STEALTH TORCH

They call it a relay, as if the entire route was covered by runners handing the torch from one to the next.

However, looking at the official schedule of the Olympic Torch Relay, it seems that much of the route is not covered on land or sea.

April 7, 2008 the torch will be in Paris;

April 9, the torch is due here in San Francisco;

April 11, Buenos Aires; and, get this,

April 13, Dar es Salaam!

They must be using airplanes to fly the torch between cities on the off-days. Do you think they really keep the flame lit? It seems easier and safer to simply strike a match in each new city.

It's a torch-tour, like a rock band tour, except instead of a music performance there's a short relay through the city along a circular route.

Anyway, I’m proud as a San Franciscan to see the grassroots resistance to the Beijing Olympic torch’s movement through our city.

I don’t advocate any violence, but for some people non-violent civil disobedience could be an appropriate response to China’s behavior in Tibet and Sudan.

China’s behavior is so awful that Mayor Newsom won’t even announce the route of the San Francisco leg of the torch run. It’s like he’s ashamed of it.

There’s already been a firebomb thrown at the Chinese consulate.

Hopefully, the hassle will loom so large that all the fun-ness will go out of the SF leg, at least for the Chinese government and its craven SF toadies. They could do the run at some private venue with heavy press restrictions—sort of how the games themselves will be reported.

Hopefully, some Olympic committee or other will foot the bill for police overtime. Do you think?

In future, City Powers should resist the urge to promote authoritarian regimes.

Go S.F.!

Free Tibet!

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