I'm glad you can't fly

[aviator2010]

I love the fact the I live in a country where you can expess your displeasure at being unable to fly in less than 0.1% of all available airspace.

I love the fact that 250 000 people have arrived in vancouver willing to spend thousands of dollars each and people are concerned about the small businesses that have had 7 years to plan for it.

I love how the four first nations chiefs were late for the openings ceramonies.

I lolve how we are to politically correct to say they are operating on indian time.

I love the Olyimpics and if it means GA can't fly for 17 day's when we had a years notice then I'm glad to have the notice.

I hope to be attending the toronto olympics very soon

[co-joe]

We could have said they were on "Kootenay time". If they were indeed on "Indian time" they simply might not have come at all, we should consider ourselves lucky.

As for GA, they can't even afford to give us more than 3 consecutive days off work, how are they supposed to be able to take 17?

[aviator2010]

If you can't afford to live look for a new job

and I forgot to mention GO CANADA

[taylor498]

I love the fact the I live in a country where you can expess your displeasure at being unable to fly in less than 0.1% of all available airspace.

Unfortunately the airport is pretty hard to move. It happens to be in that 0.1% and it was here first.

I love the Olyimpics and if it means GA can't fly for 17 day's when we had a years notice then I'm glad to have the notice.

Try January 29th to March 24th.



I love the Olympics, too. What are these operators supposed to do about two months of lost revenue, and the fixed costs that they must incur? We all have to be a little flexible in accommodating the Olympics. But the share of burden these operators must carry is disproportionate. Pacific Coastal Airlines estimated that the extra cost (loss) of maintaining near "normal" operations during this period would be about a million dollars. Is that fair?

When the airspace was closed for the G8 in Kananaskis, the operators there were compensated. Some of the affected operators are simply asking for the same. (reimbursement of fixed costs like rent, insurance, and incurred wages - NOT lost profits in addition to that)

Go Team Canada. (seriously)

[kiloindiapapa]

Agree totally with Aviator 2010

We all have to be a little flexible in accommodating the Olympics.

[/quote]

Its not right that so many peoples livelyhood should be effected so some atheletes can ski down a mountain, do some curling, or shoot a puck at each other on national t.v.?

Sure the Olympics and the games and sports taken part in are good for the atheletes but unfortunately thats all they are is games and sports. They have nothing to do with the other 99.9% of the country that needs to continue with their lives. Sure the Olympics bring in revenue for a whole bunch of other businesses that can gouge us for stuff but the people out there really slugging it out to make a living should not have to suffer. Its not right.

Kilo

[KAG]

Seems to me the Olympics have gone down the same road as Christmas; it's gone corporate.

[Dash-Ate]

We could demand change and common sense from our elected officials. OOPS we can't they have suspended parlement now.
Go freedom...go democracy...

[seniorpumpkin]

The olympics are indeed an amazing and very important institution for the entire world to participate in. I fully support the olympics and all that it represents. The unfortunate part about this olympics and I presume all modern day olympics is that they now have to contend with extremists who want to crash the party in a deadly way. I think our beef should be with the terrorists who threaten us, but also perhaps VANOC who have taken that threat a little out of context. VANOC has had a difficult task of organizing a huge and complicated event, but that's no excuse for the many mistakes they have made. I am of the opinion that the protesters have also made terrible mistakes. To protest the torch run is very misplaced and a disgrace to our country. There was a time and a place to protest, that time has passed, and now we need to accept the reality that the games are here, they are happening, and protesting now is a futile effort. Furthermore, protesting is a fools way of making change, it is very very rarely effective in creating change, and it casts an ugly shadow on all those who participate. I think now is an important time for our country to come together, to embrace our presence among the other nations who have come here to celebrate sport. It is a time for Canada to further develop our nations pride and to celebrate who we are and what we have to offer!

GO CANADA!!!!

[BoostedNihilist]

We could have said they were on "Kootenay time". If they were indeed on "Indian time" they simply might not have come at all, we should consider ourselves lucky.

If they were on kootenay time they would show up two weeks late wearing the wrong costumes...

[canpilot]

Oh yea,

7 years to plan alright...

The ISU also had 7 years to plan... from what I hear the system is horrible. Tons of bugs, trigger happy F18 pilots, and the ISU can't handle the volume of plans to name a few issues.

How can we have our stuff in order when the government agencies keep on changing rules? Or when the multiple agencies making up the ISU can't keep their stories the same WRT rules governing restrictions. Each member of the ISU should be on the same page and telling the same story.. fact is they aren't.

In the case of small business owners...what can they do if there is no parking around your business.. or if the area is completely closed off due to " security." Seems pretty black and white to me... NOTHING.

Makes it awful tough to make contingency plans doesn't it ...

[seniorpumpkin]

I forgot to mention the IOC,
Talk about a poorly run organization, wow. Politics always go hand in hand with sport, but the IOC is really starting to ruin the whole idea of sport. For setting out some of the ridiculous parameters that VANOC is forced to maintain, they should get an unsportsmanlike penalty of some kind!

[Wilbur]

Life always involves trade offs, and some people will always get short changed in favour of the greater good. Over a lifetime, it all tends to balance out if you take a wide enough perspective. I wonder if anyone lost money on the value of their neighbouring real estate when ZBB re-opened as an airport years ago, or the second runway went in at YVR, etc? I'm betting some people did lose so that some aviation businesses could gain. 30 years later, aviation is getting the short straw and others are gaining.

[canpilot]

I think aviation has gotten short end of the stick since 9/11.

If business (aviation/ non) was booming.. fair enough. But the reality is business is just starting to recover for many ... in the wake of the last recession.

To take another hit .. may be fatal (business wise ) for some.. Is that fair?

[reality check]

I love the fact the I live in a country where you can expess your displeasure at being unable to fly in less than 0.1% of all available airspace.

I love the fact that 250 000 people have arrived in vancouver willing to spend thousands of dollars each and people are concerned about the small businesses that have had 7 years to plan for it.

I love how the four first nations chiefs were late for the openings ceramonies.

I lolve how we are to politically correct to say they are operating on indian time.

I love the Olyimpics and if it means GA can't fly for 17 day's when we had a years notice then I'm glad to have the notice.

I hope to be attending the toronto olympics very soon

The level of idiocy on this site continues to astound.

[meflypretty]

Aviator2010, your subject title shows a lack of tact.

[Walker]

What I really fail to see here is how so many people go bonkers for these games;
It seems to me at this point any legitimacy the games "MAY" have once had has long been vastly co-opted and out gunned by corporate interest and political expediency.

We (the people) are burning though dump trucks of cash (both direct and indirect) to subsidies a media spectacle that really only benefits S&P 500 shareholders. The historical long term economic data tells us we are going to take a header on GDP after this is over with (that's NOT taking into account the shit storm economic situation we are already in.) And this banter at promoting dialog with closed countries is absolute rubbish, (does anyone really think this is going to solve ANY of the worlds current political disputes?)
It is an excuse to turn attention away from some very REAL issues that NEED to be dealt with in public NOT behind closed doors by a leadership that only 30% of the state voted for. Or in the provincial sense some even scarier things that are currently in the works coming out of Victoria but are being kept hush hush.

Furthermore the only other thing the games help promote is nationalism; which (in my humble opinion) is a concept that has outlived its usefulness in today's geopolitical climate. In this day and age nationalism and patriotism is a dangerous ideal that should be allowed to die, it should not be encouraged.

If you want to drop 11 billion dollars on a party I am all for it, but not until you've paid off your bills, fed your kids, fixed the furnace, and figured out where your going to be working next week;

And for those who are going to complain and say "Oooo well that 11 Billion is the cumulative figure that includes what corporate investors are dumping into this." Sure, your right but where the heck does THAT money come from? It doesn't just magically fall from the dust of some economic fairy's anus; it comes from people who are too stupid to not spend their money. And what's more the money that's given to the games by way of sponsorship is only some small percentage of what said company will intake as a result of sales, so really its MORE expensive then if national governments just picked up the bill wholesale and gave Bell, Coke, CTV, etc the finger; its just that this way the true cost is buried under piles of data no one can crunch...


Cliffs:
The games are an irresponsible waste of money, time, & resources

[. ._]

.

[Slats]

We could demand change and common sense from our elected officials. OOPS we can't they have suspended parlement now.
Go freedom...go democracy...

Parliament has been prorogued over 100 times in 140 years or so. It's nothing new. Both Liberals and Conservatives have done it. Just because Iggy and Jack are trying to get you all hopped up doesn't mean it's actually that big a deal. They're just doing some political posturing and you're buying into it.

[Slats]

What I really fail to see here is how so many people go bonkers for these games;
It seems to me at this point any legitimacy the games "MAY" have once had has long been vastly co-opted and out gunned by corporate interest and political expediency.

Yeah, I guess you're right. Who cares about an event that happens only once every 4 years (and far more infrequently on home soil) that sees hundreds of the world's most elite athletes coming together from dozens of countries across the world to compete and set records that when you stop and think about, are truly amazing. When I find myself even remotely starting to enjoy an event I suppress the feeling by thinking about how much the 30 second commercials I'm forced to endure from Coke and Molson Canadian make me want to puke from their over-saturated corporate messages from their CEO fat-cats growing rich off the country's under-class citizens who get sucked in by such ads and can't help themselves but purchase a Coke to quench their thirst or have a beer while they watch the seemingly benign games that are in fact an insidious and nefarious corporate plot to further line the pockets of their brass. Talk about a vicious cycle! Bastards!

does anyone really think this is going to solve ANY of the worlds current political disputes?

No. And I've never heard anyone put that forth as an argument.

Furthermore the only other thing the games help promote is nationalism; which (in my humble opinion) is a concept that has outlived its usefulness in today's geopolitical climate. In this day and age nationalism and patriotism is a dangerous ideal that should be allowed to die, it should not be encouraged.

Agreed. How silly to have a sense of national pride. After all, there is nothing that this country offiers that is worth being proud of. Surely you'd be just as happy living in Afghanistan or Cambodia.
As an aside, I suppose they do help to promote the spirit of healthy competition, but that is something that we could, and indeed, should, do without in this world.

And for those who are going to complain and say "Oooo well that 11 Billion is the cumulative figure that includes what corporate investors are dumping into this." Sure, your right but where the heck does THAT money come from? It doesn't just magically fall from the dust of some economic fairy's anus; it comes from people who are too stupid to not spend their money. And what's more the money that's given to the games by way of sponsorship is only some small percentage of what said company will intake as a result of sales, so really its MORE expensive then if national governments just picked up the bill wholesale and gave Bell, Coke, CTV, etc the finger; its just that this way the true cost is buried under piles of data no one can crunch...

Another excellent point. We should (if we could ever get our damned government to get off vacation and work for us!) pass legislation that will prevent companies from advertising and/or sponsoring in any way because we as grown human beings are not intelligent enough to spend our money as we see fit. There are starving children right now in this country because their parents would rather spend their income on premium satellite programming and carbonated beverages!

It is an excuse to turn attention away from some very REAL issues that NEED to be dealt with in public NOT behind closed doors by a leadership that only 30% of the state voted for. Or in the provincial sense some even scarier things that are currently in the works coming out of Victoria but are being kept hush hush.

Dammit, I just knew it was all an elaborate ruse; what an epic feat of misdirection and political slight of hand by the government!

If you want to drop 11 billion dollars on a party I am all for it, but not until you've paid off your bills, fed your kids, fixed the furnace, and figured out where your going to be working next week;
Cliffs:
The games are an irresponsible waste of money, time, & resources

Exactly. This is precisely why I do nothing but work, do my best to derive very little enjoyment out of life and hope to have some time left over to read a good Noam Chomsky book.

[Invertago]

I support our athletes, but Vanoc operates like the mafia. I'm also not looking forward to paying for the whole thing for the next several decades. The original spirit of the Olympics was lost a long time ago, now its just a corporate money grab at the expense of BC / Canadian Tax payers.

That being said, it is good for national pride so

Go Canada