new look!

sunlight over the capitol has changed! what do people think of the new format? the biggest thing you'll notice is that the chatterbox at the top of the page is gone . . . but no worries - it has just been replaced by something better! and if the chatter box is missed too much, it can come back - no worries. instead of starting new entries - you can comment on each of my posts - look below the end of each one and you'll see the word "comments" - click on that and you are all set to go!

topic of today's post: the olympics. so i recognize the fact that the olympics are supposed to be this huge event of brotherly love shared with the entire world. but does anyone really buy this? i mean, on some level this is still a competition that is dominated by the richer western countries and another reason for smaller, 3rd world countries to feel inferior. yes, during the opening ceremonies everyone is equal - but as the commentators are quick to point out,85 of 205 countries don't even dream about any of their athletes winning a medal of any metal. is it really an event of world peace when the US still dominates? We brought 536 athletes, the most of any country - and smaller countries, like fiji, for instance, had 7. can we really look at numbers like that and pretend that once every four years the world is on equal playing ground?

even if you look past richer countries having an advantage, even if things changed and each country was allowed to bring as many qualified athletes as they could, this is still not 2 weeks of peace and love. it is an intense athletic competition that not only pits country against country, but teammate against teammate. rivalries grow worse during the olympics, not better. remember in 1980 when the US team beat the russians? was that event so exciting because the russian team was just really good? or was it because of the under tones of the cold war and democracy beating communism? exactly . . .

call me cynical - but i can't see how the olympics aid in world peace. will the iraqis love us that much more after our pro soccer team shuts down their underdogs? right . . .