emotional balance before they compete. I hope they will all find the support they seek" and, during the competition, reflect "the harmony and unity they will see in here."
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Obama to send openly gay delegates to Russia
President Barack Obama embraces tennis icon Billie Jean King after presenting her with the Medal of Freedom at the White House on Aug. 12, 2009 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
12/18/13 12:45 PM—Updated 12/18/13 01:39 PM
facebook twitter By Traci G. Lee
Two openly gay athletes will be a part of the U.S. Olympic delegation attending the Sochi Olympics in February, President Obama announced Tuesday.
Tennis legend Billie Jean King and women’s ice hockey player Caitlin Cahow will join a delegation selected by the president to represent the White House during the opening and closing ceremonies of the games. Obama will not be attending.
King, 70, is a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and has won 39 Grand Slam titles. Although she was never an Olympian herself, King coached U.S. Olympic tennis squads. She was also the first major female athlete to come out as a lesbian in 1981.
“I am equally proud to stand with the members of the LGBT community in support of all athletes who will be competing in Sochi and I hope these Olympic Games will indeed be a watershed moment for the universal acceptance of all people,” King said in a statement Tuesday.
The delegations will be led by former Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano and deputy Secretary of State William Burns, and will include former Olympians Brian Boitano, Bonnie Blair, and Eric Heiden. Michael McFaul, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, and Robert Nabors, the president’s deputy chief of staff for policy, will also be a part of the delegation.
The announcement suggests the White House is sending a subtle message to the world about Russia’s controversial “anti-propaganda” law that targets the country’s LGBT community, and that has led human rights groups to denounce the United States’ participation in the Olympic games.
However, the president refused to boycott the games. Speaking at a news conference in August, he said, “I do not think it’s appropriate to boycott the Olympics. We’ve got a bunch of Americans out there who are training hard, who are doing everything they can to succeed.”
French President Francois Hollande and German President Joachim Gauck said earlier this month they will not attend the games, though neither have confirmed their decisions were due to Russia’s anti-LGBT laws.
The Rachel Maddow Show, 12/17/13, 10:39 PM ET
US to send openly gay delegates to Olympics
But as Rachel Maddow pointed out on MSNBC Tuesday night, leaders of the U.S. delegation in year’s past have included high-profile political figures – an indication that the president was sending a message with his selection to Vladimir Putin.
“The combination of having openly gay people in the delegation and pointedly not sending any high-ranking, high-profile people from our government–it does seem, at least, like a particularly satisfying snub,” Maddow said.
In a statement Wednesday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest rejected the suggestion that Obama’s announcement implied a boycott of the games. “While the President’s schedule doesn’t allow him to travel to Sochi, in his stead, the President has asked a high-level delegation… to represent the United States Government at the opening ceremonies.”
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Vladimir Putin claims Russia is moral compass of the world
Vladimir Putin asserts in his annual state of the nation address that Russia takes a morally superior world-view to the West and defended its Conservatives values
The move appears to be a push by the Kremlin to consolidate state media resources at a time of increasing online criticism of Vladimir Putin's 13 years of rule Photo: RIA NOVOSTI/REUTERS
By Damien McElroy
5:27PM GMT 12 Dec 2013
Vladimir Putin sought to cast Russia as the moral arbiter of the world on Thursday, as he hit out at America’s “non-traditional values” and its influence across the world.
In an annual state of the nation address, the 61-year-old Russian president said his country did not aspire to be “some kind of superpower”.
“We do not infringe on anyone’s interests, we do not force our patronage on anyone, or try to teach anyone how to live,” he said.
His comments amounted to an oblique rebuttal to the growing international movement against Russia’s restrictive laws on homosexuality. Support for a boycott of Russia in the run up to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games has widened with celebrities announcing they will not perform in Russia. Others including Joachim Gauck, the German president, have declined invitations for the event.
Mr Putin defended his government’s increasingly conservative values and decried the “review of norms of morality” in the West and elsewhere.
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“This destruction of traditional values from above not only entails negative consequences for society, but is also inherently anti-democratic because it is based on an abstract notion and runs counter to the will of the majority of people,” Mr Putin said, adding there could be no benefit for society for treating “good and evil” equally.
In his 70-minute televised speech from an ornate Kremlin hall, Mr Putin said traditional family values where a bulwark against “so-called tolerance – genderless and infertile.”
Critics of the speech were quick to point that post-Soviet Russia has seen a deep and damaging decline in its birth rates to among the lowest of any developed nation.
While the speech did not contain a widely-trailed push to eliminate local mayors, one of the few power centres outside the Kremlin’s control, Mr Putin did appear to signal a push against oligarchs dominance of the economy.
The Russian leader attacked the prevalence of offshore companies in the economy, claiming the use of such vehicles was hampering growth.
“The main reasons for a slowdown in economic growth are internal, not external,” he said. “We must establish more stability and a good investment climate.”
Half of the $50 billion (£30 billion) that Russian companies invest abroad every year is sent to offshore jurisdictions, which Putin described as the “transfer of capitals that should be working in Russia.”
“You want to have offshores? Fine. You want to have benefits, support and to make profit by operating in Russia? Then do register in the Russian jurisdiction.”
However his wake-up call on the economy was criticised by Alexei Kudrin, a former close associate and Russia’s finance minister until 2011. The much-respected technocrat said the government was incapable of meaningful reforms.
“It’s a shame that so little has been done,” Mr Kudrin said after the speech. “The president’s proposals for reactivating the economy are a tactical response to the problem. We need a strategic plan to get out of stagnation.”
The Russian leader has had notable foreign policy success in 2013, forging a deal on Syria’s chemical weapons with the US and helping force Iran to the nuclear negotiating table. But internally the impression has grown that his regime is increasingly fragile.
Stefan Meister, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Mr Putin had lost room for political maneourve as he entered his presidential third term since 2000. “He has isolated himself from the proactive part of society and the elite,” he said. “He has surrounded himself with hardliners from the security service who promote Russia’s “modernisation” through the country’s military-industrial complex.”
Mr Putin also revived the Kremlin’s warnings again American plans for anti-missile shields and the dangers of reducing to nothing the post-Cold War strategic balance.
“Nobody should have any illusion about the possibility of gaining military superiority over Russia,” he said. “We will never allow this to happen. Russia will respond to all these challenges, political and military.”
An earlier version of this article said Sir Elton John was boycotting Russia but in fact he has made clear in statements at his website www.ejaf.com and elsewhere that he believes it is important not to isolate Russian people because of the actions of their government.
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Saturday, August 10, 2013
Obama Opposes Olympic Boycott, Criticizes Russian Anti-Gay Law
Posted: 08/09/2013 4:01 pm EDT | Updated: 08/09/2013 4:21 pm EDT
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Friday that he did not favor boycotting the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, rejecting calls from LGBT activists to do so over a new law banning so-called homosexual propaganda.
"I want to say very clearly. I do not think it's appropriate to boycott the Olympics," he said at a news conference. But he added that he hoped gay and lesbian American athletes would bring home medals and reiterated his opposition to the law.
"If Russia doesn't have gay or lesbian athletes, then it will probably make their team weaker," he said.
A law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in June bans "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations," and the law is written so vaguely that many fear that it will be used to crack down against gays and lesbians broadly. Since foreigners who violate the law can potentially be deported, many fear LGBT athletes from other countries who are competing in the Olympics may be targeted.
"Nobody is more offended than me by some of the anti-gay and lesbian legislation than you’ve been seeing in Russia," Obama said. "As I said just this week, I’ve spoken out against that, not just with respect to Russia, but a number of other countries where we continue to do work with them but we have a strong disagreement on this issue."
Obama also spoke on the U.S.-Russian relationship more broadly, and defended his relationship with Putin.
"I don't have a bad personal relationship with Putin," he said, describing their conversations as "blunt" and "candid."
He added, however, that he had seen more anti-American rhetoric coming from Russia since Putin became president again in 2012. "I've encouraged Mr. Putin to think forward as opposed to backwards with mixed success," Obama said.
The comments come after Obama cancelled a bilateral meeting in Moscow with Putin amid tensions over Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker who applied for asylum in Russia, as well as differences on Syria, arms control and missile defense. The presidents will still meet in St. Petersburg during the G-20 summit next month.
Also on Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Washington.
Relations with Russia have gone downhill since Putin returned to office and moved the country in a more conservative, nationalistic direction. Obama and Putin's predecessor, Dimitry Medvedev, had signed a new arms control agreement and maintained a somewhat warmer relationship.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Any Given Sunday
Forget the new Olympic stadium; the best way to stimulate commerce is to lift restrictions against it.
For many Londoners, talk of an "Olympic stimulus" sounds like a bad euphemism for road blocks, security hassles and a £9.3 billion public-spending spree Britain can ill-afford. But in his budget speech today, Chancellor George Osborne is set to give London something to which it can honestly look forward: a suspension of Sunday-trading restrictions for the duration of the games.
"We've got the whole world coming to London and the rest of the country," Mr. Osborne told the BBC this weekend. "It would be a great shame—particularly when some of the big Olympic events are on Sunday—if the country had a closed-for-business sign on it."
The Chancellor's move would temporarily lift restrictions in the 1994 Sunday Trading Act, which allows "small" shops to trade all day but limits "large" shops to no more than six hours per Sunday, and only between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
This was an improvement over the old Shops Act of 1950, according to which one could legally buy pornography on Sunday, but not a Bible. Shops could also sell as much candy, booze and cigarettes as customers could stomach, though no fresh meat or baby food. Razor blades could be bought and sold—but only for medical purposes such as lancing a boil, not for shaving.
It took a shopkeeper's daughter in Downing Street to push for deregulated Sundays. But despite public support, in 1986 Margaret Thatcher's initiative was blocked, partly by Labourites opposed to labor, partly by Conservatives who suddenly rediscovered the virtues of sabbath rest.
The 1994 compromise eradicated most of the inanities in England and Wales: Fish-and-chip shops may now not only open on Sundays—they can actually sell fish-and-chips. But the Sunday rules still pose plenty of headaches for shoppers seeking, say, a large drug store or supermarket after 6 p.m. And Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to have their own rules.
Mr. Osborne's call for full liberalization has met with the same resistance Mrs. Thatcher faced. Thus the Olympic (and Paralympic) experiment. With any luck, a few weeks of relaxed rules will persuade Britons that the best way to stimulate commerce isn't to build white-elephant stadiums, but simply to allow commerce of all kinds to flourish on any given Sunday.
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Must Sunday trading laws be changed for Olympics?
Monday 19th March 2012
Sunday trading laws will be suspended for eight weekends from 22 July during the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Government is expected to announce the plan in this week's Budget so that traders can make the most of the influx of tourism.
Currently large stores are allowed to open only for six hours on a Sunday.
Chancellor George Osborne told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show: "We've got the whole world coming to London and the rest of the country for the Olympics.
"It would be a great shame - particularly when some of the big Olympic events are on Sunday - if the country had a closed for business sign on it."
But critics believe that Sunday should remain a day of rest so shop workers can spend time with their famiies - and many fear that the change could become permanent.
John Hannett, General secretary of shopworkers' union Usdaw said: "The Government's own consultation just last year showed there is no widespread support from either retailers or the general public for change.
"Deregulation would have a very detrimental impact on the lives of millions of shopworkers.
"Shopworkers are entitled for their views to be heard before any decisions of this importance are made."
Do you agree? Should Sunday trading laws be changed for the Olympics or should they be kept as they are? Have your say using the comment section below
Mike Jones
Church warns against Sunday trading laws being relaxed by the back door
The Westfield shopping centre in east London would likely benefit from relaxed Sunday trading during the Olympics. Photo: AFPBy Martin Beckford10:00PM GMT 18 Mar 2012
Ministers are to rush through a law allowing shops to open round the clock during the Games this summer, so that ticket-holders can visit stores after events and to maximise the economic potential of the world’s biggest sporting event.
But it is feared that the temporary lifting of the current restrictions, which mean large shops can only trade for six hours on Sundays, will become permanent.
Campaigners have raised questions about the speed at which the change is being introduced, as well as the impact on shop assistants and family life.
The Church of England will not oppose longer opening during the Olympics, and some clergy are even cancelling Sunday services so they do not clash with big sporting events.
But the Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev Andrew Nunn, said: “Whenever anything like this happens, there’s always a suspicion that this could be a way of getting a change in on a permanent basis.
“I can kind of understand why they’re thinking about doing it for the Olympic period, but I’m worried about the future.”
Canon Dr Chris Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream, said: “It’s patently obvious that this is a test bed for seeing if they can extend it.
“It just breaks up that regular time where people can be together.
“It’s a form of idolatry – it’s the idol that boosting the economy is the absolute which over-rides all other considerations.”
The Rev Sally Hitchiner, curate of St John’s, Ealing, added: “We're concerned it could become a precedent, that we could lose some of the specialness of Sunday.
“Sunday should be a time for relationships, there should be a time when we put some boundaries on consumerism, so you can go to the park and play football with the kids, and take your mum breakfast in bed.”
A Church of England spokesman said: "It is understandable that special arrangements will be made in various ways as the country hosts the Olympics and Paralympics.
"The Church of England would however strongly oppose any further attempts to erode the special nature of Sunday, which legislation still reflects.
“We believe that for family stability and community life, as many people as possible should have the possibility of a common day off every week. The potential detrimental impact on the health of employees, and on small retailers, outweigh any potential benefits of further deregulation.”
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, added that existing Sunday trading restrictions were already "fairly modest" and urged the Government to ensure that the Olympic changes were only temporary.
Under the Sunday Trading Act 1994, shops bigger than 3,000 square feet in England and Wales can only trade for six continuous hours between 10am and 6pm on Sundays. Repeated attempts by large retailers to relax the law further, particularly before Christmas and at Easter, have failed.
But it was belatedly realised that the restrictions would affect the Olympic Games, with five large merchandise shops in the east London park having to shut before a closing ceremony attended by 80,000 people on Sunday, August 12th.
Yesterday George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, confirmed to BBC1’s Andrew Marr show that the law would be changed in time to allow the Olympic stores to remain open, along with shopping centres and supermarkets around the country.
He said: “We've got the whole world coming to London - and the rest of the country - for the Olympics.
“It would be a great shame - particularly when some of the big Olympic events are on Sunday - if the country had a closed for business sign on it.”
Under the change, expected to be forced through Parliament before Easter without the standard consultation period, the six-hour rule will be removed for eight weekends over the summer. It is expected to benefit shopping centres near the Olympic site, such as Westfield in Stratford, as well as official merchandise stores.
The Treasury will monitor the results of the experiment keenly to see if it boosts consumer spending.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, appeared not to rule out the move becoming permanent, telling Sky News: “What is being talked about is during the period of Olympics, of course that is a rather special period in this country coming up this summer and if that is done then of course we’ll have to see the outcome of that and the reactions to that before coming to any wider conclusions.”
But Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, warned: “Today, on Mothering Sunday, there are mums at home with their kids because Sunday trading means they can have the morning off.
“We should be very careful about breaking Sunday trading.”
Even John Cridland, Director-General of the CBI, which represents businesses, agreed: “The longer term issue of permanent changes to Sunday trading, that’s something I think a different agenda, we’d need to think about that long and hard.”
The pressure group Keep Sunday Special said the proposal called into question David Cameron’s pledge to make his the most family-friendly government.
A statement posted on the KSS website asked: “Has shopping become an Olympic sport? No changes are needed to enable all Olympic visitors to have a great day out enjoying time with family and friends.”
Saturday, April 16, 2011
LIVE London - Adventist Sports Ministry Olympic Outreach
Friday, February 26, 2010
Oh, Canada!
Members of Team-Canada Women's Hockey Team "celebrating" the gold medal at Vancouver Winter Olympics 25-Feb-2010.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Olympic Games (2016)
Comite Rio 2016, via Associated PressUpdated Oct. 2, 2009
The 2016 Olympic Games will take place in Rio de Janeiro, marking the first time that the Olympics will take place in South America. (Above, a computer generated photo illustration shows a view of the Flamengo Park for road cycling.)
The 104-member International Olympic Committee decided between the four candidate cities - Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo - on Oct. 2, 2009.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, gave an impassioned speech to the membership. He said that of the top 10 economic powers in the world, Brazil is the only one not to host an Olympics.
"For the others it would be just one more Games, for us it would be an unparalleled opportunity," he said. "It would send a message the Olympic Games belong to all people, all continents and all humanity.
President Obama lobbied hard for Chicago's bid, and its failure marked one of the president's biggest losses to date. One adviser said it had a similar feeling to Mr. Obama's defeat in the New Hampshire primary in January 2008.
Mr. Obama was the first American president to make an in-person appeal for a bid city and first lady Michelle Obama had also come to lobby I.O.C. members for votes.
Chicago's bid leaders had worked for nearly four years and spent close to $50 million to bring the Summer Olympics to the United States for the first time in 20 years. Chicago had been considered among Olympic insiders as a favorite to win the Games, along with Rio.
It was the second straight time an American city fared poorly in the I.O.C. voting. New York's bid was eliminated in the second round of voting for the 2012 Olympics. The United States has not hosted the Summer Games since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The last time a United States city hosted any Olympics was the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.
Source: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/olympics_2016/index.html
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Thursday, October 01, 2009
Liberal Lunacy: Obama Ignores Afghan War and Blows Big Bucks on Olympic Mission
OK, WE'RE RIGHT! ^ September 30, 2009 Oscar De Los Santos and Kelly L. Goodridge
Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 8:06:57 AM by OK Right
Countless articles, documentaries and films recently heralded the Woodstock Festival’s 40th anniversary. Few of the retrospectives mentioned the soldiers dying in Vietnam as stoners rocked out in rural New York.
Something similar is happening now. Afghan War Commander General McChrystal requested 40 thousand additional troops weeks ago. Instead of complying, President Barrack Hussein Obama continues to stall even as he attends to matters he deems more important than losing a war.
There’s the ongoing healthcare issue – something the president seems determined to ram down America’s throat, polls be damned. As of September 28, “Just 41% of voters nationwide now favor the healthcare reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats” (“Health Care Reform: Support for Health Care Plan Hits New Low,” Rasmussen Reports, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform).
But Obama must consider the 2016 Olympics his most pressing political matter. He wants the games held in Chicago. So of course, he and First Lady Michelle are jetting off to Copenhagen– in separate planes – to make a personal appeal to the Olympic Committee. Never mind that the cost of Obama alone making the four thousand mile trip aboard Air Force One will set American taxpayers back anywhere from $300K to $500K, each way (Penny Starr, CNS News, September 30,2009, http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54762). After all, there’s no other way to get in touch with the Olympic Committee except to go meet it face-to-face, right?
The Afghan war should be tops on Obama’s list. Instead, he’s doing anything but making a decision on whether or not to honor General McChrystal’s troop request. That stall is costing us lives. McChrystal admitted on last Sunday’s 60 Minutes that he’s spoken to Obama just once in the past 70 days. Never mind that there’s a chain of command in place and Obama wants McChrystal to communicate with the Pentagon first. The president can do better than have a single direct communiqué with his on-site commander in 70 days. To do otherwise is an insult to McChrystal and every soldier who volunteered to serve his country in any way it deems necessary.
Funny how Obama continues to hedge – and liberals continue to give him a pass – on an Afghan war decision. Remember how the libs crucified President George W. Bush for not taking a firmer stance on Afghanistan? Remember how they vilified W for the troop surge in Iraq, which finally turned things around?
Truth be told, the Iraq surge was a resounding success. And in that fact is the key to Obama’s fudging on a similar Afghan surge. Sure, angering liberals may account for part of the president’s hesitancy, but there’s also this to consider: To give McChrystal the additional troops he requested would be tantamount to admitting that W was right in ordering the Iraq surge.
In fact, George W. Bush was right about a lot of things. He was right about the Iraq surge and he was right about Iran. Recall that Bush was laughed at for treating Iran as a dangerous enemy determined to join the nuclear arms community. Now we’ve learned that Ahmadinejad and company have long been cooking up uranium in hidden sites throughout the country.
W understood what President Ronald Reagan understood all too well: peace is best upheld through strength. Iran wouldn’t be processing nuke fuel and preparing an Israel doomsday bomb if Reagan, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were still in power.
And neither Reagan nor W would be running a fool’s errand to Denmark in order to secure a round of games while our troops are pleading for help.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Chinese Summer Olympics Paid for by USA
From American Gold to Gold Medals, the Chinese Win Twice
The majesty, creativity and uniqueness of the Summer Olympics in China cannot be denied. It is an entertainment spectacle that will long be remembered and used as the gold standard that other nations will find difficult to match. Some people praise the Chinese for the gift they have given the world. But the economics of these Olympics merit more serious examination. Americans have paid for the massive, multi-billion dollar spending to create the Olympics venues in China.
First, over many years, American consumers have had little choice but to purchase Chinese products because myriad companies decided to increase their profits by importing goods from China made by low-paid workers made by companies not spending to comply with environmental, health and safety regulations, or setting up manufacturing facilities of their own there. Americans have to work very hard to find almost any product that is NOT made in China. From frozen tilapia fish to shoes to appliances to all clothing, consumers find little else in stores except stuff made in China. This explains an enormous nutty trade imbalance with China. The Chinese have amassed untold billions in US dollars from this one-sided trade disaster. While it is argued that consumers have benefitted from lower prices, millions of American workers have lost good-paying jobs once held in manufacturing industries.
What has the Chinese done with the piles of profits from swollen exports to the US? They became one of the largest sources of money that the US government has borrowed, because of an enormous budget deficit. So, first the Chinese make tons of money selling us products and then take some of those profits and loan the dollars to us, making still more money from the interest we must pay them.
In other words, the Chinese have us under their control. If they decided to abandon us, what would happen? Without them we would have nearly nothing to purchase. We have lost our manufacturing capabilities. Worse yet, our economic house of cards supported by debt would collapse if they stop loaning us money or decided to cash in all the financial instruments they own. The US is no longer an independent nation. China, in so many ways, is our master.
Without having the US as its number one customer for goods and money, the Chinese would never have been able to invest the billions they spent on creating the spectacular Summer Olympics (nor the billions they investing in expanding their military efforts and space program). We, the citizens of America, because of corporate greed and government incompetence, have paid for the Olympics. They are not a gift from the Chinese to the world, but a involuntary gift from Americans to the Chinese. They get all the credit, while we American suckers have paid for all of it.
Instead of so much focus on the "gold" in medals won by China, the US and other nations, much more focus should be given to the transfer of wealth from the US to China. And to add more insult to this mess, the skyrocketing increases in petroleum and other natural resources by the Chinese have increased prices hitting Americans. Again, all those increases from rapid industrialization spring from the lopsided trade between the US and China.
Look at it this way: In China millions of poor people are improving their economic condition and becoming middle class. Meanwhile, in the US millions of middle class people are losing economic ground and joining the working poor. In both countries the wealthy are becoming richer, with millionaires becoming billionaires.
Americans should be more interested in Olympics economics rather than in what country wins the most medals. In so many ways, American athletes are doing much better than their government. And all the talk about China not doing enough to build a stronger democracy misses the bigger point that America has long ago lost its democracy credentials as it became more of a plutocracy serving the rich and corporate classes. In the end, globalization is all about serving elites in all countries and transferring wealth from the middle class in developed countries to the poor in developing ones. No matter how many medals Chinese athletes win, the Chinese government stands as the winner over the US government.
Source: http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/linkframe.php?linkid=66743
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
China to Limit Web Access During Games
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: July 31, 2008
BEIJING — The Chinese government has confirmed what journalists arriving at the lavishly outfitted media center here have suspected: contrary to previous assurances by Olympic and government officials, the Internet will be censored during the upcoming Games.
The International Olympic Committee quietly agreed to some of the limitations, according to a press official, Kevin Gosper, the Reuters news agency reported. Mr. Gosper told Reuters on Wednesday that he had only just learned of the agreement. Sandrine Tonge, the I.O.C. media relations coordinator, said the organization would press the Chinese authorities to reconsider the limits.
Since the Olympic Village press center opened on Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages — among them those that discuss Tibetan succession, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown of the protests in Tiananmen Square and the sites of Amnesty International, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.
A government spokesman initially suggested the problems originated with the site hosts, but on Wednesday, he acknowledged that journalists would not have unfettered Internet use during the Games, which begin Aug. 8.
“It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet,” said Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. “I believe our policy will not affect reporters’ coverage of the Olympic Games.”
In the past, both the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee have suggested that the 20,000 journalists covering the Games would have full Internet access. As recently as two weeks ago, Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic committee president, proclaimed to Agence France-Presse: “For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. There will be no censorship on the Internet.”
The revelation that politically sensitive Web pages will be off limits to foreign reporters comes at a time of growing skepticism about other government’s commitment to pledges made when it won the right to stage the Games in 2001: that it would improve its record on human rights and provide athletes with clean air.
Despite a litany of measures that include restricting private vehicles and shuttering factories, Beijing’s skyline in recent days has been shrouded in a thick haze, prompting some hang-wringing over whether the government can deliver on its promise of a “blue skies” Olympics.
In recent months, human rights advocates have accused Beijing of stepping up the detention and surveillance of those it fears could disrupt the Games. On Tuesday, President Bush privately met with five Chinese dissidents at the White House to drive home his dissatisfaction with the pace of change. Mr. Bush, who leaves for the opening ceremony in just over a week, also pressed China’s foreign minister to ease political repression.
Concerns about free access to the Internet in Beijing had intensified Tuesday, when Western journalists working at the Main Press Center in Beijing said they could not get to Amnesty International’s Web site to see the group’s critical report on China’s failure to improve its human rights record ahead of the Olympics.
Jonathan Watts, president of The Foreign Correspondents Club of China, said he was disappointed that Beijing had failed to honor its agreement to temporarily remove the elaborate firewall that prevents ordinary Chinese from fully using the Internet. “Obviously if reporters can’t access all the sites they want to see, they can’t do their jobs,” he said. “Unfortunately such restrictions are normal for reporters in China but the Olympics were supposed to be different.”
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Thousands converge on Barcelona for European gay games
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 - 19:00
AFP News Briefs List
Performers at the 2006 Gay Games closing ceremony in Chicago. More than 5,000 athletes, gay and straight, from across Europe are converging on Barcelona for the Eurogames which get underway on Thursday in the Spanish port city, organisers said.
More than 5,000 athletes, gay and straight, from across Europe are converging on Barcelona for the Eurogames which get underway on Thursday in the Spanish port city, organisers said.
More than 30,000 tourists are expected to attend the Olympics-style games which could pump 30 million euros (47.6 million US dollars) into the local economy, according to Barcelona gay sports group Panteras Grogues (Yellow Panthers) which is organising the event.
The four-day event will kick off with a colourful opening ceremony on Thursday at the Palau Sant Jordi indoor sporting arena, one of the main venues of the 1992 Summer Olympics which has a seating capacity for 17,000 people.
The athletes will compete in 28 different sports including tennis, swimming, track and field, basketball but also same-sex versions of ballroom dancing in venues across Barcelona.
Conferences and cultural events will be held at the same time as the sports events.
The Eurogames are open to everyone, irrespective of sex, age, sexual identity or physical abilities.
They are hosted by license of the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation and organised by one or more of the federation's member clubs.
The first Eurogames were held in the Hague in the Netherlands in 1992. The event was held last year in Antwerp, Belgium.
Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20080723-thousands-converge-barcelona-european-gay-games
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
RIGHTS GROUP TO CHINA: RELEASE TIANANMEN PRISONERS
  | Photo 1 of 3 |  |
Protesters carry a mock coffin during a march in Hong Kong on Sunday June 1, 2008 to mark the 19th anniversary of China 's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters centered at Beijing 's Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Protesters held banners that honored both the victims of the earthquake and of the military crackdown in 1989, which killed at least hundreds. The protests were ruled a "counterrevolutionary riot." (AP Photo/Melanie Ko) | ||
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Radio Australia - 1 hour ago - China chalks up more firsts in reaching out to others
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AFP - 1 hour ago
Rights group to China: Release Tiananmen prisoners
BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of people remain imprisoned for taking part in the 1989 pro-democracy protests centered in Tiananmen Square, though releasing them would improve China's image ahead of the Beijing Olympics this summer, a human rights group said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said about 130 prisoners are still being held for their role in the demonstrations that were crushed in a brutal military crackdown. The square in the heart of the Chinese capital is expected to feature prominently in media coverage of the Olympics, although authorities worry about the possibility of fresh protests marring the event.
"The Chinese government should show the global Olympic audience it's serious about human rights by releasing the Tiananmen detainees," Sophie Richardson, the group's Asia advocacy director, said in a statement released Monday in New York.
This year is the 19th anniversary of the June 3-4 military assault on the protesters in which hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed. China's Communist leaders portray the protest as an anti-government riot and have never offered a full accounting of the crackdown.
China pledged to improve its human rights situation in its bid to host the 2008 Olympics. But one Tiananmen activist, whose son was killed as he hid from soldiers enforcing martial law, scoffed when asked whether the August games had spurred the government to change its attitude.
"I don't have this kind of illusion," said Ding Zilin, pointing out that some of her activist friends were placed under house arrest this year. She is the co-founder of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group representing families of those who died, and has campaigned to get the government to acknowledge those killed in the crackdown and compensate their families.
No official figure is available of the number of people who remain jailed in connection with the protests. Liu Xiaobo, an Internet writer who was jailed for nearly five years after the protests, said he knows of up to eight people serving life sentences in Beijing's No. 2 Prison on charges of organizing people to oppose the soldiers or taking part in acts such as the burning of police or army vehicles during the crackdown.
China Human Rights Defenders, a network of activists and rights monitoring groups, released a list Tuesday with the names of eight Beijing residents who remain imprisoned in connection with the Tiananmen protests. A handful of activists had also been placed under house arrest or monitored by police in the days leading up to the anniversary, the group said.
Human Rights Watch said its numbers represented its best estimate based on government information and details pieced together from other sources like family members and other activist groups.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang declined to comment on prisoner numbers or any possible future releases, calling that a matter for other government departments.
He repeated China's position that the government has been improving human rights by reforming the legal system and raising living standards.
"We will unswervingly stand on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the promotion of human rights of China," Qin said at a regularly scheduled news conference.
Security is traditionally ratcheted up around the anniversary, but Liu said this year has been relatively relaxed, with police only appearing outside his Beijing apartment on June 1, several days later than usual.
Liu is still unable to publish inside China, his phone is bugged and he is frequently called in by police for discussions on topics ranging from unrest in Tibet to the government response to last month's earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
Despite a public taboo on discussing the protests and crackdown, Liu said interest in the events appears greater now than on the 10th anniversary in 1999.
Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcJyjhBBLXNXdqj7OC-4vOBNogjwD912P8680
Thursday, April 03, 2008
FORGET IT, GEORGETOWN, IT'S CHINA
Editorial
April 3, 2008
Forget it, Georgetown, it’s China
With the Beijing Olympics only four months away, protests aimed the Chinese regime’s abuses and its support for the genocidal Sudanese government are mounting. Reporters Without Borders sells shirts with interlocked handcuffs in place of the Olympic rings, and Steven Spielberg left his job as an artistic adviser to the games over China’s indifference to the crisis in Darfur. Now is the perfect time for Georgetown to evaluate its own ties to two Chinese universities.
About a dozen Georgetown professors currently work at Fudan University, teaching and developing everything from exchange programs to ways to share technology over long distances, according to Samuel Robfogel, the Director of International Initiatives.
Georgetown’s ties to the Central Party School, a university that has produced much of China’s top leadership, are more worrisome. Connections with China are especially embarrassing for a Jesuit university committed to interreligious understanding.
“Though constitutionally recognized, religious freedom is accorded little respect in China,” according to a 2007 Freedom House report, which also noted that 50 members of an underground Christian church were imprisoned and had their church demolished just for practicing their faith.
Georgetown’s freedom to speak out on these issues, however, is limited by its connections to Chinese universities. In exchange for the right to collaborate with Chinese researchers, Georgetown must self-censor its institutional voice.
“[Religious repression] is not really much of an issue and I don’t think it needs to be. Not if Georgetown doesn’t push its religious identity or a diplomatic issue like Tibet, and not if Georgetown’s goal is to establish a global university,” theology professor Francisca Cho said.
Georgetown’s Jesuit identity is a valuable part of what it offers the global academic community. If Georgetown casts aside its professed moral leanings for the sole purpose of solidifying ties with a nation with burgeoning research influence, it betrays the very tradition that it tells students sets it apart from peer universities.
“If we ever felt that academic freedom in our program was suppressed in a way that didn’t allow us to be the Georgetown University that we wanted to be it would be a matter of concern,” Robfogel said. Still, Georgetown’s ability to condemn one of the most brutal regimes in the world is automatically restricted by its connection to Chinese schools.
With China showing no sign of liberalizing on human rights issues, Georgetown may soon be forced to choose between speaking on its values or staying silent to preserve ties with China. Georgetown should make sure research concerns don’t get in the way of speaking the truth.
Source: http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2008-04-03/editorial/forget-it-georgetown-its-china
Monday, March 24, 2008
OLYMPIC TORCH LIT DESPITE PROTEST
Last Updated: Monday, 24 March 2008, 15:42 GMT   |
Olympic torch lit despite protest | ||||||
Protesters from media rights group Reporters Without Borders broke through the cordon of 1,000 police officers in Olympia as China's envoy spoke. Activists had vowed to protest over the violence in and around Tibet. The torch will now be carried around Greece before being sent to China to start a journey through 20 countries, returning to Beijing on 8 August. The route includes the torch being taken to the top of Mount Everest and through Tibet. As Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Olympic organising committee, spoke ahead of the torch lighting, three men broke into the ceremony venue. One ran up behind him attempting to display a black flag depicting the Olympic rings made from handcuffs. The men were from the France-based media rights watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, or RSF), which has called for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the games.
They were quickly bundled away by police and Mr Liu continued his speech uninterrupted. The live television coverage, beaming the scene around the world, quickly cut away from Mr Liu and the protesters until they had been removed. "We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic human rights situation in the country," RSF said in a statement. Later, as the torch began its journey, pro-Tibet activists unfurled banners and shouted slogans before Greek security wrestled them away. 'Boycott unwanted' Actors dressed in ancient Greek costume then lit the torch in the traditional manner by using a parabolic mirror to focus the sun's rays. There were fears that stormy weather would prevent the torch being lit in the customary way. The ceremony, beside the Temple of Hera, was moved forward by an hour and the sun shone through a break in the clouds.
In his speech during the ceremony, Mr Rogge said the Olympic torch relay and the Games should take place in a peaceful environment. "The torch is the link between all athletes and citizens of this world; between all of us who believe in Olympism and the virtue of sport. It has the force to unite humanity and to stand for harmony." He told the Associated Press news agency on Monday that he was engaged on a daily basis in "silent diplomacy" with Beijing on Tibet and other human rights issues. Tibet unrest The Olympic torch will be carried in a 136,000km (85,000 miles) around-the-world relay that will see it pass through 20 countries before arriving in Beijing for the start of the Games on 8 August. Tibet activists are angered that the torch's route will take it through the Himalayan region and to the top of Mount Everest, which straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet. China sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and since then there have been periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings as resentment of Beijing's rule has persisted. The latest round of anti-China protests began in Tibet's main city, Lhasa, on 10 March - the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising - and gradually escalated. Lhasa saw at least two days of violence and there have also been protests in provinces which border Tibet. China says 19 people were killed by rioters and accuses Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of inciting the violence. The Tibetan government in exile says at least 130 people have died in a crackdown by Chinese troops and deny any role in the protests.
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Ceremony protest 
The torch is the link between all athletes and citizens of this world... It has the force to unite humanity and to stand for harmony 
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7310654.stm
P.S. Note the statement: