Politically Correct Sissies Freak Over Australian Olympic Swimmers Posing With Guns

By Molly Gray

(CNN) -- Two Australian Olympic swimmers who posted pictures on Facebook of themselves brandishing [perfectly legal] weapons have been ordered to take them down by the country's swimming authorities.

The image, taken in a gun shop in Santa Clara, California, showed Nick D'Arcy with two pistols standing next to Kenrick Monk who is holding two shotguns across his chest, according to a Friday report in Australia's Herald Sun. The swimmers were training in the U.S. ahead of the Olympic Games in London later this year.

Swimming Australia said in a statement that it does not condone "the posting of inappropriate content on Facebook, Twitter or any social media platform."

As of Friday morning, neither of the swimmers' Facebook pages or Twitter accounts contained the photo.

"It was all just meant to be a bit of fun, the photos were just a bit of fun," D'Arcy told local media after returning to Australia. "If anyone's been offended I deeply apologize. It was never the intent; it was never supposed to be offensive."

Dozens of fans have posted on Monk's public Facebook page saying they support the athletes and that Swimming Australia had blown the photo out of proportion.

Swimming Australia said they will be speaking with both athletes regarding the incident.

While the pair faces possible Olympic sanctions, D'Arcy has been embroiled in controversy in the past.

In 2008, he was dropped from the Beijing Olympic team following an assault charge for hitting teammate Simon Cowley and breaking his jaw, the Australian Daily Telegraph reported at the time.

Both swimmers were named in Australia's team in March.

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• Australian Olympic swimmers in hot water after gun photo

NBC explains its ice-dancing-over-U.S./Canada-hockey decision

By Greg Wyshynski

VANCOUVER – From horse-racing conflicts to shuttering the big screen at Mellon Arena, NBC has given hockey fans as much anxiety and anger as watching Jay Leno sit in Conan's chair.

The latest affront to puckheads: The U.S. vs. Canada men's preliminary-round showdown Feb. 21 won't be shown on NBC, but on cable's MSNBC at 7 p.m. EST. Instead, the Peacock will bring fans an exhilarating night of ice dancing, women's speedskating, men's freestyle skiing and men's giant slalom – rather than what amounts to an NHL all-star game on an international stage.

To the surprise of no one, NBC's getting torched for this: Outspoken player agent Allan Walsh tweeted that it was "disgraceful, and Chicago Now called it inexcusable:

How can the NHL cancel their all star game and postpone their season for two weeks to accommodate the Olympics without getting any major network attention during the Winter Olympiad?

This is just another case of why the NHL will never be as popular as its fan base either believes it is or wants it to be. When the pinnacle of the sport calls on the best of the best of your league, you have to get these games on national television. The worst part of the whole deal is the league (NHL) has the contract with the television network already and still cannot get the best hockey competition in the world on the tube.

The notion that the NHL would shutter its season for the Games and that its broadcast rights holder wouldn't then put the NHL-centric U.S. vs. Canada on its primary network is baffling.

So we reached out to NBC for comment and context, and found out who gets the blame for this malarkey: American women.

According to the network, there are three major sporting events that have more female viewers than male viewers: the Kentucky Derby, the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. Turning three hours of prime-time coverage on the East Coast over to a hockey game isn't exactly catnip to those casual female viewers, despite Sidney Crosby's(notes) pouty lips...

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Has Anyone Else Noticed...

That NBC uses the theme for The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. during its Olympics Coverage?

Canadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky lights the Olympic flame during the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

12,000 Calories a Day

By CLEMENTE LISI with Post Wire Services

Swimming sensation Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success - and it involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day...

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza.

He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks...

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Swimming records fall: Is there something in the water?

By Jeré Longman and Gina Kolata

Published: August 11, 2008

BEIJING: He swam so improbably fast, making up so much ground in a foaming, desperate attempt to reach the wall first in the 4x100-meter relay, that Jason Lezak not only won a gold medal for the United States on Monday, but he helped to shatter the world record by nearly four seconds.

That race alone would have provided an astonishing day of swimming at the Summer Olympics, but it was the third world record of the morning and seventh in three days of competition. An eighth record was set during preliminary races later Monday, matching the total number broken at the 2004 Athens Games and threatening to eventually surpass the 14 established at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Not only are world marks tumbling, but some are being lowered by staggering margins...

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Son of Pius X’s personal butler won gold medal in 1904 Olympic Games

David Bratton, George Van Cleaf, Leo Goodwin, Louis Handley, David Hesser, Joseph Ruddy and James Steen

Rome, Aug 11, 2008 / 09:12 pm (CNA).- Luigi de Breda, a U.S. citizen of Italian origin, was the son of the personal butler of Popes Leo XIII and Pius X. In 1904 he participated in the sport of water polo in the Olympic Games at St. Louis in the United States, where he won the gold medal. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano recently published an article recounting the story of Breda, who “at least ideally, made Vatican City present at the Games.”

Amidst the expectations over the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, L’Osservatore recalled the story of the son of Francis Montague Handley, who was the private butler of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius X.

Luigi was born on February 14, 1874 in Rome. According to the article by Maria Maggi, “He was friendly, with ruffled hair, physically well-built and a gentleman. He spoke Italian, English, French, Spanish and a little Latin and Greek.”

Luigi de Breda was not able to participate in the St. Louis Games as an Italian, despite having lived in Italy for 22 years, but only as an American under the name of Lou Handley.

Luigi, or Lou, used to swim in the Tevere River when it was still uncontaminated by pollution, Maggi explained, since at that time there were no swimming pools. “Historian Bill Mallon in his Encyclopedia of American Olympians would later recall that Lou triumphed in a mixed competition that consisted of six tests: walking, water polo, horsemanship, cycling, canoeing and swimming. Lou had already set a US swimming record in the 440-yard freestyle.”

“He was exceptional, above all, in water polo. He perfected a new shot, raising himself out of the water, which came to be known as ‘the salmon jump’,” Maggi wrote.

She noted that Lou “played water polo very well much before Johnny Weismuller—famous for playing the role of Tarzan—who won the bronze at the Paris Games of 1924, or Carlo Pedersoli—known more by the Italians as Bud Spencer—who was a key player in Italy’s 5-0 victory over Spain in 1955.”

Luigi Breda was the first coach for women’s water polo at the Anveres Games of 1920 and again at the Paris Games in 1924. He also joined the Swimming Association of New York and remained a member for 40 years. He wrote five books on sports and contributed to writing the section on swimming for the Encyclopedia Britannica. He died in New York on December 28, 1956.

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President Bush tells China not to ‘fear the influence of a loving religion’

Beijing, Aug 11, 2008 / 11:48 am (CNA).- Sunday morning in Beijing, President Bush attended the Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church. After the government-established church service, the U.S. president gently encouraged the Chinese government to consider granting religious freedom to its citizens, telling them not to fear Christianity.

The president expressed that he and his wife experienced “great joy and privilege of worshiping here in Beijing, China.” Bush explained that the service showed “that God is universal, and God is love, and no state, man or woman should fear the influence of loving religion.”

He also thanked the pastor and the choir for the warm welcome he and the first lady received. “I want to thank the pastor for his hospitality, and I want to thank this beautiful choir for singing Amazing Grace and Edelweiss. It was a touching moment. It has been a joy to worship here…God bless you.”

According to China Aid Association Inc, the church’s regular parishioners were not allowed to attend the Sunday service with President Bush. The organization claims that high-ranking officials from the Public Security Bureau, the Bureau of Security, the Bureau of Religion and TSPM/China Christian Council met to ensure that only security people, political workers and people trained to pose as Christians attended the service.

One man who was baptized two decades ago in the Protestant church lamented, “Whether you are a believer or not, no one is allowed to enter the church. When President Bush comes tomorrow, where can we do our Sunday service?”

The organization also reports that the Chinese government agencies went so far as to arrest two men while riding their bikes on the way to the service.

The men, who claimed that they had the right to attend the service and see President Bush, are affiliated with an underground Christian church and have been under the close eye of the government in the time leading up to the Olympics.

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Beijing Taxis Are Rigged for Eavesdropping

By SHAI OSTER and GORDON FAIRCLOUGH
August 6, 2008; Page A7

BEIJING -- Tens of thousands of taxi drivers in Beijing have a tool that could become part of China's all-out security campaign for the Olympic Games. Their vehicles have microphones -- installed ostensibly for driver safety -- that can be used to listen to passengers remotely.

The tiny listening devices, which are connected to a global positioning system able to track a cab's location by satellite, have been installed in almost all of the city's 70,000 taxis over the past three years, taxi drivers and industry officials say... the machines can even remotely shut off engines...

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Scorpion kebab, anyone? It's fast food Beijing style...

By Geoffrey Wansell
Last updated at 11:29 PM on 03rd August 2008

There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines - and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that...

Laid out in trays and boiling in cauldrons are everything from goat lungs with red peppers to scorpion brochettes, seahorses on skewers, iguana tails, dung beetles and silk worms on a stick, by way of fried sparrows, grilled snake and turkey vulture schnitzels...

I'll stop there

Pope sends greetings to China before Olympics

BRESSANONE, Italy -- Pope Benedict XVI sent greetings to China on Sunday before the Olympics and said he hoped the Games would offer an example of coexistence among people from different countries.

He said he will follow the Olympics, which open Friday, with a sense of "deep friendship" and expressed hope the sports can represent "a pledge of brotherhood and peace among people."

Benedict spoke during the traditional Angelus prayer in Bressanone, a town in the Italian Alps where he is vacationing.

"I follow with deep friendship this great sporting event -- the most important and awaited on a world level -- and I wish that it offer the international community a valid example of coexistence among people of different background in the respect of common dignity," the pope told the faithful gathered in Bressanone.

Benedict sent his greetings to China, organizers of the Games and the athletes, expressing hope that "each can give their best in the true Olympic spirit."

Benedict has made the improvement of relations with Beijing a priority of his papacy.

China's officially atheistic Communist Party forced Chinese Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, and the two sides have not restored formal relations. Beijing sees the Vatican tradition of the pope naming his own bishops as interference in the country.

China appoints bishops for the state-sanctioned Catholic church. Still, many of the country's estimated 12 million Catholics worship in congregations outside the state-approved church and often are arrested or harassed.

Benedict sent a special letter to Catholics in China last year, praising the underground church, but also urging the faithful to reconcile with followers of the official church.

In his Sunday's address, the pontiff mentioned the only saint from the area where he is on vacation -- a missionary who went to China in the 19th century and died there in 1908. The pope made the comment in Ladino, the third language of this corner of German-speaking northern Italy.

The Angelus was the pope's first public appearance of his vacation. It drew some 9,000 people, some dressed in local costumes.

The pope has been working on a new volume of his book about Jesus as well as on speeches for his trip to France next month, said the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

Benedict said the visit to Bressanone allows him "to go back into my past and at the same time walk toward the future." The pope visited the town a dozen times when he was a cardinal, often in the company of his brother, Georg, who has joined him.

Benedict will return to his summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome on Aug. 11.

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Pope Benedict XVI, center foreground in white, leaves the seminary where he is vacationing, in background, on his way to the Angelus prayer in Bressanone, near Bolzano, northern Italy, Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008. The pontiff sent Sunday his greetings to China before the Olympics and said he hopes the Games offer an example of coexistence between people from different places. Meeting the faithful Benedict said he will follow the Olympics with a sense of deep friendship and hopes the sports can represent 'a pledge of brotherhood and peace among people.' At right, Bressanone Bishop Wilhem Egger; At second-left in background, Benedict's secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein; at letf partially visible, the pontiff's personal bodyguard, Domenico Giani (AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar)

Beijing takes dog off the menu for Olympics

Fri Jul 11, 12:40 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month's Olympics and September's Paralympics.

Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China's capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.

A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled...

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"Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman"

BEIJING (Reuters) - It's official. Hungry foreign hordes craving a fix of diced chicken fried with chili and peanuts during the Beijing Olympics will be able to shout "kung pao chicken!" and have some hope of getting just that.

As it readies for an influx of visitors for the August Games, the Chinese capital has offered restaurants an official English translation of local dishes whose exotic names and alarming translations can leave foreign visitors frustrated and famished.

If officials have their way, local newspapers reported on Wednesday, English-speaking visitors will be able to order "beef and ox tripe in chili sauce", an appetiser, rather than "husband and wife's lung slice".

Other favourites have also received a linguistic makeover.

"Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman", as the Beijing Youth Daily rendered the spicy Sichuanese dish, is now "Mapo tofu." And "chicken without sexual life" becomes mere "steamed pullet"...

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