Da Mare goes Ape $#!+?

Not dis video again...

Yet another Chicago sports' embarrassment

SHOCKING NEWS

Obamas went to Copenhagen, Chicago loses.

Which means (and this is the shocking part) that Briggs was right...

Not to mention that the Repubs will probably have a field day on dis one - See, he's not superman after all...

Is flip-flopping an Olympic event?

Jarrett hints Obama likely to attend IOC meet

IOC sounding like spoiled children

Crain's is reporting that Michelle Obama, not the president, will go to Copenhagen to represent Chicago before the IOC. That means "the odds on Chicago's Olympic bid just got longer." The IOC knows all about our bid, and knows Obama supports it, but apparently somehow he needs to get on an aeroplane and fly over there in order to prove it to them. (And I'm not sure he's actually president anyway.)

"Mr. Obama’s absence could be a major blow to Chicago’s bid with weeks to go before the vote. Heads of state have become an expected part of the bidding process since 2005 (ooooh, it's a tradition that stretches all the way back to... last time? Ed.) when British Prime Minister Tony Blair convinced the IOC to send the 2012 Games to London ... Mr. Obama told Mr. Rogge earlier Friday that he wouldn’t be able to attend the IOC meeting in Copenhagen."

Can we send Tony Blair? He's a proven veteran, after all...

"'She's not the president,' said Rob Livingstone, who runs the Toronto-based Web site GamesBids.com, which tracks the race to host the Olypmics. 'The IOC members are hoping for the president.'"

Waaaaah for them. I'm still hoping for a pony.

"Bid watchers, however, smell a smoke screen that Mr. Obama might ultimately show up on Oct. 2 in Denmark."

I await the Lou Dobbs poll on that possibility.

We should have had our own contest

News item: Chicago 2016 picks new Olympics bid motto

2016: we're ready

News item: The run-up to the Beijing Olympics has been marred by a well-documented surge in violations of the rights of free expression and association, as well as media freedom. In addition, abuses of migrant construction workers who were pivotal to Beijing’s infrastructure improvements have increased, as have evictions of Beijing residents whose homes were demolished to make way for that infrastructure.

News item: Arlene Benson isn't leaving, even if the bulldozers come... About 30 other families in a 300-acre stretch of Bensenville targeted for demolition are hanging on to their homes, according to village representatives. But their time may be running out. A DuPage County judge Thursday ruled to lift a public health injunction blocking Chicago from demolishing hundreds of homes and businesses in Bensenville to make way for the next phase of the O'Hare Airport expansion.

These two stories just seemed to go together for some reason.

unclear on the transport concept, or, expect Olympianly YOOOOOOOOGE delays

Chicago makes cut, has Olympic-size to-do list
~

Take DAT Baku

(Crain’s) — Chicago’s Olympics dreams are still alive.
That’s the welcome — if expected — news from Athens, Greece, as the International Olympic Committee announced that Chicago is one of four finalists to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The Windy City joins Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro on the short list of cities that have been found technically capable of hosting the 2016 games. All four cities have strong credentials, and the competition is likely to be close before a final decision is made in November 2009.

Eliminated were Prague, Czech Republic; Doha, Qatar, and Baku, Azerbaijan.

Note that the proposed venues include Huskie Stadium in DeKalb. Is it possible for the entire world to contract SUCKS?

Before we throw good money after bad, let's study how China handles this problem this year

Might be easier to just, like, I dunno, move em outta da way someplace...

News item: Four foundations are contributing a total of $3.5 million to help improve some of the city’s poorer neighborhoods in anticipation of hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.

LoC broke dis story weeks ago...

Who wuz it? K-Mad? Smiff? Probably not Corms, but somebody...

Could transit 'neglect' cost Chicago the 2016 Olympics?

Chicago may not have much of a mass transit system left when the 2016 Olympics are held, a U.S. congressman said at a hearing today in the Loop on the city's transportation needs to host the Games.

Reader on Da Mare's library tax: fullas#i+

Daley says tax hike would help libraries
"Everybody wants a new library," he said. "They also want extended hours. They want a lot of things with libraries ... Libraries are extensions of the school system, of the learning environment. If a society is going to do well, you put the money into education and you put money into libraries."

Thar She Blows
The white whale lurking behind the mayor's new tax increases

He promised to use some of the new tax revenue to "build or renovate more than ten libraries across the city." That pledge caught most listeners by surprise. Nothing against libraries. But with all the problems facing the city—failing schools, mass layoffs of teachers, nurses, and prosecutors, the CTA yet again threatening to raise fares and shut down routes, and the county crying for its own huge tax hike—are branch libraries really a top priority? Most aldermen figured the mayor was using them to conceal his true purposes.

woo dis

No more Mister Nice Guy... time to crack some heads...

Chicago far behind rivals for 2016: USOC chair
(Crain’s) — U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth said Thursday that Chicago ranks third or fourth among rivals for the 2016 Summer Games.

In a meeting with reporters, he puts Chicago’s bid behind Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Madrid, Spain, and Tokyo. He made a similar observation in a meeting Thursday morning with Mayor Richard M. Daley, he said.

All cities have strong leadership, he said in the meeting with reporters. For Tokyo, "the Japanese are putting in much more in the way of assets and efforts for their bid," Mr. Ueberroth said...

Mr. Ueberroth suggested that Chicago needs to get better at wooing the members of the International Olympic Committee who will vote to choose an Olympic city in 2009...

nice try, Tokyo...

Tokyo throws hat into rings for 2016 Olympic Games
Yeah, dat'll work... we've already designed a logo, printed t-shirts, had our logo rejected, and now they think they can just waltz in at da last minute...

June 07, 2007
(AP) — Tokyo will bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics

The Japanese Olympic Committee on Thursday notified the International Olympic Committee of its intention to offer Tokyo as a candidate to host the games.

JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda and Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara both submitted letters of intent to IOC president Jacques Rogge.

It is the first formal procedure in the process of making a bid for the Olympics with the IOC, which will select the winning city in 2009.
...
All candidate cities must submit initial bid files to the IOC by Sept. 13.

Other possible contenders include Rome; Prague, Czech Republic; Doha, Qatar, and Baku, Azerbaijan.