The London Olympics Note from Berit:  Last night, I watched London's opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. I appreciate its outline of British history, which emphasized our changing times more than the mythical "gods" behind the global games. But that historical review showed the a sad reality: an increasingly amoral world with decreasing acceptance of God's timeless guidelines.   "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." Colossians 2:6-9

London 2012 Olympics: The Staging Ground for the Coming Police State?  "It’s what the Romans used to refer to as 'bread and circuses'—the idea that the key to controlling the masses is by satiating their carnal appetites and entertaining them with mindless distraction. Thus, while the world loses itself in the pomp and circumstance of a thoroughly British Olympics...a more sinister drama will be unfolding....

     "Under cover of the glitz and glamour of these time-honored Games, a chilling military operation is underway, masterminded by a merger of the corporate, military and security industrial complexes and staffed by more than 40,000 civilian police, British military and security personnel, as well as FBI, CIA, and TSA agents, and private security contractors. Appropriately enough, this year’s Olympic mascot, Wenlock—a strange, futuristic blob with an all-seeing eye to 'record everything' in the games—is being sold in Olympic stores dressed in a policeman’s uniform.

      "'As a metaphor for the London Olympics, it could hardly be more stark,' writes Stephen Graham for the Guardian. 'For £10.25 you, too, can own the ultimate symbol of the Games: a member of by far the biggest and most expensive security operation in recent British history packaged as tourist commodity.'...There’s even a security patrol tasked with making sure that local businesses observe the government ban on symbols and words relating to the Olympics lest they cause economic harm to the 'official' corporate sponsors.... These purple-capped government officials are authorized to enter businesses to look for violations, and can impose fines up to 20,000 pounds ($31,000).

      "Included on the banned list are such words as games, 2012, gold, silver, bronze, summer, sponsors, and London. ....An old lady got tagged for sewing the five rings onto a mini doll sweater.'....Unfortunately for the people of London and beyond, the UK’s willingness to host the 2012 Summer Olympics has turned this exercise in solidarity, teamwork and nationalism into a $17 billion exercise in militarism, corporatism, surveillance and oppression." See ARTICLE