Olympics Update

Wow, what is going on? A tourist at the Olympics was killed by a guy in Beijing?! That's horrible. I was reading an article about this, and one thing that struck me is that it said that "Attacks on foreigners are extremely rare in China, not least because they carry heavier punishment than crimes against Chinese people." <"Olympics 2008: US coach's relative murdered in Beijing" www.guardian.co.uk> That completely sidetracked me from feeling bad about the death to feeling really weird about that statement - it's like saying that it's okay to kill your fellow citizen, but God forbid you hurt a foreigner and bring the criticism of the world upon us. Actually, I can't really see any good reason for that policy, which is probably why I'm not in politics. Killing someone is pretty heinous. Why not have the same punishment, regardless of the victim? Look at what I'm saying. Just think of the injustice of how people are sentenced in the U.S.

Side note: a spectator at an Equestrian event tried to fly a flag with a Tibetan symbol on it and was hauled out of the event. (They did ask her to leave first, and she refused) I applaud the Free Tibet protesters for their determination to bring attention to China's human rights abuses against Tibet, but I really hope that it all stays peaceful and no one gets hurt.

Child at Free Tibet/San Francisco Torch Protest in April, 2008

Side note: So I missed watching Michael Phelps win a gold for swimming, but I did happen to catch badminton?

Whaaat? I don't mean to be disrespectful to the athletes that surely have trained hard for this event, but I have a hard time seeing this as something that should be an olympic sport. It's a backyard game. If I can play it well, I feel like maybe it's a bit too easy for the olympics. Maybe they'll add Connect Four as an Olympic Sport, too.

And please, I really hope they never add Poker as a sport. It's bad enough that it's on ESPN. How much more boring can you get? I really don't want to watch other people play poker. I just don't care. I'd rather watch badminton. At least with badminton, I saw the female player from Indonesia working up a sweat. That is, before I fell asleep. (I'm in my third trimester and on vacation -- give me a break!) Just know that I would have fallen asleep much faster had it been poker.