Groundhog Day 2010

Remember the movie Groundhog Day? Bill Murray (one of my all-time favourite actors) is newsman Phil Connors, who finds himself stuck repeating the same day again and again, waking each day at 6:00 am to Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe." A tortured study in futility. No matter what Bill (Phil) does, he is unable to affect change and the ending is always the same. Embarking on my daily consumption of myriad media sources has been a lot like Groundhog day. Especially when it comes to the 2010 Games: cost overruns, secret security budget climbing (maybe at a billion, yes, a billion by now), backroom / illegal deals to change the city's charter to mortgage the city's future, no public consultation, homeless further marginalized and ignored. All for a two week party celebrating a bunch of spandex clad self-involved losers throwing themselves down mountains or around in a circle using various apparatus. What a fucking joke! Though unlike Groundhog Day, this joke is not even mildly amusing. And there's no happy ending...

Let's get back to that billion dollar thing. Reminds me of one of Bill Hicks' more memorable quotes:

"You know all that money we spend on nuclear weapons and defense each year, trillions of dollars, correct? Instead -- just play with this -- if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor of the world -- and it would pay for it many times over, not one human being excluded -- we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever in peace."

Let's think locally. Substitute 'nuclear weapons and defense' with the equally useless 'Olympics' and 'trillions' for 'billions' (just to be fair) and you've got the right idea. Just think of what could be done if we used that billion dollars to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, build homes for the homeless. The choices that have been made for us are absolutely unconscionable.

There are those who are attempting to get the message of change out, trying to add to the narrative and getting us to wake up to something other than "I Got You Babe". Want something to cheer for as the Olympics approaches? Check out www.no2010.com.