Burned by the Olympic torch

Extract from a Steve Dunn editorial which appeard in the Oregonian newspaper:


. . .


I'm impressed that organizers of the Salt Lake City Games spent $7 million greasing the palms of the International Olympic Committee.


I'm amazed that Congress,thanks to a number of slick maneuvers by the Utah delegation, is pouring $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars into the Salt Lake City area. As Donald L. Barlett and James

B. Steele reported in a Sports Illustrated article titled "Snowjob," that's an average of $625,000 for each of the 2,400 competing athletes (not

a penny of which will go to the athletes), almost 11 times the amount spent per athlete for the 1996

Atlanta games.


I'm incredulous that beyond the $326 million light-rail system and the $240 million for security, taxpayers are -- Barlett and Steele discovered -- paying for highway projects, access roads and land swaps that are enriching the private businessmen who own the ski resorts and real-estate developments at the heart of the Olympic complex.


Full article:


http://www.oregonlive.com/morenews/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/101127216811119194.xml

Yeah, the Olympics are a sham. I hate taxes anyway, and to have them spent on a bunch of crap drives me nuts. SLC is pretty close to me and does need better roads, but other than that I think tax money going to a business is ridiculous. The "bribery" scandal made me laugh at first. I mean how can you bribe the IOC and who cares. It's like bribing a whore to have sex with you. Can't be done because that's just how they do business. Now I don't think it is quite as funny because their bribes now cost me money. I would like the Olympics if they came to our country because of bribery and we profited from the games. I just know I am overtaxed if the government spends money on sports. Pure theft of my money.