Summer Olympics 2012. Calling London...

Had it been elegant, cultured, human, humane, techie, simple, it would have been British.
Had it been kitsch, it would have been memorable...

The opening ceremony of the 30th modern Olympic Games was none of the above. It was simply a mess.

One person kindly proposed that it was "chaotic". Ηardly.
There is charm iν Chaos. The opening of London's opening ceremony had none.

The ceremony was purportedly conceived by Director Danny Boyle, whose more memorable creations include "Slumdog Millionaire", a successful film. He should have remained in film rather than mess up London's Olympic show.


The mess was saved somewhat, at the end, by the boring, wooden voice of Dr Rogge, the Olympic boss, reading an unnecessarily long-winded platitudes, which put the preceding mess in better light after all. The camera showed people giving this speech its rightful attention: looking at and making faces to, said camera.

The arrival of the Olympic flame was beautiful, elegant, and, as one person observed, "this, indeed, is what I expect from Great Britain".

The show ended as a gig with Sir Paul (McCartney) in concert.We all enjoy a concert and the camera made a point of showing participants chanting and swaying to "Hey Jude" (a British song).

--------- ?????????????????????????

Purportedly, the show (for that's what it was) wished to show the world snippets of Britain's history and show the world the illustrious men & women who were or are, British. What Britain's all about, really. The result is lame.

According to this show, Britain is all about one or two successful TV shows & movies, and about football and about a couple of hit singers & composers.
Oh yes, so we all know the internet -- do we know who's behind it so to speak...? Sir Timothy (Tim Berners-Lee) who invented the internet. He's British too. Fortunately someone, bless him, remembered Tim Berners-Lee and he was there, at the show. Kudos!

In more detail, the history lesson went on to teach us that Mr Beckham, a football player, is British and so is James Bond (who does not actually exist).
And that rap is black and British and so is Mr Bean. And that a dark looking W. Churchill was also British (although you had to know it's he -- not obvious). Oh yes, Harry Potter is also a Brit -- at least his creator is. (The above are mostly English by the way, but that's neither here nor there.)


All of the above is good to know. Beckham, J Bond, etc, and people like them are illustrious Britons.


So what does that make Sir Isaac Newton? Where is he from? Or, Adam or Locke, or (what's his name?) William Shakespeare? Oscar Wilde? The Who, Pink Floyd, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir John Elgar, Agatha Christie, B Russell, Sir Alec Guinness, AC/DC, Clash, and what about "The Stones", and I can go on and on and on, and I am not even British!


Because that's what it looks like: someone has to remember an illustrious Briton or two -- as an afterthought perhaps? It is good to be "today" as long as you know how you got there: via yesterday.


I admit my weakness: I expected better. Frankly, I think Britain deserves better.

Don't give Greece any more money. Give money directly to Greek citizens directly...

Were such a thing possible, it would be the thing to do.

Greece is deeply into its 3rd official year of crisis, sovereign debt problems, and austerity -- and nothing has been done to solve anything. Astonishingly, four (4) successive Greek governments have not implemented any serious reform or taken any sustainable -- nay, even useful -- measures*.

That leaves Greece's Euro-partners in quandary, hoping that maybe the Deus ex Machina will ultimately save the day... because the local administration, the Greek government and their cronies certainly won't.

The only people who can make a difference are the Greeks themselves. This is not to say they will -- but they are the only recourse left:

The last article (a. 120**) of the Greek Constitution, a document that is supposedly still in force (not that Greek authorities pay any more than lip service to such legal backwaters)

"To safeguard the Constitution is left to the patriotism of all Greeks who are entitled, and duty bound, to resist by all means anyone who attempts with violence to infringe and bypass it."


A man from Ierapetra in Crete, wrote a short letter to the local tax authorities and the Ministry of Finance, protesting against a tax return which, with an income arbitrarily beefed up by tax authorities requests him to pay income tax on non-existent income.

The case for the tax administration relies on external signs of wealth, such as a 21year old, 750cc engined car and ownership of his house, not connected to the national grid,  officially valued at 13k. The man had no taxable income and spent a documented  ~2,300 for the whole year.

Concluding, the man referred to article 120 of the Constitution of Greece and noted:
"a) In choosing between going without food for three (3) months in order to pay the tax you have requested, I prefer not to pay you anything.
b) In choosing between becoming a suicide victim or a killer, I prefer to become your killer.
c) If you have made no mistakes in the tax return you sent me, you must be scoundrels, fraudsters, and thieves.

With no respect,

Nicholas Aretoulis." (my translation)
Taken (without express permission) from the excellent blog "Filoftero"

*   The Greek government announced recently a reduction of national debt to just under 135% of GDP, down from an alleged 160% 12 months ago. This is the result of reduced imports -- in fact a balanced import-export situation -- especially reduced oil consumption, and reductions in pensions. actually and amazingly, the public payroll in Greece increased albeit very slightly in the past year...
* * Η τήρηση του Συντάγματος επαφίεται στον πατριωτισμό των Ελλήνων, που δικαιούνται και υποχρεούνται να αντιστέκονται με κάθε μέσο εναντίον οποιουδήποτε επιχειρεί να το καταλύσει με τη βία.