+1

Loved the opening ceremonies. the parade of athletes always enthralls me, this may have been the best, perhaps because of the fast pace. Looking forward to basketball and gymnastics.

Brits did a great job, are putting forward a fine Olympics, in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, not out in the middle of nowhere.

Some guys just can't get over another person having success or more success than they did, they just can't be gracious and move on.

Would have been lovely to have Sir Paul McCarthy sing 'Nowhere Man' in light of the headlines.

It was an extravaganza, no doubt. A bit busy, to my likes, but full of special effects and leftist propaganda. The NHS frill was over the top. Nice sheep, though. The Queen/James Bond thing, was a joke, though apparently well received by the Brits. I was very disappointed that a bunch of kids were given the spot to light the flame...should have been Roger Banister or Sebastian Coe.

The laughable inference that Mitt Romney stepped in the mud, pales by comparison that Obama removed Churchill's bust from the Oval Office, and returned it to the Brits. Web Link

Very sad that affordable health care is considered the norm in civilized countries but "leftist propoganda" in the USA.

Just read that most of the surviving Colorado shooting victims are unable to pay their hospital bills because of high costs and inadequate insurance. This would not happen in any other civilized country.

Spent a couple of weeks in Canada last month. Single payer system. This means rationed health care. If you have a bad knee that is killing you with pain, you are only allowed one joint replacement over your lifetime. The doctors up there will refuse to do it, until you reach a presceibed age, because joint replacements last only last about 10 years. Their answer to you: Suffer the pain, until you hit the prescribed age. One guy I talked to was four years short of the cutoff age...he will just need to put up with the pain, I suppose. He couldn't believe that the U.S. system allows joint replacements at will, to those who have insurance or enough money to pay for it (something that is illegal in Canada).

Also, the average tax take in Canada, for the average working man, is over 50%. Most working people in Canada are in debt, because they do not retain enough of their income to pay off their normal purchases. This results in a serious social dislocation and stress.

The British NHS does allow supplemental insurance, which is a good thing, because those of means at least have a chance of pain relief, even though the poor bloke does not. Rationed health care is a bitch for most people. Why was the NHS extolled by the Opening Cermonies, except for the fact that Danny Boyle is a socialist?

One thing that captivated me about tne ceremony was the emphasis on children and the next generation.

The segment that Gary reads all sorts of nefarious inferences into was played by real doctors and nurses from London children's hospitals. The children fell asleep and had nightmares signified by blown up images of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. But the children were saved by a swarm of Mary Poppins' flying to the rescue. It seemed more of a tribute to British children's literature, which has enriched the world, than anything to do with politics.

Seven young British atheletes signifying the next generation did light the torch. It struck me as an innovative response to this traditional end of ceremony event. Not about politice or socialism or anything but a bond between generations and the hopes of Brits for a wonderful future.

Those 'sick' kids in the NHS hopitals were remarkably athletic, as they did backflips, before going to sleep in front of real NHS doctors and nurses, who were doing the jitterbug (trained on the public dime?). Put simply, it was a paean to the NHS by a socialist producer...in other words, propaganda.

If Boyle had added real world class roller coasters, it would have been more interactive. Imagine all those athletes entering the stadium on a triple dipper/double twister, with all hand held high?!

Roger Banister was dissed.

It would appear that the Opening Ceremonies did not inspire the Brits to actually attend the athletic events. Web Link

Maybe the Brits saw through the propaganda farce, eh?

I think you will find that empty seats are due to the fact that many countries who were allotted seats for their nationals and in fact passed them on to ticket sharks. These illicit sales of tickets had their webe sites shut down and those who passed on their allotted tickets are known to the authorities and will be caught and reprimanded.

There have been arrests of ticket touts Web Link

The Churchill bust was removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence. It was replaced in the Oval Office with a bust of Abraham Lincoln, an American hero.

truth,

Just to be truthful, the Churchill bust, lent to the White House by Tony Blair, was removed from the Oval Office, and returned to the British. A second Churchill bust, which had been around for years was hauled out of storage/repair and put back in the residence.

Web Link

Just like at Mitt Romney's Olympics, large blocks of seats for the opening ceremony were reserved for corporations. Since a lot of the one-percenter corporate executives couldn't be bothered with sitting in the same room as commoners, the seats went empty. If the Olympics had actually offered these seats to the public, I'm sure they would have sold out.

Gary/Jimmy:

Here's a picture of the President and the Brit Prime Minister viewing the Churchill bust in the White house.

Web Link

How in any way is that an important story?

The Brits love Obama.

The Brits detest Romney, even the Fox/Rupert Murdoch paper called him Mitt the Twit.

Mitt the Twit, who insulted the Brits to make himself seem more important. Who publicly talked about a secret meeting with MI6. Who will never be trusted again by the Brits to keep a secret. Who wrote a book called no apology and had to apologize to the PM at 10 Downing. Who was roundly booed by 60,000 in Hyde park who then cheered to the Obama 'Yes, We Can' chant.

Gary/Jimmy trolls the far right fringe site for any story, whether based in fact or not.

Larry Johns,

You are entitled to your opinions but not your 'facts'.

The fact is that the Churchill bust was removed from the Oval Office and returned to the Brits. Web Link

If you want to make a serious argument, Larry, you need to get your facts straight. Perhaps you should avoid trolling leftwing blogs, and actually do you own homework.

Gary: Larry Johns included a link that showed a photo of the British Prime Minister and our President looking at a Churchill bust in the residence. From your own link "A photo showing the president and British Prime Minister David Cameron leaning over a Churchill bust outside the Treaty Room"

Web Link

Obama moved the bust to the residence in favor of TWO GREAT AMERICANS - King and Lincoln.

That's a fact, despite your Fox-tinted glasses.

It's also a fact that the Murdoch/Fox network sister pub 'The Sun', a popular daily in England, called Romney 'Mitt the Twit'

It's also a fact that the mayor of London, Boris Johnson led an anti-Romnney chant with 60,000 in Hyde park.

So folks, whenever Jimmy/Gary or Sharon try to tell you the Brits don't care for Obama, it's a pile of hooey - it's Mitt the Twit they laugh at.

Nor will they ever trust Mitt, after publicly claiming to meet with MI6.

Just can't trust a guy who doesn't know what he's doing,

Where's your 12 years of taxes, Mitt?

>Obama moved the bust to the residence

No, he insisted that the British take it back. It is currently back with the British. Obama hates on Churchill, because Chruchill was a supporter of colonialism, including Kenya, where Obama still dreams lies about his father's heroism. Without Churchill, Obama would probably not have been born, given Hitler's impulses. It was a slap in the face to the Brits to return Churchill's bust. Romney says he will ask the British government to allow him the honor of returning Churchill's bust, currently with the British, back to the Oval Office.

Do your homework. We can't have an honest debate about anything, until the facts are established. You won't get the facts from leftist blogs/websites. That picture you keep looking at was an old bust, returned from storage, apparently for a British PM visit...after the bust in question was rejected, and tossed back to the Brits.

I was hoping to read this thread and enjoy reading about how everyone was enjoying the Olympics, the fact that the bike road races passed by London landmarks, the enthusiasm of the crowds, even the weather. I didn't expect everyone to enjoy the Opening Ceremony, but a discussion about why or why not would make sense.

Instead I find it taken over by political point scoring. What a shame!

The opening ceremony was great with a typical British Monty Python humor element-

It certainly beat the " Triumph of Will " event last time in Peking.

The big surprise so far in the events is in soccer-

-Spain is out!

>Instead I find it taken over by political point scoring. What a shame!

Brit, are you talking about Danny Boyle and his paean to the NHS? If so, I understand your frustration.

If you really want to get political and upset about something, start asking why NBC did a recorded interview by Ryan Seacrest with Michael Phelps instead of showing the Tribute to the 7/7 London terrorist attacks during the opening ceremony or that they aren't showing popular sports like tennis or live streaming for anyone other than cable or other subscribers. Since we have to watch their commercials, we should still be able to get all the coverage available without needing a cable or similar account to watch.

NBC seems to have failed on their coverage.

Gary, I am talking about the tribute to the victims of the London terrorist attack that NBC didn't show during the opening ceremony. That is something that every American should be shocked about, if it had been the BBC not broadcasting a 9/11 tribute during an American live event, it would be equally as shocking.

he insisted that the British take it back. Yest there is a picture of it with the Brit PM in the White House.

"he insisted that the British take it back" - hogwash and balderdash.

What proof do you have about the President of the United States of America "he insisted that the British take it back"?

Memo?

Quotes?

Email?

Speech?

Executive order?

Or just another tinfoil hat freak conspiracy theory hatched by heritage boys club or hannity or fox?

The Brits are laughing at Mitt. Gary is lamely trying to deflect.

Pathetic.

Every TRUE American would rather see Lincoln and King as opposed to Mitt's choice of a foreigner that would laugh at Mitt if he were alive.

>Gary, I am talking about the tribute to the victims of the London terrorist attack that NBC didn't show during the opening ceremony. That is something that every American should be shocked about, if it had been the BBC not broadcasting a 9/11 tribute during an American live event, it would be equally as shocking.

Brit, I completely agree with you. NBC is a tool of the corporate/PC crowd. Showing the London victims of the 7/7 attack by the Islamists might bring on protests, from the Islamists...bad for business, for some reason. BTW, my son was in London on that disgusting day, and he was riding the underground when it happened...just lucky that he was on a non-attacked line. He called me up and was shaking, trembling, weeping. He was forced to grow up that day.

Brazil is now the favorite in soccer

Mean while- in the last 2 days 250,000 refugees have fled Syria

Romney s fund raising meeting in Israel may violate FARA

FARA–22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq – United States Code

Title 28 C.F.R. Part 5 – Judicial Administration
”
The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was enacted in 1938.

FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities.

Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents.

The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act.”

Web Link

Violation of FARA by domestic and/or foreign agents is a very serious matter-whether by Iran, Israel, China, Russia etc

Sharon: big soccer fan? I'm into hoops, myself. More artistic when you can use your hands.

Mitt Romney also had a fundraiser with scandal plagued Barclays Bank in London - the LIBOR rigging guys.

Also a violation?

Or just a violation in Israel?

Just wondering -
What can one learn from the fact that ~25 comments were posted in ~24 hours, none after posting were limited to registered users? I saw this pattern prior.