22 Apr 2008 23:48:41
Terry Hall
"The Portlandian" - April 22, 2008 edition

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The Portlandian, the Internet's premier source of Tonya News

April 22, 2008 Edition
(C) 2008 Portland Ice Skating Society
http://www.geocities.com/portice
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It's time for another issue of Tonya goodies from the folks at
Special Duties. And this time it's a biggie, because there's been
lots of Tonya news recently. We start off by reviewing the
Tonya/Nancy opera, and have good news on Tonya's long-awaited
book. Meanwhile, Tonya tackles some dumb criminals, and does some
singing. We also unearth some vintage Tonya skating footage that
we didn't even know existed. Finally, we bring back two classic
Portlandian features: the Jayson awards and another favorite
pastime of ours, bashing the IOC (and boy, have they given us
plenty of stuff to bash them with recently).


ROCK OPERA DEBUTS TO ALMOST FULL HOUSE

Without doubt the most important Tonya-related event since our
last issue has been the debut of the Tonya/Nancy rock opera in
Portland in February. The rock opera opened at the World Trade
Center Auditorium on February 21 to a nearly-full house,
including the ultimate critic, Tonya herself. The event received
extensive and generally positive coverage in the Pacific
Northwest and national media. Several of the reports include
video of Tonya, whose reaction to it all seems to have been one
of amusement rather than discomfort.

When asked by a reporter upon entering the lobby as to why she
had turned up, her reply was that she was "helping the local
talent get some publicity and that way they can get more work on
themselves." After the 100-minute show ended, Tonya joined the
15-strong cast on stage, hugged the lead actresses and described
it as "really awesome". Talking to reporters later, she said
"There was a lot of it that I already knew, but there was a lot
of it where I was going 'wow, did my life really look that bad?'"
and "It was kind of funny watching your own life on stage",
adding that the actors did a "really great job."

"I lived in a trailer home," the show's artistic director Don
Horn told local papers. "I'm from a white-trash family. She
understands that I'm not trying to hurt her". "As I've gotten to
know her," Horn said, "I really like her... She's a pepper pot."

The script also succeeded in changing some of the cast's own
opinions about Tonya. Beth Willis, who plays her in the
production, grew up in Beaverton as a Kerrigan fan. "Nancy was so
pretty," she says. "And what happened to her was so bad. Then I
read the script. I was practically in tears for Tonya. It gives
such a different side". "We all make mistakes. Not all of us have
to do it in the public eye. I think it's amazing she was able to
go as far as she did." Other cast members include Lilla D'Mone
(Nancy), Dale Johannes (Jeff Gillooly), Todd Pozycki (Shawn
Eckardt) Sue Ellen Christensen (LaVona Harding) and Jason Coffey
(Shane Stant), backed by a five-piece rock band.

Attendances have also been good. Indeed, it received such a
positive reaction from audiences that two extra performances were
arranged on the 14th and 15th of March.

For those unable to make it to the performances in person, the
show's web site also features two songs from the opera, "When You
Wake Up Sleeping In Your Car In Estacada" and "It's Our Whole
Life". The files are in mp3 format, and should be playable on any
just about any computer. You can download them by right-clicking,
which may be the best way to listen to them if you are on a slow
connection.

http://www.tripro.org/17th-year/tonya-nancy.html


PROMOTION

Naturally those connected with the project were busy promoting it
in local media, including several interviews about the event on
KPAM, a local radio station:

http://207.126.125.163/pages/pages.php?page=17

The first two are with Don Horn, the show's artistic director,
and the third is with Tonya herself, and goes for about 11
minutes:

http://207.126.125.163/upload/file/32631%20TONYA%20AND%20NANCY%20ROCK%20OPERA.mp3

http://207.126.125.163/upload/file/32642%20TONYA%20AND%20NANCY%20OPERA.mp3

http://207.126.125.163/upload/file/32652%20TONYA%20HARDING.mp3

Interesting trivia question at the end from Tonya, about when she
first landed the 3 axel in competition but was not credited for
it. As a long-time Tonyaologist my guess is that this page would
hold the answer:

http://www.srfsc.org/compete/redwd95/clashis1.htm

Tonya also appeared on Bob Miller's show a second time on
February 21st, where she no doubt gave the answer, but
unfortunately this interview does not appear to have been
archived.

Meanwhile, the Oregonian ran this story, complete with the wrong
photograph (it's of the original classical opera, not the rock
opera):

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2008/02/preview_tonya_nancy_the_rock_o.html

The Tribune also had this behind the scenes preview of the show:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=120335881469001400


REVIEWS

First up we have the Portland Mercury. Interestingly, the writer
initially was expecting to dislike the production but was won
over, describing it as "brilliant and touching".

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=711377&category=22143

Willamette Week has a report on the opening night, complete with
YouTube video of Tonya's arrival and taking the stage at the end,
along with a review:

http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=10862
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfCmrLij2I0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muhodFF_4iU

This one is negative. Oddly, it seems that the writer's problem
with the show is that he sees it as making fun of Tonya, which is
quite an unusual position for a Portland journalist. Guess he
won't be getting many job offers in that town with an attitude
like that:

http://wweek.com/editorial/3416/10457/

Another pleasant surprise is two very detailed reviews from Katy
Muldoon at The Oregonian. And they're positive (e.g.
acknowledging a "rousing ovation" from the audience at the end).
Could it be that this paper has finally grown up and realized
Tonyaphobia is old hat?

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/02/inspiration_for_tonya_nancy_ro.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/living/1203746131256060.xml&coll=7

Another lengthy review comes from the Columbian, the paper that
covers the area where Tonya now lives:

http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/2008/02/02252008_Olympic-skater-Tonya-Harding-inspires-rock-opera.cfm

Local TV stations also covered the event:

http://www.kptv.com/news/15377295/detail.html
http://www.katu.com/news/entertainment/15864547.html
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_022008_lifestyle_tonya_musical.103168b6.html

The opera also made news back East, with this article from a
Massachusetts paper about the composer, Michael Teoli:

http://www.eagletribune.com/punewsnh/local_story_055074333.html/resources_printstory

It seems that Tonya had a successful night on the video pokies as
well:

http://wweek.com/editorial/3416/10446/

This one has video:

http://cbs2.com/video/?id=60445@kcbs.dayport.com&cid=92

We're glad to see that they've reinstated the Shawn Eckardt role
that was cut from the original version. Only problem is that the
guy who is playing him needs more padding.

A LOT more padding...


TONYA BIOGRAPHY TO BE RELEASED

Here's more great news: Tonya's long-awaited autobiography that
she worked on several years ago is finally to see the light of
day. The publisher is an outfit called World Audience and its
expected release date is in May:

http://worldaudience.powweb.com/pubs_bks/TonyaHarding.html

Entitled "The Tonya Tapes", the book is described on the site as:

"Based on the candid and sometimes startling conversations that
YOU were never meant to hear, THE TONYA TAPES, written by
award-winning author, Lynda D. Prouse, chronicles the life of
the world's most infamous female athlete –- TONYA HARDING –-
revealing for the first time the whole truth of her difficult
and sometimes amazing life on and off the ice. Based on actual,
extensive interviews with Tonya Harding, and written with her
collaboration, this is her story!

The title isn't quite as cool as the one we suggested ("Triple
Axels & Double Crosses") but not bad. It's got that sort of
Watergate-type angle about it, with a dash of Mission Impossible.
Let's just hope that there isn't an 18 minute blank section at
the part where Tonya discusses the Whacking, or that the tape
didn't self destruct before the author got to listen to that bit.


TONYA TACKLES DUMB-LOVING CRIMINALS ON TRUTV

Tonya has also been involved in doing commentary for a new TV
series, "The Smoking Gun Presents: The World's Dumbest...", which
has begun airing on the truTV channel (formerly CourtTV) in the
9pm time slot:

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20080310trutv01

Tonya has already done some segments on "The World's Dumbest
Criminals" for the show, which started screening on March 13. So
far there have four episodes on that topic, and future episodes
in the ten-part series are proposed to feature dumbness in all
its forms, such as the world's dumbest drivers, dumbest
daredevils and dumbest record breakers, amongst others.

Other commentators include Danny Bonaduce, Todd Bridges, Amy
Fisher and Leif Garrett, all of whom were selected because of
their own brushes with the law. Andrew Goldberg and Bill Bastone,
founders of thesmokinggun.com, also feature on the show.

A reader who viewed the fourth show says that Tonya "looked
fantastic", has lost weight and now has a great suntan. Tonya's
agent, Linda Lewis, tells us that Tonya has traveled to Burbank
at least three times (the last time being just last week) to work
on this series, so she will be on more episodes. It seems that
the show's producers are really pleased with her work, and the
show itself has got at least one positive review:

http://www.film.com/tv/story/smoking-gun-takes-shot-dumb/13982602/19617065

More information, including some video clips, can be found on the
show's home page at:

http://www.trutv.com/shows/tsg_presents/index.html

Tonya features briefly in a segment about a guy stealing women's
bras (he claimed he was using them as slingshots) and also
appears in a clip of outtakes entitled "World's silliest
celebrities" on the site.

http://www.trutv.com/video/cats/dumbest.html
http://www.trutv.com/video/tsg-presents/the-panty-bandit.html
http://www.trutv.com/video/tsg-presents/worlds-silliest-celebs.html

Which brings us to this issue's Tonya Trivia question: apart from
all being on this show and having had legal problems, what is the
connection between Tonya and the four other celebrity panelists?


TONYA SINGS IN MEADE COUNTY

Back in early February Tonya attended an event at the Boonedocks
bar in Meade County, Kentucky. She was supposed to box in an
exhibition but that was canceled because of the lack of proper
paperwork. It seems that as a professional boxer she has to have
a referee and a doctor present. Heck, you'd thing the people
booking her for this stuff would check that sort of thing out
after what happened in Florida with Daisy D a few years back.
Tonya attended anyway, signed autographs and sang "Blue" by
LeeAnn Rimes with a live backing band, and got what appears to be
a good reception:

http://www.wlky.com/news/15256804/detail.html

The appearance was the brainchild of bar owner Duke Williams who
figured that Tonya was just the thing to bring in customers to
his new business, which is located on the Meade-Hardin county
line near Vine Grove. "This was a way to get our name out, short
of getting Willie Nelson or somebody like that in here," he said.
"Everybody knows Tonya Harding. Even my kids that wasn't born
when she was an ice skater knows Tonya Harding."

Tonya received a "great" reception from the 200 or so people who
attended, co-owner Sherry Boggs told a local paper. "Everybody's
loving her," Boggs said. "She's really a nice lady, very
personable."

Tonya also spent Friday at the Ali Museum in Louisville.


DINNER & POOL WITH TONYA

April saw Tonya returning to the Kansas City area, where she was
last seen for December's "Season's Beatings" event, for two
appearances. The first was a pool tournament in Blue Springs,
Missouri on the 10th, with the winner of an eBay auction getting
dinner and a game of pool with her. The event raised funds for a
local health clinic. Tonya also later sang karaoke at the venue.

Tonya was also present at "April Armageddon", a wrestling event
the next day in Kansas City, though only as a guest, not actually
taking part:

http://mlsentertainment.net/upcomingevents.aspx

Unfortunately Tonya's enjoyment of her visit to Kansas City was
marred by a sinus infection, but we are told that she is now well
on the road to recovery.


EARLY TONYA FOOTAGE SURFACES

This clip, of Tonya performing in something called the U.S.
National Sports Festival in Baton Rouge in 1985, appears to be
the oldest motion picture film or video footage of Tonya to
emerge so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65kXc3Q-2dA&fmt=6

This is the Short Program. Unfortunately, Tonya's weakness in
figures at this point in her career meant she went into the Short
Program in 13th place. But as the uploader says, it is impressive
for her, at age 14, to land the most difficult combination of all
the ladies - a triple flip/double loop.


JAYSON'S BACK

No, we don't mean a new "Friday the 13th" movie. We're talking
about the Jayson awards, an old Portlandian favorite. Named in
(dis)honor of Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who made
up alot of his stories, the "Jaysons" are dished out to any media
that we think have engaged in biased and inaccurate reporting
about Tonya. And we've got plenty of them this time around:

The first nominee is: "The Columbian". Late in March, they
published the following story relating to alleged gunshots being
heard near Tonya's house:

http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/03/03242008_Gunshots-reported-near-Harding-home.cfm

It seems that the gist of it was that "somebody heard something
that they thought sounded like gunfire, and despite this
occurring in an area where shooting is not restricted, called the
cops, who investigated and found..... well, nothing at all,
really".

This article is a perfect example of trying fabricate a story out
of nothing just because Tonya might be involved and there's an
opportunity to make her look bad. Let's look at the facts:
"gunshots reported..." - excuse us, but did somebody repeal the
Second Amendment during Easter while the NRA wasn't looking? What
part of "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not
be infringed" don't these clowns understand? Nobody was killed,
nobody was injured, nobody was arrested - indeed there wasn't
even a police report written up. Secondly, there's no evidence
that Tonya was doing the shooting, or anyone else on her
property. Thirdly, even if she was, it seems it's completely
legal anyway. In fact, it doesn't even seem clear from the
article that it was ever firmly established that the sounds were
actually gunfire.

Indeed, it seems that the only reason this non-event made it into
the paper was because of some vague suggestion that Tonya may
have been connected in some way. In fact, Tonya's agent, Linda
Lewis, has told us that the police didn't even interview Tonya.
In other words, Tonya was NOT CONNECTED in any way with this.
Unfortunately, it seems that the reporter couldn't wait for Ms.
Lewis to reply to his inquiry before rushing into print. Of
course, had he done so, the sole reason for the article - a
chance to tarnish Tonya with vague suggestions and innuendo -
would have evaporated.

The outcome of all this reminds us of the title to Tonya's Short
Program from the 1993/94 season - "Much Ado About Nothing". We
have to wonder what the Columbian's next big news story about
Tonya will be - perhaps "Tonya ticketed for parking violation",
or maybe "Harding caught with overdue library book"? A big fat
"Jayson" to The Columbian for this drek.


The second nominee is... TMZ.com. They're the bunch of parasites
who normally spend their time reporting who Paris, Britney &
Lindsay are shagging this week. First they posted video of Tonya
wiping her nose while eating in a cafe in Burbank in February
(apparently they think that this is important news - "My God,
look at the way she blows her schnozz! She must have been in on
it!"). Then a few days ago they followed this up with some
virtually unrecognizable footage of Tonya singing karaoke at
the Side Pockets pool hall in Blue Springs:

http://www.tmz.com/2008/04/15/tonya-harding-karaokes-whhhyyyyyyy/

The article makes derogatory comments about Tonya's singing,
which, we have to admit, isn't that great. But in any case, so
what? People who can sing are a dime a dozen. How many women can
do a triple axel?

TMZ must be absolutely desperate if they paid money for this
dingy poor quality crap. It's barely viewable. Much better
footage of Tonya in Kansas City is this clip of her arm wrestling
a local DJ as a bet (she won):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkIC76of1PQ&fmt=6

The money raised went to charity. Of course, naturally we don't
see THAT reported on TMZ.


But it's not just local rags or paparazzi sites that are having a
go at Tonya. Last issue, we noted how two of the main candidates
in the U.S. Presidential elections both made negative references
about her.

Now it seems that the media are at it again. Which brings us to
our third nominee: Jake Tapper, a correspondent at ABC news.
Tapper says that a senior Democratic party official speculated
that Hillary Clinton would have to resort to what he described as
"the Tonya Harding option" in order to defeat Barack Obama, a
catch-phrase that quickly swept the blogoshere. Presumably the
analogy was that Clinton would be prepared to "kneecap" Obama
even if it meant that John McCain would win, as this would
thereby enable her to have another crack at the Presidency in
2012 before she got too old.

It's a particularly inept and dim-witted analogy. For a start,
under this scenario it would imply that McCain is analagous to
Oksana Baiul, and we just can't envisage McCain in a frilly pink
feathery outfit like Oksana wore in Lillehammer. More
importantly, it's based on the false assumption that Tonya was
responsible for the kneecapping. It should really be called the
"Jeff Gillooly option", as he's the one who came up with the
idea. But of course, that doesn't sound as catchy as blaming
Tonya, does it?

We'd suggest that a better comparison to Hillary would be Shawn
Eckardt rather than Tonya. After all, he was the one who was
always making up elaborate stories about dodging sniper fire.


And the winner (loser?) is... all of them. Unlike the Oscars(R),
we don't have to just pick one of the nominees for a Jayson.
Everybody gets one. And if The Smoking Gun ever does a series
about the world's dumbest journalists, we'll have a long list of
names for them to use.


BIG TROUBLE IN BIG CHINA: OR THE IOC GETS TORCHED

Over the past few days the eyes of the world have been focused on
the Olympic torch relay in the runup to the Beijing Games. But
this attention has been for precisely the opposite reasons than
those the International Olympic Committee hoped for.

The relay got off to a bad start with the lighting of the flame
in Greece. A group known as "Reporters Without Borders" managed
to unfurl a banner depicting the five Olympic rings as handcuffs
in the background before being escorted away by police,
completely upstaging the flame ceremony.

In Turkey, the flame was carried by local figure skater Tugba
Karademir. Perhaps the local authorities thought that she would
be able to do a triple lutz around the protests, but they were
wrong. Six Uighur Muslims were detained after getting within a
few meters of her. Another man was detained after he tried to
jump on the torch bearer Devrim Cenk Ulusoy in Istanbul.


ANARCHY IN THE UK

Protests continued as the "Flame of Shame" reached the shores of
dear old Blighty, this time from pro-Tibet demonstrators. Three
protesters tried to board a bus that was to carry five-time
Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave from Wembley Stadium to the
next point in the relay. The torch was also sprayed with a fire
extinguisher in an unsuccessful attempt to put it out.

It was here that the men in the blue tracksuits that had
accompanied the torch on its journey started to get some long-
overdue attention. "Who ARE these guys?", people began to ask.
Turns out that they are actually members of some elite, highly-
trained paramilitary unit - the same unit that's been involved in
the suppression of the revolt in Tibet. Their military training
came in handy when one protester tried to grab the torch from TV
presenter Konnie Huq. The Chinese guards swung into action,
tackling the protester to the ground and forcing the local police
to intervene and rescue him. In interviews later Ms. Huq
described the guards as "aggressive" and "robotic," barking
orders at her throughout the run. Former MP and Olympic champion
Sebastian Coe went further, labeling them as "thugs", telling an
assistant that they tried to "push me out of the way three times.
They are horrible". He also suggested that organizers in other
countries should "get rid of those guys".

All that was missing was the Sex Pistols floating down the Thames
singing "God Save The Queen" to complete the scenes of anarchy
and absurdity. Because if England thought that the flame was
going to get an easy ride, they really must have been dreaming.


PARIS IN THE SPRING

In Paris, things got even worse. Although protesters failed to
get as close to the flame as in London thanks to a beefed-up
security presence, it was extinguished several times by the
tracksuit goons and forced onto a bus for much of its route.

Stéphane Diagana, a former hurdler who was the first torch-bearer
in the Paris leg of the relay, said he noticed the Chinese guards
were edgy from the start, as the protesters immediately began to
surround the torch. "They were very cross and nervous," he said.
"They didn't care about the torch-bearers at all."


IF YOUR GOING TO SAN FRANCISCO, BE SURE TO WEAR A FLACK JACKET

The next stop was San Francisco. But the greeting that this
supposed symbol of peace and harmony got was anything but the
bunch of flower-wearing hippies immortalized in Scott McKenzie's
famous song, instead being a large number of angry protesters. In
desperation, the local Chinese embassy resorted to busing in a
load of its stooges from across half the state, complete with
neat, professionally manufactured placards and banners in an
attempt to make it look good. This obvious "astroturfing" attempt
was a complete waste of time, as what had now been dubbed the
"torture torch" played a game of hide and seek and eventually
turned up several kilometers away for a severely truncated
journey. Despite this elaborate charade, and the continued
presence of the stormtroopers in the blue tracksuits, several
people still had a go at it, and at least one runner managed to
display a small Tibetan flag. The police, using tactics more
usually associated with that city's most famous fictional cop,
"Dirty Harry" Callahan, brutally pushed one of them back into the
crowd.

In India, officials promised what they described as a "foolproof
plan" to counteract anti-torch protesters. The plan, as it turned
out, was simply to truncate the relay to a ludicrously short 2.3
kilometers (less than one and a half miles) and to protect it
with 16,000 cops and soldiers. At this rate, the torch relay will
probably be shorter than the real athletics relays at the Games
themselves by the time it gets to Canberra, Australia, later this
week.

The result of this mess is that the Chinese government, along
with the IOC, have ended up with a huge amount of egg foo-yung on
their faces. What was supposed to be a public relations coup has
instead turned into a massive PR disaster. What were the Chinese
thinking? Did they honestly believe that they could orchestrate
the same sort of stage-managed political set-pieces that they do
at home in a free country without disruption? It's obvious that
they don't understand how the West works. China has discovered
that when you grab a flaming object, you can sometimes get badly
burned. Naturally they've responded angrily, chanting the
standard line to "keep politics out of the Olympics", but the
truth is that the Games were politicized long before the first
protesters hit the streets. Politics and elite sport, far from
being strange bedfellows, go together like gin & tonic, Laurel &
Hardy and Tonya & Nancy.

For a start, the Olympics are now so big that it's impossible to
run them without government support. The politics starts with the
bidding process, funded by the taxpayers, frequently involving
bribes. More taxpayer money is used to build the stadium, usually
constructed by some crony of of the government in a corrupt
tendering process. The opening ceremony is generally a big advert
for how wonderful the host country is, and is usually attended by
major world leaders. The nationalistic angle continues as
athletes compete under the flags of their country. There's the
unseemly obsession with the medal tally - which country has the
most? Many IOC members are just appointees of corrupt regimes.
And it's no secret that former IOC president Juan Antonio
Samaranch was angling for a Nobel Peace Prize.

That's because unlike other sports events the Olympics have
always claimed to be more than just about sport: they claim to be
a "movement", based on the grandiose idea that athletes of the
world coming together for two weeks every two years contributes
to world peace. It's a rather dodgy claim, but it makes the idea
that the Olympics are non-political a nonsense.

The torch relay itself is a perfect example of the political
aspect of the Olympics. Contrary to popular belief, the relay was
not present in ancient Greece, but was cooked up by Hitler as a
propaganda stunt for the 1936 Olympics. 3422 pure-blooded Aryans,
one for every kilometer of the journey, carried the torch from
Olympia to Berlin, often through countries that would later be
invaded by the Nazis. The whole trek was filmed by Leni
Riefenstahl and turned into the film "Olympia", which is widely
recognized as one of the greatest propaganda films ever made. Far
from being the symbol of peace and unity that the IOC would have
you believe, the torch is actually a symbol of Nazi racial
superiority. So it's highly appropriate that it's now seen as a
symbol of another brutal regime and is getting the roasting
reception it deserves.


SAMMY'S BEIJING BLUNDER HAUNTS THE IOC

Despite this, there is still one big difference between the
Olympics in the West and in dictatorships: and that is that in
the West, the Olympics aren't run by the government. The USOC
doesn't take orders from the White House. So it's perfectly
possible to enjoy the Olympics in Salt Lake City even if you
despise the Bush administration. The same can't be said of China
where the organizers and the government are one and the same.

The people who politicized the 2008 Olympics aren't the Free
Tibet protesters or the Dalai Lama: it was the IOC itself when it
made the brain-dead decision to award the games to a totalitarian
dictatorship like China. Because in a totalitarian state,
EVERYTHING is political.

What were they thinking? Did they seriously believe China's
promise to clean up its abysmal human rights record? Or maybe
they cynically thought the world wouldn't notice, or just
wouldn't care, so long as the party was big enough. Perhaps they
were pressured by their corporate sponsors, eager to sell
container loads of fizzy drinks and sweatshop-made junk into this
booming new market. Either way, it's a staggering lack of
judgement and shows just how totally out of touch this bunch of
dunderheads still are with the real world, despite the supposed
"reforms" of the past few years. It seems that Samaranch, a man
no stranger to oppressive regimes, was a major cheerleader for
giving the Games to China, so even though he's no longer leader,
his legacy is still causing them headaches.

The IOC's illogical attempts to pretend that it's a "peace
movement" while still remaining "non-political" has resulted in
them engaging in some bizarre mental gymnastics that would tie
Nadia Comaneci up in knots. For instance, while acknowledging
that "freedom of expression is absolutely a human right", IOC
head Jacques Rogge also warned athletes against engaging in
"propaganda" while at the Games, leaving everybody scratching
their heads as to just what was and wasn't okay.

The IOC has been engaged in a dangerous game of delusional
Orwellian doublethink: that you can somehow separate the actions
of those who organize the Games from the actual Games themselves.
And that you can somehow have all the peace, love and Kumbaya
stuff that makes up the "Olympic Spirit" while ignoring human
rights. Your can't have "peace" when secret police are beating up
demonstrators and dragging them off to prison camps. You can't
have "sportsmanship" when a country's sportspeople are just
doped-up pawns of the state. "Harmony" must mean more than
everybody marching to the same synchronized goose-step. If the
IOC's claims to promote "peace" are to be anything more than a
load of empty feel-good waffle, then they must take the human
rights records of the bidding countries into account when
awarding the Games.

China, under its current rulers, is about as far from the Olympic
ideals as you can get. They aren't holding these Games because
they're a bunch of nice guys with a desire for sportsmanship and
international harmony. They're holding them because they want to
con the world that they are now a "Westernized" country just
because they've now got cars, cellphones, Ipods and all the other
material trappings of one, even though they lack the most
important feature, a respect for human rights. If you still think
that these Olympics aren't about politics, well, we've got some
bad news for you about the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and that
guy in the red suit that shows up at the local mall every
December as well.

Want to de-politicize the current Olympics? Then cancel this
farce in Beijing and shift the 2008 Games back to Greece, a
country which knows far more about democracy than the Chinese
Communist party ever will. Heck, who knows, they might even have
the Athens stadium finished by now. Unfortunately, we all know
that the IOC isn't going to do this, so the question now turns to
the best way to make a protest. A total boycott of the Games
would hurt the athletes, who thanks to the IOC are now the meat
in the sandwich, and may backfire. At best, China would win more
medals which the regime would spin as proof of just how superior
their system is. At worst, if the Games totally collapse the
Chinese may decide they now have nothing to lose and send in
tanks to steamroller over the monks in Lhasa, just as they did to
protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Public opinion now seems
to be coalescing around the idea of a boycott by world leaders of
the opening ceremony, which is just a load of propaganda anyway,
and for the public to boycott the sponsors. This would allow the
athletes to compete in the sports events - supposedly what the
Games are really about - while showing Beijing that the world has
not fallen for its baloney.

*****************************************************************
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PortIce - http://www.geocities.com/portice
David House - http://www.tonyaharding.org
Charlie Main - http://www.charliesweb.com/tonya/tonya.html
Puppetboy - http://www.usapaul.net/tonya/
Valerie Smith - http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/LilHam.html
Swan Lake - http://members.tripod.com/~TonyaHarding/index.html
Blades of Gold - http://members.tripod.com/tmhfan/index.html
*****************************************************************




23 Apr 2008 01:09:16
Chilly8
Re: "The Portlandian" - April 22, 2008 edition


X-No-Archive: Yes

[a.f.t-h and alt.f.t-h.w.w.w trimmed becuase Google Groups does not
allow posting to either gtroup]






>
> SAMMY'S BEIJING BLUNDER HAUNTS THE IOC
>
> Despite this, there is still one big difference between the
> Olympics in the West and in dictatorships: and that is that in
> the West, the Olympics aren't run by the government. The USOC
> doesn't take orders from the White House. So it's perfectly
> possible to enjoy the Olympics in Salt Lake City even if you
> despise the Bush administration. The same can't be said of China

Actually, the United States Olympic Committee IS subject to the whims
of the State Departments (remember the 1980 Boycott?). This authrority
is derived from the Trading With The Enemy Act, which does allow the
President and/or State Department to prohibit certain activities
abroad by residents of the United States.

And this is where a boycott of the OIympics this time, by the U.S.,
would be VERY messy. Becuase there are a lot of American
expatriates(incluiding me) who live in countries all over the world,
you have MORE people who are EXEMPT from that section of the Trading
With The Enemy Act. You see, any Olympics related travel restrictions
imposed would ONLY apply to those who LIVE in the United States. Those
American citizens and/or permenent residents who do not LIVE in the
United States are EXEMPT and NOT SUBJECT to this law.

The Cuba travel restrictions are one example. I can travel to
broadcast figure skating events in Cuba, despite being American,
becuase I do not LIVE in America. This makes me NOT SUBJECT to the
Cuba travel restrictions. As long as I do not LAND in America at any
time, while coming or going from Cuba, the travel restrictions DO NOT
APPLY to ME, though one NUTCASE from soc.culture.cuba will come here
and try to tell you otherwise (hence the X-No-Archive in the post).


24 Apr 2008 12:50:48
Terry Hall
Re: "The Portlandian" - April 22, 2008 edition


"Chilly8" <chilly8@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:d7a6c7cc-d677-49f7-b927-9cda36bfcc12@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> [a.f.t-h and alt.f.t-h.w.w.w trimmed becuase Google Groups does not
> allow posting to either gtroup]

> > SAMMY'S BEIJING BLUNDER HAUNTS THE IOC
> >
> > Despite this, there is still one big difference between the
> > Olympics in the West and in dictatorships: and that is that in
> > the West, the Olympics aren't run by the government. The USOC
> > doesn't take orders from the White House. So it's perfectly
> > possible to enjoy the Olympics in Salt Lake City even if you
> > despise the Bush administration. The same can't be said of China
>
> Actually, the United States Olympic Committee IS subject to the whims
> of the State Departments (remember the 1980 Boycott?). This authrority
> is derived from the Trading With The Enemy Act, which does allow the
> President and/or State Department to prohibit certain activities
> abroad by residents of the United States.

Hardly the sort of thing that would apply under normal peace-time
circumstances, though. That's what we're talking about here. The Chinese
government, on the other hand, will definitely be controlling the Olympics,
whether they're at war or at peace.


> And this is where a boycott of the OIympics this time, by the U.S.,
> would be VERY messy. Becuase there are a lot of American
> expatriates(incluiding me) who live in countries all over the world,
> you have MORE people who are EXEMPT from that section of the Trading
> With The Enemy Act. You see, any Olympics related travel restrictions
> imposed would ONLY apply to those who LIVE in the United States. Those
> American citizens and/or permenent residents who do not LIVE in the
> United States are EXEMPT and NOT SUBJECT to this law.
>
> The Cuba travel restrictions are one example. I can travel to
> broadcast figure skating events in Cuba, despite being American,
> becuase I do not LIVE in America. This makes me NOT SUBJECT to the
> Cuba travel restrictions. As long as I do not LAND in America at any
> time, while coming or going from Cuba, the travel restrictions DO NOT
> APPLY to ME, though one NUTCASE from soc.culture.cuba will come here
> and try to tell you otherwise (hence the X-No-Archive in the post).


We're not proposing a mandatory boycott imposed by the government on athletes.
Athletes should be free to make up their own minds about whether to attend,
and what they choose to say or not say when they get there. They should be
aware, however, that by going they are in danger of being used as political
pawns by the Beijing regime. We are suggesting that world leaders (and perhaps
athletes as well) should boycott the opening ceremony of their own accord.



Terry Hall
Head of Special Duties Section
Portland Ice Skating Society - New Zealand's Tonya Harding fan club
http://www.geocities.com/portice