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

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

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!

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.

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

Bruce you are a crybaby wanker!

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

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!

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.

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 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?

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 524 days to go!

See you there!!

 
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

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!

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 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.

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 >

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 628 days to go!

See you there!!

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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

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.

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.

tx7h001ya3k ycijdrg88q 6qj5lt6h3qak

Hey kr601 you're leaving Vancouver?

Not soon enough!

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 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!!

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!

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.

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 >

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 754 day to go!

See you there!!

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.

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

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 803 day to go!

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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

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

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

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 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.

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

Vancouver 2010 - The Sea To Sky Games

Only 932 days to go!

See you there!!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fuck David Cunningham and the APC!!

What a loser in life.

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....

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
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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
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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 K