Bculz, by virtue of winning the Full Court Press NCAA pool, is our guest blogger for the day. Here is his thread:
Should the USA boycott the 2008 Olympics in Communist China in light of serious human rights violations and the on going but recently amped up Free Tibet movement?
I've read reports that nearly 1 million Tibetian Monks have been killed and nearly 9000 buddhist Monastaries have been destroyed by the Red Chinese Goverment.
Geez, BCulz, I don't know. If Chicago gets the 2016 Olympics should all other countries boycott those Olympics because we killed, murdered or otherwise drove out Native Americans from their homeland 200+ years ago? Or because we owned slaves? Or because our government holds in jail thousands of alleged "terrorists" who appear to be detained on the slimmest of legal reason?
If we want to go looking for politically motivated reasons to boycott the Olympic Games no country will be able to serve as host -- except maybe France, because it tries so hard to not offend anyone and seems to always tuck tail and run when the going gets rough.
Whether we boycott the Olympics will not affect my perception of China one iota. Neither will the fact that China is hosting the Olympics. It is a country that is run by a powerful and wealthy few at the expense of the masses. Gee, what other country sounds like that?
Quit navel gazing and ask a better question next time.
Being as we are, a democratic nation, and seeing as what truly is at stake here (can a protest really change the Chinese gov't?), the once in a lifetime dreams of those participating American athletes, I say let the athletes, and only the athletes, decide on an Olympic boycott!
There are other ways we can protest and sanction these activities without hurting what may be ones pinnacle in life.
They're called the Games, not propaganda!
Is the anything more nauseating and irrelevant than what the Olympics have become? Lots of drug-enhanced "amateurs" or, for you NBA fans, another chance for our latest dream team to get embarrassed by actual TEAMS.
Actually there is something more nauseating...watching clowns like Daly and Pat Ryan whore up the city for the chance to host this nonsense.
He should boycott but wont because its going to be in Chicago like Backslash has said. Too much money, and the Chinese could flood us with T-bills and ruin our economy. They have juice. Its wrong as two left shoes what China is doing (pun intended), and the UN with our help should ask them to stop it. Pressure has to come from the World to shame them.
The games are supposed to be an international sporting event not a political platform. How will China be hurt if only the U.S. boycotts the games anyway? You want to send China a message? Don't by anything that says "Made In China" or "Made In Hong Kong". The only ones hurt by boycotting the games are the athletes.
I say no. Why? Past experience. We did this to the Soviet Union in 1980 when Moscow hosted the summer games, then they did the same thing to us in '84 when the games were in Los Angeles. The boycotts caused a press frenzy and some diplomatic name-calling but not much else. And now I have dated myself and everyone knows I'm 80 and I live in Boca Raton.
I dont think I was given the ability to comment on your posts, but I will say...i am surprised no one brought up Jesse Owens going into Hitlers Perfect little Arian society and snatching 9 gold medals from his SS Athletes almost single handedly cracking the Nazi invincibilty mystic to both the world and the Germans themselves.
It does have a trojan horse element to it, doesnt it?
Good point Culzie, we have serious human rights violations everywhere in the world, but I think if we go over there and stomp a red, white, and blue one in their a****, to wipe off the smugness, we make a bigger message.
Only the history buff Culz could work Jesse Owens. I think boycotting the Olympics is always a non-issue, and even makes the storyline, which should be the games, less interesting.
Hey Seedy, outside Nopoleon B., the French dissed no one, but the French's own poor people.
In the entire history of boycotts, you'd be hard pressed to find even a handful that accomplished anything at all.
They are nothing more than symbolic gestures, designed to help the people making them feel better about them selves.
Rogge: Beijing Smog May Affect AthletesSome athletes are reportedly considering wearing masks to ward off the bad air in Beijing, while many will delay their arrival in China's capital until the ...
www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1366586 - 37k - Cached - Similar pages
US athletes plan to boycott Olympic food - Times OnlineFeb 22, 2008 ...Bring their own.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3412490.ece - Similar pages
First, where's my post? I swear I didn't boycott this topic! I wouldn't miss the chance to comment on Culzie's guest day....
Second, and this is on sort of a personal level - BC, is the plural of cactus cactus? I always thought it was cacti, but being out here now, I'm not sure. Anyway, they are so weird and beautiful, and I'm totally mesmerized by them is this desert of yours.
didn't get a chance to bring up Owens...but I would have...and no, we should not boycott...
my reaction to the Olympics is the same for the White Sox...."we still have those?"
Cactuses, Cactus, Cacti....all acceptable
and the desert is pretty compared to what?
The word you are looking for is...
"Saguaro"
Pronounced..
sah-wah-roh
The Saguaro, pronounced "sah-wah-roh", (Carnegiea gigantea) is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and California, United States and northern Mexico.
Saguaros are slow growing, taking up to 75 years to develop a side arm. The arms themselves are grown to increase the plants reproductive capacity (more apices equal more flowers and fruit).
The growth rate of saguaros is strongly dependent on local precipitation patterns, and saguaros in drier western Arizona grow only half as fast as those in and around Tucson, Arizona (Drezner, 2003).
(I woke up to this fire out my window)
Some specimens may live for more than 150 years[1]; the champion saguaro grows in Maricopa County, Arizona and is 13.8 m tall with a girth of 3.1 m. (It was injured as a result of the Cave Creek Complex fire in June 2005.) In addition to being slow growing, they are also slow to propagate. These two factors argue for the placement of the saguaro on the endangered species list, although they are not on any such list. Harming one in any manner (including cactus plugging) is illegal by state law in Arizona, and when houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected.
Where's my post from yesterday??? Can someone put Ricky on the job of finding it - he always does!
I think they should just give up on the torch relay thing. It's unnecessary and will no doubt end up in violence at some point. Seriously, is anyone going to care about the tradition if something tragic happens en route?
Roman responds: Hey Pit Vipress, take it easy. I may have to give you the password for this thing so you can post what you want.
SEEDY WROTE:
Geez, BCulz, I don't know. If Chicago gets the 2016 Olympics should all other countries boycott those Olympics because we killed, murdered or otherwise drove out Native Americans from their homeland 200+ years ago?
NO,BECAUSE CHICAGO DIDNT DO THAT, CHICAGO WAS A NATIVE PORT CITY FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE WHITE MAN GOT THERE.
Or because we owned slaves?
CHICAGO OWNED SLAVES?
Or because our government holds in jail thousands of alleged "terrorists" who appear to be detained on the slimmest of legal reason?
DO YOU HAVE ANY NAMES? YOU GIVE ME A NAME OF SOMEONE WHO IS UNFAIRLY IMPRISONED IN THE USA WHO WAS NOT AN ENEMY COMBATANT CAUGHT IN THE THEATRES OF WAR AND I WILL FIND YOU THE REASON THEY ARE IN JAIL.
If we want to go looking for politically motivated reasons to boycott the Olympic Games no country will be able to serve as host -- except maybe France,
WHY FRANCE? ARE YOU NUTS? FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR (THE WAR THAT STARTED WW1)
because it tries so hard to not offend anyone and seems to always tuck tail and run when the going gets rough. SARKOSY IS A STUD, HE WILL CHANGE FRANCES IMAGE
Whether we boycott the Olympics will not affect my perception of China one iota. Neither will the fact that China is hosting the Olympics. It is a country that is run by a powerful and wealthy few at the expense of the masses.
HARDLY, CHINA IS AN EMPERIAL COMMUNIST POWER
(In the 1920s, Sun Yat-Sen established a revolutionary base in south China, and set out to unite the fragmented nation. With Soviet assistance, he entered into an alliance with the fledgling Communist Party of China)
Gee, what other country sounds like that?
THIS ISNT RUSSIA IS IT BETTY?
LAST TIME I CHECKED WE LIVED IN A FREE DEMOCRACY, TRY AGAIN.
Quit navel gazing and ask a better question next time.
MY QUESTION WAS TIMELY AND INTERESTING, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE SUGGESTED?
Posted by: Seedy Backslash | April 9, 2008 01:21 PM
:)
Posted by: Anthony Navarro | April 9, 2008 02:09 PM
Being as we are, a democratic nation, and seeing as what truly is at stake here (can a protest really change the Chinese gov't?), the once in a lifetime dreams of those participating American athletes, I say let the athletes, and only the athletes, decide on an Olympic boycott!
GREAT POINT
Pressure has to come from the World to shame them.
Posted by: Keith Lifetime Southsider | April 9, 2008 03:12 PM
RIGHT
You want to send China a message? Don't by anything that says "Made In China" or "Made In Hong Kong". The only ones hurt by boycotting the games are the athletes.
Posted by: Tim Little | April 9, 2008 03:17 PM
AGREED
I say no. Why? Past experience. We did this to the Soviet Union in 1980 when Moscow hosted the summer games, then they did the same thing to us in '84 when the games were in Los Angeles. The boycotts caused a press frenzy and some diplomatic name-calling but not much else.
I DONT KNOW ABOUT THIS. #1 THE COLD WAR DID END NOT TOO MUCH LATER. #2 BECAUSE THE USSR BOYCOTTED THE 1984 OLYMPICS...I ATE FOR FREE THAT WHOLE SUMMER AT MCDONALDS WITH THEIR USA GOLD MEDAL = FREE FOOD CONTEST SO, IM GONNA HAVE TO DISAGREE WIT YA'
And now I have dated myself and everyone knows I'm 80 and I live in Boca Raton.
Posted by: Bubba's Mom | April 9, 2008 03:20 PM
TRU
I HAVE TO GIVE CREDIT TO BUBBA'S MOM FOR REMINDING ME OF THE JESSE OWENS TIDBIT THOUGH...
Only the history buff Culz could work Jesse Owens. I think boycotting the Olympics is always a non-issue, and even makes the storyline, which should be the games, less interesting.
Hey Seedy, outside Nopoleon B., the French dissed no one, but the French's own poor people.
Posted by: Chuck | April 9, 2008 06:54 PM
THANKS CHUCK..YOUR RIGHT...BUT THE FRENCH ARE THE WORLDS BEST PROTESTORS AND THEY PUT THE TORCH OUT 5 TIMES.
It does have a trojan horse element to it, doesnt it?
Posted by: bculz | April 9, 2008 03:38 PM
GREAT POINT CULZIE!
a personal level - BC, is the plural of cactus cactus? I always thought it was cacti, but being out here now, I'm not sure. Anyway, they are so weird and beautiful, and I'm totally mesmerized by them is this desert of yours.
Posted by: Julie B. | April 9, 2008 11:11 PM
ITS NOT MY DESERT..ITS EVERYONES!
I DIDNT GET ANY PASSWORDS?!!
RICKY...GIMME D' KEYS...HE DONT EVEN HAVE HIS LICENSE LISA!!!
Roman responds: Ricky knows better.
Bculz:
Good point about Jesse Owens. However, I've always wondered how much of the "Jesse the annihilator" of the "pure Aryan Race" was a product of revisionist historians. Don't get me wrong, what he accomplished was great and I've always enjoyed the fact he did it right in front of Hitler's face, but, come on, we didn't allow blacks to play pro baseball for another 10 years, to vote for another 30+ years. Why did we so enthusiastically promote Owens in one instance, while we swept under the rug our transgressions against the rest of his race? Sounds pretty freaking politically convenient. And Roosevelt wasn't above using those sorts of tactics. Fast forward 76 years and it looks like politicians haven't forgotten the lesson.
I hate seeing the Olympics used as a political tool by politicians who often are "tools" themselves.
Hey, you're up to 15 responses, including the 7 you added yourself. That's 12 more than I expected.
wow china, weird science, cacti, what a topic... who woulda thought the olympics would get soooo much of a diverse response... you guys rock, oh and the ladies too
That's 13 including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Seedy here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet. ...?
That's 13 including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Seedy here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet. ...
Seedy...
tell that to the...
Jesse Owens Foundation
http://www.jesse-owens.org/about1.html
They have a word in yiddish for people like you.....it starts with a SCHM and rymes with DUCK.
From the JOF owns website...
Jesse Owens, the son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave achieved what no Olympian before him had accomplished. His stunning victories and achievement of four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin has made him the best remembered of all Olympic athletes. His outstanding performance during the 1936 Olympic games not only discredited heinous claims of the dictator, Adolph Hitler, it also affirmed that individual excellence rather than race or national origin, distinguishes one man or woman from another. Jesse Owens was a dreamer who could make the dreams of others come true. As a speaker he could make the world listen and through his living example he held out hope to millions of young people. Throughout his life, he worked with youths, sharing of himself and the little material wealth that he had. He was as much the champion on the playground in the poorest neighborhoods as he was on the oval of the Olympic games. A true legend in his own time.
Wow, up to 25 responses, half of which are by Bculz in defense of his post. Must be nice to have your cake and defend it too. Hey, Roman, you should follow Bculz's strategy and only post your comments in defense of your posts.
For topics, I might have picked from one of the following:
Who's more over-rated Piniella or Guillen and why?
Who's more over-rated Mariotti or the Tribune's David Haugh?
False Gods and empty heroes -- in an era where few if any athletes are what they appear to be, what holds our attention?
Probably would go with the third one because it's a thinking person's question. Probably would have drawn few responses, but I believe Chuck, Stuck, Julie B and maybe even you would have posted some thoughtful responses.
HE'S RIGHT, CULZIE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A PERMIT.
SHE'S RIGHT, CULZIE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A LEARNER'S PERMIT.
I kindof hope we don't boycott the games. How will I ever find out who the worlds best ping pong player is? Besides, I was looking forward to heading down to the tavern and having a few with the boys and checking out the synchronized swimming. We are all also big fans of that thing when they prance around on the mat with the ball and hoop thingys.
Of course if the air is bad and the athletes can't breathe, then all that training and doping will be for naught.
A. Seedy, I DID post a thoughtful response, however it seems until I get the password for this thing, it ain't showin' up.
B. It is unlawful in the State of Illinois, or at least in Shermer, Illinois, to mix John Hughes movie quotes.
C. If I had won this thing, it wouldn't have occurred to me to respond to my own comment.
D. I knew cactuses wasn't wrong! And thanks for the history/botany lesson - I was having trouble sleeping.
E. Is it "Bosco"???
Seedy, my comment would've been about Marion Jones for sure. But really, who says "tool" anymore?
Shenanigans!
I can't sleep. Read the Saguaro thing 8 times. Googled the movie scripts from Weird Science and The Breakfast Club one time each. Came to the realization that I can't use the quote I really want to for fear of being banned for life (but it had to do with the family jewels). Don't know the channels or TV schedule out here and I've now seen every episode of The Girls Next Door. Saw a snake in the parking lot tonight. Why did I just think of that? Yeah, I better go......
I agree with Seedy...make him your next guest author.
Seedy.....your total posts count for a third of my thread so thanks!
i have an idea for you...
Try winning something?
then you can Guest Blog your heart out...otherwise...stop being so JEALOUS!!!
"It is a country that is run by a powerful and wealthy few at the expense of the masses." --
That bears a startling resemblance to the United States. Or at the very least to Cook County.
Culzie (may I call you Culzie?), because of your unusually locquacious but extremely entertaining performance on this blog, you have given new meaning to the term "I am beside myself!" Next time I use that phrase, I will think of you.
I'm glad my post triggered fond memories of eating for free at McDonalds in the summer of '84, and I loved the way you invoked Jesse Owens. I'll stand my ground, though, on my belief that Olympic boycotts are essentially noise in the system.
AM Arizona, Good Morning Arizona, Arizona Morning, Better Arizona - my God, how many local morning shows do you need???
Bubba's Mom | April 11, 2008 08:12 AM - I agree with Bubba's Mom. The price is too high to pay. And Jesse Owens - represented.
He showed the world that Hitler was wrong about "racial superiority". Hitler and his foolishness perished with him. He was a PUNK - who jumped up to get beat down!
Regardless of whether American Olympians participate, and I forecast that they shall, I will boycott these Summer Olympics as a fan by refusing to watch them on TV at all. The Chinese Reds are only slightly less fascist than Hitler and his Nazis, with their taking over another country in 1959, with another language and culture (Tibet), and suppression of its culture and political decent, and engineering the making of Tibetans a minority, with their language and customs, now even in their own country. That added with lack of political and religious freedom in China as a whole (see the Falon Gong movement), the imprisonment of political dissidents, even their killing by harvesting political prisoners' vital organs for transplants for wealthy Chinese loyal to the regime, and their vital support for the cruel regime of militarily-inbred North Korea, and I don't want any part of these self-glorifying endorsement of the government of China that is the 2008 Olympics, even with reports of any U.S. gold metals here or there or not.
Tom Blumenthal
Philadelphia, PA
Boycotting the Olympic games will accomplish nothing. In the end, the US will need China as much as China needs the US. The Olympics are a sporting event and TRADITION. It's not a place to demonstrate political issues. Besides, the Olympics itself have their own internal issues on corruption, doping, etc. Boycotting on human rights issues almost becomes hypocritical if the athletes are already competing under these same issues.
Seedy sez: "False Gods and empty heroes -- in an era where few if any athletes are what they appear to be, what holds our attention?
Probably would go with the third one because it's a thinking person's question. Probably would have drawn few responses, but I believe Chuck, Stuck, Julie B and maybe even you would have posted some thoughtful responses."
What am I ... an orphan?
After the Athletes make their decision to participate in their sports the US government offcials should also make a decision - why go to the Olympics only to boycot the opening games.
The US should protest the games being held in a country that is currently cleaning up cities by imprisonment or murder. Protest has worked wonders to expose problems and draw attention to issues. Always remain hopeful!
The Athletes (coaches, trainers, etc) should go to China - wear an armband that supports their hope for change in China and certainly finally FREE Tibet. The media attention to this event is best used to peacefully send a message to the world.
The rest of world (spectators, vendors, government officials,) should stay home! Protest the Olympics by not traveling to China (unless your vital to an athlete) and not buying products from China during the games. (watch that last step it is a douzzy)
Please no more magnetic car ribbons.
And if you choose to protest by turning off the TV - Go for it!
Going Green for the Olympics has a nice ring for a campaign!!
Brilliant post BCOlorado.
I'm currently working on a pair of 12 story condominiums, and I'd guestimate that at least 90 percent of the material and fixtures in this dump are made in China. They are garbage.
We no longer manufacture anything here, and aside from agriculture, we create little if anything on our own soil (unless you wish to include mindless television shows).
We have become a "service oriented" economy. All we make here are hamburgers and hot dogs, while the rest of us take care of the dry cleaning, mow the lawn, and detail cars that are built overseas. Then we fill them with gas that's pumped in Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
"Would you like fries with that, sir?"
Mark..your understanding of our economy is staggering.
Do you know that the US is still a major manufacturer of Steele 2 of the top 10 companys are US. other indusries include aternitive Energy,Textiles, Pharmacueticals, but the most important is the manufacturing of IDEAS. And the US leads the world in that department hands down. Just look up Technology patents world wide.
but truth be told...
If we arent the leaders of Automotive, Oil and Lumber anymore, we should blame liberal eco terrorists who have prevented us from Drilling or Mining in our own soil or the Taxes we allow to be out on our auto exports while we dont make foreign manufacturers pay the same burdens to import. Also, fyi, Canadians are buying luxury cars in the USA and driving them back over the border faster than you can spell NASCAR.
In the end, nobody said it better than Tom Blumenthal!!
Take a look at what some Jewish Historians have to say about our decision to NOT boycott the 1936 games.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/olympics.html
Here is a snippet...
For two weeks in August 1936, Adolf Hitler's Nazi dictatorship camouflaged its racist, militaristic character while hosting the Summer Olympics. Soft-pedaling its antisemitic agenda and plans for territorial expansion, the regime exploited the Games to bedazzle many foreign spectators and journalists with an image of a peaceful, tolerant Germany.
Having rejected a proposed boycott of the 1936 Olympics, the United States and other western democracies missed the opportunity to take a stand that — some observers at the time claimed — might have given Hitler pause and bolstered international resistance to Nazi tyranny. With the conclusion of the Games, Germany's expansionist policies and the persecution of Jews and other “enemies of the state” accelerated, culminating in World War II and the Holocaust.
Germany 1933-36
On May 13, 1931, the International Olympic Committee, headed by Count Henri Baillet-Latour of Belgium, awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. The choice signaled Germany's return to the world community after defeat in World War I.
Two years later, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany and quickly turned the nation's fragile democracy into a one-party dictatorship. Police rounded up thousands of political opponents, detaining them without trial in concentration camps. The Nazi regime also put into practice racial policies that aimed to “purify” and strengthen the Germanic “Aryan” population. A relentless campaign began to exclude Germany’’s one-half million Jews from all aspects of German life.
Nazification of Sport
The Nazification of all aspects of German life extended even to sport. A staunch Nazi close to Hitler, Hans von Tschammer und Osten, headed the Reich Sports Office, which oversaw all sports bodies and clubs, including the German Olympic Committee planning the 1936 Games.
“German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie necessary in the struggle for its existence.” — Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, April 23, 1933
The government harnessed sport as part of its drive to strengthen the “Aryan race,” to exercise political control over its citizens, and to prepare German youth for war. “Non-Aryans” — Jewish or part-Jewish and Gypsy athletes — were systematically excluded from German sports facilities and associations. They were allowed marginal training facilities, and their opportunities to compete were limited.
Indoctrination
German sports imagery in the 1930s promoted the myth of Aryan racial superiority and physical power. Artists idealized athletes' well-developed muscle tone and heroic strength and accentuated so-called Aryan facial features — blue eyes and blond hair. Such imagery also reflected the importance the Nazi regime placed on physical fitness.
Hitler initially held the Olympics in low regard because of their internationalism, but he became an avid supporter after Joseph Goebbels, his Minister of Propaganda, convinced him of their propaganda value. The regime provided full financial support for the event, 20,000,000 Reichsmarks ($8,000,000).
Exclusion of Jews
Soon after Hitler took power, the drive began to exclude Jews from German sport and recreational facilities. The German Boxing Association expelled amateur champion Eric Seelig in April 1933 because he was Jewish. Seelig later resumed his boxing career in the United States. Another Jew, Daniel Prenn, Germany's top-ranked tennis player, was removed from Germany's Davis Cup Team. Gypsies, including the Sinti boxer Johann “Rukelie” Trollmann, were also purged from German sports. In June 1933, Trollman, the German middleweight boxing champion, was banned from boxing for “racial reasons.”
Jewish athletes, barred from German sports clubs, flocked to separate Jewish associations, but Jewish sports facilities were no match for those of the well-funded German groups. Gretel Bergmann was a world-class high jumper who was expelled from her sports club in Ulm in 1933. Afterwards, she trained briefly with the Stuttgart branch of Der Schild (The Shield), a sports association organized under the auspices of the Jewish Association of War Veterans.
Deciding Whether To Boycott
Soon after Hitler took power in 1933, observers in the United States and other western democracies questioned the morality of supporting Olympic Games hosted by the Nazi regime. Responding to reports of the persecution of Jewish athletes in 1933, Avery Brundage, president of the American Olympic Committee, stated: “The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race.” Brundage, like many others in the Olympics movement, initially considered moving the Games from Germany. After a brief and tightly managed inspection of German sports facilities in 1934, Brundage stated publicly that Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the Games should go on, as planned.
Debate over participation in the 1936 Olympics was greatest in the United States, which traditionally sent one of the largest teams to the Games. By the end of 1934, the lines on both sides were clearly drawn. Brundage opposed a boycott, arguing that politics had no place in sport. “The Olympic Games belong to the athletes and not to the politicians.” He wrote in the AOC's pamphlet Fair Play for American Athletes that American athletes should not become involved in “the present Jew-Nazi altercation.” As the Olympics controversy heated up in 1935, Brundage alleged the existence of a “Jewish-Communist conspiracy” to keep the United States out of the Games.
Brundage's rival, Judge Jeremiah Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, pointed out that Germany had broken Olympic rules forbidding discrimination based on race and religion. In his view, participation would mean an endorsement of Hitler's Reich.
Judge Mahoney was one of a number of Catholic leaders supporting a boycott. Al Smith, governor of New York, and James Curley, governor of Massachusetts, also opposed sending a team to Berlin. The Catholic journal The Commonweal (November 8, 1935) advised boycotting an Olympics that would “set the seal of approval upon the radically anti-Christian Nazi doctrine of youth.”
Beginning in 1933, the American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee, joined by the non-sectarian Anti-Nazi League, staged mass rallies to protest Nazi persecution of Jews, political opponents, and others. These groups supported the boycott of the 1936 Games as part of a general boycott of German goods. Other Jewish groups, such as the American Jewish Committee and B'nai B'rith, did not formally support a boycott, in part because they feared that such a posture might trigger an antisemitic backlash in both the United States and Germany.
Individual Jewish athletes made their own decisions. For example, Milton Green, captain of the Harvard University track team, took first place in the 110-meter high hurdles in regional pre-Olympic trials. His teammate, Norman Cahners, also Jewish, qualified for the final Olympics trials as well. Both chose to boycott the national Olympic trials.
Many of the liberal and left-wing political groups that denounced Hitler's fascist dictatorship linked their opposition to the Berlin Olympics with the wider economic boycott of Germany.
Mark says;
"I'm currently working on a pair of 12 story condominiums, and I'd guestimate that at least 90 percent of the material and fixtures in this dump are made in China. They are garbage."
Well Mr. Villano, it's either that or you take a 66 percent pay cut. That's just the way it is.
Hopefully everyone pulls up to the job in Fords, GMC's, and Chevy's, along with the PERSONALLY bought tools screaming "Made in the U.S.A.".
That 90 percent doesn't sound so bad after all, does it?
Anthony sez: "Hopefully everyone pulls up to the job in Fords, GMC's, and Chevy's, along with the PERSONALLY bought tools screaming "Made in the U.S.A."
All of the hardware (locking mechanisms) for the windows and exterior balcony doors came from China and failed. They didn't function properly, even though they were attached to their own windows and doors, and they immediately began to show signs of corrosion.
What did the general contractor do? ... They replaced it all with hardware made in Italy.
I'm half Italian, but I'd rather see Made In America on at least some of this material. At least the drywall is made by USG, and not imported, but the labor they use to install it is.
My insomnia is cured! Thanks, BC.
50 posts!
if you combined the 32 from Rock Chalk Culzie...
man...thats not bad...especially for being on Vacation.
i would have to say though, that i didnt really get the thrill of being the Blogger, since i couldnt comment under the posts.
I mean..in reality, all I did was come up with the Post idea...
but if you ask Roman...i come up with Post Ideas...on the regular!!!
Roman responds: Culzie, I haven't counted, but aren't at least 75 percent of those posts by you?
Xbox issues also born in China (bad wiring)...fix done in Texas.
Jewels you are wrong! I like this conversation its about pride and fighting the power! America is changing for the worse. MONEY is the bottom line for everything and everyone. A lot of folks have sold America OUT and got PAID!
New Definition for SCuBA = Selfcontained Culzie Breathing Apparatus
Culzie, come up for air!
Can someone do a well-being check on him?
"If we arent the leaders of Automotive, Oil and Lumber anymore, we should blame liberal eco terrorists who have prevented us from Drilling or Mining in our own soil.."
Have you been to southern Ohio? Western Pennsylvania? Michigan's Upper Penninsula? Anywhere in West Virginia? Any shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico other than Florida? And that's all east of the Mississippi.....drilling and mining interests in this country must be balanced by preservation and protection. That's why we have enivoronmental laws, emasculated as they are under the current administration...that's why we still have an Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which by the way would not have enough petroleum supply to satisfy demand in this country for very long. Come back off the ledge with the eco-terrorist stuff. Pleeze.
Roman:
This was an extremely good idea -- you know, giving Bculz a shot as blogger for the day.
Hope it's a cold day in h-e-double toothpicks before you do it again. At the very least, find someone who doesn't have such a thin skin.
Snore.
Jewels i am interested. What would have been your blog topic?
I wasn't talking about the topic, in fact I said that I liked Culzie's topic IN MY POST THAT NEVER GOT POSTED, ROMAN! My comment was a good one, but for reasons I will never understand, the rest of you weren't able to enjoy it. I was talking about the snoozer 18-paragraph history lesson that BC pilfered and pasted here yesterday - what was the point? After weeding through most of it, we learned that some groups supported a boycott, others did not. Not a revolutionary point here, Keith. In fact, isn't that basically representative of the entire conversation we've currently been having on the subject? The Olympics are supposed to be non-political. Just as a boycott of the Berlin Olympics by the United States or any other nation would not have prevented the Holocaust or WWII, boycotting the Beijing Olympics would do nothing to put an end to the atrocities in Tibet.
The Vixen sez: "Just as a boycott of the Berlin Olympics by the United States or any other nation would not have prevented the Holocaust or WWII, boycotting the Beijing Olympics would do nothing to put an end to the atrocities in Tibet."
Amen.
P.S. I think 75% is a little high - it's more like 40% bculz, including the post about Saguaro cactuses, Weird Science and Breakfast Club quotes, and the comment from BColorado. Still, it's a majority, considering the other 60% is made up of all the rest of us.
Wait, now I'm the Pit Vixen? Which is better, Vixen or Vipress? The Vixen Vipress, maybe? Okay, that's overkill.
I think it's either Vixette or Viprette. Vixette is from the latin root "vixetta" meaning one who blogs under various names, scrutinizes all posts for misspelled words, types in a hen-pecking manner and skates in figures. By contrast, "viprette" comes from a Germanic root: "Vipretenzauen" meaning one who attacks in a thoughtful, but unrelenting blitzkrieg-like manner.
Hope that helps.
Roman responds: Great post SB.
Not counting my posts...there are over 50 posts on my two
Psuedo Guest Blogs. over 30 on this one. Thats more than all your MMA and BlackHawk posts combined!!!
Roman responds: You did a good response, congratulations. And you're so modest and gracious.
I shoulda put a No Flirting rule on my Thread, but then Seedy wouldnt have anything to write about.
Me have thin skin?
oh boy....thats funny....
The guy who consistantly and nearly sigle handedly defends both Bush, Rex and Fox news alone out on a precipace....is thinned skinned?
Boyeee...you must be crazy!
thanks Bubba's Mom...i was out there a bit...
I shoulda add Oil Speculators and Run Away Class action Lawyers to the mix too!
Oh and for the record...
I account for about 40% of almost every post....so..what else is new...and If I woulda had the ability to ...
COMMENT ON THE ACTUAL POST LIKE A REAL GUEST BLOGGER SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO....THEN IT WOULDNT HAVE BEEN SO MANY..NOW WOULD IT HAVE?
Roman responds: So you thought I was going to give you a username and password to get in our system to you can respond like I do? Please.
Sorry..i wasted everyones time...hey...guess what....IF YOU DONT LIKE IT...DONT READ ME!
wait that last line was mine..and it looks like yours.
I will give you the password to my blog...albeit a Phoenix Real Estate blog.
Straight up trade?
Its not like you couldnt change the password...
what happens if Ricky gets caught on tape...in an all night beer bonging party with sorority Co-eds?
no...wait...
what if...Ricky...gets picked up in a mens bathroom prostitution sting??...you would have to change the passwords then wouldnt you?
also...just notes from the First Guest Blogger Memoires..
but I did find it weird that by just posting the Question of wheter or not we should boycott, many assumed I was taking the position that we should. I never actually said how I felt...and for the most part people attacked the idea like it was my personal position.
Weird huh...do you find that too Rom? Rick?
That's right, because you're going to give ME the password. I'll go with Pit Vixette for my username. Hey Roman, can we have more contests, or did Culzie ruin it for everyone? There are lots of bloggers (not just myself) that I'd like to see have a chance at the guesting. I bet we can come up with some great contest ideas........
and whatever happened to The Romies?
Roman responds: They're in the process of molding the statuettes into exact replicas of me.
HA! A no flirting rule would shut this baby down! You're just jealous 'cuz no-one ever flirts with you. Not even Keith!
And Seedy, that was one of the funniest things I've ever read. How do you know I hen-peck?
It's ok to be out there, culzie, esp. when you are so thoroughly entertaining.
It looks like this blog is OVAH. We've seen everything: all of Culzie's personalities (all of them Republican-- amazing!), Seedy Backlash, Villano being miffed, Julie awake, Julie sleeping, cameo appearances by Keith LTSS, Navarro and others; a reference to Stuck, and of course Roman pining for Julie, his Rock of Love. See ya'll on the next post.
Roman responds: By the way, to see Culzie's picture, go to www.suntimes.com/sports, and go to the Sox fan photo gallery.
Hey, I didn't even realize you wrote that. I don't pine for married women. And it's funny you mentioned that stupid show. I have an ex-girlfriend who watches it.
Is it just me, or is no one else surprised that bculz is a little blond girl. She's the only one I see wearing a pink hat.
I love Bubbas Mom!
Fans like you...are the Reason I get up and come in every day!!!
I couldnt find it either...it may need its own special section??
We need to redefine what we call guest blogging.
I think we need two things...
1. A TOPIC SUGGESTION EMAIL or INBOX
(now bloggers can suggest topics...and if they are picked...then Roman can give them a little credit somehow).
2. Guest Blogging = Saved for major awards and winning tournys like I did, should actually be...what RICKY gets to do. Get to actually comment on peoples posts. AKA Getting the Keys. Perhaps you can have your IT people figure out a way to give a limited access password to JUST that thread or something...IDK, you journalists are smart...figure it out.
Otherwise...its really just ho hum...cause I suggest topics constantly...but my suggestions get wasted on old threads and never make the post about the actual topic.
Maybe you should let Roman define the guest blogging. And by the way, why did you think it was such a bad experience? I thought it was a good idea, you got your own thread, we all commented and you responded. We got it, even though your comments weren't directly underneath ours. I wouldn't have complained about it if I had won. Ahhh well, winners, losers - sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.
I thought getting your name mentioned in 2 thread headlines was enough for you, BC.
Where's that picture already?!?!?!?
For real...is the pic up yet?
hey..im not complaining...just making better!
Hey Romie...I havent seen that PinkSox picture....anywhere.
I just want to make sure Keith, Tim and Hitless know I dont welch!!
any ideas?
Roman responds: Again, go to www.suntimes.com/sports and go to the Sox fan photo gallery. It's there.
And for the enjoyment of The Pit Vipress.
Roman, listen - you trust me, right? I'm telling you that picture is not there. Put Ricky on the job. There is one spot that comes up with a little blue question mark, and maybe that's it. We, the general population without passwords, cannot see it. Please stoke Culzie's ego already - I'm sick of his complaining!
Roman responds: All right, give me a minute and I'll post it here.
Which Culzie personality is in the photo? I'll bet he has a flag on his lapel and looks like Rush Limbaugh.
Roman - is it the guy with the mustache and red t-shirt? With his arms stretched out wide, like he's calming the Sea of Gallilee, or blessing the multitudes?
Is that you, Culzie?
Do you see it, daughter J?
Yeah, I see it Momma - but that guy's not wearing a pink sox hat. The next one after that looks more like how I pictured BC to look.
Schwing!
Thats a good lookin mug! And and a great lookin Hat! I just found this photo! Culzie you are the MAN!
NFR - NEW FOUND RESPECT - for yah!
Photo made my day! I couldnt imagine taking a Cubs photo....gitting sick just thinking about it.....ughaah.
Julie, thank you for making me fall out of my chair.
Hey, Cinderella Boy, people usually take the tags off before being photographed. Still, Keith's right - nice mug and great ensemble dressing.
Roman, if any of the rest of us are ever lucky enough to wear the crown and walk the runway as a guest blogger, do we have to submit a photo also?
LOL Thanks Keith...
I woulda paid up sooner, but I couldnt find a pink sox hat anyhwere.....
I finally found one...
In a gift shop in Midway Airport.....
but you know your Boy from the North Side...took the picture and then threw that baby right in the trash!!;)
CUBS 2008 WORLD CHAMPS
Momma, it's not a requirement. Culzie begged to have that picture posted!
But if he had taken the tags off, he would've had to buy it. I think he's still standing in the gift shop! I don't believe the trash story - he threw it back on the shelf. That was added for effect. Or affect, as the case may be.
in 2003 i wore a sox hat because i lost a bet and we all know what happend
I wish I didnt lose the bet, I wish Kobe came to Chicago, but you have to admit, I havent heard the end of the PinkHat saga for almost 9months.....Tim and Keith and Hitman have been hounding me better than Pippen Hounded Magic in the 1990 NBA finals.
SO...you think i am just going to let Roman stick my hard to get pic in some dingy SOX FANS PHOTOS link on some back end web page cookie?
Come on..."you know how i dooz it"
Front Page or BUST!!!
Bubba's Mom...the Pink Sox hat is not a crown...its a yolk...a burden or a cross I had to bear. Dont try to glamorize it.
I havent been able to wash the pink scuzz off my forehead since i donned it.
Chris....if anything...it will the CUBS vs. SOX in world series...and CUBS will win....and I WILL BREAK OUT THE PINK HAT FROM THE TRASH, IGNITE IT ON FIRE AND LAUNCH IT INTO THE AIR LIKE A FLAMING SCALP!!
cubs beat the sox in the series this year and i swear i get a sox tattoo
Tim..did you hear that?
This Makes 96..grant it..30+ of them were my posts...still...thats not bad for first Guest Blogger Topic...thats up near Tank Johnson and Rexcism thread levels.
I cant wait to see what the next Guest Blogger topic is...
Roman, could I have a chance at the guest blogging? I'll beat the pants off of Culzie's 96, now 97. I bet the regulars would like to see that.......
you would have to win nearly 60 percent of the delegates for that...
dont count on me posting over 40 times on your guest blog though!!!
99.....
China says 6,300 cases in viral outbreak
May 5, 5:50 AM (ET)
(AP) A child stricken with the intestinal virus, identified as enterovirus 71 or EV-71, rest at a...
BEIJING (AP) - A viral outbreak in China has sickened more than 6,300 people and killed another child, raising the death toll to 26 children, authorities said Monday.
The latest fatality from enterovirus 71 was in coastal Zhejiang province, the provincial Health Ministry said. It said 1,198 other children have been stricken in the province with the virus, also known as EV-71.
It appealed for any sick children "to be sent immediately to health clinics" and for the cases to be reported "immediately to health and education departments."
An additional 5,151 cases have been reported in neighboring Anhui province, where 22 children have died, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Most of the cases were near Fuyang, a fast-growing city in the central province's rural heartland.
Xinhua also reported three deaths in the southern province of Guangdong.
Enterovirus 71 causes a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease with symptoms including fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters. It is easily spread by sneezing or coughing. The virus mainly strikes children aged 10 or younger. Some cases lead to paralysis and fatal swelling of the brain.
The illness is not related to foot and mouth disease, which afflicts livestock.
There is no vaccine or specific treatment, but most children affected by mild forms of the disease typically recover quickly without problems.
The World Health Organization says the virus normally peaks in June and July so there could still be an increase in infections as the weather warms.
The outbreak is another headache for China's Communist government as it prepares to host this summer's Olympic Games, already tarnished by unrest among Tibetans in western China and an international torch relay disrupted by protests.
WHO's China representative, Hans Troedsson, said the disease was not a threat to the Beijing Olympics because the disease mostly sickens young children.
China's Health Ministry has sent teams to Anhui to coordinate treatment of the disease and prevent its spread.
State-run television showed workers spraying disinfectant around houses in rural areas outside Fuyang and medical teams visiting families with small children.