Great Show. Now Pony Up The Loot, Bigots.

The First Perspective – With a logo based on the Inukshuk, mascots inspired by indigenous myth, and an opening ceremony laden with aboriginal culture, Canada proudly showcased the heritage of First Nations in the winter Olympics to the world. What it didn’t showcase are the appalling social and economic conditions of reserve communities across the country…Hopefully, these initiatives will begin to hold the government to account for its discriminatory underfunding of First Nations.

Gazette Reporter: Dummies Just Don’t “Get It”

[Montreal Gazette] To expect the Olympic Games to be an engine of major, rapid social change and to grade their success or failure accordingly is simply not to get what they are about.

These Games, finally, as well organized and smoothly run as any in history, were about the athletes and the competitions, not the notorious Beijing pollution, nor the country’s problematic record on human rights, nor China’s ongoing measures to deal with the environment.

And now that the Games are over…do those things matter again?

But Hey, Why Spoil The Fun Of Pole Vault?

[Globe and Mail] If there was an alternative Olympic medal list for human-rights violations, it would contain numbers like these: 53 detained pro-Tibet activists, 77 rejected protest applications, at least 15 Chinese citizens arrested for seeking to protest, about 10 dissidents jailed and at least 30 websites blocked.

Washed Up Chretien: Harper Should Have Been More Like Me And Left His Balls In The John

[Globe and Mail] Prime Minister Stephen Harper has risked relations with China by failing to attend the Olympic Games and going overboard in honouring Tibet’s Dalai Lama, former prime minister Jean Chrétien said yesterday.

Speaking to a Canadian Bar Association gathering, Mr. Chrétien said the missteps are indicative of a government that naively fails to understand the enormous strides the Chinese regime has made in recent years, and that China has a long “collective memory” when it comes to international slights.

Chinese Paper Turns The Tables

[Globe and Mail] China was under intense scrutiny ahead of its Summer Olympics, and the host country’s media decided on Tuesday it was time to turn the tables.

Moments after announcing a new Winter Olympics press centre for Vancouver, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell was questioned closely about perceived problems with the 2010 Games.

All Right, So They’re Oppressive. Now On With The Fun Stuff

Another blogger checks his morality at the door to enjoy a couple of weeks of swimming and trampoline.

[Face Off] In the end, the Chinese will do as they choose. They are too powerful to be diverted. Perhaps, as Pound and the IOC fondly hope, the dazzling Opening Ceremony will foreshadow a new, more liberal age in China itself.

Whatever, the focus now is where it should be: on the athletes. And perhaps, before it is all over, Canada will actually win a medal or two.

Guess He Didn’t Receive The Memo On Olympic Ass Kissing

[Toronto Star] BEIJING — Having publicly promised that he would not “politicize” the Olympic Games, President George W. Bush caught Chinese officials off guard here today, using his opening of a new U.S. embassy to drive home the importance of free speech and freedom of religion in all societies.

Chinese dignitaries in the audience were chilled.

The criticisms stung — delivered on the very day the Olympic Games are to open and China prepares to take its place on the world stage.

Waterloo Record: PM Errs In Snubbing Totalitarian Murderers

[Waterloo Record] But not every invited dignitary will be present. And among the most conspicuous of the absent will be Canada’s own Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In staying away, Harper erred. He should be in Beijing. Instead, his perplexing absence will confuse the Chinese, possibly damage Sino-Canadian relations and do a disservice to the Canadian athletes competing there.

Welsh Flag Banned From Olympic Games

[Daily Post] THE Welsh flag has been banned from official venues at the Beijing Olympics in a crackdown by Chinese authorities.

Supporters and competitors travelling to the Games face a strict ban on waving the Ddraig Goch in celebration.

Only the flags of the 205 Olympic nations, including Great Britain, can be taken into the showpiece arenas, according to “house rules” published by the organising committee for the Games.

Amnesty Int’l: Granting China The Olympics Has Made Things Worse

Oh, well. At least the long jump and beach volleyball will be fun.

[Guardian] Whatever the IOC’s hopes, in some instances preparations for the Olympics had made things worse, Amnesty said, particularly in the use of so-called “re-education through labour” and “enforced drug rehabilitation” orders to round up dissidents and perceived troublemakers.

“The police have specifically targeted petitioners and rights activists in their efforts to ‘clean up’ Beijing ahead of the games,” the report notes, adding that more adherents of the banned Falungong religious group had also been held ahead of the event.

It adds: “In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics.

“The authorities have stepped up repression of dissident voices in their efforts to present an image of ‘stability’ and ‘harmony’ to the outside world.”

Olympics Official: We’re Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time

[MSN] Olympic athletes should not make any political protest while on the winner’s podium or in the athletes’ village, according to top Games official Kevan Gosper.

“We would seek that all athletes make no effort to demonstrate or use any form of propaganda, particularly on the podium and certainly in the village,” the chair of the IOC’s press commission told ABC Television.

“The whole idea of this is to keep harmony.”

Like China Cares

They got the Olympics. Mission accomplished. The rest is details.

[Concord Monitor] Isolation only hardens totalitarian regimes, so the gamble the International Olympic Committee took when it awarded the Games to China was worthwhile. But it’s a gamble that the committee, the athletes and China will lose if the story of the Games becomes not one of athletic accomplishments and international brotherhood but repression, censorship and violence.

The rest.

Next Question: Time To Put The “Olympic Togetherness” Farce To Rest?

[New York Times] One of the most common hypothetical questions NBC officials have bandied about involves the opening ceremonies on Aug. 8.

Hundreds of athletes will parade into a stadium in front of world leaders, including President Bush, and a huge global television audience. If an athlete holds a protest sign or waves a Tibetan flag, how will the Chinese hosts react? Will the television networks show the scene? How will the Chinese handle the media for the rest of the Games?

The rest.

China Bans Posters And Signs From Olympic Games

[Daily Telegraph] The book, published by Olympic organisers and available to ticket holders, said banners backing individuals and teams were “tendentious (and) violate the fairness principle of an Olympic event”, state media reported.

So, banners with messages such as, “Go Tomkins”, “Aussie Aussie Aussie” or even “Stephanie Will You Marry Me?” will be prohibited under the new edict.

The ban, which includes posters and pamphlets, has prompted Australian Games chiefs to issue a “please explain” to the International Olympic Committee.

“I have to say I am surprised, but they’re China’s Games and we will have to abide by the rules,” said Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred. “I have asked the IOC for clarification on the issue.”

The rest.

Important To Concentrate On Things That Matter. Like Pole Vault.

[Metro] If you’re waiting for one of Canada’s Olympians to take a stand on China’s human-rights record, don’t hold your breath.

It’s not that the Canadian Olympic Committee has issued a gag order, as Britain has done with its athletes. It’s just that Canadians are trying to stay focused on the task at hand — representing their country at the Games in Beijing — and getting caught up in politics will only serve as a distraction.

The rest.

Don’t Sue The Messenger

[Vancouver Sun] Female ski jumpers have attacked the wrong organization in trying to win access to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, the organizers of the Canadian Olympics said Friday.

In a statement of defence filed Friday, the Vancouver Organizing Committee categorically rejected all the women’s allegations with a simple statement: “The plaintiffs have sued the wrong defendant.”

The rest.

Women Ski Jumpers: Ban Everybody

Well, somebody finally shows you why we’re called DWE. It’s the logical outcome of all of this human rights mumbo-jumbo. Never thought it would come from ski jumpers, though.

[Globe and Mail] The B.C. Supreme Court is being asked to issue an injunction banning men’s ski jumping events at the 2010 Winter Olympics, if women ski jumpers are barred from competing at the Games.

The shocking request was part of a sweeping legal action launched late yesterday against local Olympic organizers by a rostrum of elite women ski jumpers from around the world, including Norway, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and the United States.

The rest.

Like It Matters One Way Or The Other

[CP] Adam van Koeverden makes no apologies for going to China to race his kayak. The way the paddler from Oakville, Ont., sees it, he can shed a far brighter light on China’s human rights issues from the top of the medal podium than he could if he could from his couch at home.

The rest.

Women Ski Jumpers Sue Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee

Lawsuit? That’s so 80’s.

These ski jumpers haven’t been paying attention in class. Don’t they know they could have had a slam dunk case and a free lawyer by going to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal?

[Canadian Press] A group of 10 women ski jumpers are going to court in an attempt to have their sport included in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

A statement of claim will be filed in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday against the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee, Deedee Corradini of the lobby group Women’s Ski Jumping USA told the Canadian Press.

The jumpers are frustrated the International Olympic Committee did not include women’s ski jumping on the program for the 2010 Games.

The rest.