Freepers made me laugh outloud today. Particularly when it came to condemning China for their poor level of air quality because they have no apparent government environmental regulations whatsoever, and built built built without any concern for the environment or their people's health. Thanks, China. You have no idea what it means to see these kinds of comments from Freepers. There but for the grace of god and concerned citizens having the freedom to fight corporations.....
Oh yeah, and the comments about how corrupt the IOC is make my heart warm. I won't forget how Juan Antonio Samaranch quietly but profoundly dissed the City of Atlanta in 1996, at the conclusion of the games. China is starting out worse. The City of Atlanta worked really hard on those Games, and one psycho domestic terrorist had to screw it up and take a poor woman's life. Atlanta never tried to control all news coming in and out of the Games, though (though Richard Jewel was nearly destroyed in the knee-jerk aftermath of The Bombing, he was vindicated).
I wonder what the IOC's official proclamation of the games is going to be at its conclusion. Just how good is China's quality of hookers and blow?
The first comments are stolen from the Freeper's Live Thread (dang, only 22 replies?)
* Just saw a live report on FNC. The reporter was on a balcony and he asked the camera to scan over to the majestic Birds Nest Stadium. The smog was so thick you could hardly make it out! What a disaster!
5 posted on Friday, August 08, 2008 4:53:52 AM by Red_Devil 232
* Watching live ore-coverage on Taiwan TV. The air pollution is absolutely horrible. Looks like southern California fire smoke in the air. Visibility from hotel balcony is about 300 yards. Action starts in about 30 minutes.
16 posted on Friday, August 08, 2008 5:28:16 AM by Tainan
* It makes me wonder....what if "something" happens...will the Chinese attempt to "shut off" news coming out of Beijing? Would that even be possible? Could they shut off ALL outbound channels for EVERYONE? I mean...these Olympics are the first ones since 1980 that are being held in a police state. The last time before that? Berlin 1936.
17 posted on Friday, August 08, 2008 5:28:23 AM by hoagy62
The second set of comments are stolen from China: Beijing smog makes for a painful jog
NEWSITEM: "Beijing smog makes for a painful jog
Times of London
by Will Pavia in Beijing
"...On Monday even the smog was hard to discern — that is, it was hard to see the smog for the smog. On Wednesday afternoon we briefly glimpsed the fuzzy outline of the sun and gawped at it like goldfish staring out into the living room after our bowl had been cleaned.
Quite how the athletes are going to cope with this has been a hot topic in sporting circles. The Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, 34, the marathon world record holder, pulled out of the event over pollution concerns earlier this year. On Tuesday the Portuguese cyclist and Athens silver medallist Sergio Paulinho also withdrew from the Games, citing a respiratory problem that he feared could be exacerbated by the pollution...."
*It's mist.
(image of poster for Stephen King's 'The Mist', tagline: "Fear Changes Everything")
5 posted on Thursday, August 07, 2008 9:33:04 PM by null and void
*What an absolute filthy and repulsive city. How the Olympic selection committee could have picked Beijing as the host city is mind boggling. Unless they actually wanted to show the rest of the world on how polluted China is an effort to stop it. We will be watching, if we can actually see anything through the thick haze, competition in a filthy pig stye...Great TV, lol. Look forward to "seeing" the runners weezing and coughing in the smog. (a dreadful photo of smog in china included)
10 posted on Thursday, August 07, 2008 9:47:09 PM by scott says
* And don’t forget kids!
China was exempted from the Kyoto Protocalls (sic) (sic) that we were criticized for not signing. But China, the worker’s paradise, can ruin their environment to their heart’s content. Its the West that has to do something about it!!
15 posted on Thursday, August 07, 2008 9:54:46 PM by Reaganesque
* All kidding aside, if possible, it really is a horrible place to have outdoor competition. I guess they thought that it was some sort of opportunity to bring China along...open the society up. Of course the Chinese went crazy in attempt to show off their "progress" and completely went wild in their building .I read that a very large river was dammed to divert the water to Beijing and something like 3 million people were displaced! It is mind boggling.
China has ZERO environmental regulations and has been building like wild. It is actually terrifying to take a look at the place. So many people and out of control building with a absolutely no concern for public safety. I will tune in just to get a look at the spectacle, it really is very sad. We need to help liberate those people...man. The story of the Olympics will not be—look how good China is and has progressed , but look on how filthy and bad China is-—
18 posted on Thursday, August 07, 2008 10:25:16 PM by scott says
* Meanwhile in the city (Toronto) that was edged out by Beijing for the 2008 Olympics the air quality index is in the very good range last I checked here (readings for Toronto are on the lower part of the page)
(link to the weather network re current Canadian air quality)
21 posted on Thursday, August 07, 2008 11:27:28 PM by xp38
* The IOC gave the Chicoms the olympics because the provided the biggest bribes, most talented hookers, and a bunch of false promises the IOC grandstanded about to justify their boondoggle of a choice. They are the one organization more corrupt than the UN. I was laughing when they showed todays press conference of the head scumbag of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, claiming that it was fog, not pollution. What a POS.
25 posted on Friday, August 08, 2008 12:41:27 AM by Proud_USA_Republican
* Quite right about Toronto being a much better venue...on many many levels compared to this mess of a choice. Political chicanery wins again.
30 posted on Friday, August 08, 2008 4:07:41 AM by Tainan
And finally, courtesy of CaipiraBob........snarkalicious:
* Well, it looks like the Beijing Olympics are right on track for the anticipated conclusion:
Opening ceremonies
The marathon
The Triathlon
Awards ceremonies
Y'all come back now, y'hear!
***Note: I did not know that China is exempt from Kyoto. According to Wiki "One hundred thirty-seven developing countries have ratified the protocol, including Brazil, China and India, but have no obligation beyond monitoring and reporting emissions. .... In 2004 the total greenhouse gas emissions from the People's Republic of China were about 54% of the USA emissions. However, China is now building on average one coal-fired power plant every week, and plans to continue doing so for years. Various predictions see China overtaking the US in total greenhouse emissions between late 2007 and 2010, and according to many other estimates, this already occurred in 2006. The Chinese government insists that the gas emissions level of any given country is a multiplication of its per capita emission and its population. Because China has put into place population control measures while maintaining low emissions per capita, it claims it should therefore in both of the above aspects be considered a contributor to the world's environment."
......... does China have a point, or is China playing games? I think China is playing games -- dangerous games -- for the sake of development. But who has the right to tell them NOT to develop? Only China. What is a solution to this?