Unofficial Running Olympic Boycott thread

I've already decided to boycott the Olympics... I won't watch a second of it...

 

In this vein:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7327718.stm

I don't understand how some sort of boycott cannot be in order. Not pulling athletes out of the games, but of the opening and closing ceremonies. I would be truly angry if my Prime Minister were to be at either, as I'm sure would my countrymen.

 

Yet, all of the major countries are too chicken-shit to do a thing about it...

 

Tonight, Jerry Doyle was beating the drum for an Olympic boycott.
Maybe it's a little shallow and short-sighted to think about the athletes and what they want, but to me that's what matters the most here. The only people that a boycott will hurt are the athletes who won't have an opportunity to compete.

 

So now the White House is backing off its commitment to send Bush to Beijing. They haven't said they're not going, but they back off a chance to reaffirm his intent to go. BTW, isn't it somewhat unusual for a sitting U.S. president to attend a foreign Olympics? Don't we usually just send the Veep or the First Lady?

 

Torch relay makes its only US stop tommorow in San Francisco. Over/under on arrests?

 

Cheney? Leave the country? You are joking, right?

 

Xenophobic, ethnocentric nationalism is the one political sentiment China's government does not regulate, since they recognize something has to replace Marxist ideology in terms of irrational motivations.
Boycotting the Olympics would only strengthen that sentiment. Letting China know the world thinks many of their government's actions suck by simply saying so seems like the best option, albeit a weak one.
Have to wonder what the world's citizenry would be doing in response if the 2008 Olympics were being held in, say, Chicago. It's not like we're popular, either.

 

Laura was in Turin for the Winter Games.

 

And Pappy Bush went to Athens. I just don't understand why Bush was planning on going to China in the first place. Or is it kind of like that party your boss is hosting that you don't feel like going to, but you figure you kind of have to.

 

If we're going to boycott the Games because of China's dealings with human rights, then let's do this the right way. We need to stop buying oil from those Middle East countries where women can't vote, or drive, or leave the house without a male to accompany them.

Oh . . . we want the oil we can get, don't we?

Never mind.

 

Dalai Lama doesn't have a problem with the Games

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080410.wdalailama0410/BNStory/International/home