Joe,

My concerns about the Olympic Games being held over here, in my state, are that huge budget cuts have been made for hospitals and public education and social services, to come up with the money for these games, for the new buildings, the changes to the transport systems, etc etc with the carrot being held up that huge amounts of tourism dollars will flow back into the economy.

I welcome an international event like the Games because it promotes fellow feeling, a sense of community throughout the world, but I don't see any justification for penalising the poor, the sick and the needy so that some big bits of architecture and lots of promotional hype can be paid for, and so a few Olympic committee members and a few politicians can get their names in lights.

I tend to agree with you about the playboy elite.

Helen