Thursday, October 9, 2008
More on VANOC and their deep concern for all
Dear David,
As soon as I heard about Right to Play on the CBC television news, I fired
off this letter to the Sun, the Province and the CBC. Perhaps I was too
quick as the print story had not yet appeared. In any event, it went
nowhere. If you are able to use it in anyway - please feel free.
Warmest regards,
Jillian Skeet
(International Affairs Consultant and Cambie Resident)
Nothing demonstrates the spiritual bankruptcy of the 2010 Olympic games more
than the recent news that "Right to Play" is being excluded from the Olympic
Village due to organizers' concerns that they will compete for sponsorship
money.
"Right to Play" is a wonderful organization that has the support and
involvement of Canadian athletes and Olympians. It provides sports
equipment and facilities for children living in some of the most deprived
circumstances on our planet. It believes that all children have a right and
a need to play. And it's probably the cheapest and easiest form of therapy
that we can offer to children damaged by appalling poverty and war - not to
mention a way to ensure that Olympic dreams are accessible to all the
world's children, no matter how humble their beginnings.
As a British Columbian, I shudder to think what we will be showcasing to the
world in a year and a half. The world will see a province with the highest
child poverty rate in Canada and horrific levels of homelessness, crime and
addiction. They will be told of all the cutbacks to programmes and services
for our most vulnerable citizens and how businesses were left to die along
Cambie to make way for the new Olympic super-train, while greedy developers
snapped up the bankrupt properties in true disaster capitalism.
In short, they will see a province without a heart or a soul, and no clue as
to the true Olympic spirit.
Jillian Skeet
Cannot be
Say it isn't so.
Tell me that this alleged row between George Clooney and Brad Pitt about who will play Professor Henry Higgins in a new version of "My Fair Lady" is sheer hooey.
There are certain movies - "The Godfather," "Lawrence of Arabia" come quickly to mind - that are so perfect in rhythm and pitch, that shot for shot they simply cannot be improved upon.
I just came back from the store, turned on the TV and there they were...Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn very near the end of the fairy tale. Even when you walk in on a scene so far along, you have lived for so many years with these characters and these sets and costumes that it is like reliving a familiar and welcome dream. The loveliness is almost unbearable.
Please no George Clooney or Brad or Angelina or Julia Roberts or Renee Z...please...
Quote of the Day, #1
"Can I say this is more important that health care, this is more important than education or climate change and all the other legislative matters that are on the calendar?" he asked, denying suggestions that new legislation could have been passed if the government had not cancelled a fall session of the legislature.
"Even if we had a fall session, this would not be ready for legislation."Monsieur Opaque has spoken.
Anyone who works for a living deals with at least seven different files a day.
Is this man who poses as the Attorney-General of the province task-challenged?
When my daughter was 11, she talked on the phone, watched TV and did her homework all while sitting cross-legged at the foot of our bed.
Wally can't handle two issues on the same day?
Nonsense.
Even the editorial writers at the Sun have challenged Oppal's refusal to get on with the job of revising the Lobbying legislation.
Then there are Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles who refused through their lawyer to cooperate with David Loukadelis' investigation of a complaint from an NDP MLA.
Which makes them first class citizens, doesn't it?
That One, Indeed
It was only on Sunday last that I posted my condemnation of that dangerous fool from Alaska who has taken to calling in public Barack Obama a friend of terrorists.
The contagion, fueled by desperation and flop-sweat, has spread.
Now, McCain has stepped out from behind his Bush and is spreading the same kind of inflammatory hatred.
Result?
The geeks from the audience are hollering out sweet greetings like, "Kill him!"
Do McCain and his Worst Choice Ever Next to Dan Quayle take responsibility for this detestable behaviour?
And what do you accomplish when you call a political opponent or anyone else standing near you, "That one?"
What you accomplish is that you depersonalize that human being. You reduce that other soul to a number, an object, an object of derision.
There are those among you who want McCain to be the next President.
Mercy on all our souls.
Hurray!
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts has proven once again why she is just about the best politician to appear in Canada in living memory.
The Atira Women's Resource Society has been awarded $1Million from Surrey to complete their new shelter and home for "women-at-risk" and their children.
This is a great, "good news" story.
Read it here and then email Watts (mayor@surrey.ca) first to thank and congratulate her, and then to ask why no other mayor in the region has had the wisdom or courage to step up to the plate like this for a very long time.
Clean it Up
There are no less than three separate stories in the sports section today about the possible involvement of various National Football League players in major crimes, each with the added attraction of violence.
This is to date a taboo subject.
I have yet to see or read or hear a major journalistic piece covering what has become common and unhappy knowledge.
There exists in the NFL, and perhaps other major league sports, a criminal subculture that can barely contain itself in public.
The NFL is the most successful sports league in America if not the world. I believe the Dallas Cowboys franchise was listed recently at a book value of $1Billion US.
Little wonder then that the league is not rushing to air its dirty linen. But air it, they must.
Of course, steroid use is commonplace and has been for decades. That goes without saying.
But now, a great many players are gun-packing punk hoods and the NFL might want to give a good thought to how much they want this kind of citizen representing them.
Quote of the Day, #2
"We respect [Right to Play's] vision, mission and mandate and greatly admire the work they have done around the world," said Cobb.
We just don't respect them as much as we respect General Motors.
And those guys, well, WE REALLY RESPECT THEM!
This was VANOC trying to do the double shuffle on trying to keep a charitable group out of the Olympic Village because the group had the audacity to be sponsored by - gasp - Mitsubishi.
Just wait until the Olympic Village itself becomes a charitable cause.
And we thought it was all about sport and effort and glory and accomplishment...
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