We’ve been watching a lot of the Olympics in our house since it started. I’ve been surprised how much our family has been sucked into the games! I’ve been watching sports I never thought I’d watch (table tennis, archery, fencing, dressage, etc).

I’ve kept a close eye on the Chinese teams in particular (after the US teams, of course). They have the most gold medals by far and are clearly doing well. Yesterday I watched the men’s volleyball, China vs. Japan. The stand was full of Chinese who came to support their team. They won the first 2 rounds, lost the next 2, then played a tie-breaker game and won. What was interesting to me was to see the people in the stands.  Their support and enthusiasm for their team was deafening.

But it also made me think. China and Japan have had such bad blood for so many hundreds of years. Their history is bloody, brutal, and cruel. I couldn’t help but wonder how much of the cheer was simply that China was beating Japan and not just in a game. It’s sad to think there would be so much animosity still deep-rooted between the 2 countries (justified or not). I hope I am wrong.

One controversy that has popped up is about the little girl that sang in the opening ceremonies. During the auditions for her part, they were looking for a girl that was cute, could sing well, and was “flawless in character”. They found a little girl, but she wasn’t cute enough, so they had her sing behind the scenes while they had a cuter little girl sing out front (the one we saw).

Of course the media has gone nuts with this, saying how awful it is. And it’s not good. But China is putting their best face out there. They want to look good to the world. They want everything to appear perfect, because we all know it’s not. So they cut a couple corners. And they admitted it; the behind-the-scenes girl’s picture is all over the media. They invited the world in to their home and are serving the best. We all do the same.

Another controversy is that the youngest gymnast girl is 13, instead of the required 16 during the Olympic year. That’s still to be found out entirely.

Like I said in an earlier post, it will still be interesting to see how the games continue to go.

I really, really find something I read today amusing.

Barack Obama’s new book, “Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama‘s Plan to Renew America’s Promise”, is coming out Sept. 9th. This is a policy book! Hah!

I find this amusing because now we have a book to pull out when a Dem flip-flops on a topic–we can go back and see what his POV was 2 weeks ago.

Of course, many will see this as a great thing, and I can see why. People that love Obama will enjoy reading some of his speeches that are in the book and can get a better understanding on where he wants to go as future president. Back in 1992, Clinton and Gore released “Putting People First,” a book of their plans that actually did very well and stayed that way for awhile even after they were elected into office. So I’m guessing that Obama’s will do well, too. So much of the world’s eyes are on him right now.

I guess I’m just not the type to buy a policy book. However, if Rice wrote one, I could see myself reading it.

There’s much speculation about China around these Olympics. China is notoriously closed-minded to the outside world in many ways. They have magnificent technology, as we all know…think back to the opening ceremonies on the 8th with that huge LED screen on the ground. And they’re open to tourism…I definitely would LOVE to go to China. But the government is strong against change. Tienanmen Square in 1989 was an example of that. Sure, that was a long time ago and they got dirty looks and “what the heck!?!”‘s from the rest of the world. But they still didn’t open up much.

So with the games going on, many people, including myself, are wondering, “What’s next?” How is this going to change our views on China? How is this going to change the Chinese government’s attitude/behavior to the rest of the non-communist world?

I thought it was interesting how much cheer Cuba got in the opening ceremonies from the Chinese. No country was boo-ed, but it was palpable when a favored country appeared. The US got cheered quite a bit, too, another interesting note. China is doing well, as far as golds go. And I think that’s a good thing in some ways. It may elevate the “outside’s” opinion of the people and country. But I also wonder if the govt. will say, “See? Told ya we were right.”

During the opening ceremonies, there were also quite a few bold statements. A large group of children presented their flag to soldiers, who, in strong military style, stiff-stepped it and hoisted it up the flagpole. A woman, beautifully dressed and dancing, stood on a platform carried by many men. In the very beginning, a couple thousand men in total unison banged on drums. The messages were quite clear in each instance. Paul and I just looked at each other and our jaws dropped!

But, overall, I’m very excited. I hope things open up and attitudes become more positive.

The Olympics begin today in Beijing! I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the games. Gab and I watched some of the diving and gymnastic trials awhile back and it was truly amazing to see these athletes. The dedication and work they put into their sport is quite impressive.

I love the stadium recently built. It’s built to look like a bird’s nest and really does. The developers even had to make a new steel that would bend yet still support the structure. Can you imagine?? I wouldn’t have wanted that job in the beginning, but wouldn’t mind being paid for it!

I think it’s amazing that the world can actually come together every few years for summer and winter olympics and agree on the common rules and play games. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take these athletes and put them in the political realm and let them figure out the world’s issues and problems. Just for making it to the debates, each country would be a winner. They could compete to see what country wins an argument, and have 2 runners-up to help the winning country achieve their goals. Then every country has a fair shot…no rich vs. poor. No powerful vs. humble. No popular vs. invisible. Just skill against skill. And a group working together to achieve a common goal.

Here’s the link to the official Olympic page…it has awesome pics and the schedule of events. GO USA!!!! Bring home the gold!!

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

Three optically challenged rodents,

Three optically challenged rodents,

They preambled over to the agriculturist’s spouse

Who removed their appendages with a carving utensil,

Have you ever witness such as scene in all your existence

As three optically challenged rodents,

Three optically challenged rodents.

Don’t you love how politically correct we’ve come to be? I found this PC version of “Three Blind Mice” when I was in high school and it’s stuck with me ever since.

I find it interesting how a nation like ours can claim to be so PC and “equal” to everyone but still have so many injustices. One small example (that I’m not going to get deep in to) is how a baby that’s born addicted to drugs or with FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) can be returned to his “mother.”

It just seems like people are more easily offended within the past few years. I think it started out right, geared towards people who were racist or bigots, to be less offensive. And I agree with that aspect.  I think, though, that groups like the ACLU have taken it farther than necessary to the point that many people don’t want to say anything related to race or the sexes. Women who stay at home taking care of the home and kids used to be “housewives”…now we’re “stay-at-home moms” or Domestic CEO’s. We all want to be respected, sure, but we need to lighten up and not take ourselves so seriously.

Ok, I’ll go first…I’m a short, white, nearly-blind, right-winged, SUV-driving soccer-mom and housewife who shops with a grocery list, carnivore who doesn’t always buy organic.

Who’s next?