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congratulations. :D
I'm amazed at the strength of some of the people at the Special Olympics, though some may have the mindset of someone very young, they are truly good people at heart and I find their strength amazing as well.Quote:
Originally posted here by RoadClosed
I volunteer for special olympics. Lol the stories I could tell you, in fun. Like the time I was recording the shot put and the biggest guy I ever saw tossed the shot into the crowd. Damn.... no one got hurt so looking back I find it hilarious. :) Good kids those people are, those game are their life.
I used to help out with special olympics a lot when my mom was involved a lot. Then she had my sister and ran out of time to volunteer.
My dad still does a ton of stuff with them, he keeps 2 web sites up for them and updates them, and he is also one of like 10 people who test their new games program on a regular basis. He is helping full scale deployment of the program... RC you might have seen it already... I'm sure you've heard about it if you volunteer a lot... He is actually in D.C. right now for a conference all about the program.
Back to the topic at hand ... ;)
Edit: I forget to add the damn link every time.Quote:
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The U.S. Olympic Committee has asked President Bush's re-election campaign to pull a television ad that mentions the Olympics.
The USOC is awaiting a response from the re-election campaign, committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said Thursday.
The ad shows a swimmer and the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"In 1972, there were 40 democracies in the world. Today, 120," an announcer says. "Freedom is spreading throughout the world like a sunrise. And this Olympics there will be two more free nations. And two fewer terrorist regimes."
Some of the players on the Iraqi Olympic soccer team have complained about the ad appearing as part of a political campaign.
Campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said last week there were no plans to pull the ad.
"We are on firm legal ground to mention the Olympics and make a factual point in a political advertisement," Stanzel said.
The International Olympic Committee and the USOC have the authority to regulate the use of anything involving the Olympics.
An act of Congress, last revised in 1999, grants the USOC exclusive rights to such terms as "Olympic," derivatives such as "Olympiad" and the five interlocking rings. It also specifically says the organization "shall be nonpolitical and may not promote the candidacy of an individual seeking public office."
Let's disect this dude's comments a little more: He says he'd be at home fighting if it weren't for the Olympics? OK. So first off, the Olympic games are apparently more important to him than his freedom from the "invading Americans". Wow, his priorities in life are truly inspiring.
Secondly, he doesn't say anything about fighting Uday when he was in power. Why wasn't he fighting then? Is it because he thinks the US is weaker? I don't think even he is that illogical. So then it must be because he doesn't fear for his life for making opposing comments or putting up opposition. Fact is, he must believe he would now be in a situation where he could gain something such as freedom. Those damn Americans!
debwalin - The leagal technicality her is that the USOC is not endorsing a candidate, which is/was the intent of the 1999 Congressional Act. You can state facts all day long in advertisements. This is kind of like the blind taste tests of Coke vs Pepsi. As long as you are stating a fact you are on solid legal ground. Ever think about how this would affect our mainstream media if applied to them? The newscasters could not mention the names of companies such as Haliburton, Enron, Whoever OIL without facing a lawsuit; because essentially, whether the statement is fact or not, the newscaster is using the name to generate interest and increase audience shares by mentioning the name that is coprighted. By this standard no news agency can mention the "Olympic" games or "Olympic" medals or "Olympic" events. And the list will go on. Making a statement of truth is called freedom of speech. So I ask you was the statement inaccurate?
It's amazing (to me) that people on our planet today are offended by stating that "freedom is spreading like... a sunrise" throughout the world. Why is that? Why is that an issue? Because they used a single word "olympic"?
I think your missing it RC. I don't think the olympics wanted to support bush, and that is why they didn't want the ad using them in it. They want to stay neutral to all countries and all political parties, and not get caught up in the political BS of most countries.
It's probably not even about whether the IOC wants to support Bush or not, but more about "the use of the Olympic symbol, flag, motto and anthem for any advertising, commercial or profit-making purposes whatsoever is strictly reserved for the IOC." (from the IOC's Olympic Charter). Granted, nothing is said about the term "Olympics", but in its Charter the IOC definitely makes it clear that anything Olympics-related is not to be used for any form of advertizing, for the reason stated below.
The Olympics is one of those events (the only one, probably) where all politics are set aside and where athletes can compete and nothing but compete in what they're good at. Palestinians compete with Israelians and the only thing that matters is that medal; not the politics.
The message in the ad is that "thanks to the US, there are now two more countries competing in the Olympics". Doesn't matter what terminology/symbology is being used, it's a political message.
Why in the world would you use an event like that for politics... Let's keep the Olympics for what they're supposed to be for.