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rfmcdonaldBy now, most of you have probably heard of Rio de Janeiro's successful bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. I'm quite happy that this, the former Brazilian capital, succeeded: quite apart from finally having an Olympics city in South America, Rio's a very nice city and its nice for Brazil to get another thing right as it continues its BRICish ascent.
Andrew Barton was in Chicago when Chicagoans found that they didn't get the prize, and I do sympathize with them. I do tend to agree with Barton that it's a good thing that neither Toronto nor Montréal managed to submit a bid, given the very very bad long-term financial consequences of the 1976 games for that last city and the dubious theory that the Olympics would help a local economy. For that matter, I'm unhappy that Toronto is hosting the 2015 Pan-American Games. The far-left-wing manifestos left by poster-pasters on lampposts across the city arguing that money would be better spent on the needs of the people actually make sense to me now.
Andrew Barton was in Chicago when Chicagoans found that they didn't get the prize, and I do sympathize with them. I do tend to agree with Barton that it's a good thing that neither Toronto nor Montréal managed to submit a bid, given the very very bad long-term financial consequences of the 1976 games for that last city and the dubious theory that the Olympics would help a local economy. For that matter, I'm unhappy that Toronto is hosting the 2015 Pan-American Games. The far-left-wing manifestos left by poster-pasters on lampposts across the city arguing that money would be better spent on the needs of the people actually make sense to me now.
