2010 Olympic Rant #40 Three cheers for Chris Shaw · 10.01.10 by colin newell
Why let me tell it – read the Canadian Press for yourself.
Story passed on to me from my dear friend Mark at Bubby Roses Bakery.
A highlight:
He soon came to see the Olympics as little more than a scheme to make developers rich, help sponsors market their brands and funnel money back to the International Olympic Committee – itself effectively a multinational corporation that uses its brand to exert enormous influence over host governments, Shaw believes.
In return, he argues, the communities that host the Games are left with higher-than-projected costs and empty promises about environmental sustainability and social development.
“What I saw with the Olympics was a microcosm of that larger globalization issue,” says Shaw.
“The IOC is basically another multinational corporation, it’s just got this great gimmick.”
I hate to say this now (me speaking)… but anyone that buys into this pseudo Olympic spirit is a naive chump who has his (her) head up their ass.
My wife and I spent over a half and hour with the wonderful businessperson behind Victoria’s own Cairo Coffee – a staple in Victoria since 1913.
Stupid me, I said that we were all going to be fine in 2010 – that the coffee world was going to rock and everyone was going to be fine…
Geepers did Bill (owner of Cairo Coffee) give me a much needed wake-up call. My dear wife, standing near-by, agreed with every word Bill laid out for me.
Which makes me a naive chump… with my head up my ass.
Pretty much.
Combine the downturn in the economy, the 2010 sinkhole, Gordon Campbell’s irrepressible desire to sell the Province to the highest foreign bidder and the inclusion of the much maligned HST tax… and, according to Bill of Cairo Coffee, “We have the fixins for the perfect storm in the Province of British Columbia…”
“Next year is going to be grim…”
In the 1/2 hour we chatted late on Saturday afternoon, not a soul popped into a normally very busy store.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
We have a year to find out… if only in part.
Baby bottom bugaboos and other bewildering blather | Coffee in Victoria B.C. and the lower Island EAT Magazine
I have a hard time talking with Bill ‘cause he is easily distracted by customers. Heck, he’s alone in the shop – what can you expect!
He’s quite the character, and delightfully spry for about 74!
— Mark Jan 11, 12:04 am #