Your Tax Dollars At Work

It has been reported recently in the media that the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee will be spending just under 1 Billion Dollars for security for the Winter Olympic Games.

When I went up to the camp in September Hubie told me of the number of uninvited visitors that were showing up asking questions. He had visits from the FBI, CIA, CSIS, MI6 RCMP, and members of The Vancouver City Police Department. Hubie was on a hike up the hill, and when he arrived back at the cabin, members of the Vancouver City Police were in the cabin munching on some pork sandwiches. I was wondering what the VCP did not understand about trespassing on private property. There is a No Trespassing sign displayed at the entrance to the property that only a blind man could miss.

You have to wonder what is on the mind of these people considering that the camp is about 80km away from Whistler, and how the camp could pose a risk to the security of the games in any way shape or form. Can you imagine coming home from a hike to find the Police had entered your home, and were eating your food?

It was also reported on Global News two weeks ago that you will not be able to drive your car to Whistler unless you can prove that you have a place to park. So imagine if you live in Mount Currie, and have to go to Whistler for a Doctor's or Dentist appointment, and you can't prove that you have a place to park? You will be refused access via a roadblock and asked to turn around period!!! No exceptions. This is madness particularly if you live in the area.

VANOC is going out of their way to make vehicle travel in and around the games next to impossible for residents of the Sea To Sky corridor and at an enormous cost to you the taxpayer who is going to have to pay for all of this. VANOC-Getting Around The Sea To Sky Corridor.

Residents may very will have to go over Duffy Lake Road to Lilloet and down the Fraser Canyon in order to get into Vancouver if they need to because vehicle traffic will be restricted during the Winter Games, adding extra time and costs to your trip.

The costs of the games are getting out of control, and will provide next to nothing for indeginous people. The games are designed for the rich, and the rich are the only ones who are going to benefit from this madness.

As I am writing this I am listening to an interview with Andrew Jennings, author of The Great Olympic Swindle, and how he describes the corruption within the IOC. He is in Vancouver today, talking about how the extravagance of all Olympic games leads to the building of massive structures at great expense that will never be used once the games are over. He also says that tourism will also decrease during the Olympics and not increase. He quotes studies that have been done that all the talk about the revenues that are supposed to be brought in by sponsors etc is a myth, it just does not happen, and there are studies to prove this.

A sad reality is that The City Of Vancouver is cutting it's operating budget for 2010 and will close down the Blodel Conservatory, and Parks Petting Zoo next year because of a shortfall in funds. I wonder if that has anything to do with the City having to bail out the Olympic Village Project and borrow tens of millions of dollars to guarantee it's completion? You can bet your life it does..

So I close this post by saying again "Your Tax Dollars At Work" boy are we lucky?