Take some time off...and look what happens!

As you can probably see, I took some time off. "Always leave them wanting more" my late husband would say-the number one rule of the professional musician. So I wasn't too worried about not posting anything. It seemed there was a bit of a lull in the news area and with the Easter holiday coming up, I thought most people would have other things on their mind.

I was in Jacksonville, FL all last week. Another widowed friend of mine called me up and she said what were my plans. At the time, nothing, so I decided to go. Not thinking about anything, just being lazy, it was great.

Come home and all sorts of hell breaks lose. A friend of mine is being sued by the International Cycling Union. CCTV gives it's version of the torch lighting ceromony. And the apologists starting up again (after a bit of a lull.)

Gah.

Looks like we've got enough material to last the week, and then some.

If there is one thing that I can't stand it's the apologists. No, we shouldn't boycott because that will be detriment to the Olympic movement. BOCOG saying that RSF's protest at the torch lighting ceromony was "flawed." Preisdent Rogge saying that the "glass is half full" (verus "half empty") in regards to the human rights issue.

What WILL it take for people to LISTEN?

I for one am not playing into the hands of the Chinese and writing what they would want to hear. They say foreigners are presenting a "distorted" view of the Games. They should know-they've had experience doing it for the past seven years.

And sadly, there are writers over here who are all too happy to oblige.

It's time to get real, folks. I for one am not going to blindly sit and stay silent. Especially when I will have friends over there whom I hope come home safely. We have an obligation (and I have said this before but it bears repeating) that we are the voice and the conciense of those who can't speak out. Not doing so makes us part of the problem.

And I, for one, will not sit blindly while others live in their gilded cocoon and pretend everything is OK.

These people think that if you ignore it, that it will go away. Bull.

If the various issues were dealt with seven years ago, we still wouldn't be talking about this today. But then Jacques Rogge is so clueless, I guess it's going to take one of his employees being hurt (or worse) before he sits up and takes notice.

I am not damming all folks in Lausanne. But he is a cancer on the Olympic movement that has got to go. I feel for the good people at the IOC who do see the issues (surprise-there are those folks) but whom are hampered by it's President who doesn't share that same view and in turn make their jobs more difficult.

Can some people be turned around? Maybe.

Only time will tell-and it will be our reaction as to how the other side responds.

Think about it. I have.

Who you gonna call?

It's 3AM. Your wife, husband, co-worker, best friend, is over in Beijing this summer working. They're in trouble. Maybe even arrested. Who you gonna call? Who's going to stand up for those of us stateside who just hope our friends get home safely and without incident? Don't count on the folks in Lausanne to back us up. They're too busy being in denial of the issues that have been raised in regards to the 2008 Games. We'd rather protect our bottom line-and to hell with the human element.

I sincerely hope you don't get that "middle of the night" phone call. I have-and when your friend is thousands of miles away, there is little one can do but only hope the local authorities will step up to the plate and guarentee fair treatment or justice served in the case of a crime being committed against the people you care about.

That is a precarious position to be in. You'd like to think that besides your employer (if you have one if not self-employed) and your family, the IOC would be watchful for any behavior that is out-of-order by the local Beijing authorities. But it looks like this summer those of us here in the US (or outside China) are stuck on our own, with gearing up for several weeks of worry, hoping everyone gets home safely.

Moral of the story: just cross your fingers that you don't get into trouble over there. The IOC is too busy protecting it's own interests to worry about the safety of journalists during the Games time period.

And that is a dammed shame. And it doesn't have to be that way.

As for me, I won't rest until everyone I know going over there is accounted for-in this or any other Western country.

Too bad the IOC doesn't pick up the phone on this one. Guess we are expendable.

Just as I thought.

What could have been

I just returned from a week in Philadelphia. I actually stayed out in the suburbs but got to see quite a bit of the city on the one day I was downtown. It's one place that I thought would do much better with their Olympic bid.

I've always felt they should try again. The Olympics coming there would do wonders for the revitalisation of the city. There are similarities between them and Atlanta and a legacy of an Olympics in the PHL would do wonders. But it might take several bids to win a Games (as it seems the current trend is heading towards.)

One can only imagine what a Philadelphia games would have been like. The only way we will ever know is if they bid again-which I hope they do.

The legacy would be tremendous, I am sure.

Tomorrow: who do YOU want answering the phone at 3AM in Lausanne this summer?