China

Last week, I took the bus up to Hanover from Boston. It provided me with a lot of time to read the NY times.

One of the things I noticed is the number of articles on human rights violations and poor ethical standards in China. But still, that is where the Olympics are. I used to think that the Olympics were two weeks when the world could come together and just watch sports, but now it is clear that they are just another political tool. Apparently it was hoped (I don't know who was so blind) that having the Games in China would make them clean up their act. But no. In the articles I read, the air is still not cleaner, they are cracking down on the parents of children who died who are meeting to protest about the poor condition of schools and one man who is imprisoned for taking pictures of schools razed by the earthquake.

The only answer I can come up with is to boycott the Olympics. The statement I make while not tuning in is a tiny tiny one, but it is not right to let a country profit - and the advertisers, who might have enough power, do not care.

The athletes are the losers here.