H1 N1 factor

Has anyone considered what effect H1 N1 will have on the olympics?

I personally am not getting a shot but....

In my entire lifetime I have never seen so much scary hype on a flu, well, there was the Asian flu scare but that fear was minor compared to this,maybe because we live in a 24 hour news cycle and with the explosion of the internet.

What effect will the fear mongering have?

From what I have heard and read, who knows if the vaccine will actually prevent the flu....And, now the peak of the pandemic has been forecast to occur in january/febuary....And,that peak time for people to be infected is about the same time in most countries.
So not only will the H1 N1 flu be in full blown scare mongering,many people will be sick in their homeland,or have a wife or children sick with the flu,now throw in the recession,our poor american neighbors...And all still waiting for their shots,well, this could be a bust of olympic proportions.

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

Cool Mittens

The coolest thing about the Campbell Mittens is that he can keep his fingers crossed while he talks ...

Sigh. This whole fiasco is such a shame. I used to quite enjoy watching some of the winter Olympic events, like skiing, speed skating and the like - completely ignorant of what the host city and nation were going through.

Now that I can see, first hand, the manipulation and lies that go into hosting the games, I don't think I can ever watch another event.

I feel sorry for myself, in that respect, but most of all I feel sorry for the well-intentioned, hard-working, talented competitors. The crap surrounding the games is not of their making.

It's time to disassemble the IOC and its parasites like the Canadian Olympic Committee and return the focus to excellence in athletic competition.

Yeah, right. And one day, professional baseball (which I also used to love) will star players who haven't juiced themselves in order to earn multi-million dollar contracts. Dream on.

I guess I have officially become a cranky old fa*t.

The benefit estimate

Missed it by THAT much.....

Now hopefully, the other

Now hopefully, the other cities in Canada will steer clear of the circuses. Listen to Question period as the Liberal MLa's talk of business opportunities, not how they support the people doing the different sport. From the looks of our economy I suggest that most of Gordos' crew wouldn't see a business opportunity if it smacked them on the side of the head.

Caption might be...

"Real men wear mittens!"

Sometimes I think the organizers are living in some dream world. First the mascots and now those silly mittens I wouldn't be seen dead with. Maybe they are symbolic of all the color we will be seeing for decades on the accounts pages after they are finished.

Tangler

Bang on. I used to enjoy the Olympics, especially the 1976 Summer games and didn't understand back then why Montrealers were so upset just because it cost them a few billion. Now I understand.

244,000 person years of employment

at 10.7 billion dollars equals an annual wage of $43,852.46. I'm imagining a few folks making mucho dinero and lots making way less for that figure to be accurate. Assuming the $4 billion benefit still delivers the same amount of employment (perhaps this is not the case?) the annual wage delivered by the Games drops to an average of 16,393.44. A minimum wage earner working a forty hour work week for 50 weeks would make $16,000. Again, factoring in the high wage earners no doubt skews the median wage even lower.

RE: Now hopefully, the other

Do you think the other cities might be unlucky as us and have an ignoramus running things without any public input whatsoever. We never got a referendum which might have stopped this circus in it's tracks. On another note: It's to bad that the federal government isn't duty bound by law to make sure that the governments of the provinces follow the law with regards to Medicare, etc. If that was the case Campbell would be in jail already.

On Halloween we got less

On Halloween we got less than 25% of the historical number of children at our door Trick or Treating. Was it H1N1, the economy, or just a change in attitude towards candy, who knows? But the Olympics (as a symbolic Halloween) are likely to experience the same low numbers for the same reasons: fear of the pandemic, not enough money to pay for the trip, or just a pervasive rancor over the spending on junk, rather than our economic meat and potatoes. I am just waiting to find out how much it will ultimately cost. I already know I won't see any benefit.

$10.7 to 4 billion is a VERY significant drop

Spin, hot air and more spin....

Frank, I grew up in Montreal and saw a bit of the summer Olympics. Lots of debt and lots of corruption. It was a choice for Drapeau: Summer Olympics or sewage treatment. Sewage treatment lost out and by the time Montreal went looking for Federal money, Ottawa stopped cost-sharing for sewage treatment. Bad timing.

Just a doggone minute ...

... The minister of state responsible for the Olympic Secretariat, Mary MacNeil, was travelling with the torch relay ..."

How many people, how many vans, how big is the Expense Account for these people "travelling with the torch relay ..."

The devastated communities through must surely be hurt and angry to see that parade of fat cats virtually flaunting their self satisfaction as they pass by.

Fairy tale

"The devastated communities through must surely be hurt and angry to see that parade of fat cats virtually flaunting their self satisfaction as they pass by."

Reminds me of "the Emperors new clothes" flaunting, but in fact have nothing to flaunt!

If there is one thing we know for sure

when the Campbell Liberals are talking money expenditures or future income, they have no intention of ever being honest, and will gladly promote any figure -- any figure whatsoever -- that is politically expedient in the short term. And why not, this BC electorate can't remember what happened 3 months ago.

Jean Drapeau said it best....

"It is more possible for a man to 'ave a baby than for the Olympics to lose money".

Campbell must be expecting twins. Maybe he is the next Octopappy. These Olympics make my skin crawl. The absolute waste of money is the worst possible example of conspicuous consumption imaginable.

First, the Olympic torch is flown from Greece to Victoria in an empty military jet. There was no thought given to the idea of including civilians on the junket; as long as a few privileged elite were made to feel important, that was OK.

Then the torch is being run 24,000 km across Canada and back, through communities that have to boil their water, and have no hospital or clinic in town or nearby.

This epic can be compared to the potlatch, when the objective was to give away as much as possible to show how wealthy one was. The difference is that this Olympic orgy will benefit no one except the RCMP who get to practice wearing SWAT uniforms and throwing their weight around.

Something tells me that "Own the Podium" will be the most expensive three words in Canadian history. I am not against the Olympics at all, but this is not sport; it is a financial hemorrage.

Reluctantly, I am with the protestors. Please get this paahty over with so we can count the cost.

The Perfect Storm

The recession and the H1N1 pandemic spell disaster for the 2010 Olympics. There ain't going to be any pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

On today's news alone we have been told that Whistler still has plenty of hotel space available and a good number of those that were going to rent their condos etc are still waiting for customers. They are now dropping their rates to hopefully get some bites.

Also, tourism operators have said that they have experienced a 30% hike in British Columbians booking trips out of BC for the latter pert of February. Westjet has announced that they are adding flights out of Vancouver to accomodate the increased traffic out of Dodge.

With a little over three months to go before the opening ceremonies, one can only get the feeling that these games will ensure that BC will be a have not province for many years to come.

I was walking

through the Bay today and I noticed one of the "official" (i.e. ripoff of Cowichan) sweaters and checked the tag to see where it's made. Any guesses?
China. Yup. China will benefit from the Vancouver Olympics. Nothing that this government does surprises me.

Fish-counter

Comparing the Olympic debt-orgy to a Potlatch does not work. The objective of the Potlach was to gain prestige by demonstrating how much SURPLUS wealth a tribe or clan had to give away, a sure proof of its strength.

Looking at Campbell's asinine grin of "pride" for his part in this debacle, is akin to listening to his self-congratulation for his part in saddling coming generations with having to pay for his idiotic ROR give-aways.

All he needs is a fiddle and he could be Nero.

any comment from Bill Tieleman?

...like, any adjustments to your predictions of the benefits of hosting the games?

"Even if only for the job creation, economic development and international profile, they are well worthwhile."
Winter Olympics: Stay or Go?
By Bill Tieleman, 27 Oct 2009, TheTyee.ca

ME2 is right. Maybe Marie Antionette said it best

She said, "Let them eat cake"

Then she lost her head. Many folks are proving themselves to be a silent majority, by booking their vacations elsewhere, just as many Calgarians take their vacation during the Stampede. They don't want to embarrass anyone but they don't want any part of the traffic snarl-ups either.

The Montreal Olympics had their detractors too, and so did the Calgary Olympics, particularly in the other host city. This is different; British Columbians are wholeheartedly sick of this orgy of spending, which is totally inappropriate in so many ways.

For one thing, the $1 billion security price tag tells us that an authoritarian streak runs right through BC. Civil rights are being curtailed and businesses are being put out by this five-ring circus. Air traffic on Vancvouver Island is being re-routed from Saltsprng via Nanaimo to accomodate the security net. The Canada Line construction put businesses at risk with little or no compensation and the Olympics are doing exactly the same thing.

The real risk at these games is not from terrorism, but from natural causes, including the possible lack of snow, a rock slide or a road traffic accident on the Sea-to-Sky highway. Playing cops-and-robbers is for kids. Note to the RCMP: DON"T TASER ANY OF THE ATHLETES.

I hope the real estate market turns a corner and the Athlete's Village condos sell for a profit. Based on past experience, they will be sold en bloc for a song, to someone's drinking buddy so they can take all the profit.

$2 billion, 17 day party: Squandering Our Welath

Given the steady free fall our economy is in (keep watching the US; it's not over and we're next), this may be the last $2 billion we have. THINK of where it could have been spent: health care; education, complete rethink of homelessness; environmental protection, addressing First Nation's housing. The list goes on.

But no, we're spending it on the IOC, police, enforcement and some goofy parties.

The Olympics COULD occur every four years, in Greece, where athletes could attend, we could all watch, and it wouldn't be this corrupt scheme.

Great coverage as always Tyee!

NDP

I cannot believe the incompetent NPD pushed for these Olympics. What a waste of money

Entourage-alicious

"How many people, how many vans, how big is the Expense Account for these people "travelling with the torch relay ...""

Because this is the greenest Olympics ever one doesn't ask questions such as this about the longest torch run in history. Didn't you get the memo? :-)

Off-setting emissions from the Torch Relay

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the benefit of off-setting, but in the interests of fairness the Sun is running a story on the topic today with this info included...

"In another Olympic first, Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay presenting partners Coca-Cola and RBC joined VANOC in offsetting all their emissions arising from the 45,000-km journey across Canada, as well as from their entire operations related to the Games."

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Vancouver+Olympics+push+carbon+neutral+status/2179044/story.html

So, the Owelympics

cost us $6 billion to generate $4 billion in economic acitivity? And everything we lost has been worth it? That sounds like BC Lieberal accounting practises to me. And Gordo's going around grinning like a freakin' Cheshire Cat. We live in Bizarro world.

Caption Contest

Not to make downplay the thoroughly researched and well-written article my photo illustrates, I wanted to let the spontaneous caption contest entrants know that I had submitted this to Frances Bula as a potential caption contest piece for her blog. She prefers to focus on the local scene there, and so declined.

But his is awesome! I didn't even have to suggest it. ;-)

Caption Contest

Not to downplay the thoroughly researched and well-written article my photo illustrates, I wanted to let the spontaneous caption contest entrants know that I had submitted this to Frances Bula as a potential caption contest piece for her blog. She prefers to focus on the local scene there, and so declined.

But this is awesome! I didn't even have to suggest it. ;-)

Billions here or tehre - it is going to be expensive

I'm not worried... it will be a slap in the face for all of us and all we can do is either move out of BC or pay. If the Olympics will be profitable that will be a miracle. Keep your fingers crossed.

On that note - I never thought how much is at stake until I lived in Montreal and heard people complaining about the costs of the Olympics. Should have stayed in Montreal - they at least paid off their debts.

Read Chris Shaw's book - Five ring circus.

I just feel like a poor dog who gets the scrap while the owner eats the fat tasty piece. All of us who volunteer (I don't) pay the debts of this fiasco and suffer the consequences while the rich play are really nothing but puppets moved on a string or some poor dog that is being kicked around.

Oh yeah, there will be benefits... those of you thinking that please please give yourself a kick in the ass or a smack on the face before I do. WAKE UP!

... and it's carbon neutral! Magic!

And don't forget.. the games will be Carbon Neutral! That's right... millions of kms of flights, 1000s of kms of fleets of torch relay vans and a thousand carbon-spewing torches, millions of kgs of craptastic consumer garbage, the skies and ground covered with a war-of-terror force, and it's all Carbon Neutral! It's like MAGIC!

turning point

these games and Games will mark a turning point in BC history. The utter polarization of a tiny, corrupt, wealthy ruling class and all the rest will be remembered as stemming from this moment in history. Reap the whirlwind.

Olympic debt

Wait until the final bill comes in for this fiasco.It's going to so big that Campbell will be forced to step down as Premier but of course he'll say something like "I want to spend more time with my family" as the reason for leaving. His cronies in the media will portray him as some kind of hero while the taxpayers suffer for generations trying to pay for his mess. Even the Liberal/Conservative voters must like the NDP option by now.

Offsetting

Offsetting is highly questionable in terms of its green credentials. What some of these companies do is plant trees, some of which would grow anyway and all of which will die sooner or later. This particular company invests in alternative fuel technology like biomass. Burning biomass may be preferable to burning coal but that doesn't make it green.

IMV, the only way to offsetting should be considered valid is if they are able to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester the carbon. Otherwise, it's a shell game.

Much like the shell game of calculating the costs and benefits of the games themselves. We've been had but almost nobody cares so nobody will be accountable.

is this why

Is it because the estimates won't happen as expected, the reason premier spite has cut back child care, funding to legal services, mental health funding and the crisis lines on vancouver island. These are only the latest cuts, do we need to mention health care, education, seniors care homes etc etc Leaving out kids to carry the burden of poor planning and waste.

Who has flipped out?? Has the fact the world economics are not jumping to gordos tune caused these new problems. What a slap in the face to all BC'ers

Guystone

Nice diversion! Too bad it didn't work. The NDP may have pushed for the Olympics, but they would have lost the bid, not be willing to spend like there's no tomorrow. And if there's one thig the IOC likes, it's a big spender.

Boy, some folks...

So the NDP floated the idea of going after the Winter Olympics, but that was over 9 years ago. Maybe those who are Liberal supporters could get it into their heads that at any time since they came to power, the Liberals could have called a stop to it. After all this time stop blaming the previous government and lay the full blame where it lies. The Campbell Liberals and only the Campbell Liberals!

way back when

When the idea of the games was introduced by the ndp the thing was a simple afair not the horror show.

We weren't supposed to have cut backs in health care, education, child care, mental health supports, food programs that help our very child poverty rate, Crisis lines on Vancouver island - the program that helps prevent and deal with family violence. Lets not forget cuts to the justice system or now cut backs to community advocates, Ignored Global Warming problems that must be addressed or we won't have a world. Oh that we wouldn't have premier spites' abusing the poor or creating ongoing homelessness. Hummmmm

We weren't supposed to create a nightmare for our children to deal with. The IDIOT is still at it

strange?

That sweater effect - it reminds me of another certain high profile politician. I think he had a cat with him... Maybe Campbell should have had a little pet quatchi he was petting in his arms.

Myths About Landing the Olympics

Here is an article about the costs of the Olympics. Very informative.
I also posted this in your article posted today.

Myths About Landing the Olympics
By Stefan Szymanski_Sunday, October 4, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100103891.htm