The last Blog of July of 2012
The Olympic games and the Olympic scale lies being told by Mitt Romney and his supporters. Read on...
Welcome to another week in Bogworld.com. Yes, I have been obsessed with the Olympics this week. I watched the opening ceremonies last night (because I was not home on Friday night to watch NBCs delay-o-cast of it).
Lets be honest. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and James Cameron combined could not produce anything to upstage the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony so we all need to simmer down and lower expectations for whoever had to follow that act... In this case, London... because it just wasn’t going to happen.
That being said, London made an admirable attempt.
I thought it got off to an awkward start with the long tribute to their health care system and their industrialization was an odd choice for a sports celebration. And it came across a lot like a giant Pink Floyd stage show.
And yes, I did see the flying pig.
I thought they were on target when they started celebrating Britain’s amazing contribution to the world of music. Maybe they should have worked with that theme a little more. I mean of they did not spend all their budget on giant smoke stacks they might have been able to bring in The Rolling Stones, the surviving members of Queen, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Who and one more Beatle. That alone would have been one helluva show.
The long section in the middle featuring backlit hospital beds celebrating England’s National Health Service was interesting. Here in America we are told often that countries with socialized medicine hate it. Yet here was England’s national socialized medical service celebrated fondly in (of all things) an Olympic opening spectacular. I take this as a clear sign that we’ve been lied to about socialized medicine. That apparently it can be successfully deployed to the point where people celebrate it in their country’s biggest national event.
Maybe Obama (formerly Romney) care isn’t so bad after all.
I have to admit I was thinking “What the f*** are they trying to do here?” through most of the opening event. But it started to kind of make sense when the molten metal poured out to make five glowing rings that then rose up into the sky to shower down beautiful pyrotechnics.
The video segment where the Queen and James Bond supposedly parachuted into the arena and the Mr. Bean segment were fun.
It was odd that they raised a house to expose a lonely man at a computer and introduced him as the inventor of the internet. I thought Al Gore was the inventor of the internet. Actually the truth be told, it wasn’t the English guy under the house or Al Gore, though they did play their roles. It was the military and college community that created a computer data sharing network and it sort of organically evolved into a geeky way to share messages. But maybe that doesn’t play out that well for a giant sports spectacular.
Ever since the games have gotten underway I have pretty much been obsessed with Beach Volleyball. No. Not just because the women are required to wear bikinis. Though I appreciate the uniforms. I used to play pretty competitive volleyball and I find it one of the most enjoyable sports to watch on television... and again, no, not because of the bikinis.
Think about it. What other team sport has only two players per side to get to know? You can actually kind of get to know the personality, well, certainly the skill level, of each player while still being a true team sport. Volleyball is an amazing game when its played well. There are plays and strategies going on. Teams seek out their opponent's weaknesses to exploit. And because of this, players have to be really well rounded in all their playing skills.
Its especially interesting to watch Beach Volleyball in the driving English rain. Oddly enough, rain can enhance the game by making the sand firmer. Players can jump higher and run faster on wet packed sand. Oh its terrible for the fans. But I’m watching from my sofa thousands of miles away so it doesn’t really effect me.
This week, thanks to the Olympics, we had a chance to see how Mitt Romney would be as a world diplomat. On a trip through England, he decided to comment on how he had questions whether or not the country was ready for the games based on things he heard. Thats like being a house guest and commenting upon leaving that you had a wonderful time despite all those terrible things you heard about cock roaches and bad cooking. How can the man not be sensitive to the fact that this is England’s proudest moment? And instead makes it into a pissing contest about who might run a better Olympic games.
And while we are on the subject of who runs a better Olympics. Mitt looked over a Winter Games. Not a summer Olympics. Summer Olympics are historically bigger national events. Much bigger. More countries participate. More people attend. More people watch. Its a bigger deal. For Mitt to comment at all is such a petty move.
If I hear him talk about how he stepped in to save the Olympics one more time I will scream. Mitt stepped in to fund raise. He lobbied the Federal Government to financially support those games. Most of the funding still came from the government. So really, the Utah Winter Olympics were saved by government spending. Something he claims he is against. But then Mitt is simultaneously for and against a lot of things.
There is an ad running during the Olympics that accuses President Obama of giving the stimulus money to foreign countries. Of course this is a lie, but I cross checked it on Factcheck.org and mediamatters.org to be sure. How many people will take the time to fact check campaign ads like this? How many people see something on their television and takes it to be true. Obviously most FOX News viewers do.
Mitt Romney has been cornered about his almost compulsive lying and his response has been an uncomfortably snobby “What’s sauce for the goose...” reply. This implies that the Obama campaign is lying just as much so fair is fair, right. Well, no. That would be a lie too. According to the fact finding people at these neutral bastions of honesty, Mitt and his collection of Conservative super pact supporters are lying much much more and doing so on a far grander scale. This above mentioned ad running during the Olympics for example. Do you have any idea how much a 30 second spot costs to air during the high profile events at the Olympics? Its akin to Super Bowl and World Series ad costs.
I would not mind these ads... Any campaign ads really... if they were true. Every candidate, Republican or Democrat, needs to face his truths. But we ought to have a system that keeps us from having to filter through slander in order to get to those truths to help us figure out who the best leader might be.
Right now the Conservatives are going nuts over a video of President Obama talking about how no one builds a business on their own. Ooo the outrage. Of course right wingers want to take absolute credit for everything good that happens to them and blame Obama for everything bad. The problem here is FOX News cut the video... knowingly... so that it sounds like Obama is anti small business owner. Of course he’s not. Of course its well known everywhere outside of FOX News and AM Radio that there was more to the speech than what they are playing for people.
At what point do all the lies add up and Conservatives themselves cannot stand the people they are voting into office? What’s it going to take?
Lets be honest. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and James Cameron combined could not produce anything to upstage the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony so we all need to simmer down and lower expectations for whoever had to follow that act... In this case, London... because it just wasn’t going to happen.
That being said, London made an admirable attempt.
I thought it got off to an awkward start with the long tribute to their health care system and their industrialization was an odd choice for a sports celebration. And it came across a lot like a giant Pink Floyd stage show.
And yes, I did see the flying pig.
I thought they were on target when they started celebrating Britain’s amazing contribution to the world of music. Maybe they should have worked with that theme a little more. I mean of they did not spend all their budget on giant smoke stacks they might have been able to bring in The Rolling Stones, the surviving members of Queen, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Who and one more Beatle. That alone would have been one helluva show.
The long section in the middle featuring backlit hospital beds celebrating England’s National Health Service was interesting. Here in America we are told often that countries with socialized medicine hate it. Yet here was England’s national socialized medical service celebrated fondly in (of all things) an Olympic opening spectacular. I take this as a clear sign that we’ve been lied to about socialized medicine. That apparently it can be successfully deployed to the point where people celebrate it in their country’s biggest national event.
Maybe Obama (formerly Romney) care isn’t so bad after all.
I have to admit I was thinking “What the f*** are they trying to do here?” through most of the opening event. But it started to kind of make sense when the molten metal poured out to make five glowing rings that then rose up into the sky to shower down beautiful pyrotechnics.
The video segment where the Queen and James Bond supposedly parachuted into the arena and the Mr. Bean segment were fun.
It was odd that they raised a house to expose a lonely man at a computer and introduced him as the inventor of the internet. I thought Al Gore was the inventor of the internet. Actually the truth be told, it wasn’t the English guy under the house or Al Gore, though they did play their roles. It was the military and college community that created a computer data sharing network and it sort of organically evolved into a geeky way to share messages. But maybe that doesn’t play out that well for a giant sports spectacular.
Ever since the games have gotten underway I have pretty much been obsessed with Beach Volleyball. No. Not just because the women are required to wear bikinis. Though I appreciate the uniforms. I used to play pretty competitive volleyball and I find it one of the most enjoyable sports to watch on television... and again, no, not because of the bikinis.
Think about it. What other team sport has only two players per side to get to know? You can actually kind of get to know the personality, well, certainly the skill level, of each player while still being a true team sport. Volleyball is an amazing game when its played well. There are plays and strategies going on. Teams seek out their opponent's weaknesses to exploit. And because of this, players have to be really well rounded in all their playing skills.
Its especially interesting to watch Beach Volleyball in the driving English rain. Oddly enough, rain can enhance the game by making the sand firmer. Players can jump higher and run faster on wet packed sand. Oh its terrible for the fans. But I’m watching from my sofa thousands of miles away so it doesn’t really effect me.
This week, thanks to the Olympics, we had a chance to see how Mitt Romney would be as a world diplomat. On a trip through England, he decided to comment on how he had questions whether or not the country was ready for the games based on things he heard. Thats like being a house guest and commenting upon leaving that you had a wonderful time despite all those terrible things you heard about cock roaches and bad cooking. How can the man not be sensitive to the fact that this is England’s proudest moment? And instead makes it into a pissing contest about who might run a better Olympic games.
And while we are on the subject of who runs a better Olympics. Mitt looked over a Winter Games. Not a summer Olympics. Summer Olympics are historically bigger national events. Much bigger. More countries participate. More people attend. More people watch. Its a bigger deal. For Mitt to comment at all is such a petty move.
If I hear him talk about how he stepped in to save the Olympics one more time I will scream. Mitt stepped in to fund raise. He lobbied the Federal Government to financially support those games. Most of the funding still came from the government. So really, the Utah Winter Olympics were saved by government spending. Something he claims he is against. But then Mitt is simultaneously for and against a lot of things.
There is an ad running during the Olympics that accuses President Obama of giving the stimulus money to foreign countries. Of course this is a lie, but I cross checked it on Factcheck.org and mediamatters.org to be sure. How many people will take the time to fact check campaign ads like this? How many people see something on their television and takes it to be true. Obviously most FOX News viewers do.
Mitt Romney has been cornered about his almost compulsive lying and his response has been an uncomfortably snobby “What’s sauce for the goose...” reply. This implies that the Obama campaign is lying just as much so fair is fair, right. Well, no. That would be a lie too. According to the fact finding people at these neutral bastions of honesty, Mitt and his collection of Conservative super pact supporters are lying much much more and doing so on a far grander scale. This above mentioned ad running during the Olympics for example. Do you have any idea how much a 30 second spot costs to air during the high profile events at the Olympics? Its akin to Super Bowl and World Series ad costs.
I would not mind these ads... Any campaign ads really... if they were true. Every candidate, Republican or Democrat, needs to face his truths. But we ought to have a system that keeps us from having to filter through slander in order to get to those truths to help us figure out who the best leader might be.
Right now the Conservatives are going nuts over a video of President Obama talking about how no one builds a business on their own. Ooo the outrage. Of course right wingers want to take absolute credit for everything good that happens to them and blame Obama for everything bad. The problem here is FOX News cut the video... knowingly... so that it sounds like Obama is anti small business owner. Of course he’s not. Of course its well known everywhere outside of FOX News and AM Radio that there was more to the speech than what they are playing for people.
At what point do all the lies add up and Conservatives themselves cannot stand the people they are voting into office? What’s it going to take?