Edited by author 02-14-2007 04:50 PM
Please post messages in this forum in regard to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver

Something to get the discussion going....

One of the things I'm struggling to grasp is how those who protest the Olympics try to make the connection between the games and what's happening with the homeless situation. Stats about declining SRO's, increase in homelessness since the games were awarded etc. are used to support arguments against the games, but from what I've seen are not substantiated? For instance: using those stats implies that all the downtown eastside development which is removing low cost housing in favour of condos and upgrades is a result of the Olympics. I aslo consistantly hear the argument to the effect of "Why are we going to all this trouble and expense for a two week party?" Exactly - a two week party it is. Knowing that, do you think developers are going to spend millions of dollars to build condos for a two week event? No. They are being built because it is prime downtown real estate and the trend of urban revitalization is happening all over North America. In terms of upgrades - are these hotel owners investing thousands of dollars right now to upgrade in preperation for a "two week party" in 3 years? That doesn't make sense either. Perhaps they also see it as prime real estate with a naturally occuring influx of wealth to the area due primarily to its proximaty to the city core. To me that's an issue of zoning which needs to be taken up with city council and not the Olympic organizers. Perhaps I'm just not getting it, but to me if the games were to be cancelled tomorrow or never even awarded in the first place this issue would still exist.

So talking of waste - the only waste I see is the energy to pin these issues on the games, such was the case of those anarchic protesters at the countdown clock ceremony. Such misguided energy, which only detracted from those who are doing truly legitimate work for the homeless in our city. Shameful. No one with even a shred of reason should affiliate themselves with the Anti-Poverty Committee. Those thugs have been at it before. They're the type of people who live on the fringes of the political spectrum and will raise anarchy no matter what the cause - regardless of whether it's right or wrong. If the world was perfect they would find something to protest against anyway. They are no different than their right-wing counterparts - skinheads. Again - I know people are angry but it is a) completely focused in the wrong direction. These people don't use logic and reason to form their opinion - they just need someone to scream at and give purpose to their thugary; and b)anarchy and thwarting the "system" will not solve the problem but working within will.

My rant on the APC aside, I also know that VANOC as a company has initiated programs to help the downtown eastside situation in terms of low cost housing, aboriginal and youth support etc. No one told them they have to do this, they just are as they realize they need to be part of the solution and not the problem. People would be far better served to understand exactly what VANOC is doing beyond just preparing for the games. They'd also be better served putting down their protest signs and joining a program that will truly help the homeless situation. I know VANOC is looking for good people.

First of all, any and all gestures towards helping anyone on the DTES is nothing short of propganda, VANOC are doing nothing whatsoever.

2. Because of the 2010 Olympics, ownership of the ever increasing list of DTES hotels are being sold, renovated and upgraded so that the original tennants cannot afford to live there. The regulation created by the city of Vancouver to stop this process was supposed to be voted on Tuesday night but was put off the agenda for another time.

3. YES the APC are an angry bunch - but then again how would you feel if people you knew [your people] were facing evictions, life on the street and increased poverty. You would want to fight for them, you would want to make as strong a statement as possible in front of the media to get your point across.

3. VANOC and the IOC are nothing but a sham - the Olympic ideal is long since dead if it ever existed in the first place. I competed for Canada at two Olympic events, had I known then what I now know about the Olympics I would never have had the desire to train and become a world class athlete

4. The 2010 Olympics is about one thing - land development, construction contracts. Take a look at who was on the bid committee and on the VANOC board now, namely Jack Poole and David Podmore both directors of Concert Properties - the largerst land developer in BC.

I could go on, there is lots more.

So, if the Olympics weren't happening, the hotels wouldn't be closed?

Edited by author 02-14-2007 06:44 PM
Exactly - and we would not have a skytrain tunnel running down Cambie, it would be running out to the Tri Cities as planned.

I don't doubt we need more public transportation, skytrain may not be the best solution, a ground level people mover along the Arbrutus corridor would have been better, but we all know who's neighbourhood that infringes on....

DTES hotels have a fairly constant rate of being updated and being bought and sold = but not at the rate it is at now. Despite what politicians and VANOC promised people will lose their homes because of the 2010 Olympics.

I blame the NDP for starting the whole stinking process and Libs for perpetrating the mess further.

1. Fair enough. I can't say I've read or heard anything specific on DTES, but I know they have a policy to do their part to contribute to the community and raise the bar in that area within the corporate world. I guess we'll just have wait and see what happens in the next three years.

2. "Because of the 2010 Olympics"? Why because? Why don't you explain the connection? I'm aware of that vote being put-off but again, that's a city council issue not Olympic (for the record I think the stalling on DTES is deplorable, but there's still no connection to the Olympics on that issue).

3. I would feel angry too, but my anger would be directed in the right way to the right people. I don't believe in anarchy as a solution to get your message across. Of course I could be bias as I work for a communications company that does a lot of pro-bono work for various causes, but I believe you shift peoples' behavior by appealing to their emotions and sense of goodness - not by throwing rocks and eggs and disrupting a peaceful and public gathering attended by children. How can you possibly defend their actions??

4. I'm sorry you feel that you've been slighted as an athlete (are you really an athlete? If you're the guy that runs 2010 Watch I know for certain you're not). Anyway, how is it a sham? It promotes the highest in athletics, world peace, fair play, and on and on. Of course you can argue that it's become too corporate like many other things, but the principles are still there. The billions of people who watch it don't think of it as a corporate event and they are certainly uplifted from the performance and participation of their country, as well as the Olympic message of bringing nations together. And unlike Olympics in the past at least 2010 is raising the majority of their money through corporate sponsorship and not tax $$. You can't have it both ways.

4. So what? Construction and development bring jobs and money to the community and they aren't make-shift projects for political gain like fast ferries and the like. The majority of what they're building will be used long after the games are gone (from what I've read they're also taking into consideration "white elephants" from past Olympics such as the ski jump by building those type of events as removable structures). And so what if some people make some money off it...welcome to a free economy. That's like saying we should protest Concord Pacific for building condos in Yaletown. The point is that the 2010 development is NOT detracting from DTES. You've yet to make that connection. You're reverting back to the same methods you use unchallenged on your website and in the media.

So go on and on. You really haven't substantiated any of your arguments, and quite frankly unless other people join this thread it's not worth my time to continue one-on-one as you'll just come back with loose arguments void of facts. I've got to get back to work

Edited by author 02-14-2007 07:51 PM
Don't let him off the hook on that one "*?".

You still haven't addressed his/her or my questions about how the Olympics are causing the reduction in SRO's with any kinds of facts. Again, do you actually think these hotel owners are spending thousands for upgrades in anticipation for a 2 week event 3 years from now?

And now you're throwing skytrain into the equation?

Now I totally agree that a ground level people mover might have been a better and less expensive option, but you can't possibly blame the Olympics for that. And as far as I know the tri-city plan is still on the table. Yes the airport route may have gotten moved up because of the olympics, but who cares...it was going to happen sooner or later. For my part I'm glad it's sooner and that they have the pressure of deadlines...it increases efficiency and get's the job done faster so people on the Cambie corridor aren't inconvenienced longer than they could have been otherwise, plus all the money saved for meeting early deadlines. Perhaps you should be thanking the Olympics for that fact and not blaming them.

Edited by author 02-14-2007 09:27 PM
Vikrim:

We don't have to wait 3 years to find out if VANOC will fulfill their empty promises, they have already shown us in a number of areas that their promises don't mean anything.

There are many ways to make change, sometimes it can be abrupt and violent, sometimes it can be long and peaceful and everything else in between. People general prefer tha latter, but when the changes to be made are abrupt and have imediate effect I can guarantee there will be a imediate response in some unpleasant way.

I've not been slighted as an athlete, what I have done is researched my subject matter and come to a logical conclusion. Most athletes I have come across don't have the inclination or are too self centred hwo many homeless people are created due to the 2010 Olympics. And YES I have accomplished what I said and NO I am not Chris Shaw - try a google search under Ian Gregson.

As for my basis in fact, please check t he 2010watch website for in depth details, particularly the PIVOT report on increased homelessness on the DTES. The facts are out there, it simply whether you choose to believe them or not.

The people who are making decisions about the Olympics are the same people making decisions about expanding the freeway, running the skytrain down Cambie and wreaking environmental havoc at EagleRidge Bluffs. The owners of the DTES hotels are opportunists out to make a buck, the Olympics has given them an excuse to do so even more, tie that in with a city gov't unwilling to enforce their own by-laws - the result is more peope out on the streets.

Vikrim - here's a recent message from Phil le Good

Despite Furlong's quoted statement to the media, "...VANOC continues to
discuss housing matters with some of the protesting groups, and has promised
250 permanent units of social housing will be provided from the athletes'
village, once the Games are over", there has NEVER been a promise made by
VANOC or its predecesor, 2010 Bid Corp, to provide 250 housing units after
the 2010 Games.

The actual agreement states that the Vancouver City Council of the day will
do its best to provide 250 units of "non-market housing" from the athletes
village after 2010. And, if the current housing market price is any
indication of what may lie ahead in 2010, non-market housing could cost well
over $500,000. Hardly social housing and hardly a firm promise. Jack
Poole, one of VANOC's directors is associated with a major development
company, however, they are not involved with the construction of Vancouver's
Athlete's Village (at least not yet).

VANOC and Furlong have no responsibility for housing, nor is their mandate
to provide anything else but the 16 day expensive 2010 circus on behalf of
their boss, the International Olympic Committee. They are contracted by the
IOC to provide the Games on time, at venues in Vancouver and Whistler.

If Mr. Furlong continues to provide this level disinformation, how can the
public ever trust him with over $600 million in public funds for venue
construction?

Here's a link for a circle/ (no to 2010) logo & a label template for Avery #5293 stickers.
http://rapidshare.com/files/19621978/NoTo2010.zip.html
Leave 'em on newsstands, stick em wherever around the city, give 'em to friends & loved ones...I'm sure it'll piss VANOC off.
Civil disobedience?

I'm not an athlete to these games. It's not going to be like Expo 86, when evryone including the public is going to do these exibits. Only the public is going to do is watch it live at each venues or on T.V. For me it's going to be a local blackout on my T.V. set, just like the C.F.L. (Canadian Football League) home games.

I'm no interested in these games in Vancouver. If anyone is sick & tired about these games, then make lots of money & go on vacation in February of 2010.

If you don't want the paralympics to come here, then extended to March, 2010. I'm hopeing that there will be an "Olympic Runaway Sale" from any Travel agent stores in the lower mainland or on the web sites. If you don't like what's happening in Vancouver beyond 2010, MOVE!!!!!!

The Premier of B.C. is telling the people are comming back to B.C. Sorry Mr. Premier, but I'm leaving on Feb. 2010 when the games are on.

One of my family member is trying to tell me if I do stay for these games, I would go on a trip after the games. It's a nice offer, but I can't do that while these games are on. After all one of my family member who is a big fan of figure skating.

When Vancouver has their plans set to 2010, I've got my plans to leave Vancouver both for Feb & March of 2010.

Protests must get louder!, by using Whistles, call it the
 "2010 Whistle Blowers."
Put a logo on the whistles, hand them out/sell them, at events.
Lets get LOUDer!!!!!
:)

You think you're so hardcore protesting an ageless world event for some bums that have no self control? Go die in a hole you evil godless communist freedom hating assholes.

Peaceful protests are encouraged, but the anti-olympic protests are embarrassing. This is why you aren't getting free handouts, you act like children.

I live in the Greater Vancouver area. I don't want another Atlanta, Georgia explosion during the summer games. Remember in September, 1996 there was a bomb explosion near the city.

Vancouver could be another terrorist attack. If a big event comes along, Vancouver could be their next target. Maybe a 1'st Canadian terrorist after the U.S. terror in Sep. 11'th, 2001. Anyone in the games could be a terrorist. The security is giving it's 0 torrerance policy on terrorist.

In reality, here are some questions everyone in British Columbia should know:

How much money are we going to spend on security?

How much money of our tax Canadian dollars to host the games that we are going to pay?

And how much money are we wasting adds to introduce those games to the world?

Yeah I maybe crazy, but what I'm doing is a "what if" game. What if the olympics goes terrably wrong for the 1'st time since 1972 in Munich, West Germany?

These are the questions that we have to remember about. Also I didn't get a straight answer from the VANOC. I talked to them about to prefer the summer games instead of the winter games. I love watching Sailing, Rowing, Kayaking, Baseball, Swimming, Diving, Track & Field, Volleyball & Beach Volleyball on T.V. & on live events. The only winter games that I love are Skiing, Snowboarding & Speed Skating. That's 8 summer games I love to see & 3 winter games I would like to see, but summer games are better. Sadly the VANOC wants to talk about is the winter games, not the summer games.

I'm very disapointed to see the city of Vancouver doing this event.

"I'm very disapointed to see the city of Vancouver doing this event."

Yes, so lets protest the 2010 clock, and vandalise it, effectively wasting more tax dollars.

You people are retarded, stop protesting over something so stupid. Even if this clock is actually a 'big issue' -- much like the 2010 games in their entirity -- it would mean much more money to halt the process, than to continue with it. End of fucking discussion, stop protesting, you slutty vandalizing attention whores. You people are so bloody ignorant it's sad to know that people like you live in the same city as me.

Gee I protest about,business people wanting real money to host games, and I'm retarded. Lets see, 3 persons in my family, so my share/cost out of my pocket is about $1,500 for these games. I told my Daughter that if the 2010 money was spent on kids, every child in BC could have gone to Egypt for a life changing moment of their lifes.
Is it true that each Metal Canada wins, will costs taxpayers $40,000,000.00 a peice.
Before you call me retarded could you please look in the mirror, then go ask one of your mushroom friends, what kind of drugs your on today.
Thats my rant for the day, get Whistles. No need to reply, and I will not stop yelling at people with there hands in my pockets.
My guess is we'll be $4 1/2 Billion in the hole by the end of this, and my child will end up paying this back for tyhe next 30 years like 1976 Quebec games.

If I was retarded, I wouldn't be on this computer explaining about the olympics. I'm not protesting.

I've never gone out to those events & protest to the city of Vancouver nor the VANOC. The police would be there to arrest me. I'd be scared the shit out of those fuckin' police if they'd tear gased me.

I don't care if we have a countdown clock to the games. It's a waist of our tax dollar's money. Nor anyone bringing down the flag of the olympics.

When that clock reaches down to 0, I'm leaving until the whole olympic games are finish. Sure the people will tell me "Ohh! You'd missed out there little buddy. Vancouver had a blast of fun. Oh well. Too bad little buddy!" I won't even care if anyone will say that to me. All for those 16 days of fun will be on holidays.

get a life..your all wasting ur time

fucking retards...leave the clock alone

Get a life, leave the clock alone!

Who cares about the clock. I don't care. I've never seen it with my own eyes. I've haven't been to downtown since.

I completely agree with kr601. I hate all sports including hockey. Whats the point of wasting our money to bring prestige to Vancouver. We should all boycott the winter olympics and go home and watch sailing. For the record I also hate Ice cream.

All these douchebags spammed this message board because they are all part of this group on facebook: http://langara.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2256589215

I would love to give these guys a press conference so the city can see how hateful, vitriolic, ignorant, and under-educated they are.

"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. "

-Frederick Douglas
(a Republican)

you are all a bunch of dumbasses. enough said.

If I had a sign, I had the olympic symbol on below it will be crossed out with a circle around the symbol & it would say "2010 Olympic games? I'm LEAVING!!!!" & I would walk all day around that countdown clock. If I was in a friendly protesters climate, I would have that sign to go anywhere where there will be a peaseful demonstration. I hate protesters who can do more damage to the city & disobeying the law.

Thanks for the heads up Sean I've contacted the admin at facebook to have them shut down.

I guess that is what cuts to Richmond school board budgets gets us...

Watch out for my upcoming article about Olympics. It will be posted soon. To all the radical Olympic activists your idea is good but please have concern with what we are really fighting for. We shouldn't put our dignity down and be spoiled by bad criticisms of everybody.

bahahha. protesters are lame/ no fame. weak.

There was an interesting debate on Facebook regarding the Olympic, the removal of the single-occupancy hotel rooms, and what not on Facebook, and I was linked to this site from that group.

I have a lovely post on my blog regarding this.

http://blog.jeffkee.com/2007/03/28/2010-va...l-estate-vandalism/

Edited by author 04-02-2007 12:30 AM
I was watching a documantary on C.B.C. on July 1, 2003 the day before the announcement was made. Looking back on the olympic bid, I was hopeing that Toronto would get the 2008 Summer games, but as it turned out that Toronto lost to Bejing.

Just days before Febuary 22'nd, 2003 when Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell announced that there was going to be a referendum, the referendum was only going to he held in Vancouver & NOT Whistler or the Greater Vancouver area.

When I was visiting in Vancouver, there were lots of "yes" campaigns & 0 "no" campains on the streets, but on the news on the night of the referendum there were some "no" people sanding outside on Burrard Street Bridge corner of Cornwall Avenue.

I've counted more than 10 "yes" ads in 1 week. Many of them were in the newspaper ads, on T.V., on Radio & on the internet. It was saying "It's our time to shine. Vote 'Yes' on February 22'nd."

Where were the "no" campaign ads? I didn't see any ads on the streets, on newspapers, on T.V. & on Radio. I may have missed it on the internet, because the internet does do indipendant news. But in the media, there were zero "no" ads. WHY? My guess was that the "no" campaign didn't have enough money or that they wanted to do it indipendantly & not speak out with the media. These were my guesses.

Let me know if there were other reasons why the "no" campaign failed the referendum.

I applaued Chris Shaw on his hard work. It sends a strong message that we don't want the olympics here.

I still have the results from that referendun Yes 64%, No 36%. The national voting phone pole voted more than 90% support of the 2010 winter games.

On C.T.V.'s Local news at 6 on the night of the referendum, I called in their C.T.V. pole not in favour of having the olympics.

There was a major difference in budget, I think the NO campaign ran on a budget of $1500, whilst the YES campaign spent in the region of a $1 million. You know what they say about money and how it walks.

It's just in time when I heard the news yesterday and read the newspapers today. Please read my article entitled, "Behind the Glittering Gold and the Secret of the Flaming Torch" (A Call for the Re-Awakening of the World on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics) at cloudbusters@yahoogroups.com. It's out already! Hope you like it! Thanks!

Behind the Glittering Gold and the Secret of the Flaming Torch
         (A Call for the Re-awakening of the World)
                                          By Concern Citizen of Canada

     “What comes first in your mind when you hear the word Olympics? Is there any excitement? Are you anxious to see the event? Will you set aside a certain amount of your savings just to witness the event? Is it still practical and will you be in favor to organize an event like this?”
     During the early ancient times in Athens, Greece – Olympics is an event where people always look forward to. An event where prestige, dignity, virtue and dedication is being offered to someone who gave an honor for a victorious control of the world, rejoicing for a successful marriage and paying tribute to their religious belief.
     Today, Olympics can be considered to be one of the major causes of mass destruction and poverty. It is no longer adulation and a great haughtiness for a country to participate and give any significance to this kind of event. Failures are to be expected. The Olympics are a gamble, a bet that a tremendous outlay of public money on semi-useless athletic facilities will eventually return dividends. Some of those dividends involve other public funds – federal money that would not have spent in B.C. were it not for the Games. Are we ready for another embarrassment? As the saying goes, history always repeat its ignominy, to name a few, the 1972 Munich massacre, Russian, American and Congolese-led boycott, the over budget 1976 Montreal Olympics where it took them 30 years before they were able to pay all their $1-billion debt, lets include Lake Placid 1980 ($11-million), Calgary 1988 ($910-million), Barcelona 1992 ($1.4-billion), Sydney 2000 ($2.3-billion loss), I’m sure the 2006 Turin Olympics had pushed themselves on the edge too, because of an enormous security budget by asking the help of the “NATO” (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the very controversial judging in 2002 Salt Lake City’s Figure Skating and many others.
     Vancouver 2010, three years from now the city will be hosting the Winter Olympics and they are all busy doing the preparation in marketing, advertising, promoting tourism, looking for more sponsors, disturbing the homeless - the first nations and fooling the citizens of British Columbia with their powerful and convincing artificial lies. Look everywhere, read the newspapers, hear and watch the news on television and radio. What and how do you feel? Can you still comprehend to do your daily activities? Can you still greet with a smile? Can you eat your meals, take your rest and feel comfortable while others are in the adversity of their lives wrangling for everybody’s wellness? Or you pretend to see, hear and feel nothing because you don’t care? Are you commodious living a life in a city, in a province and in a country full of misery and black propagandas?
     Some people might be felicitous to know that the appraisal of their house had increased its value. Apparently to others, percentage growth of realties means hopelessness. An average family who is earning and receiving a minimum wage will no longer be capable to have a dream house where they can live a better and healthy lifestyle for they can’t afford and pay its mortgage and amortization. But what can we do, we need a place to live-in; so we are forced to take the consequences of working two or more jobs for almost 24-hours just to surpass our debts.
     According to 2006-2007 Global/World Cost of Living Survey (conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting), Vancouver is placing 13th for most expensive city, 3rd most expensive homes (by RBC Financial Group) and out of 215 cities Vancouver merged to be on the 3rd best to experience a quality of life ( referred by the Mercer Human Resources Consulting) in the world. Are these reports are things we can be proud or be ashamed of? Is this what we really want to endure and appear in public? As for me, these data are indistinct strategy – “numbers game”, because they want to encourage people from other nations to come to Canada and live a worthless and inconsiderate life. This country is desperately in need to increase its population and produce funds through tax payments so that the government would have budget to buy a pizza for their snack worth more or less $20,000 in a month while our brothers and sisters from the eastside are starving to death.
     We must admit and accept that this can be one of the reasons why are we living in a society with fear; most especially at night. Why do we have drug addiction, crimes, assaults - why our fellows mostly are young always in trouble? Because both parents are too busy earning for a living just to pay the monthly bills. They don’t have time anymore for their children even for themselves. We can’t steer to monitor what is happening inside our home. Do our children still have proper nutrition? Do they make good in school? Do we still know them? Our society has a major factor in our everyday living but we should not blame the influences happening within. We should take a look what’s behind this – the reasons. We are responsible to look for an answer. We have criminals, drug traffickers, sex offenders and others. These are human beings lacking and seeking for special attention. These are our children who have been neglected by our own home. And since no one and nobody attend to their needs – giving enough attention, they themselves have to search and find ways to get this. In the early years, only our father can be seen working – raising his family while our mother stays at home doing the household chores, taking care and supervising us.
     One day, I went to visit the eastside of Vancouver and it was so overwhelming to witness our homeless countrymen – sleeping in a hollow night, famished and suffering because of government’s negligence. I have learned that they are on the least level of Totem poll meaning they are the least priority in the society. I was surprised that a first world country like Canada most especially its government is being ingenuous with this people. You can only find this in third world nations, for all I know. The state should bestow the benefit of
Continuation page 2

the doubt. Not sweeping them away like dirt and hide them in a place where there is no life. Remember, what they did at Atlanta, Georgia, USA, they transferred homeless and vagarant people that are visible in the population of the said city. They were given a one-way bus ticket out of town and the others were rounded-up and shipped-out by bus to temporary detention camps. So that tourists will not be able to see them. It’s a cover-up and we can’t conceal them from the façade of slackness leadership of the government.
     I’ve seen some of the affordable single-room hostels, apartment buildings and areas that are being sold to these covetous multi-millionaire investors so that they can have them for development in preparation of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. And who will benefit on this? It will be the Olympic performers – the athletes, the sponsors, the people in authority and the elite group. While homeless people in the skidrow area of Vancouver are striving hard and looking for security, these athletes will be receiving a royal treatment. Organizers will provide them a village where all the luxury can be found. They will provide a secure place where the international guests can relax under protective eyes. Do our guest athletes pay the same tax as what the Canadians are?
     In B.C. province there are other areas that are being developed where events will nearly be held. In Richmond, the fun had been stolen from the youth who’s engaged into outdoor and indoor sports like football, soccer and ice hockey after some venues had been overthrown. The local municipal government had deep-in into their reserve funds to pay for the cost-over runs of the Olympic Ice Skater Rinks. On my way home, I took a cab. In the middle of nowhere, I asked the driver on how he reacts about hosting the Olympics. He said, “Olympic is a big burden to everybody. People of British Columbia will shoulder the big burdens - paying debts after the event”. “He even added that in Whistler, the city known for skiing resort where major events will be held on 2010, some residents were forced to leave their homes for its too harsh for them to pay their mortgage. Aside from this, basic commodities had also increased”.
     Protests and rallies are bound on every street. Environmentalists try to protect and save our natural resources from the greedy developer. We’ve seen on the news that some of them had been forced to be pulled and smashed-out by the RCMPs. Near Horshoe Bay, the Eagle Ridge Bluff where the government is flipping the bill for the upgrading of the sea to sky highway had touched the ecological sensitivity of the area. Instead of tunneling underground they will build and construct highway over top of the bluff because they will save more money. Many believe that this construction had not been planned thoroughly. Government seems not to care about the affected trees, animals and any other living things and the future effects that may cause like major landslides. Then why are they spending too much for the restoration of the Stanley Park? I think we must not waste money through contribution and donation. The issue here is not that Stanley Park holds the card key as one of the tourism capital and Eagle Ridge Bluff is just an ordinary thing where people used to pass by. Both resources are important. No need to sacrifice the other just for convenience. I’m sure when an unexpected time comes; the law of nature will ask for retaliation and there will be more people and other living things to suffer and would cost more.
     Last year, two women had been the hot-spot of the public-eye. These are the unsung heroes who are fighting for other’s rights and wretched victims of the insensitive judiciary and edacious government and its corporation. Who can forget the name stenciled at the Olympic clock “FREE Betty”? Betty Krawczyk at her age of 78 was sentenced to be in jailed for 10 months for civil disobedience after blocking bulldozers trying to build a new Olympic highway through West Vancouver. Of much more serious consequence was the death of native elder Harriet Nahanee, age 71, after being sent to jail for refusing to apologize for her contempt of court. She was sent to Surrey Pretrial Centre, a prison for men and a noted hell-hole for women in poor health. People believe that she didn’t die in vain.
     Months ago, the 16 ft. x 25 ft. Olympic flag flying at Vancouver City Hall was stolen. Authorities suspected that DERA (Downtown Eastside Residents Association) and APC (Anti-Poverty Committee) had something to do with it. This incident has a damage cost of almost $10,000, (the hand-sewn Olympic flag is $1,600) as per Const. Tim Fanning reported. As a raided home in Shaughnessy based on a tip was ridiculous and accused the police of grandstanding by waiting until the late evening before serving the search warrant. This whole incident was a smear tactics and all politicize, for they can go there during normal business hours and it’s so funny to know that they were not able to do it because of the reason that the place is unsafe. What are they afraid of? They have the authority. The thing is, they are afraid to accept the reality of being a puppet by the gluttonous people from the government and by the elite group. Later on the Native Warriors Society claimed the responsibility of pilfering the Olympic flag. According to this group they would want to give justice to one of their first nation’s member Harriet Nahanee.
     At News 1130, they conducted a poll entitled, “It is not important for the police to find the Olympic flag?” And according to listener’s poll result last March 30, 2007, 41% said YES and 59% said NO. This data only shows that our citizens don’t agree with what our authority is doing. Why find the stolen flag if we can create a new one? They are just wasting their time and efforts and even money wherein there are still some things to prioritize.
     The 2010 Olympics has a major threat to our vigorous economy. We have been warned by the Royal Bank of Canada. Long-term growth is also threatened by the pine beetle epidemic, volatile commodity prices, rising of the construction costs and labor shortages. We might have seen a boom-bust scenario in the future. According to VANOC the event has an
Continuation page 3

estimated cost of $600 million and will generate $10 billion after. In addition to this, 228, 000 jobs will be propagated. This figure is just an illusion for there is no modern game in any country that held the event earned and gained profit. Until now, they are still paying their debts. It is not the government and the elite groups who will take the responsibility when this happens - it is the tax payers. Are we going to believe in all the financial reports that they are divulging for public knowledge? Of course, things are being manifested and manipulated. There are hidden costs. This Hippocrates are creating and projecting a good imagery – a public trust.
     You cannot really keep a secret to the public as we learn that Premier Gordon Campbell’s special adviser Ken Dobell who’s receiving a $250-an-hour, topping out at a maximum $230,000 a year is wearing two hats. He is one of the parasites benefiting from the Olympic. Dobell is lobbying Campbell and at the same time was hired by the city as a project manager on a planned “cultural precinct” for downtown Vancouver which aims to enhance the city core as a hub of cultural activities, including the “Olympic Live Site”. This $5-million project is funded by the provincial government. Meanwhile, Dobell is also the finance chairman of the 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee. It is very clear that this person is overlapping jobs that create double trouble – a double-dipping into the public purse and being in a conflict of interest. But as expected both offices claims nothing for the report. Should we consider that Mayor Sam Sullivan is another bottom feeder? Yes, because he is a right-wing free enterpriser.
            As I am writing this article, many of us might not convince and oppose with my words. Before, I am always looking forward to watch the Olympics even on TV. I am even kindle to witness the event here in Vancouver on 2010. But this feeling had changed, after every moved, every words and every drops of tears and perspiration had seen to our indigent, ravenous and homeless people. As I go along my research, there wasn’t homelessness in 1970’s, we even don’t use the word; and more than 30 years ago we can say that the situation today is worse than we’ve ever seen. Everything changed when the federal government cut funding to build social housing in 1993. In the 20 previous years Ottawa helped fund up to 30,000 housing units a year, about 2,000 of which were built in B.C.. Then what happened! I truly believed that we are living the consequences of that disastrous decision. Homelessness has spilled back into the suburbs. This has been a massive failure of public policy.
      I would like also to address this message to the anti-Olympics protestors. You may have a valid point, but those who rebuff the games need to find a better way to express yourselves. Radical activism is not the answer. When people see activists seizing microphones at public events in order to spew profanity, they understably conclude that the profanity is the message. In some television coverage, we have seen the violent anti-police rally succeeded in convincing thousands of Lower Mainlanders that what we need is more police. Most of what passes for anti-Olympics protest is really the same mindless anti-authoritarianism that reinvents itself in response to every public projects. Let us create a more inspiring howls to the public and not being submerge by our hatred and wrath to the government and its corporation that leads to an impression by the public that anti-Olympics group are sprinkled with idiots and morons who have been handed out by a cover story for its moronic behavior. We don’t want to be recidivistic. We don’t want the media to sensationalize what the anti-Olympics is fighting for. We should use them more constructively. We can even use the on-line system. Our vision and mission is to address the issue directly.
     Whether we like it or not, this event will be pushed through. Different nations from all over the world will be here wearing the best and the sweetest smiles of making their country be on top of the medal podium - vying and fascinated for gold. Excited and exalted with what is at stake for them. On the opening ceremony whoever will carry the flaming Olympic torch would feel egoistic - a once in a lifetime experience that adheres his belief and ideology. For the athletes, Olympics are valor and endurance of their life-long dreams. And behind the glittering gold and the flaming torch is a secret filled with stratagem, atrocious, obnoxious and ferocious act of people.
     I am now calling the concern citizens of Canada to create a mass consciousness so that the mountains will have a tough time of maintaining the snow on the slopes. We have to create a great spectacle that on 2010 we are hoping and wishing for a good and warm weather – a record mild weather. The key now is to ensure that the 2010 Olympics will leave behind the legacy of shame. Olympics and social justice need not to be an either/or proposition.
     I am also encouraging you to visit, read and participate in any web-sites of the anti-Olympics organization.
     Subsequently, I am, therefore, appealing to all nations of the world to wake-up and make the most out of it to support and apprehend what is really our concern. The main movers and the most affected victims here are not just the homeless but us. We are calling for a BOYCOTT! We must not support all the activities of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Now is the time for us to buckle down to work and exercise our freedom – our rights to unite and forget our differences to stop this lucrative organization. Don’t be deceived by the colorful and unique emblems, the rhythmic sound of music and the well-endowed publicity. These are all the faces of hippocracy with the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell and his cabal.
     Let your voice be heard not on streets and blood-shedding but in a most extensive and decorous manner using the power of modern technology. Let us prove to each and every one of us that society can count on us.
     No to Homelessness…! No to Poverty…! No to Olympics forever…!

Edited by author 04-11-2007 01:19 AM
Thanks for your input, Ian. With the no campaign had about $1,500.00 & the yes brought over $1 million it's not wonder that we were wasting our tax dollars on these adds. I feel sad that the no campaign could have done better. It's like loosing to a referendum in quebec the 2'nd time.

Marketing suggestion - you guys should join forces with the environmental groups that want to boycott due to the baby seal slaughter (or encourage them to promote a boycott to their members). That would enable you to take the protest internationally, get way more press, and possibly at least make a financial impact on the games.

When exactly did we start caring what self-appointed 'watchdogs' think??
Why is the media so hell bent on giving people with no more importance than being the loudest mouth a forum??
Thank God for all of you we live in probably the most left leaning part of North America if not the world. Not even Toronto would put up with all of these 'left-wing extremists'. Finally, can someone please tell the APC that until they clean up their image and at least exercise some degree of social decorum no one will ever take them seriously. There is something to be said for presentation and method and by ignoring that fact you're doing your own cause a great disservice.

Further more, regarding the whole homeless issue. When did it become everyone else's fault these people are homeless?? I've met many new immigrants to Canada and they work two, or three jobs to make ends meet, but they do it. Why can't we talk about that?? When did people's 'self-made' addictions somehow alleviate them from their responsibility to themselves?? Granted not everyone is an addict, but the downtown eastside's problems will never be cured with social housing. The last thing an addict needs is everyday freedoms, for to this point these freedoms have only lead to their self-inflicted downward spiral.

John - you oversimply the social issues to make your point.

You personally have no responsibility to help people less fortunate than yourself, its all a matter of having the need within you to do so.

No one is claiming ALL the DE issues will be solved by housing alone, the problems are far more complex and far reaching than just homelesness.

As for the APC you might want to send them an email directly, however my guess is they know their own cause better than you do. The fact they make you feel "uncomfortable" tells me they probably doing the right thing.

Immigration, homelessness, addictions are all separate issues, I'm not sure why you want to link them with immigration and immigrants.

I really don't care if the APC does what they do. They make a mockery of people with real concerns. Sometimes I wonder if they're simply addicted to attention. Making people feel uncomfortable once again does them no good, but as you say that's something that should be said to them. Although, they may be the most stubborn, inflexible group of miscreants I've come across in a long-time. As for oversimplifying social issues, I'll leave that to all the people who tear apart the Olympics as if it's the overriding factor in the plight of the downtown eastside. Oh ya, and it killed that woman. Nothing else. It was the Olympics. Oversimplification....here's looking at you kid.

Belittling the APC for raising issues that you don't agree with is something you should take up with them - tell them how it is as you see it - what are YOUR real concerns ?

You cannot disagree that when we got the Olympics courtesy of Glen Clark and the NDP the priorities changed. All of a sudden we needed an expansion of the Sea to Sky, a rapid transit link to the airport [when all along the NW sector of the GVRD was the priority]. Sure enough priorities change, I can accept that and in this case they changed because of us getting the 2010 Olympics.

If you are talking about the death of Harriet Nahanee then YES the highway expansion over Eagle Ridge Bluffs was a direct result of us getting the 2010 Olympics, Harriet protested at the Bluffs and was subsequently jailed and subsequently died. Had she not gone to jail she might have lived longer. However her death has been a focal point for many people and I think indirectly most people can see the link between the 2010 Olympics and her death - if they choose to do so.

As for the immigrants, you probably realized my point was anyone with meager skills, or financial means can make enough money to get their ass off the street. If hard work doesn't get you out, then work harder, but don't walk around asking people for change and then calling them names when they don't give you any. I'm just fed up with downtown being taken over by lawless hordes of homeless who are drinking the Kool-Aid and just waiting for someone to come save them. I realize I'm probably not as informed as all these groups, yours included, but I simply am giving the view of a regular person from my own personal experience. If those experiences mean nothing, then they mean nothing. It seems like regular people get lost in these dialogues so frequently it's as if THEY don't exist. I apologize for the sarcasm at the end of my last post. Anyone dying is a tragedy, but we can't simply put that on anyone in particular it's just not fair. The systemic causes of anything really just sends us down a never ending path. It all depends on where you, or I decide to stop walking. Finally, I enjoy this discussion and believe it's not only healthy, but required for everyone to understand each other more clearly. I think where my whole problem with the APC and other like minded groups comes from is my view they seem to all been very committed to creating an adversarial dialogue, which can become so bad neither side listens to each other and thus nothing productive can ever come of it. In my view, insults just beget more insults, but rarely create solutions. - John

Edited by author 05-08-2007 06:30 PM
It sounds like you have a run in with an agressive pan handler or two. I have never had a problem with them, if I have change I try and give it, but I don't belittle anyone for asking for money, just carry on walking.

The APC do the things they do because they beleive all other methods to be ineffectual. If I believed the same I would probably be out there with them, however I am content with running the 2010watch site and talking to the media. There are several groups using various methods to make change in regard to the Olympics, vocal protesting, stealing flags and spray painting are other methods.

Consider that people like Betty K and Harriet were put in jail for protesting the Eagle Ridge Bluffs and a lot of the anger out there was triggered by their unjust sentancing. To a lot of people the BC gov't and the developers Jack Poole and David Podmore will stop at nothing and that is why the protests have turned for the worse - no response so far. There was no response when the protests were quiet and well behaved, so the level had to be upped to get a response.

The reasoning may be sound, but the results are probably the same which are no results at all. That's my perception. We all see things differently and that's just human nature. I'm sure we'll talk again soon. - John

To many people an increased police presence at various Olympic related events could be percieved as a victory - it goes to show what lengths and expenses the organisers of the games are willing to go to protect their own assets....

Fuck David Cunningham and the APC!!

What a loser in life.

Edited by author 05-25-2007 01:41 AM
Homeless people are completely useless. If they had any value to society at all they would have dug themselves out a long time ago. OH BUT THEYRE STILL PEOPLE! Yeah theyre people. So was Hitler. But I would still punch him in the face if I saw him.

The anger you show towards the homeless is the same anger people face when being evicted. Your angry comments show the need for the APC to exist and fight for the rights of the downtrodden in society.

We often think we live in a perfect society when we are happy with our own lives. When we see people on the streets, people selling drugs, people panhandling, it reminds us that life is not perfect. Some respond by helping and some respond with anger. The anger does not help directly, but it does show many people that our society is even less perfect than we thought and that people who are angry often have more barriers in their own lives than someone who is homeless.

Dean - Hitler hated the homeless just like you do, he also hated gypsy's jews, catholics and just about anyone else that was non arryan. What do you suggest ? Maybe Mein Kampf has inspired you, if not maybe read it and see if it resonates with you in some way - my guess is it will.

Edited by author 06-25-2007 06:05 PM
You know what grinds my gears? Rich People. So, to protest, I'll vandalize their homes and evict them myself. You know what else grinds my gears? The government. So, I'll boycott their public schools. That sounds reasonable, that will show how bad a life I've had. Wow the Olympics are partly Government funded, so maybe I'll go ruin that for everyone.

An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizen of Canada


Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 932 days to go!

See you there!!

You won't see me, I'm taking a vacation out of the city at that time, probably out of the province also....

I just got a type-written letter from Betty Krawczyk in jail - it's posted word for word at Orato.com at http://www.orato.com/node/3359. If anyone on this site wants to write about the 2010 Games, I encourage you to check out the site. I'm curious to know how the issues are evolving as we get closer to the date - any thoughts? Thanks, Robyn.

Where does it all end? We were successful in stopping Halifax's bidding on the Commonwealth Games but it goes on and on and on.
How many billions of Canadian tax dollars go into elitist international and national games annually? While doing research into the Commonwealth Games I discovered a list of competitions as long as your arm. The Summer and Winter Olympics, The Canada Summer and Winter games, The Commonwealth Games (summer but they are looking at adding winter games I've heard), The Pan Am games, The Paralympics, The International Children's Games, The Gay games, The Native games, The Acadian games, The Francophone Games, the University games and the recent FIFA cup series to mention a few that Canada is involved in. These games have one thing in common. The athletes are supported predominantly by our tax dollars. Either directly through grants and training allowances or indirectly through donations from companies who then write it off against their taxes. Listen to the sports news almost any day and somewhere in the world Canadian athletes are there is one competition or another. As well, staging these games is financed almost exclusively by the tax payer, building facilities, paying travel in some cases, feeding and housing the athletes and in many cases donating millions to training programs for other countries. A dozen accountants and their computers probably couldn't come up with even a close figure but the total cost has to be horrendous. Add to this the fact that the tax payer is now the banker who builds the facilities for many pro franchises and the total costs is that much greater.Look at London and China both over $20 billion USD for the next two Summer Olympics. Where does it end? Governments around the world have no problem finding cash to support these events while education, medical care all the basics of life are slipping in many countries and almost non-existent in many more. How did we get into this eternal games scenario and, more importantly how do we get out of it? Government has to get back to looking out for the basics, the every day needs of the population not financing what has become one eternal sporting event. Not since Nero's Rome has so much money been spent staging games for the population to sit and watch.
 
Bruce DeVenne

I confirmed this with the organization that runs the site. This is a list of "carded" athletes from just a part of one sport, track. 32 of them are "international" "senior" medical" or maintenance" These people receive $1500 a month from Ottawa in training allowances.
There are also 14 listed under development. They get $900 per month.
That is a total of $727,200 annually for just a few from just one sport what is the total of tax dollars annually spent like this?
Bruce DeVenne
http://www.athleticscanada.com/files//Nati...PRIL2007FINALEN.PDF

Britiannia Community Centre Rink as olympic practice venue!!!!

Just wanted to let folks know that a group of us from The Torch (a new anti-olympics ZINE) are holding a meeting at Britannia on Sunday Dec. 2, from 2-4 to discuss the push from VANOC to have britannia be a practice venue. Every single person I have talked to is appalled by the idea and is horrified at the security apparatus that this decision could bring to our local community centre.
Everyone welcome and any questions just e-mail us at thetorch@resist.ca

Hi all,

I am a doctoral student doing my dissertation on policing/security aspects of the Olympics. I'm looking to speak with people who have experience or insights into the consequences that the Olympics will have in terms of security and policing, so if you think you have something to offer, I'd love to talk with you - please don't hesitate to get in touch!

- Phil Boyle
phil_boyle007@yahoo.ca

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 803 day to go!

See you there!!

No Olympics on Stolen Land! Great Lakes & East Coast Speaking Tour
With Kanahus Pellkey from the Native Youth Movement and Dustin Johnson


With the 2010 Winter Olympics scheduled to occur on unceded Coast Salish, St’at’imc and Squamish territory in two years, the spectacle surrounding them continues to wreak havoc on Indigenous people, poor people, and the Earth. In the spirit of resistance to colonialism, with the 2010 Olympics as a main target, Kanahus Pellkey of the Native Youth Movement and Native youth Dustin Johnson are touring throughout the Great Lakes and East Coast in January and February 2008.

“By them choosing to have the Olympics here, it’s opening up our land, our sacred sites, our medicine grounds,” says Kanahus Pellkey. “We want investors to know our land is not for sale.” Pre-Olympic fever occupies the province of BC, and the economic excitement has massively accelerated gentrification and the building of highways, resorts, and condos. The construction of infrastructure for the 2010 Olympics itself is adding to extensive destruction of traditional homelands of the local Indigenous peoples.

In October 2007, more than 1500 Indigenous people representing communities across this hemisphere held the Gathering of the Indigenous Peoples of America, on Yaqui territory in Vicam, Sonora, Mexico. They stated in their final declaration, “We reject the 2010 Winter Olympics on sacred and stolen territory of Turtle Island–Vancouver, Canada.” This speaking tour is strengthened by this momentum, and by the knowledge that hundreds, if not thousands of Indigenous people now plan to attend the Olympic Games, not in celebration, but in resistance to the danger the Olympics poses to Indigenous lands, identity, culture, health, livelihoods, and to future generations.


The Native Youth Movement is a Movement of Native youth that works to revive traditional knowledge and inspire Native youth to defend their Peoples and Territories.

Kanahus Pellkey is a Secwepemc and Ktnuxa Warrior and a spokesperson
for the Secwepemc chapter of the NYM. She has been jailed before for fighting against the illegal occupation and theft of Secwepemc Lands for the Sun Peaks ski-resort, and is active in opposing the 2010 Olympics.

Dustin Johnson is a member of the Ts'mkiyen nation and is active in organizing anti-colonial resistance to the 2010 Olympics.

The Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement-Guelph did much of the core organizing of the tour. IPSM-Guelph works in solidarity with Indigenous struggles for self-determination and control of their traditional territories.

To get involved, help out, or ask questions, contact healingtheearth@resist.ca.


Tour Dates:

Windsor Saturday January 19
Guelph Sunday January 20
Six Nations Monday January 21
Toronto Tuesday January 22
Hamilton Wednesday January 23
Six Nations Thursday January 24
Peterborough Friday January 25
Tyendinaga Saturday January 26
Sharbot Lake Sunday January 27
Kingston Monday January 28
Akwesasne Tuesday January 29
Kahnawake Wednesday January 30
Kahnasatake Thursday January 31
Ottawa Friday February 1
Montreal Saturday February 2
Penobscot Sunday February 3
Portland Monday February 4
Boston Tuesday February 5
Binghamton Wednesday February 6
Ithaca Thursday February 7


More information:

The Olympic organizers operate with a budget of almost $2 billion, and other costs to government surpass $6 billion. Despite all the Olympic-related mega development, Vancouver is now home to North America’s fastest growing homelessness crisis. Indigenous people account for 30% of this homeless population, despite making up only 2% of the total population in the province.

Dozens of low-income hotels and apartment buildings are being converted to unaffordable condominiums. As thousands of people are forced from their homes, they are then criminalized for being homeless. Private security firms are hired by the city to further police the streets, long-running squats are shut down, and social services are more stressed and threatened than ever. The solution of the municipal and provincial governments and the police is to ignore the root cause, and instead pay people to leave Vancouver and repress those who stay.

The darker side of the 2010 Olympics is further apparent by examining how their sponsors and supporters are some of the most destructive companies on Turtle Island. These include:

• Petro-Canada, one of Canada’s largest producers of oil and gas,
• TransCanada, one of the continent’s largest transporters of oil and gas,
• Canadian Pacific Railway, long an integral tool of colonization,
• Hudson’s Bay Company, another company responsible for the colonization and theft of Indigenous land,
• General Electric, one of the world’s top three producers of military aircraft engines and major producer of nuclear power plants,
• General Motors, long a top contractor for the Canadian military and now the world’s largest automobile manufacturer,
• Dow Chemical, the world’s second largest chemical manufacturer and cause of the Bhopal, India disaster,
• Bell Canada, who’s CEO is one of the top corporate architects of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.


There is of course so much more that could be said. For further reading, see:

www.no2010.com
www.2010watch.com
www.harrietspirit.blogspot.com

It would seem to me that the olympics are going to happen, and anyone who thinks it can be stopped is living in a fools paradise. what I havent seen addressed is who benefits from having the games fail? Certainly not the taxpayers of this province. We owe it to ourselves to ensure the games succeed so as to not burden the BC taxpayer any more than necessary.

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 754 day to go!

See you there!!

Forget!!!! We got rid of the commonwealth games but you will remember the olympics long afterwards as you pay for them
< replied-to message removed by QT >

You know, regardless of the protests and the cries, we are getting the Olympics. Why? Becose the average Canadian doesn't have anything against it. Just face it, Canada is a rich country, we can afford things like the Olympics. A rich, and even a not-so-rich household spend money for entertainment. See hosting the Olympics games like going on a trip. Not necessary, but yet we still make it fit into our budget. See it that way: only three countries in the world have an higher HDI that Canada. So complain all you want about lack of suport for the poor, but the fact still remain that we alredy support the poor much more that most countries. We are a capitalist country becose thats what the average Canadian want. If you want a more socialist lifestyle, move to Cuba or Venezuela and see if your life is bether there. Nobody is stooping you.

An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizens of Canada


Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!

Hey Larry, I gather we'll be seeing you at the Art Gallery this April 20th, say around 4:20p?

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 715 day to go!

See you there!!

709 days to go. Big fat fuckin whooptii dooo!!!! As you can tell I'm not happy. I'm getting plans to go away in February 2010. Everyone is saying to me, "You're crazy to leave." Well maybe I am. I don't care anymore! More security tightness, more cost to the games just waisted on ads, would rather see summer games. I could go on & on about it. B.C. was a nice place to live. May as well stay in B.C. except in Vancouver & Whistler. I used to go in Whistler to ski from high school. Now I would rather wait until after the olympics. The NHL is on an olympic break to do their national team. Stick to the NHL, NOT OLYMPICS!!!!!! I disagree that the olympic is using GM Place as a standard NHL rink. It should be bigger. Let the women ski jump!!!!!! It's all about the gender problem!!!! It all comes down to the end that more & more events will be delayed or no go. February 1'st 2010, I'm leaving Vancouver.

Hey kr601 you're leaving Vancouver?

Not soon enough!

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Hey - all you Olympic supporters out there - YES we are getting the Olympics, thankfully we live in a country where we can still complain about things, even after it's a fait accompli.

We will hold accountable the NDP and the Liberals for bringing us the games and leaving us with a debt that we will pass on to our children.

It's your tax dollars at work [or not] folks, you should have a say in where those dollars get spent.

This week's intelligence briefing explains how the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco revealed the way that China's government and intelligence operations work.

April 23, 2008 The April 9 Olympic torch relay in San Francisco opened a window into the organizational capabilities of the Chinese government and its intelligence collection apparatus inside the United States. From the coordinating efforts of the city's Chinese Consulate, down through local Chinese business and social organizations, and on to the pro-China supporters who photographed the event, the operation showed an efficiency and organizational capability not seen among the anti-China demonstrators. The run also revealed a high level of sophistication, planning and control in the pro-China camp.

A Day of Confusion
The torch relay in San Francisco proved a mixed bag of anti-China and pro-China demonstrators, as well as spectators simply hoping for a glimpse of the symbol of the Olympic Games. Pro-Tibet and other demonstrators altered their tactics in San Francisco following clashes surrounding the torch run in London and Paris—where pictures of a protester with a Tibet flag trying to snatch the torch from a handicapped torchbearer left the protesters looking worse than China. As a result, the demonstrators in San Francisco planned to impede the progress of the relay rather than attempt to extinguish the torch or interfere with the actual torchbearers. The massive gathering at the beginning of the torch route, and the blocking of a bus carrying Chinese security officials and items related to the torch run, triggered the organizers of the relay to change the route completely. In part, then, the protesters interrupted the relay effectively, though not in the manner they had hoped.

The on-the-fly changes in the torch relay route, which left many spectators waiting down near the piers when the torch was running along the hills several blocks away, allowed the relay to progress relatively smoothly, interrupted only a few times by protesters attempting to block the route or by a few demonstrators bearing little sign of affiliation with the Tibetan or Darfur causes who threw water balloons at the torch. The heavy police and Diplomatic Security Service presence around the torch runners largely kept demonstrators on the sidewalks, while the moving roadblocks and the unclear torch route left demonstrators unsure of where they could amass to intercept it. The security organizers, then, were relatively successful in their efforts to allow all planned participants to carry the torch with minimal interference.

In the end, neither protesters nor security "won" the day. Amid the confusion, however, the groups that showed a very strong sense of organization and planning were the pro-China demonstrators. Their coordination demonstrated the ability of the Chinese government, via its local consulate and its association with overseas Chinese organizations, to rally and coordinate large-scale activities inside the United States—and to use these activities for intelligence collection.

Pro-China Preparation
By 8 a.m. April 9, the pro-China demonstrators were taking up positions along the planned torch relay route, pulling in groups carrying Chinese, U.S. and Olympic flags, and equipped with cases of food and water. However, these were not spontaneous gatherings of overseas Chinese supporting the motherland, as Beijing media have portrayed them. Rather, there was a coordinated effort between local Chinese business and social associations and the consulate to attract, equip, deploy and coordinate the large pro-China turnout. This is in contrast to the Free Tibet, Save Darfur and other anti-China protesters—who often seemed disorganized.

By some estimates, as many as 50 busloads of Chinese from other parts of California were brought to San Francisco. Many of them paid (by some accounts $300 each) to come out for the day in support of Beijing. They were placed in groups along the anticipated torch relay route and given Chinese and Olympic flags, as well as American flags (the latter a tactical move to show they were not anti-U.S., but rather pro-China—a distinction made all the more apparent by the fact that most anti-China protesters did not carry U.S. flags, and some also were critical of the U.S. government).

In addition to those bused in from out of town, many of the local Chinese business and social organizations were involved in fielding groups of pro-China supporters, and these were similarly equipped. Most groups also were supplied with cases of water and food—something not seen among the anti-China demonstrators, who appeared more a gathering of individuals than prearranged groups. One local Chinese organizer was overheard saying they had spent some $30,000 on food and water for the day of the torch run—perhaps not a large amount overall, but a clear investment to ensure that there was group cohesion among the pro-China demonstrators.

In addition to many older overseas Chinese posted along the route, there also were numerous Chinese of college age, many representing several overseas and mainland Chinese student associations. Some carried a large flag representing China's Tsinghua University, which produces many top Chinese officials, and among the others were local chapters of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. During the run, some of these students challenged the American Free Tibet or Saver Darfur protesters to discussion, asking, for example, whether they had been to Tibet or diverting accusations of Chinese military support to Sudan with counteraccusations of U.S. military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. In general, the Chinese side kept the confrontations rather civil, seeming to have been well prepared to respond (suggesting they had been provided with materials on how to respond in advance). On numerous occasions, however, the anti-China demonstrators in these one-to-one confrontations would resort to their own chanted slogans or just shout that the Chinese were liars.

The organization of the pro-China contingent was further demonstrated by its self-policing efforts. While the anti-China demonstrators ignored the barriers along the route and moved into the streets, far fewer pro-China demonstrators did so. When one did cross, the pro-China group would shout at them to return behind the barriers and "follow the rules." There was clearly a concerted effort to make the Chinese demonstrators appear as the more controlled, more peaceful and less confrontational participants—part of a broader PR strategy.When confronted by a large group of pro-Tibet demonstrators, for example, the Chinese often simply ignored the repeated cries of "China lies, people die" and instead broke into song, effectively ending the exchange.

Instigation and Intelligence Collection
There was at least one exception to the restraint shown by the pro-China demonstrators, however, suggesting they were not entirely the innocuous gathering they sought to portray. On numerous occasions, individuals or small groups carrying cameras would seek to incite the anti-China demonstrators to acts of confrontation or violence, frequently by parading through the middle of a group of Free Tibet or Save Darfur demonstrators with a large Chinese flag, walking back and forth through the group. In some cases, small scuffles broke out—and pictures were snapped—though the anti-China demonstrators soon deployed individuals to try to keep the two opposing sides separated. The same day, Chinese media ran photos of pro-Tibet demonstrators shoving pro-China demonstrators, "proving" their point that the Tibet supporters are violent.

It was no accident that the photographs appeared so quickly in the Chinese media. In addition to the demonstrators, numerous individuals were sent out with cameras. Although cameras are expected at such an event, many of the photographers were collecting images either for Chinese propaganda purposes or to identify anti-China demonstrators in order to identify pinpoint "troublemakers" who might be planning to attend the Olympics in Beijing. With their pictures on file, Chinese authorities can then either deny their visas or monitor them more closely when they arrive in China.

In addition, Beijing has been trying to locate the organizers of anti-China protests and demonstrations overseas, ones who may be planning action in China, in order to infiltrate their groups and gather intelligence on their planned activities. This is not new for Beijing—as the Chinese Embassy official who defected in Australia a few years ago demonstrated by revealing the details of Chinese infiltration of and spying on Falun Gong supporters in Australia. Beijing also has been seeking out U.S. and other foreign academics for their insights on potential demonstrations in Beijing, hoping to get information about individuals and tactical details of plans in order to pre-empt or at least effectively counter them.

In addition to the intelligence collection efforts and the careful organization and coordination of the pro-China demonstrators in San Francisco, electronic countermeasures also were used to disrupt the communications and activities of the anti-China demonstrators. In some cases, the cell phones of the anti-China organizers were spammed with prank calls and text messages in order to limit their effectiveness as a coordinating tool—particularly as the torch changed routes. There also were unconfirmed cases of limited cell-phone jamming, likely using the short-range cell-phone jammers that were popular a few years ago. These created intermittent and isolated interference with cell-phone reception, further deteriorating the communications and coordination ability of the anti-China demonstrators.

Beyond San Francisco
Furthermore, China did not limit its activities to San Francisco. It also organized a smaller response to the Dalai Lama's visit to Seattle, Wash., a few days later. Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Gao Zhansheng sent a letter to University of Washington (UW) President Mark Emmert urging him and other UW officials to refrain from meeting with the Dalai Lama or from giving him a platform for political or "separatist" activities. Additionally, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association sent an open letter to the UW leadership and met briefly with Emmert and Provost Ed Taylor, asking them to limit the Dalai Lama's opportunity to use his visit for political reasons. Several hundred pro-China students also staged a demonstration outside the Dalai Lama's speaking venue in Seattle on April 14, using the Internet to coordinate banners, chants and actions.

Throughout the United States there have been reports of other group actions by Chinese students and activists, from Internet-based activity promoting boycotts of French goods following the Paris torch relay to a push to "correct" foreign media coverage of the Tibet riots and the Tibet issue overall. But there also have been more aggressive instances. For example, at least one Chinese student at Duke University received threats after attending a pro-Tibet rally, while others have had their personal information, including their phone numbers and Chinese identification cards, posted on the Internet bulletin board hosted by the university's Chinese Student and Scholar Association (the association denied responsibility, saying those postings were the actions of individuals). The students' concern, however, is that the information will get back to Chinese authorities and thus undermine their future prospects in China or even lead to further harassment of themselves or their families.

China has had a long reach into the Chinese community in the United States for quite some time, and frequently uses this community for espionage, both within the community itself and against American companies, the military and the technology and political spheres. Also, Chinese consulates in the United States have helped facilitate pro-China gatherings in the past. However, while it already was known that China was anxious to restore its image after the Tibet unrest and the trouble with the torch run in London and Paris, the effort and coordination Beijing exhibited in San Francisco, through the consulate and local Chinese business and social organizations, was rather impressive.

There are no estimates of the number of pro- and anti-China demonstrators at the San Francisco event, though the former easily totaled several thousand. Additionally, the actions of the pro-China camp, along with the supporters' placement along the anticipated route, demonstrated a much more centralized and coordinated organization than the anti-China groups—and revealed the depth to which the Chinese government can organize and deploy its overseas population, even in the United States.

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!

OPPOSE THE OLYMPICS AT BRITANNIA - MOBILIZE FOR BRITANNIA MEETING!
  
Monday May 5th - 7 pm - Britannia Auditorium

We've just found out that the Britannia Community Centre Board has
 organized a
community meeting (on very short notice) for Monday May 5th (7 pm) in
 the
Britannia Auditorium to consult with the community about having
 Britannia as an
Olympics hockey venue. Given the short notice and lack of publicity
 from
Britannia, please call/email your friends, contacts, etc., and ask them
 to come
out and voice their concerns about Britannia as an Olympics venue.

VANOC is pressuring Britannia Community Centre to become an Olympic
 hockey
venue, regardless of how you feel about having your community centre
 taken from
you. Please come
 out and have your voice heard! The Britannia board
 will be
voting on whether or not to have the Olympics at Britannia after
 this
 meeting.

Sunday Action:

To let people know this is happening, we'll be having a creative
 theatre/street
action on Sunday May 4th (10:30 am) - meeting at Charles and
 Commercial. We've
done the action twice now, and it's been fun and people were supportive
 and
interested.

For more information:
thetorch@resist.ca

Concerns about the Olympics at Britannia:

Security and Surveillance:
 
More than 12, 500 police, military, CSIS, and private security will be
 used for
the 2010 Olympics (Globe and Mail) we are concerned about:
- increased police/military/security presence at and around Britannia
- the size of a
 "security perimeter" around the community centre
- the use of checkpoints, special ID passes and heavy surveillance

 including
closed-circuit cameras and satellite surveillance (Industry Canada
 website)
- that security would be set up at Britannia long before the actual
 Olympics and
remain long after
- the impact on homeless people including "sweeps" by police and
 harassment
- increased racial profiling and targeting of indigenous youth
- heavy weaponry (guns, lasers, tear gas, pepper spray, helicopters)
 near our
schools, libraries, and daycares
- the constant threat of police violence and repression of opposition
 and dissent

Community Values:

The Britannia Board represents our community centre, and
 demographically, this
community voted against the Olympics coming to Vancouver in the 2003
 referendum.
 If you voted "no" in the referendum, this process at Britannia is in
 essence
the same
 vote (referendum was "No to Olympics in Vancouver," this vote
 is "No to
Olympics" in our community centre). This
 project will take place on
 unceded
Coast Salish territory and will impact urban indigenous people.

Concerns include:
- security perimeters will cut off or severely restrict access for our
 seniors,
students and children
- increased in traffic and rents, due to the proximity of an Olympic
 venue, and
general increased gentrification
- That rink upgrades would be carried out at the expense of more
 pressing
upgrades at Britannia
- That needed upgrades shouldn't be tied to the Olympics. Britannia
 and its
strong community-based history should be a leader in demanding that
 community
centres need better funding and upgrades in general
- The Olympics machine (which includes corporate sponsors like
 MacDonald's)
targets youth and children with mascots, advertising, and school

 curriculum

Services Disruptions:

- lack of access to the rink and other services such as the seniors
 centre,
 the
pool, the library, teen centre, etc.
- possible room rental disruption at the centre
- disruption to surrounding services and their clients including the
 Kettle
Friendship Centre and REACH clinic
- the effects on bus routes/services, traffic, and pedestrians
- the displacement of kids and adults in the hockey and skating
 programs

Accountability and Transparency:

Although private talks have reportedly been held for close to a year
 between
Britannia and VANOC, the community has not been consulted about
 Britannia being
used as an Olympics venue. The details of these talks have not been
 made public
 We are concerned that:
- The use of the Britannia Community Centre was not included in the
 Olympic Bid Book
- VANOC has repeatedly been described in local media as
 "undemocratic"
- VANOC is not subject to freedom of information legislation
- VANOC holds meetings that are closed to the public and of
 which no
 official
minutes are kept

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Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 628 days to go!

See you there!!

No way you'll see me there. I've got better things to do with my money than watching a bunch of elitist tax dollar burning athletes at play.
Bruce DeVenne
Stop the HRM Commonwealth Games (mission accomplished I'm happy to report and so are the HRM Tax payers)
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Edited by author 06-25-2008 11:50 PM
Beautiful British Columbia – The Best Place on Earth?
By Concerned Citizen of Canada


     This year, British Columbia will celebrate its 150th year. It has been said that its beauty made it to be the best place on earth to live. Is this for real or just a fact?
     People came to Canada with full of dreams thinking that this is the land of promises. Promises that will give them chance to fulfill their aspirations in life. In reality, this is not the best place to live. Everybody here is busy making ends meat. Trees here are not bearing money to pick it up. In as much as possible you must have three to four jobs to pay your taxes, mortgages, car loans and others. You don’t even have time to enjoy. And mind you this situation will become worst after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. If you have heard and seen those statistical data through our modern technology such as; internet, television, radios and newspapers, those were just factual information that hasn’t been proven throughout the Olympic history. Many of those countries who’ve hosted this kind of event suffered from deep debts. To name a few are Montreal who just happened to pay their debt after three decades, Salt Lake City who’s until now on their way of solving the economic downfall, Turin, Italy and many others. It’s the taxpayers who are handling the problems created by bureaucracy and managed by the greediness of the government officials and the elite groups who happens to be part of the International Olympic Committee.
     What’s happening now to China is an eye opening for all nations. Demonstrations on streets can be seen around the world, mass killings and many others. These were the results of abusive empowerment of people in position. In Vancouver, you can see more of the result of the Olympic preparations in the east-side of the city with many homeless citizen. With these, people should be aware of the false impressions created by the VANOC officials on Olympic venue sites. Human deficit has been created by unscrupulous government officials of British Columbia who have failed in social policy on its inhabitants.
     People of all nations, it’s time for us again to fight back. We don’t need high explosives or heavy devices. We only need “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS”, the power of mind intent. This is the most effective way to prove our worth. This is a tool to change weather patterns. Yes, February 2010 will be rainy, foggy and windstorms may occur to southern coastal regions of British Columbia if we will join together using our mind. We could completely wash-out Olympic Organizers and its allies. This will be a great humiliation to the whole world.

Olympics Threat Coverup
By Jilinda
Documentary Filmmaker, Director Avante Films
Producer, ShadowPlay. 9/11 PuppetMasters
With Webster Griffin Tarpley
Historian, Author: 'Obama - A Post Modern Coup'
8-2-8
 

Lithuanian president, Valdas Adamkus, is the first to announce that he will not be attending the Olympic Games. As the PuppetMaster snaps his fingers, China and the culpable Western mainstream newsmedia cover up very serious threats to the Beijing Olympics that could potentially affect the safety and the lives of thousands, if not millions of people within a week's time, on August 8th.
  
Shifting shadows of deception, like veils fluttering with illusion delude the masses ­ keeping them distracted with bread and circuses while the sleight of hand goes unnoticed. Rapt in the circus of an "election" charade that laughingly poses as a model for world "democracy"- with TweedleDum and TweedleDumber sparring for first place in a rigged appointment of the next puppet figurehead, while the real play is hidden in plane sight.
  
And just when the tubby American telebaby has learned where Iraq is on the map, suddenly the scene shifts and the Puppet Theatre of war opens with a new act and different players on an entirely new front.
  
According to historian Webster Griffin Tarpley, it's already clear that the ascendent DarkLord holding the reigns of power in Washington right now is Zbigniew Brzezinski, with the NeoCon Bush/Cheney SocPuppets as little more than lame, criminal figureheads. Veteran Polish born Brzezinski was President Carter's National Security Advisor and is now foreign policy advisor to Presidential candidate, "Barky" Barack Obama. He has never wavered in his goal of fomenting war with both Russia and China in a last desperate attempt to secure the unchallenged reign of a flagging PaxAmericana.
  
Neither has he reneged on his open anticipation of another major false flag attack in order to trigger the war he so desires, to defang the currently powerful China/Russia alliance and brutally dismember China, by carving - as planned - that mighty imperium into many warring vassal states.
  
Significantly, it was this same Brzezinski who instigated the formation of the Mujaheddin, who were armed and trained by the CIA to fight Russia in Afghanistan. This murderous terror network was then used to carve up the former Yugoslavia. Serving as the Oilygarch's cat's paws, that same active network still continues to carry out dirty deeds under International Intelligence Agency control, and is cynically now known as Al CIA Duh!
  
As he explains in his influential book, The Grand Chessboard, Brzezinski's devilish strategy is the Clash of Civilizations ­ provoking wars and creating the chaos out of which the elite Cabal of KingMakers intend to establish an Orwellian Plutocracy; a drab 4th Reich in a Fascist regime that nobody likes. The enticing grandeur of powerful delusion is grasped with a mighty iron claw that brutishly smashes all in its path in a vain attempt to maintain the reigns of global power firmly in the hands of an increasingly dysfunctional ruling Oilygarchy.
  
The barren wasteland in the northwestern region of Xinjiang Province of China is known as East Turkestan by local Uighuoor separatists. They've been dormant since the late 1990s, but the CCP claims to have just cracked their plot to blow up a football stadium in Shanghai during the Olympics next week. They say they've also busted 12 terrorist cells in Xinjiang and just foiled a airline hijack attempt on a passenger flight.
  
China's Ministry of Public Security says it has also recently uncovered a plot by the Turkistan Islamic Party to attack hotels, government offices and military targets in Shanghai, Beijing and other major cities, and to kidnap athletes, foreign journalists and spectators at the Olympic games, starting on August 8th.
  
The prospect of another 9/11 ­ an event repeatedly heralded as "inevitable" by the American marionettes du jour ­ is something everyone fears, a fear that has been deliberately fed to ramp up waning support for genocidal wars. But that dread anticipation has got everyone twitchy, wondering just when the next shoe is going to drop.
  
Just as with the 9/11 false flag attacks, Brzezinski notes that this strategic attack on China needs another catastrophic and catalysing event ­a blood sacrifice to the hideous gods of war, to feed a frenzy of fear and terrify people into compliance. Just as on 9/11 - that horrendous self-inflicted wound - when a false flag act of state terrorism was masked by the duped circus of supposed kamikaze Arabs that couldn't fly a Cessna, so also the current prepared false flag provocation -the trigger event to advance the globalist world domination agenda in China, is prepared in advance and masked to hide the real perpetrators.
  
On July 25 ,a private American intelligence company called IntelCenter, with offices in Virginia, published the transcript of a 3 minute video with a stillshot of three masked men. The video, posted briefly on YouTube then removed, shows the group's young leader, Commander Seyfullah, Speaking the Turkestan language, Uighur, as he issues a final ultimatum to China that his group is ready and able to attack the Olympics Games and major Chinese cities using weapons of mass destruction.
Commandante Seyfullah says this:
'Despite repeated demands by the Turkestan Islamic Party, that China and the international community must cancel the 29th Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese have haughtily ignored our warnings. The Turkestan Islamic Party is prepared and has already started urgent actions. We will attack Chinese central cities severely, using new tactics that have never been used before.'
He strongly warned spectators and athletes - 'particularly Muslims' - not to attend the Games that are due to start in Beijing next week.
  
The Chinese government reports that the Turkistan Islamic Party receives money, weapons, and support from Al Cia Duh. But despite using all kinds of real and faked terror as a pretext to suppress political dissent in Xinjiang province, beef up the military, detain thousands of innocent people and restrict religious rights, China has made absolutely no mention of this very serious ultimatum. The grave warning was also barely heeded in the western puppet media.
  
Many eybrowraising questions and curious inconsistencies swirl around this upstart Islamic Uighur front group. Boy soldier Seyfullah, speaking in the video issued by a private international intelligence company, is a wide-eyed kid from the backwoods of Turkestan, who threatens China and triggers terrorist sleeper cells with the alert that they are now authorized to use biological weapons of mass destruction against athletes and visitors to the Olympics. And nobody says a word about it!
  
Could this be the next group of patsies set up for an imminent false flag attack? Here we see the CIA's latest fall guy ­ Seyfella what we tellya ­ the handsome young Uighur rebel without a cause ­ actually a broken ShadowPuppet who sadly believes he will ride to glory with a host of adoring virgins as he fronts for the threats, attacks, and provocations of the Al Cia Duh network of assassins, thugs and guns for hire.
  
Boy Sayfallah claims his group has had special training - (Al Cia Duh training is what he means) - and they have already begun operations against China, with bomb attacks on two busses in Shanghai in May and three busses in Yunnan in July. This masked fighter then makes entirely spurious claims, taking responsibility for several disparate acts of brutality that his group seems to have had nothing to do with, including a supposed attack on a plastics factory and an attack on police forces in Wenzhou with an explosives-laden tractor - that as it turns out, had already happened two months earlier and was actually carried out by a disgruntled gambler as revenge on a local gambling den.
  
SayFella also belatedly lays claim to an earlier, rather nasty YouTube video from Pakistan, showing three stripped naked Chinese men forced into what seems to be a criminal, heartless performance of humiliation and cold blooded assassination before the eye of the camera. Perhaps it helps bolster their emerging image as the new Al Cia Duh, to be seen with a substantial track record of grisley deeds.
  
Boy Sayfallah claims to represent the Voice of Islam Information Center of the Turkestan Islamic Party - acronym TIP - and the tiny "tip" that gives away the true origin of this fake group is the repetition of a little typo in the group's press information ­ issued, coincidentally, by the same private American intelligence company. In the press release of the supposed separatist Turkestan Islamic Party - Turkestan is not spelt as it should be with in "e", but is spelled with an "i" ­ "Turkistan", Written the way an Anglo pronounces the word, this is a typo that any true nationalist group would never ­ ever ­ make ­to spell the name of their country wrong!! This curious "slip" is also mirrored in comments on the LauraMansfield.com website, where analysis is made of the video statements of various terrorist groups, and from where these videos mostly seem to originate.
  
The number 888 may have little significance to some people except that it represents the 8th of August, 2008: 8/8/8.
  
Converging evidence tends to strongly suggest that the next false flag event may have been planned for that date. 888.
  
If the 9/11 false flag attack had not gone wrong ­ a plane shot down ­ a movement of Truthers able to ferret out the truth behind the blatant lies, and the ensuing military quagmire ­ then perhaps the Oilygarchs could have immediately imposed the fascist-communist regime of global domination they have long planned. Orwell's 1984 would already have become the acrid fulfilment of their widely published, Machiavellian vision of domination by deception.
  
We are able to know which acts they are responsible for, and when they are likely to act because their blueprint for global domination is tied to a grid of occult gematria. Even if we do not believe in the power of numerology, they do and they act accordingly.
  
Architects of Apocalypse always act according to the dominance of certain numbers which they believe gives them more power ­ especially the numerological signature of 11 and multiples of 11 ­as in 9/11 and the London 77 false flag attacks, and that is the most notable mark of their allegiance to the failed forces of the darker powers. They believe that the number 11, representing the doomed antichrist, empowers them. The numbers 3 ,6, 9, 13, and multiples are considered strong, so they always plan to carry out their devious deeds, overt or covert, on dates with the highest possible occult numerical significance: dates such as 911, 666, 777 and 888.
  
888 also happens to be the date of an ultimatum given by a hidden Asian Secret Society to the chief Oilygarchs through an intermediary, former Asia Bureau Chief for Forbes Magazine, the insightful economist Benjamin Fulford. The ultimatum, evidently backed by hoards of seriously dangerous Ninja Assassins, warns the Oilygarch Cabal to end their drilling and killing and do something helpful, rather than harmful for the future of humanity. Evidently preferring the Samson Option to sanity, the Architects of War appear, so far, to have ignored the ultimatum, which expires next week on August 8th.
  
August 8, 2008 ­ 888 - is the next very high occult day coming up, following a total solar eclipse seen over Russia and China on August 1. But this date is even more auspicious. As well as representing a high occult day, revered by the Luciferian cultists who play the political ShadowPuppets, the numerology of 888 also represents the Greek name of Yeshua, Jesus ­ and so perhaps we can hope that Higher Truth trumps Evil on this fateful day. And with the prayer of all people of goodwill, together with a widespread call for total Ghandian nonviolent non-cooperation with the DarkLords and OilyGarchs of death and destruction, then this impending catastrophic and catalysing event can perhaps, perhaps be forestalled.

Edited by author 08-10-2008 12:09 PM
Please check out my blog www.bcandbeyond.wordpress.com

My latest post links anti-US sentiment with recent Olympic violence and wonders how John Furlong can continue to turn a blind eye to the mounting opposition to 2010.

Much more to come!

 
Dear Editor,
Earlier this week the Canadian Olympic committee said they would be very happy with a finish around 16th place. That's not much to be happy about . It lower than last place among the industrialized nations. As of today we don't even place in the top 33. Granted our "strong" points may still be up and coming but for what we spend on our vaunted Olympians this is a total disgrace. Perhaps it's time we set high standards for those who go to the Olympics. If you're not within 1/100 of a second or 1/4 of an inch of the record you don't go. We seem to have no problem finding the money to send these people to every competition around the world year in and year out yet recently another low costing service was cut from the local medical scene and dumped directly onto the handicapped as the Nova Scotia Government continues to nickel and dime its people to financial death.
There is a reality here, this type of event is passé. $40 billion cost in China yet the survivors of the earthquake are getting next to nothing. Millions of people thrown out of their homes as the Chinese Government razed three villages to build the facilities and a murder and other acts of terrorism already committed. London, $22 billion on the next summer games and rising yet they struggle under a tax load like ours.
Think of all the local affordable facilities that could be built for what egomaniacal governments dump into these two-three week elitist events. These local facilities would be a great asset to the health and physical condition of a country's population rather than sitting in front of a TV watching others perform.
The Olympics,along with other major international games, have become a security nightmare, a political circus, a potential terrorist target and a cost that burdens tax payers for decades. Its time it came to an end.
Bruce DeVenne

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 524 days to go!

See you there!!

I have an idea for a cartoon about "With Glowing Hearts", the effort to make Canada's public heritage a corporate shill mine.

Triumphant Canadians with "glowing hearts" ride VANOC out of town on a rail. The rail consists of the Olympic Rings Logo. VANOC execs are recognizable under the tar and feathers they are wearing. They procession is heading for the ocean (sorry for the pollution - perhaps a local volcano is a better destination). Other features as better imaginations than mine can provide.

If this were well enough executed, it could be printed onto t-shirts, coffee mugs, towels, etc and sold to the public, clearly a violation of the Olympic exclusivity. Perhaps from a table in front of the VANOC clock.

Anyone out there who could organize or execute this?

An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizens of Canada


Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!

I'm so sick and tired of groups like APC and DERA - all those loser groups.

Why don't you all just do the right thing and jump off the Lion's Gate Bridge.

Yes Larry 01. How dare you bring up such trivial things as social security, costs and debts. Who do you think you are???? After all the few have to have their say and it seems in Canada their way. Thank God we killed the Commonwealth Games in halifax. Scotland got them and with the recession are in one Hell of a financial hole!

Bruce you are a crybaby wanker!

Grab a six pack on your way to LGB. It'll make it easier.

An Olympic veil of secrecy
What's the deal with city's $100-million real-estate gamble?
Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, November 07, 2008
Could the Olympics bankrupt the City of Vancouver, or put it in a financial straitjacket for decades to come?

I've never even considered that as a remote possibility. Until now.

If one starts probing into the city's deal -- let's call it what it is, a $1-billion real-estate gamble -- for the Olympic athletes' village, the alarm bells start ringing in full force. Vancouverites -- that means us, fellow taxpayers -- have been heavily exposed by our political leaders and public servants.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...6-9a29-2e5ff3746ea6

Here’s a reality check Leftie:
Peking took all time gold in displacing poor to build venues; we'll only be managing a silver by tripling our homeless population. But wait! We have risen to the top! 100,000+ old growth trees removed for Nordic events, a world class Arbutus grove, raptor habitat destroyed at Eagle-ridge, we’ll break and make record gold for all time,- record Olympic environmental destruction; brownest Olympics ever.

The bookings for the Vancouver Convention Centre since EXPO 86 have never been higher than 50% per annum. In other words it's less than half full over the year- http://www.vcec.ca/ is now less than 30% booked and slowly decreasing in bookings due to the permanent down turn in the world economy.

Ironically and coincidentally, quadrupling our VCEC capacity will end up with it being full once in it’s lifetime for media for 17 days. Even for the Paralympics it will only be a quarter full as most media go home. Perhaps we can turn it into a giant indoor market farm garden.

Thirty years from now, after having to wait in hospital lineups for treatment, when you Leftie Basher, have finally paid off the debt for this short silly party, Leftie Basher, if you’re not insane, you’ll regret your 2010 support and rue Campbell, Poole and all those who suckered you into filling their pockets with millions of loonies.

Most of us very much dislike being played for a sucker, but not Leftie Basher.

Support for the 2010 games remains high throughout BC and Canada.

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 454 days to go!!

See you there! Unless you're a crybaby loser.

hee hee!

Some total boot licking by The Province: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/edi...f-87e9-a69a4a1cba7f.

Leftie Basher lives in a silly dream world. He and his ilk are preparing the way for longer hospital lineups but at least they will have free tickets for the games. Don't bother buying them, they'll be free when "the world" is a no show. Check out this succinct Letter then let's hear your response.
http://www.straight.com/article-172434/wha...ring-and-feathering

Apparently the poor fool that wrote that letter didn't realize that demand for tix to 2010 has been overwhelming. You'll be lucky to find a ticket for the preliminary rounds of the 1000m snowshoe. And when you do you'll be happy to pay a hundred buck for it!

Chris Sbaw is an extremist. Plain and simple. In the recent 2008 Vancouver Municipal Election he finished well back at 21st in a field of 32 candidates. You might want to think twice about hitchin' your star to his wagon!

Support remains high for Vancouver 2010.

Here's a likely international headine Circa late February 2010:

"2010 Success! World falls in love with Vancouver!"

 
December 12, 2008

True costs unknown

By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS

   
We may never know the true cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

B.C. Auditor General John Doyle announced yesterday that he would not issue a report on the costs and risks of hosting the Games because of "fundamental differences of opinion" with the Liberal government. In a letter to legislature speaker Bill Barisoff, Doyle offered one recommendation for the government: expand its definition of Games-related costs "and report publicly on the costs and the risks associated with them."

"[Doyle] is a representative of taxpayers and the taxpayers are the ones who are supporting these Games," said NDP Olympics critic Harry Bains.

Doyle's predecessor Arn van Iersel estimated in 2006 that the Games were costing taxpayers $2.5 billion. Doyle did, however, compliment VANOC on managing venue construction, despite cost overruns.

Beautiful British Columbia – The Best Place on Earth?
By Concerned Citizen of Canada


     This year, British Columbia will celebrate its 150th year. It has been said that its beauty made it to be the best place on earth to live. Is this for real or just a fact?
     People came to Canada with full of dreams thinking that this is the land of promises. Promises that will give them chance to fulfill their aspirations in life. In reality, this is not the best place to live. Everybody here is busy making ends meat. Trees here are not bearing money to pick it up. In as much as possible you must have three to four jobs to pay your taxes, mortgages, car loans and others. You don’t even have time to enjoy. And mind you this situation will become worst after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. If you have heard and seen those statistical data through our modern technology such as; internet, television, radios and newspapers, those were just factual information that hasn’t been proven throughout the Olympic history. Many of those countries who’ve hosted this kind of event suffered from deep debts. To name a few are Montreal who just happened to pay their debt after three decades, Salt Lake City who’s until now on their way of solving the economic downfall, Turin, Italy and many others. It’s the taxpayers who are handling the problems created by bureaucracy and managed by the greediness of the government officials and the elite groups who happens to be part of the International Olympic Committee.
     What’s happening now to China is an eye opening for all nations. Demonstrations on streets can be seen around the world, mass killings and many others. These were the results of abusive empowerment of people in position. In Vancouver, you can see more of the result of the Olympic preparations in the east-side of the city with many homeless citizen. With these, people should be aware of the false impressions created by the VANOC officials on Olympic venue sites. Human deficit has been created by unscrupulous government officials of British Columbia who have failed in social policy on its inhabitants.
     People of all nations, it’s time for us again to fight back. We don’t need high explosives or heavy devices. We only need “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS”, the power of mind intent. This is the most effective way to prove our worth. This is a tool to change weather patterns. Yes, February 2010 will be rainy, foggy and windstorms may occur to southern coastal regions of British Columbia if we will join together using our mind. We could completely wash-out Olympic Organizers and its allies. This will be a great humiliation to the whole world.


                   
                    ''Merry Christmas Gordon Campbell''

Mario, you're a kook plain 'n simple.

Recently I heard that a holding facility is being built in Burnaby specifically to incarcerate all street people so that Vancouver will LOOK good to the world. The police will pick up and incarcerate all loiterers, drug addicts, homeless, protesters, etc. Does anyone know anything about this facility?

Edited by author 01-19-2009 02:48 PM
Marco
It's possible in fact probable that some sort of action like this is planned it has been done in other countries. The people of Vancouver are finally learning the truth about big games. An intrusion on their lives, suspension of rights in some cases and horrendous debts left behind. The true legacy of all games. Glasgow is sorry they "won" the 2014 Commonwealth games and Halifax is happy to have dodged the financial bullet that hit home in Vancouver last week. Thank God the people of Halifax learned and spoke up and put stop to this insanity as far as our city is concerned.
B (stopthehrmgames.com) DeVenne

Looking for a few good people.

I live just a few blocks from the athlete's village in Vancouver (assuming it gets finished, which seems debatable now, given not only the financing but the fact that two suppliers have now gone bankrupt and closed their doors) and I'm going all-out to embarrass Vancouver in 2010

I'm going out with my two neighbours Dan and Ron every night after work from before the Olympics to long after the Paras, dressed in the shabbiest smelliest clothes I can find, with our own custom noisy shopping cars filled with garbage and cans and bottles, to cruise the Olympic village, (or at least as close as I can get to it what with the massive security presence guaranteed) the TV camers, the tourist hotels, and Robson Street, which is where all the IOC freeloaders will be anyway, blocking traffic, muttering to ourselves, smelling like drink (although we won't be), and carrying our own video cameras.

We're out to attract attention. We'll be giving out free cans and bottles to the real binners in our neighbourhood (because we know quite a few of them personally - they've been coming through here for some three or four years, ever since Mayor Campbell pulled his Glencoe on us) and mugging for the TV cameras, we'll be taking pictures and video of the expected harassment of other binners (real or otherwise), and with luck, we'll have a blog ready for daily uploads of our experiences so all of Vancouver can share in our ...ahem... "celebration" of this orgy of greed and glory.

Suggestions and help welcome. You too, LeftieBasher - we know you're secretly an unemployed drywall student sitting home in your mother's basement imagining yourself a big hero business type watching the hockey finals from a box seat.

You loser. You'll be home alone with the rest of the losers who couldn't get tickets because they were all given to "members of the Olympic family".

No wonder Furlong is looking diseased these days....

What we need is a couple of micro-video crews to follow us around at a distance, for our protection, and a hotline to the media, especially the TV media. We fully expect we will be assaulted or attacked, and at the very least spat on or have garbage thrown at us. We will not retaliate. We are also seeking recommendations to a criminal lawyer to have on speed dial so that if we're illegally confronted by police or citizens, or otherwise have our rights abridged, we can seek an immediate remedy.

Your attention please. Be assured that during the 2010 Olympics, that no one shall lose any civil rights. Remain calm.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some drywall to hang...

come on people stop the insanity,vanoc is nothing more than miserable liars,the costs for some simple bragging rights is totally unaceptable.at what point do officials stop the lies? they tell to your face in the media,total costs of 68 million for everything and now just security alone is to be in the billions.the taxpayers of b.c. will be stuck with gords legacy for the rest of our lives.the sad part is,this fiasco is a billion times worse than any fast ferry deal. were told it puts b.c. on the world stage,for what? a couple of rich tourists,some media attention, there will be no economic benifit for anyone other than some bussinesses in whistler and vancouver. oh wait the campbell gov't will puff out their chest and say it will bring prosperity to b.c., just another lie.will you believe them?how a bunch of people can financially bring down a province and smile and sell it to the voters is incredible. 2010 money should have been spent on the people of b.c. on things like health care, doctors, how about an extra doctor for surrey memorial hospital so there's more than just one looking after the entire hospital, that money could have went to childrens hospital,so they don't have to beg for money on t.v. year after year.the shame just contiues, good work guys, nothing like being sold down the river.hope you're all proud when all the hype,pomp and ceremony is over!

Too late now to stop the bleeding of money and the bull s**t it had to be stopped at the begining like we did in Halifax with the Commonwealth games. Once you sign on the dotted line the truth comes home to roost but then it's too late

An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizen of Canada


Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!

Well as the economic news leaks out no matter how hard the power brokers try to hid the truth, Furloung the Olympic bag man wants people in Vancouver to party, in the streets until the wee hours of the morning. I think he doths asks too much.

The only thing people will be doing by the time the Olympics starts is a mass protest and yeah there will be lots of people in the streets not because they want to be but because they have just lost their homes..

By the time the Olympics starts people in BC will begin to see just how serious the economic train wreck BC really was and has been for over 40 years. And the only thing the BC Royalty will be able to offer you is drug money to keep property prices up.

To those that have brought BC to financial collapse, my suggestion is get while the getting is good cause once they realize what you have done, neither you nor any of you family members are going to stand a chance against mob rule. Think French Revolution to give you an idea what happens when society is plunged into economic chaos. The Olympics is just going to be the metaphorical "Let them eat cake" spark that sets the hole dame thing to blaze. Do not be foolish, propaganda does not put food on the table nor a roof over someones head. The message you send will be one that will ensure your eternal demise. 48 months for real economies before they see the light of day. BC 50 years. You cannot spin this ladies and gentlemen and definitely not with a party for the rich. The world has changed and the old plans are not worth spit. This is not just going to blow over, BC is out in the cold with nothing but debts for yesterdays solutions. You just cannot sell a rainy day and that is all Vancouver really is an endless supply of dark wet, damp cold rainy days.

Building an entire economy around real estate and drug money laundering was a very bad idea. There is no get out of jail free card for you. You and yours are going to pay for this crime wave one way or another.

It really sucks to be you. Your days are numbered, perhaps it is most appropriate that the count down, to the nefarious Olympic party for the rich, is also counting down the coming economic collapse.

The economy is in a free fall and picking up speed. 115 days and the next shoe drops. Nothing you can do about that is there. How are you going to spin it? Going to tell everyone that it was a planned event that just happen to come at a bad time. So what is the plan when the employment numbers hit 11 percent employed and 89 percent unemployed. You guys are such losers.

Welcome to BC Drugs, Money Laundering, Prostitution, Gambling and Tourism. Bangkok of North America just without the nice weather, or beautiful beaches.

I've got my tickets and accommodation for the Olympics. I'm considering canceling because I'm afraid of the gangs in Vancouver.
It's all over the news in the States that Vancouver is gang ridden and bullets are a flyin'.It's worst than L.A. for gangs.

First off: The Olympics are not going to be shut down. The train left the station a long time ago. It can not be stopped.

Homeless problem: Even if we did not sign on to the Olymipc there would still be a huge homeless problem. It was there before the Olympics. Yes, we may have been able to get SOME people off the streets, but the underlying problem is drugs. NOT all homeless people have drug problems. Many homeless do and are unable/have not choosen to deal with their drug problems. I remember something called Four Pillars? It sounded like a good starting point. What part of the equasion have we failed to fully address in Four Pillars department? Is there hope in this strategy? Is the Four Pillars approach a viable approach or has society decided to turn a blind eye to solutions?

Chronic masterbation: While I do enjoy the occasional wank, I find it funny to think you would be calling me a chronic masterbator. If I was I would not have time to think of the homeless problem and dream about finding solutions to it....I would be locked in my bedroom happily pulling away.

Shutting down the Olymipc will not solve the homeless issue... Once again I challenge you to post an idea that does not involve stopping a run away train.
What is the answer to the to this made in Canada human tragedy?
(Calling me a chronic masterbator is not an answer to the question, just an opinion that has nothing to do with the issue).

But what could you have done to lessen the number of homeless if you had spent the billions you blew on a 10 day sporting event on affordable housing? The Olympics or any other set of games are nothing more than an opportunity for politicians to have their egos stroked. How much do we spend annually on these elitist Olympian athletes while many kids across the country can't afford to play hockey for fun and exercise? It's past time the government started spending our sporting dollars where they will do the most good for the most people not feeding the egos of the few

Its funny/sad reading all the postings about the 2010 games now that we are getting close to the event... Didn't we learn from the Montreal rip-off, promises of 250 million eventually costing over a billion and causing the government to legalise gambling to pay it off . Calgary was a real estate scam with Lougheed and his cronies owning Kananaskis. Salt Lake city was a pretty good example of the corruption of what at one time was a noble ideal, amateur atheletes competing for their countries. The Olympic industry is a well oiled machine that has run its scam pretty well the same way in all the cities that have hosted the games since the 60's . They get in bed with local developers and politicians who put togeather a bid and promise the moon to everyone , example " the atheletes village will be used for low income housing after the games" , promised in every city but never once materialised. "The Games will make money and leave a legacy" ....only if you use shady accounting practises like putting all the indirect spin offs (increased tourism ect ) on the profit side with exaggerated numbers and don't put all the indirect costs ( The sea to sky highway and security) on the debit side. Ask any city that has gone through this and is still paying
The organisation behind the Olympics is brilliant at anticipating the reaction and opposition they will ecounter , after all they do it all the time but for the locals trying to stop them its a learning curve as they figure things out. Remember how they bought off Jim Green with the Woodwards building promises , if DERA and Mr Green hadn't endorsed the bid or if people had known what the real costs would be do you think the refferendum would have passed??? Are you still in favour Mr Green??? Is anyone? Remember the day we won the bid with all the boosters watching live at GM place waving little flags and jumping for joy , Since then the process has been tinkered with, re-arranged piece by piece until what we will be having doesn't resemble that bid proposal very much at all . The costs will be over 8 billion according to critics. Meanwhile the Olympic industry has moved on to it's next target/victim. leaving the people of Vancouver to deal with the consequences .Which with the state of the worlds economy will be enormous, they never figured on that possibility ........ It scares me when I see the snarl on John Furlongs face when a reporter asks a question that doesn't please him .The arrogance he displays when when he asks businesses and school's ( and thereby the cities populace) to change their daily lives to accomodate the Holy Games. I think if he had his way there would be fines and jail time for not showing proper Olympic spirit.
I shudder to think of what they might dream up to "clean up the streets" for the games , in Mexico city they built a giant fence to hide the slums along the train line from the airport to downtown that's after killing close to 50 student protesters . The pattern is the same to various degrees in all the cities that have hosted the games . Speaking of which why was Whistler chosen , ???? so it could become a world calss ski resort and have lots of toursits visit DUH .....at least Kananaskis created a new destination . The Olympics would serve the province much better if they were to be held in the Okanagan . Think about it ... two great mountains , better snow, more reliable weather conditions, thousands of empty motel and hotel rooms that don't get used in the winter , Closer for all of BC and Alberta visitors ......the highway which was built for Expo is already there
An area that would benefit from new facilities and exposure to the world tourist market. AND maybe the rest of BC wouldn't feel so left out and ripped off if they could see it benifit somewhere other than the lower mainland . after all they will be paying for it too. I guess it would have made too much sense to develope and promote a new winter destination instead of an already over crowded and over exposed one likeWhistler ........Anyway I am ranting now but thats the name of this section isn't it.
Cheers and I sure hope it snows and that some whack job doesn't screw up the whole party with a simple encouraged rockslide on the Sea to Sky highway (whoops don't give em ideas)

Just the security for the two week event, works out to $225 for every man ,woman, and child in British Columbia.RCMP,and other parties to this, kept thier mouths shut on the original figure/farce brought fourth to the public.Maybe these groups who conspired to screw us ,should pay for thier sleezy attempt to decieve the tax payers of British Columbia?An independent criminal/civil investigation needs to take place in regards to all areas of the 2010 legacy/farce!Lawyers,federal government,current provincal government,all need to be looked at!!!!Legacy my ass!

Where are all the people who were out marching in support of the Olympics?? It seems everybody learned the same lesson too late. remember to call your mayor and tell him how you feel

I add your page link on
http://www.iranian-information.com
because I thinks we need to talk about all this corruption and what happening in BC, are human life became worst like this , homeless die, people displaced by government, for only 14 days game?
I learn some things from Canadian government as Iranian after I land here
do not trust the British regime.

I thinks you are have right to know , in 1995 i made mistake as journalist and artist left Iran to Istanbul and US embassy visa me to move in west, in Los Angeles was every things fine, after some one told me go in Canada in best place in world, where i was be homeless, and include five times more in others city in Canada , now soon I am moving out from Victoria, but some things rung with canada, corruption is worst as Iran and democrcay or justice like Taliban's regime, most of y0u are may do not have information about Iran and why i lunch Iranian magazine, where in Iran we have free university.....but Iran is third country and canada? having nice tall building can not be pride , have happy people and healthy yes, when in Victoria canadian are stolen food and apple from grocery shop, they can not buy food starving not happy faces , where is the RCMP or justice corrupted all of them, canada is militarism regime justice do not go far as complain and more people became victems, then we complain about china or Iran before we look after own backyard,

Edited by author 02-20-2009 11:19 PM
It's just too damned bad that Salzburg, Austria or Pyeongchang, Korea didn't win the 2010 Olympic bid instead of Vancouver.

Vancouver may have "won", but it's very clear now we really lost. Almost $1 BILLION dollars just for the security buget aspect....what a sad and pathetic joke. And, the joke is on us.This our Legacy of Debt!

The Olympics is worth ANY cost. Think of the parents of all the atheletes, and their hopes and dreams are realized as their children are about to become Olympians. Oh, I know it's just an achievement, but for the athletes, and their parents, their coaches, their relatives, etc. they have elevated themselves to something they will all never forget in their lifetimes.

That is above and beyond the crass commercialism and what ever measurements and testing being done by the ones who really want the Olympics to occur.

This is a PERSONAL event for PEOPLE to feel GOOD about.

It occurs in the HEARTS and MINDS of humans, and THAT'S what's important here. If the powers that be want to spend billions and billions of dollars to make a difference to ordinary people, that is OK. There are many many ways they can take money from us, and will now and in the future. Anytime it makes good feelings in the hearts of people, I can support that.

Recently, the powers that be, picked the pockets of everyone in the FREE world, and will soon affect the jobs of all people, worldwide. Spending billions on the Olympics is small change compared to the trillions needed to 'BAIL OUT' the rich.

Let us take advantage of this opportunity to stage the 2010 games, and make them the best we can.

Carpe diem, seize the day. Live for the day, cuz tomorrow we may indeed die. Hope not. Anyway, I won't be at the games, far from it. But I can imagine the good feelings of the athletes, moms and dads, grandparents, sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, everyone on down in the family trees, relatives, coaches, etc. and I know it's worth it.

Worth it an any cost? If they win every gold medal will it cure one person of cancer? Add one hospital or school to the system? Build one affordable house? Add on cop to the force to fight crime? No in fact the billions squandered on this event and the money needed year in and year out to maintain the facilities will have just the opposite effect. Another Canadian with poor priorities.

If you really want something to whine about how about the biggest waste of tax payer dollars, the DTES. Over the past 15 years there has been so much money poured into that shithole that nobody even knows how much, some say over a couple of billion. The money never hits the streets and helps those in need but instead goes to pay the salaries of the hundreds of redundant social service agencies and non profits. The DTES advocates are pulling off the most brilliant con job of our time, they make tons of money while pretending to do good for the community. The government should step in and audit every non profit group and social servies agency and determine what they actually do and where the money that they get ends up. I bet they will find that these groups work only to maintain the status quo in order to keep the cash flowing.

The only people better off in that hell hole are people like Libby Davies, Jenny Kwan and the other non profit poverty pimps who are determined to maintain their status and income by keeping the poor and destitute beneath them. The way things are done down there must change because it is not working and to keep throwing money and following the same policies is not only fiscally irresponsible but it is killing people. In Jim Chu's report on the DTES he noted that one homeless person comes in contact with 5 social services or non profit groups every day but still his lot in life is shit. That is all you need to know about the redundancy and the waste of taxpayers money that occurs down there.

So you boring Olympic whiners, if you want to whine about Olympic cost over runs that may not even happen go ahead but the real scam, the real waste of tax payers dollars and the real cause of human suffering is happening right now every day right in front of you.

Edited by author 02-22-2009 07:36 PM
An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizen of Canada

Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!




       ''Needed is Angry Citizens Against 2010 Olympic Hippocracy''

Construction is booming down here... Davie Street is getting re-done and Granville is a mess.... I expect it will happen all summer and I do expect "someone" will "save the day" and the fireworks will proceed.

There is a little park at Burnaby and Cardero Street that hold the resident bums... With a McDonald's and Safeway less than a block away as well as a liquor store and London Drugs the people obtain everything needed to spend their day eating, drinking, peeing, fighting, and partying in this park.

The park is only 3 blocks from Inukshuk and I wonder what will happen to our bums in the next 12 months. Nothing happens now except an ambulance every few days.... If Gergor will do something for them then great but no one else has... they don't live in the area it is just (was) a nice little park. If it is just olympic bullshit that moves them it will only be one more superficial thing this city and province does.

Kinda like the taser thing... you listen to politicians say something even though you see a completely different picture. I am not saying to move them or even all the people begging on Davie Street - It is part of the neighbourhood now and it is part of Vancouver. But I bet they will be gone in the next 12 months.

I would rather show my true face to the world than what I see happening. Who is the fool?

Just a thought.

So here is the plan if Gordo is elected! Since the forest industry is dead
 due to economic down turns world wide the trees will have many extra branches. All homeless will be given branches from the common spieces of B.C. Trees. Fir, Cedar, Spruce, Pine branches will be given to the homeless and they then are to hold those branches and disguise themselves as trees throughout the DTES. Thus solving the homeless problem with gianful employment and beautifing the streets. The Mascots Sqishy, Itchy and Smoochie will then romp around the forest of human trees for the delight of tourists and children.

getting sick and tired of all the backroom stealings from honest taxpayers! when the guests arrive I`m not gonna be nice!! that way they will go back and tell everyone what a Stink hole gordon cambell turned Vancouver into! when anybody asks me for directions i will tell them to go F--- themselves,or better yet stick out my hand and beg for cash!!isn`t that what cambell wants us to do-2010 is a time to make money!!begging and panhandling!!that will teach the guests!!what a wanking country!!cant beat them join them!

Boycott Vancouver Olympics 2010 .
On October 14, 2007 , at the Vancouver international airport, Robert Dziekanski was shot several times with a taser by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He DIED within several minutes.

Do you want to come to the Vancouver winter olympics with limited english and get tasered by the Nazi RCMP

http://www.freewebs.com/boycottvancouverolympics/

Have you people seen the news tonight? What a bloody joke. 17 days of misery. I would like to personally tell every single parasite working for VANOC to shove the Olympics up their collective asses. I can't even use my own parking spot. I sincerely wish either of the two other cities had won the bid and the resulting obscene debt we're going to be saddled with. The store owners downtown are already saying how they're going to lose business.

The only winners in this whole Olympic fiasco are the VANOC parasites like John Furlong, Terry Wright and the rest of his toadies that the taxpayers are paying outrageous salaries to. Did you all know there is a huge pile of money set aside to pay them "bonuses" after the games are over? All we get is pumped up the rear end without even a kiss or dinner first.

Wow! Only 326 days to go!!

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

See you there!!

Who is this Chris Shaw? Could he be one of my buddies from the US Army? Or did we meet when serving in Isreal? Funny that an ol' gungho is pissed about a sporting event.

So I decided to check out the convention centre today. I figured why not? Its a whole lot of our tax dollars there. Nice place to tell you the truth. I parked at an underground lot a few minutes walk from the centre. Entering and leaving I was outside on the street for maybe 4 minutes. Wouldn't you know it? I get hit up for some change! Actually the guy asked me if I could buy him a meal. Trust me he did not look like he had missed too many meals. He was dressed okay, not a slob. And coherent too. I work hard for my money and I am sure as fuck not going to give it away to some lazy ass on the street. I figure if you can walk and talk, you are able to work. Sure the jobs are tight right now, but $8 an hour is better than nothing. And then I get home to watch the news and see a piece on those that demand "social housing" in Vancouver. Its tough to pity these people. Put a fork in me people, because I am done! Maybe I should just sit on my ass and expect others to take care of me!

n Sunday night CTV news was whining that some British news website was reporting on the gang war in Vancouver. They seemed to be upset that it would make Vancouver look dangerous and European tourists would be afraid to come here.

On the one hand they rub their hands with glee when they finally have something to talk about (shootings) but then they get upset when anyone outside of Vancouver hears about it.

Well, there was another shooting Monday night, but we're supposed to believe that everything is just fine.

If I was in Europe, and thinking of coming to Vancouver, I would seriously give my head a shake. Why would they bother coming here?

I could see Europeans being interested in seeing the rocky mountains, or something like that, but Vancouver? Why would they? Oh, I know, because our media and tourism whores run slick ad campaigns to try to lure Europeans to come here. I'm sure they don't come more than once to Vancouver, except to go to the airport and then promptly leave for Vancouver Island or the interior. To stay in Vancouver itself, when you come from Europe? Please... There's nothing here that isn't 10 times better where they come from.

Any Europeans reading this, save your money. Trust me on this. Fly to Calgary instead. It's only a 3 hour drive to the Rocky Mountains from there. You came to see nature, right? Then, if you want to get near the ocean, fly from Calgary to Victoria. Skip Shitcouver completely. You won't miss anything worthwhile, believe me.

People are in Vancouver because there's work, not because it's a nice place. When Vancouverites go on vacation, the first thing they do is leave Vancouver. There's a reason for that. Follow their lead.

An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizen of Canada


Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!




       ''Needed is Angry Citizens Against 2010 Olympic Hippocracy''

Victoria police are finding the best way to handle chronically homeless, mentally ill, addicted people who are always in trouble is with housing, not jail.

A report from a task force that combines police, social workers, parole officials and mental-health professionals shows street people have up to 74 per cent fewer brushes with the law after they are housed.

“If you are a homeless person on the street, with any number of social issues, and you become a client of [the task force], then you can reduce your contact with the police by 74 per cent,” Victoria deputy police chief John Ducker told the Victoria Police Board.

The eight-member Victoria Integrated Community Outreach Team was set up to deal with chronic offenders living on the street. By signing up as team members, Victoria police became the first law-enforcement agency in Canada to take such an approach, Ducker said.

The team’s strategy is “housing-first,” which means the goal is to first find people permanent housing, not just shelter spots that can prolong homelessness.

Clients — 60 so far — who are initially homeless, are heavy users of medical and emergency services and have a history of interaction with police. The team has found housing for 43. In the 12 months before they were housed, they were responsible for 1,110 police calls. In the 12 months after finding housing, those calls dropped to 284.

“All by itself, the law-enforcement solution is just not going to work with this client group,” said Ducker.

Team leader Karen Bahrey of the Vancouver Island Housing Authority said multi-pronged, intensive attention is what makes housing the clients possible. The team highlights its efforts when trying to persuade landlords to accept homeless people as tenants. Typically, the housing is a low-cost, single room in a downtown hotel.

Clients, after they are housed, get regular visits from the team — once or even twice a day.

“Our clients don’t end up homeless because they are stellar renters,” said Bahrey. “But when things happen, we are ready to go and deal with it.”

Clients, many of whom have been living on the streets for years, have serious adjustments to deal with after being housed, said Bahrey. For those dealing with mental illness, for example, inner voices can seem louder once they’re housed and have privacy. Or behaviour that might have been ignored on a busy street can be an issue in a quiet building.

Sometimes, the problem is simply loneliness — clients miss their friends, drinking buddies or routines developed over years of surviving on the streets.

The team told the police board its maximum client load is 80 people, but it has been estimated by groups such as the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness that Victoria has as many as 1,500 people living on the streets.

“There is definitely not the housing out there,” said Bahrey. As Ducker noted, “We are tackling this problem in fives and 10s, but it’s coming back at us in the 100s.”

rwatts@tc.canwest.com

or those that keep blaming the Liberals for bringing the Olympics to BC, you need to remember that the NDP put the bid in to host the Olympics in 1998. At that time Premier Glen Clark said that alot of work will have to be done, including upgrading the sea to sky highway, but did not announce how all this would be funded. Campbell was mayor of Vancouver at the time, and even though he personally supported the bid, he left it for the people of Vancouver to decide whether to host it, by way of a referendum. He also had the foresight to realize that the NDP had no idea how they would fund it, so he had Glen Clark sign a Participation Agreement with the City of Vancouver protecting the city against cost overruns, damages or losses. Campbell saw the pitfalls and protected his city. Why did Glen Clark not protect his province?

We all know CTV BC gives away those nice little 2010 Olympic pins for free, right ? Not quite.

A week or so ago, on the evening news, they offered free pins to out of towner's, like me. All you had to do was be amongst the first two hundred to e-mail CTV BC,
include your name and address and you would get a free pin. I heard that, e-mailed them right away and waited.

A few days ago, I got an e-mail crom CTV BC telling me I was in the first 200 writers and I would get my pin. But wait. Now I have to PAY FOR IT !

The note said to send a stamped self addressed package type envelope along with $1.18 for postage and a copy and a copy of the confirmation letter and then
I would get my free 2010 Olympic CTV pin.

CTV BC preaches over and over again on the news that if you are offered something for free but are asked for money to get it, IT'S A SCAM !

So, is CTV BC scamming me ? If they are that tight, how can they pay for some one to hand out hundreds of these pins at shopping malls. Thanks a lot CTV !

Will give the elderly,disabled,homeless,students,unemployed,unions,enviromentalists,native groups,immigrants,and other protestors something to take thier anger out on.I can just picture a half burned out,smashed up bus.Laying at the bottom of a hill somewhere. Used a baracade to block the road to Whistler.With a smoldering mug shot of Gordon Campell on the side.lol I will just leave the country for a few weeks during this.Rather take my chances in Thailand.Police tend not to attack protestors there.As they do not want to take sides against thier own people.Guess protestors could use swine flu masks to hide thier faces. during 2010 protests .Would be pretty funny if some graffitti artist added a medical mask to his large mugs of himself,and the 2010 legacy ad in small print behind him.lol What a self serving,self centered,egotistical smuck!!

Thank god the election is coming up and Carole James can take control of the Olympics. Check her out on CFOX

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcnewdemocrat...-72157617409476070/

Actually it's not Canada I hate so much as what our politicians have done to this country.

Most negative factors in Canada can be directly related to our government. Lack of jobs, housing costs , cost of living , crime , recession etc are all the result of us having the most inefficient, pathetic ,corrupt government in the world. We really need a civil war and to take back control of this country and restructure the government.Plus 2010 winter olympics real mistake.

You forgot one crucial thing that is at the core of all Vancouver's problems....

CORRUPT GOVERNMENT AND THE CORRUPT CORPORATIONS THAT MAY DO WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT INCLUDING 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS!

From The Sunday TimesJune 7, 2009

Spy bugs may be deployed for 2012 Olympics
David Leppard

BRITISH police are studying Chinese-style surveillance tactics as they prepare security for the 2012 London Olympics, a leaked Scotland Yard report has revealed.

The report, marked “restricted”, reveals that among the “Big Brother” tactics deployed at last summer’s Beijing Games was the installation of miniature microphones in thousands of taxis.

The bugs transmitted passengers’ conversations to a police control room. There, officers could activate disabling devices to stop the cabs if they suspected criminal activity.

In another operation, athletes, visitors and journalists were believed to have been tracked by tiny microchips on their tickets and passes.

Software linked to the city’s 300,000 CCTV cameras was capable of recognising known criminals and terrorist suspects.

The 44-page police report says there are “lessons to be learnt” from China’s use of digital surveillance. But it warns: “The fine balance between the use of technology to support security requirements and individual rights to privacy will be an open debate in the UK for 2012.”

The study was prepared after a trip to the Beijing Olympics by Tarique Ghaffur, a former assistant commissioner.

Ghaffur chaired the police committee on Olympic security. He completed the study last October before he was forced to step down following a dispute with the then Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.

It has been circulated to chief constables, MI5 and senior Whitehall officials as they draw up the £600m security plan for 2012.

Ghaffur last week declined to comment.

However, Alan Campbell, the Home Office minister, has revealed that the Home Office is investigating technology that would allow police to halt a vehicle remotely.

I am the op. Just so you are aware my family is certainly not 1 or 2 paycheques away from being in those circumstances. We chose a long time ago in our lives NOT to do drugs and to actually think about the future and financially prepare for it should the worst happen. We don't stand in gov't lines complaining how the world has done us wrong while waiting for a handout. I also pay taxes to use those roads you talk about.

If the city of Vancouver had any brains they would sell those units for market value and take that money and build social housing. I am sure they would get more units than what is available now especially if they chose less expensive land located somewhere else. To give bums the a prime location is absolutely ludicrous. It will just end up looking like a ghetto in less than a year. Who the hell wants to step out of their million dollar home into syringes, condoms and people having sex under park benches? These people have taken over and it is an absolute disgrace. Seems they have more rights than the taxpayers.It seem that 2010 olympics will give us big time debt and taxpayers will be deceive!

History has shown us that, while the hype pre games, is the low cost housing, the truth is that after the games the hosting city is in debt so deeply that they sell the units for best price. It has happened everywhere along with the lingering hangover of debt.
For some reason, despite the well documented down side to hosting games like this (and it is almost all down side when looked realistically) governments continue to suck taxpayers into these deals with hype that has no foundation in the real world. Thank God we got rid of the Commonwealth Games over here. Bruce Devenne
< replied-to message removed by QT >

This is for all you lefties/socialists out there who think that these derelicts of society are entitled to waterfront condos in Vancouver.

1. If you are a drug addict you have the right to be a drug addict in this country. We will supply you with everything you need to keep you a drug addict including money, housing, drugs and a place to "do" those drugs. Why we can't force these people into rehab is beyond my logic. You can only make a sound decision if you are of sound mind and I'm not sure how that ever happens if you are constantly stoned or high on something. Why can't these people become wards of the state and forced into treatment?

2. I am tired of this argument that drug addicts are the way they are because something happened to them in their life that caused them to be this way - emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. I am not including those with low mental capacity. There will always be some portion of the population that truly needs our help and for those people I have no problem providing them with their needs. I don't consider heroin, crack, and lemon pledge needs. How long does this get to be an excuse for before you accept your lot in life and get on with it and try and change things which reverts back to my first point. If you are not forced into treatment this is never going to happen.

3. My numbers may be off a little, but the population of Vancouver must be 1.5 - 2 million. There are approximately 1000 homeless people (????). Why oh why do we keep trying to appease the minority? When the hell does gov't ever represent the needs/wants of the majority?

4. When you become a taxpayer then you can have the right to protest your conditions. Last time I checked not too many homeless paid taxes. I find it interesting that if you can stand in a line waiting for food, shelter and your welfare cheque then you must be capable of doing some things jobwise. Why aren't the homeless volunteering at the shelters and cooking the meals, etc. Why are they being waited on? Perhaps that could be part of their payment?

5. What the hell is affordable housing anyway? Who determines this? I want a million dollar condo in False Creek too, but I can only afford to pay $1000 per month, does that mean the gov't will allow me to live there and pitch in for the rest? These people are not going to pay anything. They are going to ruin whatever they are "given". And that is the problem in a nutshell. Maybe if they had to work for what they had they might take a little more pride in their surroundings, but just because you are low/no income does not give you the excuse to not shower, brush your teeth, wash your clothes, wash your bedding, etc. There are 24 hrs in any given day. I am sure that is more than enough time to take care of your personal hygiene habits especially when you have no job.

6. I would like to know of all the complainers about the emergency shelters and what they have done to their neighborhoods, what percentage of them actually voted in the last civic election. To me if you don't take the time to educate yourself and vote then take a seat and shut-up.

I've just had enough!

The tax payers have already been deceived, It began with the claims about what the Olympics would do for the city and was clinched when they "WON??" the bidding.
< replied-to message removed by QT >

How many billions are spent world wide annually on games? The Olympics (Winter and summer) The Canadian Games (winter and summer) The Commonwealth Games. the Gay Games. The Handicapped games. The Pan Am Games, The Asian Games, The African Games, The European games. Just to mention a few. Also how many tax dollars are spent building arenas and stadiums for the spoiled brat millionaires that now make up our professional sports teams? Now if one country won all the gold medals at the next set of any of these games or a countries professionals won Basketball, Hockey, soccer and baseball would it cure one case of cancer? Get us any closer to a vaccine or cure for AIDS or Ebola or Hepatitis C? NO!
The Canadian Government recently made the grandiose gesture of committing 10 million dollars over the next 3 years towards research into a vaccine for swine flew. How much have the spent on the few elitist athletes who qualify as Olympians? In the 70's when a test for AIDS was perfected the Red Cross had blood product that was untested and the new safe tested product. The government refused to pay to destroy the untested stuff so the Red Cross shipped it to the Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital (it's all in the Krever report) as well in the 80's the government would not come up with another 10 million to screen the blood for Hep C like most of the rest of the world was doing with the resulting thousands of post transfusion infections we have. Obesity is a real problem in our young people yet there are schools without gym teachers and Phys Ed programs. Many can't afford or don't have local public sporting facilities yet we can spend billions a year on the select few. This has got to stop.
London is in the last stages of blowing over 20 billion on 2 weeks of summer games. Imagine if that had been put into medical research or local affordable sporting facilities across England?
It's time that these events were bought to an end. They do nothing for anybody except create debt and upheaval in the public's lives. If you need a 400,000,000 dollar stadium. build it don't blow 3 or 4 billion to get it. < replied-to message removed by QT >

Loser Olympic-boosters like Leftie Basher make me want to reach for a brown paper bag & puke with disgust. He sneers down his nose at all who dare to disagree with his beloved Olympics, telling them to 'go jump off the Lions Gate Bridge'. Leftie Basher, take your self-righteous Olympic-boosting propaganda & shove it.

I knew these Games were going to be a DISASTER right from the start, and from all the reports of cost overruns, harassment of Games opponents (or even businesses with 'Olympic' in their name) by VANOC and police, not to mention the problems with Hwy 99 construction, it looks like British Columbians will be paying for these games for the next 20-30 years, just like Montreal in '76. The sleazy weasels in the government & business community don't want business picking up the tab; they want them to reap all the reward while sticking taxpayers with the tab. 4 years ago I walked away from BC because of Gordon Campbell and his stupid, reckless, irresponsible health care cutbacks so he could finance the Games & tax cuts for his wealthy pals. It's obvious it was the right thing to do. Even now, from across the Rockies in Alberta, I still know I will not support the Games in any way, shape or form; when they were announced I knew I would be making arrangements to leave BC for the duration. If Leftie Basher's so keen on the Games, he & his pals should pay for them themselves, not with my cash.

What a load of rubbish. I've never heard of anyone slag an athletic event and encourage obesity. Why these Olympics and not past ones? I didn't hear anyone complaining about Calgary or Salt Lake or even Sydney. Is there something in the water here?

And I'd hardly call an athlete (outside of professional sports) as an "elite group". Unlike YOU, they've spent many years training to qualify for this event and were paid little or no money, all to represent our country.

Do us (the vast majority) a favour and stuff your fat face with more doughnuts.2010 Winter Games rocks stop bashing something of lifetime.

If they are "carded" Olympians then they get money annually from the government as well as money from companies who write it off against taxes guess who has to make it up???? US!!!
Yes elite what else? Many of our kids cannot afford to play sports while this bunch go from one world competition to another.

A couple of years ago Halifax tried to get the Commonwealth games and I became the lead opponent. While fighting the hype and Bulls**t they use to sell the Commonwealth games I found it was the same hype they use on thew Olympics. The result is the same. An event that is getting to be a bigger cost and a bigger yawn eac time and a debt that gets bigger each event. < replied-to message removed by QT >

Notice also how the support is dropping faster than a stone in water as the real facts emerge. Rah Rah's are getting harder and harder to find
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Opps, keep a lid on this................People living in and around the Olympic Villaga are getting sick..................strange unknown illness...........many are moving out of apartments down in that area. Seems something toxic at the Olympic Village site deep in the ground has been disturbed! A lids been put on it by health officals in Vancouver. That part of Vacouver is built on industrial toxic waste dumps from years gone by, Who knows whats down in the ground in that area. Could even be reminance of nerve gas chemicals made in Vancouver during the first and second world wars. You won't hear this news in the mainstream media. Now you know what they don't want the public to know. You have to do some researvh on companies that occupied those spots sixty years ago. Do some hunting and you might be shocked by what you find. Look at some old photos do some research on who made what on those sites years ago. You'll see some nasty stuff was dumped in the area! It's all still in the ground waiting for victims one it's disturbed again the clean up would cost billions the area is sour and toxic. The price will be paid but not until long after a handful have made off with a lot of cash! More deceiving the taxpayer!

ztGLD1 comment2 ,

2010 Awaking!


People of all nations, it’s time for us again to fight back. We don’t need high explosives or heavy devices. We only need “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS”, the power of mind intent. This is the most effective way to prove our worth. This is a tool to change weather patterns. Yes, February 2010 will be rainy, foggy and windstorms may occur warm weather to southern coastal regions of British Columbia if we will join together using our mind. We could completely wash-out 2010 Winter Olympic Organizers and its allies. This will be a great humiliation to the whole world!

The mayor and council decided once they were elected that they would end homelessness in our city.
They come up with an initiative called HEAT, which called for opening low barrier shelters all over town for homeless people.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING.

It really shows just how they have absolutley no clue about the problems surrounding the homeless situation, or the psyche of the homeless people.

Most have no life skills, they find navigating life a challenging and difficult task. As a result, most are selfish and self centered to the core and getting their needs met is all tha matters. They really don't care if they are shooting up in front of your children or crapping in the alley beside your building.

I used to be homeless/addicted and I could have cared less about you....my life, like most of theirs, was driven by a desire to get drugs, EVERYTHING else came second and once I had enough drugs to satisfy me for the moment, I really didn't care about you, your family or whether you paid taxes or were upset by my behaviour.

Self centerdness is at the core of addiction...

SO how does city council come up with this equation that they will just inject these people into an upscale community and the residents will just accept the behaviour that comes with homelessness and addiction....if the people from false Creek wanted to see that crap everyday they could get a room at the Balmoral and watch it daya and night.

The answer isn't to give the homeless no barrier (no rules) housing, it is a recipe for disaster. The answer is to individually access to homeless, find out exactly what their problem is and deal with it.

For any of us that were hopelessly addicted and homeless and now have a decent life, the first thing we had to do was get off the drugs.....for some reason the city and council believes the answer is to give this populations housing with no rules and places all over town where they can get free government provided drugs and facilities that helps them to use their drugs.

The worst thing to do is give addicts what they want because you can never give them enough and they will abuse what you do give them, whether it is drugs, shelter or whatever.

Since the city started this "hARm reduction" kick, three mayors ago, we have witnessed the problem grown and now start to mushroom out of the DTES.

While they say they care, their actions suggest the opposite, the misery and suffering is greater than I have ever seen in all my years, I had to do to the DTES the other day and I could feel misery and grief like never before......saw an open air drug market with police walking about doing nothing, ofr all intents and purposes drugs are legal on the DTES.

Unless they start to hold addicts accountable and force them to treatment with consequnces if they don't go, unless people that can, are made to work for their welfare money so they start to appreciate nothing is free, nothing will change....BUT above all, unless the citizens get get together and say enough is enough...not because we are mad at the homeless and addicted, because we want the best for them and what the government is giving them just insures they stay stuck in the rut of homeless and addiction.

I guess I'm hoping for a miracle, because the government is hell bent of having us believe addicts and homeless people can't change....when in fact they can do amazingly well when held accountable for their actions and having some consequences attached to not wanting to change and being a drain on society.

The probem in Vancouver is that council has been infiltrated with the friends of those who gets millions upon millions of tax dollars to keep these people sick, its called the junkie or poverty industry...keep em sick and where they are at and there is a lot of money to be made...once again, it won't stop until the people who pay the big bucks to live downtown get fed up enough.Just getting ready for 2010 Vancover Games.

Tina you said :

"The probem in Vancouver is that council has been infiltrated with the friends of those who gets millions upon millions of tax dollars to keep these people sick, its called the junkie or poverty industry...keep em sick and where they are at and there is a lot of money to be made...once again, it won't stop until the people who pay the big bucks to live downtown get fed up enough.Just getting ready for 2010 Vancover Games."

Can you tell us who you think these people are - name some names ?

TPnjAJ comment2 ,

An Undying Call for Olympic Fanatics?
By Concerned Citizens of Canada

 

Let your mind be freed from queries. Let your voice be heard everywhere. Aren’t you sick and tired of what’s happening to our surroundings regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics? Lobbying, rallying and boycotts may not be enough to get the attention of the VANOC officials and its elite groups and the greedy and unethical government officials of British Columbia. We have been continuously fooled by these people with their non-reliable and non-existing figures that they used to published in every corners of the mass media.
If you people of Canada are more concern of what will and may happen in the future. On what will and may be the effect to the majority, not only for those people living in the skidrow area of East Vancouver but also for those average families. We are asking you to voluntarily participate in a “MASS CONSCIOUSNESS BRIGADE“, the power of our mind is very effective to use as our weapon to fight this elite group back. The power of intent is a powerful tool to change the weather on 2010. Yes, Vancouver Olympics may happen but if we will join together by using our mind there maybe a huge mass disruption in the outdoor events. We will be having a mild weather in the Whistler area. With these, it will be a great failure to the VANOCs and its allies and a big humiliation to the whole world.
It is effective! This power of the mind has been proved in the year 1998 of July at Northeast of Florida when they were hit by a drought conditions. Upon using the Mass Consciousness they were able to have a downfall of rains. And it was a success!
So people of Canada, let’s give ourselves a chance. We can prove this to everybody. We can make a difference! We can do it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NOSaZDPDo&feature=related


       ''Needed is Angry Citizens Against 2010 Olympic Hipocracy''

VANOC curbing free speech, group says
The Globe and Mail
By Rod Mickleburgh, The Globe and Mail Posted Friday, July 3, 2009 10:00 PM ET
Related
News
Travel company fires back at VANOC
Stop harassing us, Olympic protesters tell police
Protesters seen as likeliest disruption
Video
 
Free speech concerns in 2010
In its hardest-hitting attack yet on circumstances of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says it has come to "the troubling conclusion" that free speech is not welcome at the Games.

Citing a litany of restrictions on commercial and political expression related to the event, the BCCLA called for a "sober second look at these anti-free speech activities" and, if necessary, a review by the courts.

The tipping point for the association, it said, was a tenancy agreement recently forced on resident students at the University of British Columbia forbidding them to post "signage or displays [on their dorm windows or buildings] that create a false or unauthorized commercial transaction with the Olympics," if the signs can be seen from the Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre, an Olympic hockey venue on campus.

"It boggles the mind at what they are doing to try to limit what people can say and do," BCCLA president Robert Holmes said yesterday, "all because they want, ostensibly, to preserve the intellectual and property rights that go with the Olympics trademark."

Mr. Holmes other criticisms included the following:

- VANOC's purchase of all outdoor advertising space in the Vancouver area for the Games' 10 weeks to shut out non-Olympic sponsors, and a special civic bylaw giving municipal officials the right to remove "illegal signs" during the event.

- VANOC instructions to municipalities along the torch relay to enforce a ban on any unauthorized "propaganda or commercial products." As examples, a VANOC pamphlet mentions the handing out of commercial products along the route or a local politician distributing pamphlets.

- Vancouver police asking Olympic protesters to register with the department.

- Olympic security agents approaching known activists after observing them at a city hall meeting.

VANOC respects everyone's free speech, said Renée Smith-Valade, VANOC communications vice-president, but the torch relay and the Winter Games are possible only with the financial support of their sponsors. "So we are fully committed to protecting these sponsors' nearly $1-billion investment in the Olympics against ambush marketing."

Mr. Holmes rejected VANOC's assertions. "The language they use is expansive and over-broad, and they bear the burden of justifying that language. For them to say that we really don't mean to go as far as that [restricting free speech] is, with respect, just not good enough."

As for the issue of signs on university dorms, however, UBC vice-president Stephen Owen said the BCCLA is overreacting. He said the restriction applies only to unauthorized linking of a commercial product to the Olympics. "There is nothing that restricts anyone from freely expressing their personal or political views."

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I've raised this issue with my MP as another example of why we don't need this crap and he is going to forward it to the appropriate Minister responsible and ask him to explain how an organization can crush the basic freedoms of Canadians
Bruce
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Local, national and international groups are planning “criminal protests” during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, says the Games’ top cop.

And RCMP assistant commissioner Bud Mercer, head of the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit, raised the spectre Tuesday of the violent clashes that rocked World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle and Quebec City.

“I can assure council as I stand before you here today, that locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, there are groups that are considering or planning to engage in criminal protests during the 2010 Games,” Mercer told Vancouver city council.

“North America and Canada is not a stranger to criminal protests during major events — the 1999 Seattle WTO, 2001 in Quebec City or the Stanley Cup riot. There are things that will happen during a major event that we have a responsibility to plan and prepare for.”

Later Mercer said his definition of “criminal protests” included “violent protests, mass people throwing Molotov cocktails, breaking fences, permanently blocking highways, refusing to leave, damaging property, assaults, throwing things, injuring people. The list goes on.” Mercer told council 2010 security plans include:

- More than 900 cameras to guard the perimeters of Olympic venues.

- “Free speech” zones where protesters can legally demonstrate.

- A 2010 security force of 7,000 police, 5,000 private security officers and 4,500 members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Mercer said that in 10 minutes surfing anti-2010 Games sites on the Internet, he came up with pictures and pamphlets showing:

- Olympic mascots carrying Molotov cocktails.

- The Olympic rings with Nazi swastikas.

- Masked protesters, tires burning, blocking a highway, an enhanced photo showing the CPR’s Olympic torch “Spirit Train” being pushed off the tracks, an image of a beheading with the words, “Elementary to the art of war, cut off the head and the body will die” and a banner reading, “Riot 2010,” taken at a rally in Chinatown in November.

“If I found this kind of thing on a website, it deserves a conversation between my staff and the people that would have put this on the website, to determine what their intentions are,” Mercer said.

“With those that are engaged or wish to engage in lawful protest, we’ll do our very best to make contact and engage in discussion with them.

“With those individuals who are planning to engage in violent or criminal protest, they’ll maintain my interest and I would suggest the Canadian public would expect me to do nothing but that.”

He said peaceful, legal protests are no problem but people using protest signs as a weapon are committing an offence.

Vancouver Deputy Police Chief Steve Sweeney said that between 50 and 70 surveillance cameras will be used at Vancouver celebration live sites, along pedestrian corridors and in the Granville Street entertainment district.

He said a small number of homeless people who live close to downtown Olympic venues will be “relocated.”

Chris Shaw of 2010 Watch said he felt intimidated when he was approached by 2010 police officers a few weeks ago.

“I think there may be people who want to use protest zones,” he said.

“The rest of the people will take the view that the whole of Canada is a free speech zone and they will protest wherever they think they need to, to exercise their Charter rights

Sounds like anything Mercer and VANOC wants will be defined as a violent event
bruce
< replied-to message removed by QT >

These "protestors" better not ruin my dream trip to watch 2 of my friends fulfill the goals they have been working for our whole lives.

I could care less about politics and think it's pathetic that these people are ruining the hard work of the athletes...regardless of what these low lives say...they are trying to do just that...ruin the moments of young people from all over the world who have sacrificed for something so amazing....to be the best in the world.

I can't wait to watch as many speedskating & short track races as I can. Bought tickets for skeleton, and ski jumping too. So excited!

Politics is all there is to this racket. How much money do your friends get per year from the government (taxpayer) directly in grants and indirectly from companies sponsoring them and writing it off their taxes. It's our billions being blown annually on these sports extravaganzas and we have a right to speak out against it
< replied-to message removed by QT >

 
Warmer weather, less snowfall would mean trouble for Games
 
By Kelly Sinoski and Mary Frances Hill, Vancouver SunJuly 10, 2009
 
 
Forecasters say El Nino is back and expected to stick around for Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics next February, bringing with it the potential of warmer weather, lower snowfall and problems for the Games.

However, the Vancouver Organizing Committee and local ski-hill operators insist they aren't worried that the return of the climate phenomenon will affect snowpacks or have an adverse effect on the Games, which take place in February.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday the surface temperature along a narrow band in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean climbed at least one degree C above normal as of July 1, suggesting El Nino was on its way.

Temperatures in other tropical regions are also above normal, according to the NOAA's website. El Nino, the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters, typically comes every two to five years and lasts about a year.

The NOAA forecasters say they expect this El Nino to continue strengthening through the winter of 2009-2010.

That could mean warmer and drier conditions for the Pacific Northwest.

Meteorologist Mark Madryga said it was too early to say what the phenomenon will mean for B.C., but noted it could have an effect on the North Shore mountains if it strengthens in intensity.

Whistler-Blackcomb would likely be spared, he said.

"If [El Nino] happens, then chances are we would have a warmer than usual winter," Madryga said.

"That would mean we'd probably get a lot less snow in the city this winter and rain would fall high up on the North Shore mountains, so that's not a good scenario for the Olympics."

But, he added: "It's still early in the game."

Environment Canada meteorologist Gabor Fricska said B.C. typically experiences above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation levels when El Nino sweeps through.

He said forecasters will have a better idea of the potential of El Nino in the fall but at the moment, "it's not a strong signal."

Since 2002, there have been three instances of El Nino, which alters the jet stream, changing the air flow coming off the Pacific. If it's weak, with a small deviation from normal, it won't have much of an effect.

The most recent El Nino occurrences, including the latest in 2006-07, were fairly weak, Fricska noted. The last strong El Nino hit in 1997-98, prolonging the start of the ski season on many Vancouver mountains with no snow falling until Christmas.

It also nearly spelled doom for the Nagano Winter Olympics, which didn't get any significant snow until January 1998, a month before the Games were to begin. Nagano hailed that first significant snowfall of the season as "snow of mercy."

Organizers had worried that if the snow didn't come, they would have had to cancel downhill skiing and other key events. The unusually warm winter had left four out of five ski resorts around the Olympic area closed or empty for lack of snow.

Temperature may be the most significant factor for the success of the Olympics, since machines can make snow, but warm weather will hurt its quality.

During the February 1988 Olympics, warm Chinook winds swept through the Calgary area, turning luge runs to mud and snow to slush.

Fricska said more rain at lower levels could affect Vancouver's ski hills, depending on how low their snow lines are.

Cathy Priestner Allinger, Vanoc's executive vice-president for sport and games operations, said in a statement Vanoc is working with Environment Canada to monitor weather patterns and has alternatives should El Nino strike. She didn't elaborate.

"As weather planning is always a high priority for a Winter Games, we consider a number of different weather scenarios in our contingency planning to ensure that we are prepared to successfully stage the Games," she said.

Neither Whistler nor the North Shore's Cypress Bowl, which are both hosting Games events, indicated they were worried about El Nino.

Tabetha Boot, a spokeswoman for Whistler-Blackcomb, said early trail maintenance and heavy use of snowmaking equipment will ensure the runs are ready for the Games regardless of the weather.

Boot noted that 2006-07, the last El Nino year, was a good year for skiers looking for fresh powder. Cypress Mountain sales and marketing director Joffrey Koeman said he wasn't nervous about a warming trend. "In the last 15 years, it's never been a problem to host an event," he said.

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

mfhill@vancouversun.com

See more stories on extreme weather at vancouversun.com/wildweather

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 215 days to go!

See you there!!

Not even if I had free tickets

< replied-to message removed by QT >

B3OIpY

op77Zk

Elective surgeries to be cut by 35 per cent during Olympics
 
 
BY JEFF LEE, VANCOUVER SUNJULY 15, 2009
 
 
METRO VANCOUVER - Upwards of 2,500 patients waiting for surgery for everything from blocked arteries to cancer to hernias will find their elective surgeries postponed during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In a pair of decisions just now becoming public, the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health Authorities say they have decided to cut by 35 per cent the number of elective surgeries performed over a one-month period in February and March, 2010.

Most of the surgeries - 2,000 in all - were supposed to take place in the busy Fraser region that stretches from Burnaby to Hope. Another 450 or more were scheduled for the Vancouver Coastal authority, not including the Providence Health system that covers St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

The decisions also come as the provincial health minister, Kevin Falcon, told the province's six health regions they are expected to cut $360 million from their operating budgets next year and hold the line on costs.

That dictate has led the Fraser and Vancouver authorities to indicate they will cut staff, raise fees and reduce services.

The health regions say the reduction in surgeries during the Olympics isn't directly related to the event but rather because of what is expected to be a combination of a busy flu season and less demand among patients for service. It will also allow some medical staff to volunteer for the Games, according to Arden Krystal, the vice-president of acute network for Fraser Health.

Krystal said a review of other Olympic cities show that at Games-time many people want to put "low-acuity" surgeries off.

"I think we need to remember that 65 per cent of our surgical capacity continues to run and that people who truly need surgery in that time will get it," she said.

Gavin Wilson, a spokesman for Vancouver Coastal, said the health authority is doing 6,000 more elective surgeries than two years ago and the reduction of 450 during the Games won't hurt health care.

Critics say the plan is nothing more than an attempt to save money at the expense of patient health.

NDP health critic Adrian Dix told reporters the Olympics is being used as an excuse for health authorities to cut services.

Krystal estimated the Olympic-period postponements will save Fraser Health $1-2 million. The authority plans to keep the estimated 60-120 surgical beds over the region's 12 sites open for medical services.

But Rick Baker, the head of Timely Medical Alternatives, a private health service brokerage that finds patients fast treatment in the United States, expects people won't accept the delays.

Baker said many of the so-called "elective" surgeries involve urgent medically-necessary interventions. He doesn't accept the health authorities' argument that peoples' health won't be put at risk.

"It really has nothing to do with the Olympics. I think some person in the health ministry was taking a shower and said "hey, I know how we can save some money, we'll cut elective surgeries during the Olympics". They'll use any way to cut elective surgeries to save money."

Baker isn't really complaining; he expects to be busy during the Olympics as patients who can't wait for surgery turn to his company for help.

jefflee@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Vanoc awash in advertising space after buying up billboards in region
 
Organizers need to sell at least $4-million worth to break even
 
BY JEFF LEE, VANCOUVER SUNJULY 16, 2009
 
 
The Vancouver Olympics organizing committee is having trouble reselling all the billboard advertising it was forced to buy for sponsors to protect against ambush marketing.

With Olympic sponsors and government partners all cutting budgets because of the economic downturn, Vanoc said Wednesday it still has $12 million worth of inventory.

The figure -- just under a third of the $40 million Vanoc put out years ago to uphold a demand by the International Olympic Committee to protect its sponsors from being targeted by non-rights-holders -- represents a significant risk to the organizing committee, which continues to scramble to find ways to cut costs in its $1.7 billion operating budget.

Talking to reporters after a directors' meeting Wednesday, Dave Cobb, Vanoc's executive vice-president of marketing, revenue and communications said billboard companies demanded Vanoc buy their entire inventory from Whistler in the north, to Abbotsford in the east and the U.S. border in the south. As a result, it was left with signage in areas in which sponsors have no interest, especially in the current economic climate.

"We have significant inventory left and this is proving to be one of our most significant challenges," Cobb said. "I can say that compared to where we were two years ago, generally [sponsors and government partners] are buying less than we expected."

He said non-sponsors may be interested in buying space on billboards that aren't around Olympic venues or along high-traffic routes.

Vanoc planned to sell the so-called "out of home" advertising space back to sponsors at cost, but now is looking selling to non-sponsors as well.

Ultimately, it needs to sell $4 million to $6 million more in advertising to break even, he said.

The troublesome "out of home" advertising program typified the damage that the soft economy is having on Vanoc's bottom line.

There were some bright spots on the agenda, including the announcement of Alda Pharmaceuticals as a new sponsor, completing Vanoc's $760-million domestic sponsor program.

But Vanoc CEO John Furlong left no doubt that with only months to go before the Games, Vanoc is having trouble balancing its operating budget.

No one at Vanoc would say how large the gap is between anticipated revenues and operating costs, but Furlong said he has become preoccupied with trying to balance the books.

"The atmosphere has been challenging and compelling, as it has been for many, many months. There is hardly anything discussed any more that isn't somehow affected by the economy," he said.

jefflee@vancouversun.com

Read Jeff Lee's Olympic blog at www.vancouversun.com/ insidetheolympics

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Edited by author 07-29-2009 01:16 AM
2010 Olympic Prevarications!


Vexing over Olympic cost overruns and political lies, deception and manipulation by the B.C. Government plus cover-ups in the political system to push the elite interests of corporations and Olympic economic of interests.

To be perfectly ‘’honest’’ wait until party is over. Its will leave a legacy of debt loads, human misery by lack of funding for much needed social programs, health care and education not to mention a major erosion of environmental policies.

Curtailing free of speech and interference with peaceful protest. These security measures including security zones are violations of the ‘’People’s Charter of Rights’’.A police state is definitely happening in Vancouver, B.C. The civil liberties of Canadians are being eroded.

Just a friendly reminder of last spring 2009 election that the B.C. Government and official oppositions agreed before campaigning that they would not debate any related 2010 Olympic issues. This is not how a democracy works.

Vancouver and Whistler area could possibly be dealing with ‘’Flu- Pandemic’’ visitors from around the world would be spread man-made human infections.

Power of the mind your thoughts or prayer-whatever works for you? Yes ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ of the mind could change weather patterns to mildly warm conditions in southern B.C. rain fog and windstorms could occur. Instead of complaining about 2010 Olympic Games we should direct our anger and frustration by focusing our intent on ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ for unfavorable weather conditions.

2010 Winter Olympic Games Legacy of debt occurring burden to working tax payers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NOSaZDPDo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxD9cVMUoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqpOlbPuV0k

Evictions, Olympic protest ban fought
 Watchdog group files two complaints with the UN over 2010 Games
 By Carmen Chai, The Province August 10, 2009

  
 Am Johal of Impact on Communities Coalition says democracy and human rights shouldn't be suspended during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Photograph by: Jason Payne, The Province, The ProvinceA 2010 Olympics watchdog group has filed two human-rights complaints with the United Nations against the governments of Canada and B.C. and the Olympic organizing committee, VANOC.

The Impact on Community Coalition say hundreds of renters will face the threat of eviction prior to the Olympics because of "loopholes" in tenancy legislations.

"Hosting the Olympic Games doesn't mean we suspend democracy and human rights for a period of time. It's completely unacceptable in our view," said Am Johal, chairman of the IOCC.

Johal warned more than 1,000 renters could be evicted before the Games.

"People are being evicted for renovations, rents are skyrocketing and the Olympics is definitely an issue that is creating this environment," said Janine Fuller of Renters at Risk.

The IOCC is also complaining about the violation of civil liberties after Vancouver City Council passed bylaws preventing leafleting and protest signs during the Olympics. Access to public space will be permitted after security screening. Megaphones will not be allowed and posters "must include information that celebrates the 2010 Winter Games."

David Eby of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said VANOC boss John Furlong is breaching a promise, understood that protests would take place and knew that protests were part of Canada's democratic traditions.

VANOC spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade said the bylaws were created to prevent posters that advertise or promote commercial products.

"If you want to hold up posters that are against the Games, not only is that OK, but we have set up zones where you can protest the Games safely," she said. "You can protest anywhere in the city except in the venues."

Smith-Valade said security checks are necessary as a safety precaution.

cchai@theprovince.com

More on the web

For more news, video and photos, go to www.theprovince.com

© Copyright (c) The Province

IOC grip on cities grows tighter every time
 From no-fly zones to free-speech areas, Olympic officials want to control what the world can see


 By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver SunAugust 15, 2009
  When Juan Antonio Samaranch was president of the International Olympic Committee, he demanded that those in the "movement" refer to him as Your Excellency.

Yet pretensions of grandeur aside, even under his watch the IOC never described itself as the "supreme authority" on all things Olympic, as it did under Jacques Rogge in Vancouver's host city agreement.

And while Rogge rejected the "His Excellency" honorific, he also spelled out in the host-city contract what creature comforts he requires come Games time.

To be precise, Rogge gets three multiple-screen video walls all hooked up to the international television signals of the Games. One will be in his room at the Westin Bayshore Hotel and two others in the IOC offices at the hotel, which has been totally booked for the Olympic Family.

It's only a small example of the growing demands the IOC puts on host cities. One is for more money. For the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the IOC took 40 per cent of the broadcast revenue. This time, it's more than half.

If Vanoc pulls off a miracle and has a surplus, the IOC will take 20 per cent, twice the cut it demanded from Salt Lake City, which had a $50-million surplus. The IOC's share of marketing royalties from mascots and logo-wear has also risen, to 7.5 per cent from five.

At the same time, it has off-loaded costs.

One big-ticket item is the tab for all medical costs and anti-doping measures. For 2010, that's an estimated $13 million, a number that the B.C. auditor-general has repeatedly challenged as being too low. The auditor also challenged the $185 million security budget. It's now set at $1 billion. Unlike in 2002, host cities and organizing committees now pay all taxes, duties or indirect taxes "whether present or future" assessed to either the IOC or any third party owned or controlled by the IOC on revenue generated by the Games or to competitors as a reward for their performances.

(Perhaps it's because the province is on the hook for any Olympic cost overruns that Premier Gordon Campbell's unpopular harmonized sales tax won't be put in place until after the Games.) But the biggest burden the IOC puts on cities is ever-increasing demands to protect sponsorship and marketing rights, demands that bump up against citizens' rights and freedoms.

Like Vancouver, Salt Lake City agreed that there would be no advertising or propaganda outside the venues within view of television cameras or spectators watching the events. But that was the end of it. No other Utahans and Americans faced widespread restrictions on protest signs, pamphlets, leaflets and posters.

Eight years later, Vancouver's contract widened the "clean zone" beyond venues to "major access points leading to Olympic venues" and the torch relay route. Those are the so-called halo areas in Vancouver's omnibus bylaw, a bylaw that the contract also required. That's another addition and so is the required no-fly zone.

The Vancouver contract says that "no propaganda or advertising is allowed in the airspace over the city and other cities and venues hosting Olympic events during the period of the Games."

(There was a no-fly zone over the Utah capital in 2002, but only because five months earlier, New York's twin towers had been toppled by a terrorist attack. It's also noteworthy that Salt Lake City's total security budget was $310 million US. That's nearly double Vancouver's original security estimate, but only a third of the current budget.)

With the new, larger area for top-tier sponsors' exclusive advertising use, the IOC passed on all costs associated with preventing, policing and prosecuting ambush advertisers, propagandists and marketers infringing on Olympic trademarks, including mascots.

As detailed as the host city contracts are in some areas, there's no mention of "free-speech zones," "demonstration zones" or "protest zones," as they were called in Beijing.

Yet, the fenced enclosures for permit-paid protesters are Olympic hallmarks and remarkably similar from one city to the next.

Full details of Vancouver's have yet to be released, but the zones are promised to be in high-profile locations. They were in Salt Lake City as well, albeit with a total capacity of 170 people. Unlike in Beijing, plenty of demonstrators used the Salt Lake City enclosures. Only a few were arrested including an anti-abortion activist who broke the protest-zone rules and carried a placard that said "God Bless America."

Not that it headed off the feared riot. However, it wasn't incited by wild-eyed anti-anythings, but rather by a bunch of drunks after a beer garden closed early.

So what's in London's contract for 2012? It's impossible to know because London's freedom of information act doesn't require its release. Excellent.

dbramham@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

The only way they will show a profit is if they keep a "funny" set of books like Calgary did.
Bruce D
< replied-to message removed by QT >

2010 Olympic Prevarications!


Vexing over Olympic cost overruns and political lies, deception and manipulation by the B.C. Government plus cover-ups in the political system to push the elite interests of corporations and Olympic economic of interests.

To be perfectly ‘’honest’’ wait until party is over. Its will leave a legacy of debt loads, human misery by lack of funding for much needed social programs, health care and education not to mention a major erosion of environmental policies.

Curtailing free of speech and interference with peaceful protest. These security measures including security zones are violations of the ‘’People’s Charter of Rights’’.A police state is definitely happening in Vancouver, B.C. The civil liberties of Canadians are being eroded.

Just a friendly reminder of last spring 2009 election that the B.C. Government and official oppositions agreed before campaigning that they would not debate any related 2010 Olympic issues. This is not how a democracy works.

Vancouver and Whistler area could possibly be dealing with ‘’Flu- Pandemic’’ visitors from around the world would be spread man-made human infections.

Power of the mind your thoughts or prayer-whatever works for you? Yes ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ of the mind could change weather patterns to mildly warm conditions in southern B.C. rain, fog and windstorms could occur. Instead of complaining about 2010 Olympic Games we should direct our anger and frustration by focusing our intent on ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ for unfavorable weather conditions.

2010 Winter Olympic Games Legacy of debt occurring burden to working tax payers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NOSaZDPDo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxD9cVMUoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqpOlbPuV0k

rELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS are 'sanctioned' by VANOC to be volunteers at 2010 games.
ran into guy on airplane from some Christian group call 'something...GOLD'
GIVING OUT WATER AND HANDING OUT 'PAMPHLETS'..SAYS TO ME vanoc REQUESTED THEM.
yOUR TAX DOLLARS ARE FUNDING rELIGIOUS propogandizing..it's true
rl09@mail.com

The Vancouver Games will be great. Vancouver's done an amazing job getting ready for it all, and they've just unveiled the clothing, (pox on the naysayers) and it's amazing too. The Calgary games lifted the city in a way that I've never seen before, and the legacy still lives here; so sorry I have no negativity to lend to the general tone of this board; but I suggest you do try to enjoy this once in a lifetime gathering instead, because it is absolutely incredible while it happens.

When the afterglow is replaced by the debt and you realize what the city gave up on it's people in the line of freedoms you will feel the negativivity
BD
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Things will get back to normal Vancouver when it's over. Security expected at an International level/standard is a temporary pill to swallow to ensure that Vancouver's done everything it can to ensure the safety and security of its international guests as is expected. London will be bound to do the same. The influx of visitor dollars into Vancouver and area during and for years to come post games is yet to be determined; but as Calgary discovered, Vancouver will become a destination for decades to come, so the debt will be difficult to put a finger on, plus-minus, long term. The legacy of your facilities for your citizens, both young and old, will be substantial. Please read this before you decide on the half-empty rather than half-full position.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/about-vano...8/qy26fo/index.html

Good grief, people (and especially Chris Shaw)get a life. The Olympics will
be a good thing, and if you don't like them being here, move out for a few weeks. The protestors need to get a life. You can protest,but be polite about it, and do not disrupt the games as those yahoos did with the Countdown Clock event. Why do you think the security is going around asking questions? If you behave and protest with respect to others, you would not be questioned.

Another thing, about that picture of that guy yelling at Eagle Ridge. He was told like others to move out since there was a court order. He refused
and didn't let go while being cuffed.

and since when does Chris Shaw and the other protestors such as Garth Mullins represent the majority of citizens in Vancouver? They don't.

"get a life" is that like "get a job" ?

Kerries Dale - there is no point to a protest that does not have some element of disruption to it.

Chris Shaw and Garth Mullins do not and have never pretended to speak on behalf of the majority of citizen - that's why we elected Gregor Robertson.

Messrs Shaw and Mullin's do however speak for a lot of people in Vancouver - an ever growing number in fact

There have been a few postings recently about special laws that will be in effect during the Olympics to prevent protesting.

For example, the olympic thought police will be able to enter your house to take down any signs you might display in your window, without obtaining a court order. I guess they're claiming they can just kick your door down and take your sign away.

WELL BULL SHIT THEY CAN.

I think what they're doing is just SAYING that they will do these things, knowing full well that they actually wouldn't dare because they'd be breaking the law. By saying they've changed the law, they're hoping that most sheeple will be too afraid to try anything.

I suggest that people familiarize themselves with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. http://www.efc.ca/pages/law/charter/charter.text.html

These are your rights. A sporting event is not a reason to suspend your charter rights.

2010 Olympic Prevarications!


Vexing over Olympic cost overruns and political lies, deception and manipulation by the B.C. Government plus cover-ups in the political system to push the elite interests of corporations and Olympic economic of interests.

To be perfectly ‘’honest’’ wait until party is over. Its will leave a legacy of debt loads, human misery by lack of funding for much needed social programs, health care and education not to mention a major erosion of environmental policies.

Curtailing free of speech and interference with peaceful protest. These security measures including security zones are violations of the ‘’People’s Charter of Rights’’.A police state is definitely happening in Vancouver, B.C. The civil liberties of Canadians are being eroded.

Just a friendly reminder of last spring 2009 election that the B.C. Government and official oppositions agreed before campaigning that they would not debate any related 2010 Olympic issues. This is not how a democracy works.

Vancouver and Whistler area could possibly be dealing with ‘’Flu- Pandemic’’ visitors from around the world would be spread man-made human infections.

Power of the mind your thoughts or prayer-whatever works for you? Yes ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ of the mind could change weather patterns to mildly warm conditions in southern B.C. rain, fog and windstorms could occur. Instead of complaining about 2010 Olympic Games we should direct our anger and frustration by focusing our intent on ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ for unfavorable weather conditions.

2010 Winter Olympic Games Legacy of debt occurring burden to working tax payers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NOSaZDPDo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxD9cVMUoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqpOlbPuV0k

DO NOT FRET OR BE ANXIOUS ALL COMMUNICATIONS ON THIS FEED ARE MONITERED AND IP'S SUPPLIED TO THE AUTHORITIES BY YOUR FRIENDLY SERVICE PROVIDER.

PLEASE HEED THIS ADVICE: IF YOU ARE WILLING TO BE DETAINED AND VERBALY, ELECTRONICALLY OR PHYSICALLY MISTREATED DO NOT PROTEST IN ANY FORM OUTSIDE THE DESIGNATED AREAS. THE LOCAL POLICE FORCES AND THE RCMP ARE IN EFFECT MILITARY THROUGHOUT THIS TIME PREIOD AND THEN AFTER.

THE OLYMPIC SECURITY SCAM AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROPAGANDA IS MUCH MORE THAN FOR A SPORTS EVENT AND I AM SURE THAT MOST OF YOU ARE AWARE OF THE EVENTS UPON US. THE FORCAST CALLS FOR PAIN---BY DESIGN OF COURSE

Edited by author 10-19-2009 05:47 PM
 Not a big fan of the protesters and there threatening to disrupt the torch. Fools the Olympic games means much more to the world as a whole then one city's debt from hosting it. So what if were spending tons of cash on much needed road upgrades and infrastructure thats needed funding for decades. The upgrades to the sporting facility's around town are going to be great if you have kids that are into sports. Taxpayers as a whole do plenty for the social programs and low income housing, at least with the Olympic's i'll be able to see some results and progress. So quit oppressing the honest tax payers that want the Olympics. There's plenty of dough for all of us.

P.s - How awesome would Olympic Hockey gold on home ice be? Once and a lifetime chance to see the games up close i'll enjoy every minute of it.
Maybe it will inspire the next generation, or blow up in all our faces. Who knows ill take my one chance to see em here.

i am getting so fed up of hearing all this crap about how the Olympic Games are going to attract tourists. It is a very bad Business Manager who spends $6 Billion on Tourism. Really, give me a break!

In actual fact studies in Europe have shown that big events like the Olympics has just the opposite effect on the tourist that travels regularly. They avoid the host city for a few years before because of disruption due to construction and during because of price gouging and disruption of the games in some cases it stays flat for up to 3 years afterwards
Bruce
< replied-to message removed by QT >

Sorry, Bruce DeVenne, but your comment is not borne out by the stats.
Before the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, Alberta had an average growth of annual international visitors of 0.25 percent (1972 - 1985). In pre-Olympic years the number of visitors grew by 5 percent in 1985 and 8 percent in 1986. In the Olympic year, growth surged to 12 percent and then retained all of its post Olympic gains, with an average annual growth of 3.25 percent for the first five post-Olympic years. This compared with an average annual loss of 2.5 percent for the rest of Canada, excluding British Columbia. Vancouver and Whistler in particular and British Columbia in general will have their profiles raised throughout the world, strengthening tourism. From:
http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/020326/csb2appc.pdf

They are not my comments I thought I made it clear it was an independent study gone in Europe. I found it when I was fighting against Halifax's bidding on the Commonwealth Games. I recall the Calgary claimed a profit too until an independent audit was done using the freedom to information act when the profit turned into debt. Did the same people who did the books count the tourists?
Bruce
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Edited by author 10-28-2009 07:46 AM
HI you can follow this subject on mobile too - http://olympictorch.mobi
There is some history to this.

I support 2010 mainly because I know it upsets all the loser groups out there hahaahahah!

That is, Loser groups such as APC, DERA, etc. lol!

Opposition to events such as the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games is based on reality, history and facts: Support is mainly due to hype and highly paid PR bull
Bruce D
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Bruce, I would imagine that Calgary has direct and accurate access to its own tourist numbers, one source already provided below, before 'some study in Europe.' Please provide link to that nebulous study. I have several other sources besides the one I provided. Number fudging after the games were done would have been unecessary and counterproductive, as tourism people wanted to know whether hosting actually helped the numbers. Calgary is not a city that pretends. If something doesn't work, they want to know, and they scrap it. If it does work, they repeat it. Calgarians are not keen nor known at operating at a loss; but those were not recessionary times. Should these games suffer a loss, there are legacies, both tangible and intangible. Anyway, it's a done deal now, isn't it?

I had the full study posted on my site stopthehrmgames.com when it was up and running and successfully used to get Halifax out of the bidding for the Commonwealth Games. Also up was the article from the Toronto Star about Calgary fudging the numbers of the cost of the games where a profit turned into a debt when an independent audit of the books was done Government and their agebcies fudge the facts and figures to make themselves look good? They do it every day
Bruce


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Here's the study. Not that fudging the facts.figures and impact of big games on tourism are fudged to the point it is SOP.
On 6th July 2006, ETOA, the European Tour Operators Association, released a discussion paper on the Olympic Games and its effect on tourism in the host nation. The study looked at sporting events and tourism, the television audience and the impact of hosting Olympic Games on a city'stourism infrastructure. It ended with case studies of Barcelona and Sydney - cities that have had ostensibly "good" games for tourism. The study found that there is no strong link between hosting sporting events and increased tourism. The audiences regularly cited for such events as the Olympics are exaggerated. Attendees at the Games displace normal visitors and scare tourists away for some time. Both Sydney and Barcelona had "excellent" Olympic Games, but their tourism industries have not significantly benefited. Thus there appears to be little evidence of any benefit to tourism of hosting an Olympic Games, and considerable evidence of damage. For ETOA, it is vital that the problems experienced by the host cities of past Games be acknowledged and addressed in order to avoid them reoccurring.
In the meantime, VisitBritain issued a response to this report, according to which benefits of hosting Olympic Games include a long-term investment in the future of Britain's visitor economy. The UK inbound visitor economy is forecast (precisely this kind of pre-event forecasts are actually criticised by ETOA) to benefit by almost GBP 2 billion over the period 2008-2017, the majority of this economic benefit will not come during the six weeks of the Games themselves, but in the window of opportunity that will be created before and after the Olympics. For VisitBritain, realising the tangible tourism benefits of the Olympics will require a properly researched strategy and investment and work on this has already started
http://www.iru.org/index/en_eu_newsletter/id.4

Bruce D



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Locally college games are being cancelled because of the flu. Schools are reporting 25% plus absenteeism New Brunswick has already closed some schools and Other provinces may soon follow. Emergency rooms are swamped and arrangements to use hotels as treatment centres are being made. These Olympics may not take place at all if the swine flu hits like it is expected and it seems to be doing just that. .
Bruce D
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The Olympics is all about funneling huge amounts of money into the pockets of the members of the IOC. Ever wonder why the proceeds from sale of broadcast rights aren't used to defray the costs of building facilities? It's because the members of the IOC won't tolerate a lifestyle below "better than kings".

Just why any politician falls for the Olympic scam is beyond my comprehension: the host city/province/state/country is invariably left holding the bag for enormous cost over runs, and the purported long term benefits are simply pipe dreams that don't come true.

Don't believe me? Remember the Commonwealth Games? Supposed to turn Victoria into "an international tourist destination." Yeah, sure. Tell me another one.

I'm all in favor of giving the best athletes a venue to strut their stuff, but the entire Olympic movement has been pre-empted by the greedy sons of bitches on the iOC. (And, quite likely, national Olympic committees as well)

I'll become less cynical when the members of the IOC and national Olympic committees serve without remuneration, without even reimbursement of expenses, and the income from the Olympics goes to pay the costs. Until then? It's a simple scam.

I see a lot of postings on here about how the RICH are getting richer blah, blah, blah. Half of you people have NOTHING to bitch about. You need to consider the IMPACT this has had on those businesses that had to suffer through the construction and who are now going to suffer because they are in the 'SECURE ZONE'.

What about those communities that exist between Whistler and Vancouver? Did you even stop for a second to think of the impact this is having on US???

Squamish got FUCKED out of building that Oval rink by WHISTLER. Now with this lame ass transportation plan, the buses leave Vancouver and DO NOT STOP in any of the communities along the Sea to Sky Highway. Where is the benefit of having supposedly MILLIONS of people come into the area if they turned the Sea to Sky into a fucking BY PASS???? Not ONE...NONE...ZERO....business along the Sea to Sky corridor is going to see 1 fricken penny from this Olympic Ass Clown Show. That is why most of Squamish told the IOC to stuff their 'Home Stay program" Why the fuck should we open our homes to complete strangers who are going to contribute NOTHING to the local economy.

"What about that fancy new highway you guys got?" Ive heard this a million times already. WE didn't ask for it! The project was in the planning stages when Van/Whist decided to ADD it as part of the incentive to get the Olympics. That project was FORCED into action by those that wanted this Olympic Money Vacuum. NOW we are being told WHEN WE CAN AND CANNOT DRIVE THE HIGHWAY!!! WTF IS THAT!! For those of us the WORK in Whistler....we have to have a pass to drive to our lively hood....and on top of that...THEY ARE MAKING US BUY THE FUCKING PASSES!. That's right....we have to BUY A PASS to GET TO WORK!!!

SO you bunch of whiney buttercups. You better look at the bigger picture of how this AFFECTING your little lives besides having foot the bill in the NEAR FUTURE for this 5 ringed circus and look at the effect its having on those that LIVE/WORK IN THE AREA!

P.S You notice how I didn't say anything about the homeless...well that issue doesn't impact us that much along the Sea to Sky and my knowledge is limited. So I'll leave that argument to those that know.

And the fucking media that trumpets how wonderful it is to be Canadian!!

Yeah, right, you assholes. How about reporting on the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) that destroys Canadian sovereignty? This country has been sold and you fucking assholes tell me I should be proud? Go fuck yourselves!

I hope the Olympics is a fucking disaster.

And yes, I pray there will be torrential rains for the entire fucking thing.

And anyone looking forward to it.....don't you care about your community? The education system sucks, our health care sucks, new taxes every year, and our standard of living decreases weekly...and you're happy our tax dollars are paying for two weeks of fucking BS that will make the rich richer and you poorer? Stupid fucking sheep. WAKE THE FUCK UP!

Hey Ziggy I can see how upset you are about Vancouver 2010. I can feel the seething rage coming through in your post. I just wanted you to know that I'm laughing in your face!

Haha! Buddy-boy, you're gonna want to hide in a cave with fingers in both of your ears because come February we'll all be eatin', shittin', living, lovin' 20 freakin' 10!

Have a great time!! lol!

2010 Olympic Prevarications!


Vexing over Olympic cost overruns and political lies, deception and manipulation by the B.C. Government plus cover-ups in the political system to push the elite interests of corporations and Olympic economic of interests.

To be perfectly ‘’honest’’ wait until party is over. Its will leave a legacy of debt loads, human misery by lack of funding for much needed social programs, health care and education not to mention a major erosion of environmental policies.

Curtailing free of speech and interference with peaceful protest. These security measures including security zones are violations of the ‘’People’s Charter of Rights’’.A police state is definitely happening in Vancouver, B.C. The civil liberties of Canadians are being eroded.

Just a friendly reminder of last spring 2009 election that the B.C. Government and official oppositions agreed before campaigning that they would not debate any related 2010 Olympic issues. This is not how a democracy works.

Vancouver and Whistler area could possibly be dealing with ‘’Flu- Pandemic’’ visitors from around the world would be spread man-made human infections.

Power of the mind your thoughts or prayer-whatever works for you? Yes ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ of the mind could change weather patterns to mildly warm conditions in southern B.C. rain, fog and windstorms could occur. Instead of complaining about 2010 Olympic Games we should direct our anger and frustration by focusing our intent on ‘’Mass Consciousness’’ for unfavorable weather conditions.

2010 Winter Olympic Games Legacy of debt occurring burden to working tax payers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NOSaZDPDo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxD9cVMUoU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqpOlbPuV0k

funny story from a co-worker..."my son and i where watching the news,and we watched the olympic torch being run.my son says to me,hey dad,that torch looks like a giant dubbie!(marijuana cigarette)" after a few laughs i checked it out a little closer and what do you know...the autistic son was right! how ironic! maybe Ross Nicklebaglioti should be a torch runner...question?...when passing the torch to another runner, does the word "ear!" get a mention!.....instead of calling it the torch run, maybe it should be called the "Dubbie Run"

Biggest surprise was the news the other night when they talked about the "Olympic Police" They have their own police force now???
Bruce DeVenne


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So now I wonder if Chris Shaw and his buddies will be buying up the local supply of marbles to continue harassing police horses?

Thanks, Bruce. I'll check it out.

I never knew marbles could do that to horses until I read it in the paper - kinda sad poor things I bet they feel like those dolphins trained to put mines on enemy ships :-)

Hey Protestors, Protest THIS!!

I don't get it. Protestors demand they be given free speech while simultaneously denying it to someone else!

Otherwise you just come off as a bunch of whiny crybabies.

Not only do the pro side have free speech but they have tax dollars to get what they want to say into print and the electronic media as if it were gospel instead on the mutterings of professional turd polishers.
Bruce D


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