Debbie, the Opening Ceremony seemed extremely fixated on peace. They didn’t harp on it in Utah because a) it was right after 9/11, and b) because they were on our soil. They feel like they are on their turf. They drug out activist Peter Gabriel (Italian???) to perform activist John Lennon’s (Italian???) song “Imagine,” with activist Yoko Ono (Italian???) saying some sort of diatribe about peace.
I really enjoy the sports, but as you say, they should stick to that and leave their political agendae out of it.

gutshot74 on February 13, 2006 at 2:56 pm

I had heard something about Susan Saranwrap and the creep Yukko Ono (not again!) involved at the Olympics.
Instead of “Think peace” I am thinking “Go away” has been freaks.
I haven’t watched a second of this, and now I am so happy to read this so I won’t watch at all. I could almost take borrrrring, but now it’s just stuuuuuuupid.

The_Man on February 13, 2006 at 3:46 pm

I lost interest in the Winter Olympics after it became a biennial event instead of one that occurred every four years as is the case with the Summer Olympics. When the Summer Olympics becomes a biennial event, I’ll lose my interest in that, too.
The Winter Olympics is more about big-business and commercialism than it is about sports (and I’m a Capitalist), but enough is enough with this faux-event that is more interested in creating the next “celebrity sports endorser”.
Susan Sarandon is a LIBERAL anti-war, anti-American activist. That is why she was chosen to represent the “downtrodden” by what’s become yet another increasingly anti-American Left-wing organization made up of out-of-touch, Left-wing, elitist snobs – the International Olympic Committee.
Anti-war activist Sarandon is vehemently against the war in Iraq, therefore, she must be in favor of;
A. Saddam’s gassing of a 100,000+ Kurdish men, women, and children.
B. Saddam’s slaughter of 100,000+ Marshland Shiites, after they surrendered.
C. Saddam’s depriving his own people of vital food and medicine (as a result, tens of thousands died) and instead was allowed to skim billions of dollars through the “Oil for Food” scam organized and executed by the United Nations.
D. Saddam and his sons running rape-rooms.
E. Saddam jailing, torturing, and killing whole families he suspected of being enemies.
F. Saddam’s polluting the region’s air supply when he torched hundreds of oil wells in Kuwait.
So much for Susan Sarandon – “The Human Rights Activist”.
As for Tanith Belbin and the political whore Carl Levin, all that I have to say is that Levin;
A. Must be impeached immediately.
B. Be investigated for political corruption, found guilty, and then thrown in jail.
All of these “instant citizenships” especially when it comes to Islamic terrorists stinks to high heaven.

Thee_Bruno on February 13, 2006 at 4:33 pm

The Olympics have become a politically correct joke and do not represent the best and the brightest we have to offer.
Want the latest outrage..Michelle Kwan the bitch that thinks she is god’s gift to ice skating pushed out Sarah Hughes sister Emily Hughes who deserved to be there in the first place.
Now Kwan who is too old to try for the gold can’t cut it and withdraws before she is embarrassed in front of the world.
What was the Olympic committee thinking?

ScottyDog on February 13, 2006 at 7:51 pm

Tanith Belbin is not a figure skater; she is an ice dancer. Looks similar, but the skills are as different as a hockey player’s is different from a figure skater. She did get preferential treatment on immigration because the USFSA wants to have an American gold in ice dancing, and they’re the only ones who have a shot of achieving that. Don’t see the big deal compared to getting special treatment by being buddies with Abrahamoff.
Is Saddam Hussein the only bad guy in the world? Is he the only really bad guy in the world? Some of us conservatives were against the Iraq war not because we think Saddam Hussein is a great guy or because he didn’t do these things (and it’s refreshing to the list above that includes horrible things he actually did, rather than lies like “instigated 9/11” or “had WMD but hides them well” or “had unmanned drones that could reach US shores”), but because conservatives don’t believe in spending national treasure on a guy who has no hope of being a threat to our country, and then end up emasculated when we subsequently have to deal with a country like Iran who actually does have a hope of being a threat to our country.

hqsbud on February 13, 2006 at 8:10 pm

Susan Saranwrap represents the “downtrodden”? Poor gal, I hope she can heat the little shack she must be living in with her welfare check. I hope someday she can come into some money so she can give it away to the downtrodden she represents and loves.
If the U.S. starts playing Yukko Oh No records to prisoners, then I have to say that truly is torture.

The_Man on February 13, 2006 at 8:26 pm

I don’t care if Tanith Belbin is a devil worshipper. Anybody as hot as her is a major asset to the U.S.A. Life isn’t fair, right Debbie?

shleppy on February 13, 2006 at 10:58 pm

This is ridiculous. I hope they make a big deal out of this on the news. If they want to represent the “downtrodden” they shouldn’t get a spoiled actress with stupid pet causes. Even a random food-stamp-consuming baby momma would be preferrable to her.

KnightoftheImpaler on February 14, 2006 at 1:38 am

Ms. Belbin did not get any preferential treatment. In fact, she was sort of shafted in the process since Tanith Belbin had applied for citizenship before 2001 and would have been granted citizenship by now under normal circumstances, had her paperwork not been lost due to 9/11! Up until January of this year, Tanith Belbin and her dance partner Ben Agosto, were not expecting to go to these games and preparing for the 2010 games instead, until this new bill came up that would affect her. This law was not passed just for Tanith Belbin and it’s pretty unfair to say that she got preferential treatment, when that is not the case. Tanith has been waiting patiently for everything to come together for a very long time.
PUH-LEEZE. YOU MUST BE PART OF BELBIN’S P.R. TEAM. IN FACT, SHE HIRED TWO FULL-TIME LOBBYISTS, INCLUDING LAWYER BARNEY SKLADANY (WHO USED TO BE MOBIL OIL’S CHIEF LOBBYIST), TO LOBBY CONGRESS FOR SPECIAL TREATMENT. IT WASN’T A MATTER OF “LOST” PAPERWORK AT ALL. IT WAS A MATTER OF WAITING THE TIME SHE NEEDED TO WAIT, BUT DIDN’T WANT TO. SHE AND HER FULL-TIME LOBBYISTS GOT SENATOR CARL LEVIN TO INTRODUCE A GAZILLION BILLS, AMENDMENTS, AND RIDERS ABOUT GETTING HER INSTANT CITIZENSHIP, UNTIL ONE AMENDMENT TO AN HHS FUNDING BILL FINALLY PASSED. SAD. VERY SAD. ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE WAITING THEIR TURN WITHOUT A LOBBYIST AND A LIBERAL, ATHLETICALLY-CHALLENGED SENATOR WHO LIKES TO GET HIS MILLENIUM COMBOVER PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE SPORTS PAGES.
DEBBIE SCHLUSSEL

colle on February 14, 2006 at 6:50 pm

FYI The Winter Olympics is still a quadrennial event. For some reason a few years ago (1996?) they decided to stagger the Olympic games every two years (Winter 1998, Summer 2000, Winter 2002, Summer 2004….) instead of having both events every 4 years.
Personally I find the Olympics less and less watchable since they’ve denigrated from a sporting event featuring sports you don’t often get to see into an ungly hybrid of the X-Games (i.e. Halfpipe Snowboarding) and Reality television.

newman65 on February 14, 2006 at 7:11 pm

Belbin was not the only person person or skater, even to be granted citizenship under this bill. Fellow skater Maxim Zavosin also was able to obtain citizenship under this bill and was sworn in at the same time as Belbin, however he did not qualify to go to the Olympics, he and his partner just missed the cut. About 7000 others in the the same situation as Belbin’s were affected as well. Had Belbin applied under the streamlined UCIS procedures in 2002, she would have had citizenship granted to them already. It seems a bit unfair to see people who applied after you have be able to get their citizenship two years before you could, because of the streamlining of application processes.

colle on February 14, 2006 at 9:49 pm

Saradon was sexy. Is she still sexy? I don’t know. Belbin is sexy.
They just go to show that beautiful, sexy women completely lacking in brains wouldn’t be worth waking up next to in the morning.
Now, sexy, good-looking smart conservative women? Now that is a whole other story… 🙂

ColfromColorado on February 14, 2006 at 10:21 pm

One more comment, I just noticed you mentioned Rio Ramirez and instant citizenship. Rio Ramirez was already granted US Citizenship by the time he competed at the Olympic Trials (how else would he be able to participate). The problem at the time was the IOC rules that he need to wait three years before they would allow him to represent the U.S. or get a waiver from Cuba, the country which he defected from. He did not have to follow through on any of that since he did not earn a berth on the U.S. Olympic team, however the USOC stated that if he had qualified onto the team they would have petitioned the IOC.

colle on February 14, 2006 at 10:52 pm

I just read a second thing today that may contradict Debbie’s assertion that Belbin/Agosto have taken positions away from other deserving skaters. The number of spots a country is given for the olympics is based on a point system determined by placement at the world championships the previous year (world championships rules allow Belbin to compete under the US flag even without citizenship; olympic rules are more strict). The fact that Belbin/Agosto are the only American ice dancers who placed well at Worlds last year, they actually opened the door for more ice dancers at the olympics this year.
So, combined with the fact that they are ice dancers, and not figure skaters, and therefore did not take positions away from anyone since they’re the only American ice dancers who have a prayer of medaling, this is a non-issue. Fox News covered this? If true, they’re continuing their tradition of attacking the house cat while letting the cougar go free. The cougar in this case is Kwan taking away a spot that Hughes deserved, though that has been rectified in a painful way (unless Fox News also covered that too; no idea).
Regarding whether ice skating is a real sport or not, I’ve done a little bit of skeet shooting and paint ball, quite a lot of skiing, a little snowboarding, a lot of ice skating (no, you won’t catch me dead in an ridiculous poofy shirt), and by far the easiest from this list to become basically proficient was skeet shooting, second easiest was paint ball, and the rest have taken me much more time to become at all proficient. So if a sport is gauged by its relative difficulty, shooting sure isn’t a sport if ice skating isn’t.

hqsbud on February 14, 2006 at 11:09 pm

All skating events (Ice dancing, pairs, womens and mens singles) are akk governed under the United States Figure Skating Association. All this talk of Belbin and Agosto and Kwan “taking away spots” is a bunch of hogwash. The USFSA selects who goes to the Olympics and Worlds by committee. The only spot that is guaranteed after nationals is the number one spot, which Sasha Cohen won. The rest of the team is determined by committee. Emily Hughes does not have a prayer of medaling, despite her best performance, which may net her a top 10 finish if she is fortunate. This is why the USFSA committee voted unaminously to send Kwan, who even in a mediocre state, has a more realistic chance of medaling than Emily Hughes would. Emily Hughes was assigned to the world compeition this year instead.
Kwan also attended last years worlds and also helped secure three spots for the ladies discipline for the Olympics and for the last ten world championships she has attended, so going by your logic, she kept the door open for skaters like Kimmie Meissner and Sasha Cohen to even be at the Olympics and Worlds as well. Should Sasha Cohen not compete at the world championships after the Olympics, you can kiss those spots goodbye because Emily Hughes and Kimmie Meissner alone will not be able to secure three spots.

colle on February 15, 2006 at 6:50 am