Tibet and Torches

UPDATE: Oh my, a messy chaotic shell game was played downtown for the fiasco of a torch run.

Overhead at work, the frickin' media choppers are fluttering away, and after the first torch runner was guided into a Pier building, she disappeared.

It's MIA for Torchy. The following bait and switch, seen as a grand plan by Mayor Gavin Newsom and USOC's Peter Ubberroth, is actually a clear example of the deceitful tactics of the Bejing Olympics host.

What a mess. Hundreds of pro-China flag wavers, bused in from the 'burbs, and cordoned pro-Tibet peeps, are separated in a police state Embarcadero.


Of course, an amusing form of infiltration activism occured when Majora Carter, a prominent activist from The Bronx, took out a concealed Tibet flag before being abruptly shoved away by Chinese "Torch Security Guards," who many torchbearers in other cities called "thugs."

Since the route was cut in half, torchbearers were paired off. Carter happened to be paired with gay HIV-positive Latino John Caldera.

For replay coverage, including blathering old guard apologist doublespeak and pro-China crap, as well as obsessive helicopter shots, visit ABC 7 News.com.

According to CBS News, the Chinese media reported that the relay went without a hitch, and the route was never changed.
----

Last night, I stopped by the early part of the Tibet vigil at UN Plaza. It's so nice to live near "Protest Central." It was cold, I was hungry, and didn't stay long, and the official media bleachers blocked pretty much everybody's view. But it got the message out.

I haven't downloaded my pics yet, but SF Gate has some great coverage. The local media's going way long on their coverage.

Right now, people are downtown, protesting, while thousands of others line the Embarcadero to watch 79 people hand off a burning stick in a ritual that was actually re-introduced to the modern Olympics by - guess who? the Nazis. Foolish people who say "The Olympics aren't about politics" need to be reminded of that fact.