Males Watching Female Olympians Compete

I am watching a beach volleyball, Olympic game, semi final  match as I start typing this. I am not a big fan of volleyball, but the fact that the ladies are in bikinis is a lure that makes most man a fan of that.  Female beach volleyballs consistently gets among the highest TV veiwer ratings each Olympics.Which of the teams wins in those games is of no consequence at all to me. the U.S. beach volleyball team is ranked number one his Olympics and is the two time defending gold medal winners in the event. But the opponent, China, is also highly ranked and....well...I confess to being a male chauvinist pig here.... because..... I am rooting for the Chinese girls to win because they are smoking hot whether playing the game or not. Haha  In sports that I have no interest in I root for the sexiest ladies. Hmmm I like those two ladies so much that I might apply for Chinese citizenship.

Ok, I should try to redeem my reputation and say that I don't always root on the basis of how sexy the lady competitor is. It's just that when they dress these ladies in beach volleyball in skimpy bikinis it is permission for me to be sexist when picking my team. On the other hand,  I think if they dressed the women's weightlifting team in bikinis I would be too sickened to even watch. Thank God I don't have to pick the sexy ones in that event.  When we men are obliged to pick  female athlete to root for we face many dilemmas. In gymnastics, those ladies are really little girls. They look cute in their leotards but it isn't healthy to lust over a 14 year old female gymnast. I hate gymnastics so much I never watch it, so I am not sure I know which lady I would root for, given the look of the teen gymnast is not a factor for me. But I probably would root for all of them to fall because their sport is such a cherade.

In the swimming races I like to cheer for the ladies who don't look like men. The performance enhanced buff woman is the villain for me. I cheer for the skinny girls who look like they race fast because they train , not because they use drugs. The same thing is the rule for me with track and field events. In the women's 100 meter dash this year a woman from Jamaica won the gold medal and an American lady finished second. They both were the only two competitors in that finals race who looked like Arnold Schwarzeneger in his prime. I don't need to test their hormones to know they are not all female.  If they get caught for being cheaters I will be happy.

I have a policy to also root against any female athlete who has a sections of fans who wave her nation's flag. Nationalism in the Olympics is shameless. In one track event the other day the lady who won the race added to the idiotic flag waving, cheering crowd from her nation's frenzy by herself removing a small flag from her bra and waving that.  I thought the Olympic mantra was "one nation". Yet, when watching the winners celebrate with their national flags it seems otherwise.  Well, at least most of the women competitors don't trash talk . In the male events that is almost the norm. I root against any athlete who thinks too much of him or herself.

Another female athlete I cheer for is the lady who is the biggest underdog in the competition.  One of those I cheered for is that Saudi woman (the first allowed by the males that run the Islamic Saudi government and treat their women like cattle) in the judo competition, head scarf and all, looked shell shocked and lost in 80 seconds. She was, uh, reluctant, knowing that her skill level was far lower than the opponent and she was going to be crushed. But what courage it took for her to break new ground for the women of Saudi Arabia by competing.  (I wonder if she would have even made it to the event if she didn't have a male to drive her)

This concept of picking a lady to support on the Olympic fields is stressful.  Sigh...Maybe I should just do what we males often do at crunch time and cheer for the lady with the biggest T and A......

Chick-fil-A

First the world had to deal with Muslim extremist nuts who promote intolerance toward anyone who disagrees with their own religious views and now, the latest ugly religious based hatred has come from a Christian believer simply giving his and his company's opinion. The president of fast food chicken chain Chick-fil-A probably wishes he would have clucked instead of interviewed when asked about gay marriage. That chicken guy, Dan Cathy, in an interview with a Baptist magazine stated that Chick-fil-A was founded on "Christian principles", that he supports them, and that includes the opposition to same sex marriage. It's true that Chik-fil-A's position is sincere. For example, Chick-fil-A closes on one of the most profitable fast food days, Sunday. It also donates millions ot charities of all types each year.

Cathy's remarks came after President Obama again switched his position (well, it's an election year and politicians don't really believe in any position, anyway....particularly Obama) on support of gay marriage. In this country even extremist Muslims and old school fundamentalist Christians have the right to express their views. That's what freedom of speech is about. But the politically correct crowd instantly pounced on Cathy and Chick-fil-A with threatened boycotts of Chick-fil-A. Too, the usual self serving politicians raging against Chick-fil-A as a "hate business".

Gay activists held a "kiss day" in front of Chick-fil-A restaurants, and three of the biggest city mayors in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco said they would try to ban Chick-fil-A from operating in their cities (They can not, It is discriminatory and illegal). In response, the Internet web sites in support of Chick-fil-A's right to say and do what it believes, mobilized their own troops with a "Support Chick-fil-A day " by buying Chick-fil-A, to the extent that the Chick-fil-A restaurants had all time record sales., and on and on.....all odd and idiot expressions are still emanating from both sides.

I like Chick-fil-A and won't judge whether I buy a chicken sandwich there or anywhere else on the basis of what religious beliefs the company holds. Chick-fil-A serves everyone, gay and straight and has never discriminated against any of its customers. It does not deserve to be targeted because it opposes the current trendy view on gay marriage. If the Islamic nuts start a chicken business that serves tasty food, I'll shop there too. Businesses can and should not be not be vetted by consumers to check if their political views are suitable to the customers. To do so would mean few people would buy much of anything from any business since the world is a desperate one with more views than can even be stated.

In our age of political correctness it seems sadly ironic that gay and liberal activists who continually scream about the need for equal rights for all, would try to shout down, even censor a business with whom they did not agree, simply because the management of that business expressed it's religious based opinion. One who feels discriminated against by other elements of society might do well not to discriminate in perceived retaliation against an innocent party exercising its free speech rights.

In our shallow world of technology and blind obedience to correctness, humans have again proved that thinking before acting these days is a more and more uncommon act.

Spy Cameras

I got another of those spam ads in my mailbox today. There's nothing unusual about it, but this one was an advertisement for "spy cameras', those concealed cameras hidden in key chains, clocks, on the body, just about anywhere a person wants to have a view. I guess some people put them in bathrooms and...uh...well....use your imagination about that. But the point is the very idea that one needs such a camera for security reasons or to do sneaky and disgusting spying on others is a sad commentary on humans.
>From the earliest days of this country, settlers armed themselves with muskets and protected themselves. America has always had an irrational obsession with being safe form intruders and the huge number of gun owners reflects that. I don't know what percentage of spy cameras sold are for legitimate security and what are for spying on girls in a bathroom or installing to see if the wife is cheating on the husband. But one thing is sure, its not healthy to be "security paranoid". Sellers take advantage of that paranoia and the infatuation people have with technology to see that junk to millions.
The clock radio spy camera that is inside a normal looking clock radio, for example, has a camera that works full time right next to the bed to see what naughty things an unfaithful spouse might be doing in bed. It sells for $400. I guess it could be used to catch a burglar or at the office, to nab a nursing home worker who is abusing an elderly resident, to record who is goofing off (reading what I am writing while at work, for instance) or who is stealing all those company pens, but I doubt a legitimate use is the main category of use.
In most U.S. states, as to public building use, as long as the cameras are set up in common areas not in places people expect to be private (like a bathroom) the cameras are legal. But in the home you an put them just about anywhere, even in a child's teddy bear, for example. Strange though, in most of the U.S. states though courts have ruled that it is legal to record video of someone on those cameras, audio recording is illegal unless at least one party gives consent to it.
So to be sneaky is to take a risk. I bet you are wondering if you are being spied upon now.

Badminton Cheaters

The shenanigans in the Olympics may be as interesting as the contests on the field of play. I have been watching boxing matches and seen a number of fighters who clearly won their fights denied the decision and turned into losers by either incompetent or dishonest referees. But cheating in the Olympics goes back along way. I guess the era of the 6o's was the worst for dishonest h judging and cheating athletes.  Then Soviet and Eastern European contestants were so pumped full of performance enhancing steroids and other drugs  that they not only won the events they floated to the award ceremonies..... It was a time when one had to be man....sort of, as in chemically enhanced...to be an East German swimmer. And communist judges often traded high scores for one athlete from one Eastern European block countries in return for high scores for their countryman in order to help spread the idea that communism is best because communist countries win the most medals.

Earlier this week at the Games, the coach of the Japanese women's soccer team persuaded his team to play for a 0-0 tie with South Africa on Tuesday to avoid a quarterfinals trip to the more skilled team form Scotland. But the biggest scandal of the many that are emerging at this year's Olympic games involves the eight women who were disqualified from their badminton teams for planning to lose their matches in order to play easier matches in the following rounds. Is not playing to win cheating or strategizing? In my view it is just as much cheating as is using performance enhancing rugs or using cheating in scoring by corrupt judges. The point of the Games is to try as hard as one can. That is the Olympic idea...the contest, not the end result. (and think about the person who bet on the contest and was cheated because his team did not try to score)

The cheating in badminton started when the women's South Korean team played against the women's China team on Wednesday. The fans in the arena as well as the officials began to notice something was up when both teams seemed to be trying hard to lose, rather than win. Officials warned both teams, and at one point a black card was flashed, indicating disqualification, although the game continued.

The cheating was being blamed on a rule that whomever loses the first round will proceed to a round to play an easier team later, Later, when another women's team from South Korea played against Indonesia, the same thing happened. In the end, both teams were booed by fans, and the umpires had to warn them several times to no avail. Eventually,  the four teams ended up in an inquiry, which resulted in them being disqualified. Indonesia blamed China for "starting it", using the tried and true toddler excuse, "You did it first"! Well, these athletes may have great talent in their sports. But as humans they fall short of the finish line.

Cheating is not good for the sport, for the athletes, and for the spectators who buy the tickets to see the match. But some Olympic athletes sometimes just don't they didn't get that. It's fair for them to be disqualified and to be called cheaters

Is Illegitamacy Out Of Control Today?

Here are some stats from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for births in the U.S. They are interesting and perhaps troubling. More than 40 percent of births are to unwed mothers. In 2010 73% of  black moms, 66% of American Indian women, 53% of  Hispanic women,  over 29% of white moms, and 19% of Asian women give birth to children while unwed. In 1960, when society had one common morality and few government welfare programs that acted as a replacement for the father the rate was just 6%.

Today more and more young women want children any way they can have them. That would be without a father in the child's life or with him. The reason they have this choice,  is that if  the father won't  pay for the child, the government will do it. Either way the woman knows she and the child will be taken care of. But in earlier times, as when I was growing up, women were be ashamed to have a child out of wedlock. Society enforced more rules of self responsibility. If the single woman became pregnant, she would just disappear for about a year or so, give your child up for adoption, come home and hopefully get back on her your life...(college, job, join the military). Now having children out of wedlock is like a contest to see who can get the most benefits from the government, which rewards each unwed mom with more and more benefits for each now illegitimate child.

Its why some say that it is time to cut off all social services to healthy women and require the woman's extended family  to pick up the cost of the support of the baby when the father of the illegitimate child (as so often happens) does not support his child. Of course, some of the illegitimate moms have no support system or extended family (often because they themselves were born to unwed moms). Yet as more children without committed fathers are born the society slides more and more toward irresponsibility and poverty of all sort. Stats from National Vital Statistics confirm that children born to unmarried mothers are more likely to grow up in a single parent household, experience instability in living arrangements, live in poverty, and have socio-emotional problems.

As those babies reach adolescence, they are also more likely to have low educational attainment, engage in sex at younger ages, and have an illegitimate child themselves. As young adults, children born outside of marriage are more likely to be idle (not working or in school), have lower occupational status and income, and more troubled relationships than married parents.

So there are some troubling statistics which may or not suggest that a general decline in personal responsibility in the U.S. starts with illegitimacy that is supported by the government, which rewards it with welfare payments that encourage the illegitimacy boom today. The question of the day for you is this... Is illegitimacy destroying those countries which enable it as in the U.S. or is it not unhealthy, but rather  just a change in the way human define the family structure?

Four Billion people are expected to watch the 2012. Olympic Games. And in this world of political correctness, I expect quite a few of the 4 billion are of that PC ilk. The games themselves are traditional, so they are a little PC as well. Anyway, just to update you about this aspect of the Games, I have a few examples for you to think about when watching the more the boring of the events like synchronized swimming or the biathlon.

* The Olympic Oath (If you want to play in these Games just like when testifying in court, you have to take the pledge.) “In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.” The part about doping and drugs was added at the 2000 Olympics. I wonder if the Olympic organizers really believe many athletes abide by that drug free part.

* Over 200 national anthems have been arranged by British composer, conductor and cellist Philip Sheppard and were recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the world famous Abbey Road Studios. Using 36 musicians, it took 50 recording hours over 6 days and will now be played at over 100 Team Welcome Ceremonies and 805 Victory Ceremonies in the run up to and during the Games. It's still important to divide the world with jingoism at the Olympics by labeling an athlete with his nationality instead of his individual identity.

* Forget about naked athletes in ancient Greece competing on the fields of play au natural. The old days of  naked competitors an the modern of a few wacky fans streaking naked in the area will probably be killed by political correctness. To dissuade fans from baring it all,  in the land of Lady Godiva, London police say they will hand out fines of up to $30,000 to anyone who streaks.

* With women boxers entering the boxing ring this summer for the first, the 2012 Games will mark the first time female athletes are competing in all 26 Olympic sports. But political correctness is still alive in the Olympic world. Each gender is barred from certain disciplines, women from Greco-Roman wrestling, for example, and men from rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming. And of course, in all sports the athletes compete in separate categories for male and for female competitors.

* Advitisers/sponsors of the Games are making their political correctness obvious, even when the product the advertise is far from one the politically correct would use. So Coke, for example,  produced two campaigns, one for the U. S. and one for everywhere else to motivate couch potatoes everywhere to get up and start working off the empty calories they consumed from slugging down Cokes. McDonald's is running an Olympic ad campaign to "encourage fun, active play as well as smart eating." I guess I must be smart for eating those sausage biscuit sandwiches Mc Donald's sells. Most of the other sponsors and advertisers of the Games produce the least politically correct products, but one would never know it  if seeing the claims made in their ads.

* Ankie Spitzer whose husband was murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics has been fighting to have a minute of silence at the London Games to remember the eleven murdered victims. Her efforts have been supported by the governments of much of the western world, but the International Olympic Committee rejected her pleas on the grounds it might politicize the Games. That's like saying that athletes should be banned taking a bath because it might remove the purity of the dirt ion the competitors bodies. Hmmmmm I guess we must not upset the Muslims by reminding them of their hate for Jews....

* In most countries, including democratic ones like Australia, the Olympic athletes must agree to social media protocols that restrict their use of it. The common theme of political correctness is that the athletes "have an obligation to use social media responsibly" . Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou is the first casualty. She was sent home by the Olymipic Committee before the games even started because she posted,  "So many Africans in Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food."  I guess one has to give up his or her freedom of expression if they want to win a medal.

London Olympics

Here we go with another Olympic Games. Some are wondering aloud if the Olympics are the old typewriter of today's high tech world, worn and pointless. But every four years the grumbling about the Olympics is silenced by the excitement of the event itself as it gets nearer to the opening ceremonies (with that awful nationalism as its theme). But despite the rampant and idiotic nationalism of the Olympic Games, the expensive facilities, and the drug inflated athletes, we will still watch and enjoy much of it.

There's a lot that is good about the Olympic Games. The world gets to see its better side (Ok, maybe it is like putting lipstick on a pig) on display, showing the great cultural diversity that makes life interesting, and what I most like about the games apart from the great competition on the fields is the many firsts that happen at or because of the Olympics. The last Summer Olympic Games can be remembered as a first for site of its venue. When China put on the games so well it showed that the Olympic Games belonged to every person wherever he or she lives, despite the ideology of the place.

Now having them in London has brought the games back to a more traditional and less opulent venue, London (which is hosting for the third time). Londoners don't feel the need to impress outsiders with expensive facilities, they want tradition to be the attraction, a reminder that in the Games themselves there is also rooted much inherent ceremony and tradition that can be as appealing as those obscenely expensive "Bird's Nest" stadiums.

Too, this year there are some other great firsts that we already know will happen They will be remembered along with the surprise firsts we are not yet aware of but that are being germinated and will be revealed during the games. There is, for an example, the announcement by the crazy Iranian government that it will pretend to stop hating Israel long enough to compete against Israeli athletes in London because, even when competing against Jews, the Iranian government said, "We will be true to sport and play every country." Of course a few days after announcing that the only Iranian athlete, a judo contestant, who was scheduled for a match against an Israeli withdrew because of a "critical digestive system infection". Oh well, at least it's a first that Iran pretends not to be paranoid. (They do however retain their first place for the hypocrisy medals.)

And another first in this version of the Games is especially nice for the ladies of the world. Women athletes from Brunei, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia will be allowed to compete at the Olympics for the first time ever as those countries finally recognize the existence of something not male. It's a crack in the stone for women's rights there, but is a start nonetheless. One of the handful of women athletes from those three Muslim countries will also carry the nation's flag in the opening ceremonies. The desire to fit in and join the Games and not be seen as the crazy aunt who lives in the attic, even reaches fundamentalist Muslim dictatorships.

The power of the symbolism of the Olympic Games is enormous. When a billion people are watching we all try to behave a little better, and that's a good thing.