Wow! I was over on the RIA website looking for a nice picture of the Russian bobsled, which I think is the coolest graphic design of all the bobsleds at the Olympics when I stumbled on this hilarious video.

Holcomb piloted USA-1 to the first gold medal for the United States in the four-man competition in 62 years. Patrick Henry Martin last won gold for the United States, at the St. Moritz Games in 1948. Martin's win capped an Americana run of three gold medals in four Olympics, a feat unmatched until USA-1 revitalized itself and reappeared on Saturday.

This is the way Bode Miller always wanted it to happen, needed it to happen.

An Olympic gold medal may be the ultimate evidence of skiing success in everyone else's eyes, but most assuredly not in his. If the willful Miller ever was going to earn one and truly embrace the accomplishment, this is how it had to be.

He conquered a tricky course with sometimes-spectacular skiing that reminded him of being a kid on the slopes. He overcame a big deficit by pushing himself despite a bum left knee and an aching right ankle. In sum, he turned in a performance that pleased him, regardless of what the clock said.

In this case, it just so happens, Miller's total time from one downhill and one slalom was Sunday's best, allowing the 32-year-old from Franconia, N.H., to win the super-combined event signifying all-around skiing ability — and that first career gold. He now has a record-tying three medals at these Olympics after only three races, quite a comeback from his infamous flop at the 2006 Turin Games and his near-retirement last year.

"The gold medal is great. I think it's perfect. Ideally, that's what everyone is shooting for. But the way I skied these last races is what matters. I would've been proud of that skiing with a medal or not," Miller said after turning in the third-fastest slalom leg for an overall time of 2 minutes, 44.92 seconds, a comfortable 0.33 ahead of Ivica Kostelic of Croatia. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland got the bronze.

"The way I executed — the way I skied — is something I'll be proud of the rest of my life," Miller said.

Whether he ever says so or not, it's the Olympic gold medal that changes history's view of Miller. What happened in Turin is now an aberration rather than the defining moment. Now he'll always be seen by those outside the sport as one of Alpine skiing's greats who frittered away one Olympics, not a should-have-been who never fulfilled his promise.

"I mean, Bode has now done everything you can in skiing. He's won World Cups. He's won World Cup overall titles," said Will Brandenburg of Spokane, Wash., who finished 10th in his Olympic debut. "He's won medals in every color. And now he's got the gold. And I think that's big. He's one of the best skiers of all time now and no one can discredit that."

Older and perhaps wiser — although good luck getting this guy to admit the latter — Miller is at the top of his game at the right time.

What a week.

He also won a bronze in Monday's downhill and a silver in Friday's super-G, adding to two silvers at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. The five Alpine medals tie him for the second-most by any man in Olympic history, behind only the eight won by Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.

At this point, who would doubt that Miller could keep going, maybe coming up with something special in the two remaining events, the giant slalom Tuesday and the slalom Saturday.

Miller was asked why he's doing this now, and not in Italy four years ago, when he tuned out, partied hard and failed to live up to the expectations thrust on him by the media, by sponsors, by fans. Miller only finished two of five races back then, never better than fifth place.

In short, he said, what happened there was a reaction to all of those expectations. And what's happening here is a reaction to enjoying a fresh sense of excitement after taking time away from skiing and thinking about quitting before eventually deciding in September to return to the U.S. Ski Team.

"In '06, I didn't really necessarily want to be there for a number of reasons ... but, you know, I also didn't want to not be there. So I was incredibly conflicted," he said. "I think I had no intention really of blowing it, but I raced as hard as I could, but I didn't have this motivation. I didn't have the energy and the enthusiasm."

Some of that comes from spending more time around his younger teammates. At the last Olympics, Miller stayed in his own RV, away from the rest of the Americans. At these Olympics, he's living in a condo with everyone else, eating with everyone else, training with everyone else, feeding off the energy of everyone else.

"He's been really motivated," said Ted Ligety, the surprise 2006 Turin gold medalist who was fifth Sunday. "It's cool to really see him win an Olympic gold. That's what's been missing from his resume."

Miller got a late start to training before the World Cup season, and when he worked hard to get going, he hurt his left knee and needed arthroscopic surgery in October to clean it out. Another setback came in December, when Miller injured his right ankle playing volleyball, of all things. On top of that, he took a bad tumble in slalom training at Whistler, flying about 35 feet before landing on his left hip.

In the downhill that opened the super-combined, Miller was only seventh-fastest. He knew he had to make up time in the slalom, and it didn't help that he was hurting and felt exhausted, even if he did begin his career as a slalom specialist.

Miller increased his lead at both checkpoints in the slalom, but after skiing fluidly at the top, he barely managed to get through one gate after another on a demanding course set by Kostelic's father and coach, Ante.

"I was like, 'God, get me to the finish.' I knew I had a great run going, but I mean, I don't know how I got those last 15 gates," Miller said. "It was literally just willpower, because my legs were completely shot."

He moved into the lead, but had to wait while six other skiers who were faster in the downhill portion got their turns, including double medalist Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.

"I couldn't hold back," Svindal said. "I had to attack it if I had any chance to get that gold."

But when Svindal, who had the fastest morning downhill, skied off-course in the slalom, that gold medal was Miller's.

As he walked away from the finish area, he stopped to sign autographs and pose for pictures, even kneeling down to eye level to thank one girl for her support. Miller's own daughter turned 2 this week, and while he won't tell you fatherhood changed him as a person, he will say it made him reconsider his priorities away from the slopes.

When he's on skis, he refuses to change this stance: Medals are not what matters.

Still, Miller's father, Woody, who was at Sunday's race, said his kid "was hungry" to perform well this time around.

"He's enjoying himself. That's always been key for him. He lost that. That was what was key in Torino," Woody Miller said. "He was going through the motions, but not really enjoying himself."

Miller did, indeed, make clear that he was happy to finally have a gold, but he also repeatedly made the point that there are other rewards he finds more satisfying.

"It's hard to really describe in a way that makes sense, but the actual gold medal doesn't mean that much. If I'd won it in a way that I wasn't excited about or proud of today, I would have probably resented the medal in a certain way because of what it makes everyone else think," Miller said.

A few minutes later, he added: "People are generally not good at separating those two things. They think you're proud because you won an Olympic medal, and the reality is I'm proud because I skied that way at the Olympics."

With that, he walked away from the race site, heading off to collect his new prize at the official medal ceremony in the village below the mountain, his mountain. And then maybe, just maybe, Miller would head out to celebrate his gold medal.

You're a great skater and all.

But that wasn't Olympic champion material.

In Thursday night's men's free skate, Lysacek skated slow and his jumps weren't close to the technical ability of defending Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko.

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Evan Lysacek (R) of the US shakes hands with silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko of Russia.
(Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
How can you be Olympic champion when you don't even try the quad? If you're going to take the quad out, why not take out another triple axel and just have more of the other stuff so the International Skating Union can make it more into an "art" recital.

Some defaced transit buses; others kicked cars. One masked demonstrator spray-painted the anarchy symbol on the side of an SUV carrying Olympic officials.

Still, a few cracked panes and some bemused motorists falls a long way short of what the organizers of this morning's disruption must have envisioned. For months, a whole spectrum of protest movements have been promising to turn these Games into a platform for their assorted causes, from aboriginal land rights to homelessness. A few warned they'd get nasty if the police got in their way.

Yet so far they seem to be spinning their wheels, running up against public indifference and a platoon of riot cops who resolutely refuse to be drawn into confrontations.

Two words:

Yow! Ser!

Jamaica's bid to have its bobsled team compete in this month's Olympics has come up short.

The list of nations who qualified and entered bobsled events at the Vancouver Games, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, failed to include Jamaica — which had spent the last few weeks hoping that a slot opened in the field.

Those hopes were dashed, and on Wednesday, the Jamaicans acknowledged that all chance for 2010 was gone.

"We've been in battles for many, many years," Chris Stokes, a founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team more than 20 years ago, told The AP in a phone interview. "This is one more. But it's disappointing, no question about that. The guys worked really hard and did well. Not qualifying, it's by no means a failure. It's a step going forward."

Officials from the Vancouver organizing committee are in the process of certifying those entries. There remains a chance more nations could be added, but for that to happen a sled that has entered must drop out.

The Jamaicans say they're no longer waiting for that to happen.

"I am told there are no other options at this point," team spokesman Stephen Samuels said.

They knew they were long shots to get into the Vancouver Games, but still, the notion of another team from the tiny island nation competing in these Olympics — 22 years after the first Jamaican sled raced in the Calgary Games and sparked the idea for the movie "Cool Runnings" — was enough to create a buzz.

Poorly funded and often racing with substandard equipment, the Jamaicans and driver Hannukkah Wallace managed to just sneak into the world top 50 rankings in four-man sliding, giving the chance of a Vancouver berth life.

In the end, they needed to be a few spots higher.

"If we have to be the last small nation, then so be it," Stokes said. "We'll keep the fight."

Wallace has said he wasn't sure if he'll stay with bobsledding, return to his roots in track, or possibly both. It's not uncommon for bobsledders to take some time off, especially early in a new four-year Olympic cycle.

Stokes said he believes Wallace will try to return and lead the team again.

"This is Hannukkah's third year driving," Stokes said. "People in the sport would say you need five, seven, maybe even 10 years to get to a certain level. Given the timeframe of development that we had, we knew it would be difficult. And one of the challenges we have in Jamaica bobsleigh, while other nations have several drivers coming up, we can afford only one."

The Jamaicans already say they're not abandoning all plans for 2010 — or 2014, for that matter.

As has been planned for months, the team will be at Whistler, if for no other reason than to experience what an Olympics are like, Stokes said.

"It's very important for them to go and see," Stokes said. "They'll remember what the games are like and watch the start line of a four-man Olympic race and feel that adrenaline. I hope it acts as a motivation for them."

And for the Sochi Games of 2014, Jamaica says it's hopeful of adding more sleds, more drivers — and intends to offer a coaching job to retired U.S. bobsled pilot Todd Hays, who saw his career end after a crash earlier this season. Even before retiring, Hays lent the Jamaican federation equipment and expertise.

"There are many things we can, and we will, do to improve our chances," Stokes said.

When you tune in to the Winter Olympics next week, be on the lookout for bright red tents dotting the snowy Vancouver scenery. The Red Tent Campaign is taking to the streets of Vancuver, distributing 500 red pop-up tents...

The demonstration, sponsored by the Pivot Legal Society, has some critics shaking their heads. Why, they wonder, is this group trying to make the city look bad during its big moment in the world spotlight?

Sponsor a tent..

Somehow, despite a global meltdown and a local thaw, the hosts are ready. Vancouver is abuzz and the stage is set for a Winter Olympics with dazzling settings and story lines.

Bring on Lindsey Vonn, skiing for a slew of gold medals, and the unpredictably intriguing Bode Miller. Anticipate the showdown between Asian figure skaters Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada. Root for, or against, a star-studded Canadian men's hockey team that knows anything less than gold will crush the home-country fans whose passion for a triumphant Olympics grows by the day.

Odds are high that it will rain at times in Vancouver during the Feb. 12-28 run of the games. On Cypress Mountain, in West Vancouver, crews are combatting unseasonably warm, wet weather by trucking in snow to cover the freestyle skiing/snowboarding venue.

But further north, at the vast ski resort of Whistler, snow abounds on the Alpine courses, and the towering mountains there combine with high-rise, harborside Vancouver to offer perhaps the most stunning mix of scenery ever for a Winter Olympics.

Many of the venues have successfully hosted world-class events over the past few years; the new bobsled/luge track at Whistler has been described as perhaps the fastest in the world.

Canada's Olympic athletes have had full access to the venues for training, part of the Own the Podium initiative that has set the bold goal for the host country to win the most medals at the games. Germany and the United States, which finished 1-2 in Turin four years ago, would love to thwart that goal

Asked what would make these games special for visitors, the CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, stressed the excitement and sense of unity that they are kindling among Canadians.

"Let the world see what good Canadians can do if they work hard and pull together," John Furlong said in a telephone interview. "It's really a coming out event for Canada."

Few if any other host cities have faced such an overwhelming and unexpected crisis as VANOC did the past two years in the form of the global recession.

"We never thought we'd be confronted with an economy that went over a cliff," Furlong said. "We took the company, turned it upside down, shook it, and everything that didn't matter we left out."

Despite staggering financial woes for some of the corporate sponsors, VANOC managed to keep its own budget in order. Ticket sales have been robust, with most events sold out; even the most-hard hit sponsors — including General Motors of Canada — kept their commitments; and the International Olympic Committee has promised to help cover any post-games deficit that might emerge.

One of the biggest victims of the meltdown may turn out to be NBC, which has the U.S. television rights to the games. It expects to lose an estimated $200 million, with advertising revenue not matching the high bid price of $820 million that it committed to in 2003.

The fiscal crisis forced VANOC to become more creative as it trimmed some staff and operational costs without scaling back on the events, festivities and amenities being offered to the Olympic family and the public.

"We had to pay attention to every single tiny thing we were doing," Furlong said. "We didn't lose anything that anyone else will notice."

Now, on the eve of the games, VANOC has declared itself ready to welcome 5,500 athletes and a projected 350,000 visitors. Trendy restaurants and bars in Whistler and Vancouver's Gastown district will be bustling; official entertainment acts include DEVO, Usher and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

The influx of visitors will mean some inconveniences. For example, access to Whistler for Alpine events will be strictly controlled, and private cars without parking permits will be stopped at a checkpoint along the 90-mile Sea-to-Sky Highway.

For all events, authorities are advising spectators to arrive at least two hours early to allow time for the screening process.

The security budget for the games, initially projected at $175 million, quintupled to more than $900 million. Personnel will include about 4,500 members of the Canadian military; more than 6,000 police officers, mostly from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but also scores of other Canadian jurisdictions; and 5,000 screeners hired by a private security consortium to conduct searches, under RCMP supervision, of people entering Olympic venues.

"We want to do this in Canadian style — we're subtle but we're ready," said RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet, a spokesman for the security task force.

For some Vancouverites, there's concern about the hundreds of surveillance cameras being installed, not only at Olympic venues but also in some other crowd-attracting parts of the city.

Richard Smith, a communications professor at Simon Fraser University in suburban Burnaby, has helped lead a campaign to ensure that all the cameras — whether operated by the city or the Olympic security team — are dismantled after the games.

"I'm concerned that in the enthusiasm to provide security, people go way over the top," Smith said. "Canadians are fairly anti-surveillance — they like their privacy."

In most of Canada, Olympic fever has been high — notably during the torch relay that began in October. By Feb. 12, it will have passed through more than 1,000 Canadian communities — from major cities to Arctic hamlets — over a 28,000-mile route.

Not all Canadians are enthralled, of course. Some activists from Canada's aboriginal communities have viewed the games as a chance to press political grievances, and on a couple of occasions protesters prompted changes in plans for torch relay legs through native areas.

A rallying cry of these protesters was "No Olympics on Stolen Land" — a reference to the fact that in much of British Columbia, unlike other provinces, treaties were never completed to address the takeover of land by white settlers.

However, the prospect of serious friction diminished once VANOC established official partnerships with the four First Nations whose traditional territories overlap the vast Olympic zone.

Another challenge for organizers has been dealing with Vancouver's skid-row neighborhood — the Downtown Eastside — an area just a few blocks from the city center that abounds with run-down rooming houses, drifters and drug addicts. Prostitutes from the area were the main targets of serial killer Robert Pickton, serving a life prison term after being charged in 2002 with the deaths of 26 women.

VANOC and an array of civic leaders depicted the Olympics as a chance to uplift the Downtown Eastside, pledging to promote new affordable housing, provide jobs for inner-city residents and patronize local businesses. Some activists say more should have been spent to combat homeless and predict the end result will be gentrification that displaces many down-and-out residents.

Overall, residents of Greater Vancouver have displayed an understandable ambivalence about some aspects of the games. Many are wary of the transportation plan that will curtail driving into downtown, and one recent poll indicated that British Columbians — more so than residents of other provinces — are apt to think that too much money has been spent on the games.

Furlong said he understood why some Vancouverites might have curbed their Olympic enthusiasm to a greater degree than other Canadians, but senses a change as the opening ceremony approaches.

"The debates all took place here," he said. "The whole city has had to do all the work, the planning, and by the time the games start, they might have a different view."

"The community has lived it," he added. "Now they can enjoy the fruits of their labor."

CALGARY — Canada's Brian McKeever (pictured) will make history at the Winter Olympics next month in Vancouver.

The legally blind cross-country skier will be the first winter-sport athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"False flag operations are covert operations which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities." -- Wikipedia

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are finally upon us and will be held in Vancouver, Canada, from February 12 to 28. Hands down, it will be the largest security operation in Canadian history. Military and government planners everywhere will undoubtedly use Vancouver 2010 as a role model for securing future high profile events around the world.

Canadian security officials have worked very closely with their American counterparts to prepare for the challenge that the Games may pose to the security of its shared border. Integration of Canada's security and military structures with the U.S. have already been moved forward through the NORAD, NORTHCOM, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), the Bi-National Planning Group, the Civil Assistance Plan, as well as several other initiatives. Training and security provisions for Vancouver 2010 might be used to further accelerate the merging of U.S-Canada command structures and the militarization of North America.

Despite all of the unprecedented military grade security measures being taken to make the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games the most secured in history, it's become abundantly clear to many associated with the mushrooming truth community that the upcoming Games may be used to stage [what's referred to as] a false flag act of terrorism. In fact, the trail of evidence has been so visible that everything's already been reported, separate event by separate event, by mainstream media around the world. However, if you look at all of these separate events and circumstantial evidence more collectively, suddenly you start to realize and understand that, perhaps, something else much more diabolical has been in the works.

To many people that can apparently see the forest through the trees, there's now reasonable grounds to consider that there may be a serious false flag attack staged during the Olympics. I've personally researched the evidence derived from various sources and put together a presentation of facts, historic evidence, and current events that will let the reader decide if something more dangerous is being planned to happen sometime in the next four weeks.

On January 19, Lisa Rossington of CTV News followed up on an earlier [in the month] news broadcast about two tons of missing ammonium nitrate stolen from a local warehouse storage facility [located in Surrey, British Columbia] owned by North Vancouver company Kinder Morgan. Kinder Morgan Energy partners, L.P. is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. Kinder Morgan owns or operates approximately 26,000 miles of pipelines transporting primarily natural gas, crude oil and petroleum products. BC Solicitor General Bill Elliott and RCMP Commissioner Kash Heed have both went on record about their significant apprehension with respect to that much ammonium nitrate being unaccounted and possibly in the wrong hands. Mark Lalonde, a security expert from Canpro Global, speaking to Lisa Rossington has said that if these explosives were actually stolen, it would have had to have been "a very sophisticated job" to accomplish the task.

More disturbingly, Kinder Morgan is owned lock, stock, and barrel by a Consortium of some of the world's largest financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, AIG, and The Carlyle Group. Kinder Morgan didn't report the missing explosives for over a month and when they did report it they came back a week later and said they made a "clerical error". Many pundits believe that the same people that have significant ownership stakes in these financial institutions are also members of global steering committees like Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, and Council on Foreign Relations. The suggestion is that these steering committees are some of the actual entities that plan, implement, and execute global policy initiatives that would be considered historic milestones and, more importantly, shape the direction global society takes in the short and long terms. Furthermore, many people already believe that governments around the world use "making us safer" as an excuse to strip us of our fundamental freedoms, and there's now also a very broad mainstream alliance that believes 9/11 was a false flag event staged by the U.S. government to limit our freedoms and prepare us for more government control in the future. Having explained this background, it's not hard to imagine that some might consider it quite suspicious, to say the very least, that two tons of ammonium nitrate goes missing right before a major global event and these companies are once again involved in the mix.

Another fact to take into account is the mainstream media's excessive scare mongering over the past couple months, reporting that terror levels around the world are "severe" and significantly targeting and associating legitimate protesters with terrorism. It not enough that peoples' rights to freedom of expression and assembly [during Games-time] have been severely stifled, but the media has to portray those that do manage to protest [while still adhering to the law] as terrorists.

The significance of this coverage is that, often before a major attack takes place anywhere in the world, the media begins to drop clues and, for all intents and purposes, prepare our mindset to be scared and anticipate the worst. They might even remind us of a past terrorist attack, make comparisons, and reinforce our basic fears. In fact, our programming to believe that terrorism is eminent and only the government can protect us by limiting our inherent rights has been a process dating back decades. When we're reminded of a past act of terrorism, it triggers our programming at a subconscious level and conditions our mindset to accept whatever happens next as well as the ensuing consequences with respect to our freedoms. Another interesting coincidence is that, while the media on one hand has reported stolen ammonium nitrate, international media on the other hand has been reporting that terrorists in Afghanistan are now using the same chemical for explosives. Let's also not forget that the mainstream media is owned by the same people that own the world's largest financial institutions so it's not hard to imagine that the media would be in step with other aspects of the mix.

Security is another integral element to the successful planning and implementation of the upcoming Winter Games and unprecedented measures have been taken for this international event to ensure that nothing diabolical happens next month. To be absolutely sure, officials have been coordinating closely with foreign intelligence and policing agencies, more than 4000 private security forces have been planned, law enforcement from all over the world will be present, black helicopters can be seen regularly flying over the region, high-level security drills have been completed, and more CCTV cameras have been deployed in and around Vancouver than are used for any other single region in the world.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been given the sole authority to shoot down a prospective hostile plane, in the exact same manner that Dick Cheney was given the same control over airspace in the days before September 11, 2001. It's common knowledge now in broad circles that when NORAD detected and reported the rogue airplanes on that fateful date, Dick Cheney himself told NORAD to stand down and that anything they might detect is part of schedule security exercises.

Another major concern about Vancouver 2010 security is the quality of service being demonstrated [and reported in the local media] with respect to the contracted 4000+ private security forces being provided by a company called Contemporary Services Canada. CSC is a brand new company that was established for the sole purpose of providing Asset Protection Services for the Games. It is owned by a larger U.S. based company, called Contemporary International, that boasts over 200 satellite offices around the world. According to former and current employees that wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, when orientating new asset protection guards the impression is clearly given [by the company] that they've managed event security in the past. However, further investigation has found that although Contemporary International has consulted [with respect to event services] at previous Olympic Games and other large events around the world, they've never handled asset protection for an event of this magnitude. In recent weeks and months, CBC and Global TV News have both reported that guards are not being given proper training [or no training in some cases], site guards are complaining about very poor working conditions, and low morale is rampant at all of the venue sites. Other inside sources close to CSC management personnel have also confirmed numerous changes in operational management, staffing mistakes, scheduling nightmares, and unmanned sites [from time to time] due to scheduling conflicts and inadequate human resources.

We've got the media telling us to expect the worse and be prepared for possible acts of terrorism; Vancouver 2010 officials are declaring this will be the safest games of all time; and then finally the local media's been reporting major holes and problems with security. With so many conflicting reports and media coverage akin to what's happened in the past before other major false flag events, it's difficult to truly decide what's fact and what's fiction.

Another suspicious move recently by the Conservative Canadian Government is Prime Minister Harper's order to prorogue Parliament until March 3, after the Games have finished. While the government is prorogued, Harper will have unprecedented dictatorial powers as the only active member of Canada's federal governing body. It's been long thought that Stephen Harper is a card-carrying, longstanding member of the so-called global elite, participating and having membership in all of the aforesaid steering committees. Mr. Harper was one of George W. Bush's biggest international supporters [while he was U.S. President] and has a long history of embracing the same conservative ideals and principles as people like Bush, Cheney, Rothschild, Rockefeller, Prince Charles, Rumsfeld, Dr. Eric Pianka, and Rush Limbaugh. That's why when Harper prorogues the government, it sets off alarms and reg flags for a lot of people that believe he's already on the same page as those who would use terrorism as a means to reach broader political goals.

Another potential major hole in security for the Games might come about as a result of the company providing all of the state-of-the-art camera systems being deployed around the Lower Mainland and throughout the province. Verint, another U.S. company, from New York also provided camera surveillance systems that were in place during the 7/7 London bombings and 9/11, and are currently being used at the Vancouver International Airport. Strangely, whenever a major act of terrorism has occurred, Verint's stock has went up in value including after 9/11 and 7/7. What a lot of people don't realize, though, is that Verint is also one of the companies being contracted by governments and companies around the world to provide advanced biometric technology. Many believe that biometrics is a sophisticated tool that will eventually be used by governments to track, control and manipulate the public.

Another huge factor that many of those in the truth community will point out as proof of an impending false flag terror attack is Osama Bin Laden surfacing right on cue, praising recent attempts at terrorism, and promising more serious attacks in the very near future and beyond. Unquestionably, Bin Laden always surfaces on either audio or video immediately before an act of terror, whether or not the act actually occurs or it has been "foiled" by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It's now a matter of record that Bin Laden was a CIA operative during the 1980s when Afghanistan was being occupied by the Soviets. Then, in the mid-1990s he was suddenly named one of the most prolific terrorists of our time and, going forward, was used as the poster boy for terror. It almost become possible to predict Bin Laden would be used as a scapegoat for major acts of terrorism by the turn of the century and, it just so happened that, somebody did make that prediction. On July 21, 2001, Alex Jones, a U.S. based investigative journalist and film maker, clearly predicted the events of 9/11, said the attack was being orchestrated by the government for ulterior motives, and said that Osama Bin Laden would be blamed. Video proof of this astounding prediction can easily be found by searching for it on Google.

Another mitigating factor is that it appears, like with 9/11 and 7/7, the local elites have seemingly already been warned and, it would appear that some, have taken precautions months in advance. It's on record that, in the weeks leading up to 9/11, politicians, celebrities and other elites were warned not to visit New York on September 11, 2001.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown said that he was warned 8 hours before the the first planes hit not to fly and advised that "Americans should be cautious about their air travel". On May 17, 2002, U.S.-based Pacifica Radio reported that Brown's warning came directly from Condolezza Rice. In July of 2001, John Ashcroft started using leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines. In response to inquiries from CBS News over why Ashcroft was traveling exclusively by leased jet aircraft instead of commercial airlines, the Justice Department cited what it called a "threat assessment" by the FBI, and said Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term. It's also a known fact that after all aircraft over U.S. soil were suspended in hours after 9/11, but members of the Bin Laden family were allowed to charter a private aircraft and leave the country. Similar warning were given before 7/7.

On a more local note with respect to Vancouver 2010, it's been reported in the media that school districts in North and West Vancouver have suspended classes until the end of the Olympics. When asked what they'll be doing during their Olympic break, many students and parents alike have stated they'll be spending time in warmer locales like Hawaii, Florida, and Cancun. Strangely, though, the elite class districts are the only districts that have planned ahead to close schools during the Games. According to local sources, these neighborhoods have absolutely no events planned [during the Games] while numerous other neighborhoods that are hosting major events haven't suspended their classrooms. Is it possible that there are those with foreknowledge that have deliberately made arrangements to protect their families in case something happens?

After going through all of the facts and circumstantial evidence it's becomes clear why there's so many people that are suspicious and expect the worse from their leaders. History easily establishes that governments have used false flag attacks for centuries to control the masses, there's evidence that 9/11 and 7/7 were such events, and all of the tell-tale warning signs seem to be present. However, there's also many that don't believe that their leaders could be capable of these type of actions and, for what it's worth, nobody wants to live their lives constantly looking over their shoulder. And ultimately, evidence is in the eye of the beholder and what's suspicious to one person may not be strange to another.

Michael Edwards — the hopelessly unskilled and undertrained British ski jumper better known as Eddie the Eagle, who provided humorous relief at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary — returned to Canada on Thursday in preparation for the Vancouver Games. But Edwards, a drywaller by trade, did not come back as an athlete.

Instead he braved a bitterly cold morning in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to act as one of the runners in the current Olympic torch relay, The Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Hello Newsviners,

The Winter Games are almost upon us. Being based here in Seattle, we're totally pumped up for the Winter Olympics - so, I've created the official Newsvine 2010 Olympics Group, open to all. Please join me in seeding, clipping and writing about the Winter Olympics.

Especially useful will be accounts from Newsviners on the ground in Vancouver or Whistler, during the Games. Tell us what you're seeing and hearing - even if you're not one of the lucky few that somehow got tickets to an event. What is the nightlife like? Has your city been turned upside down? Is public transportation what the VANOC promised it would be, back when Vancouver/Whistler won the games? Have you seen any of the athletes out and about town? Are you planning to travel to the Olympic Games, and if so - how have you gone about making your plans? Share your experiences by writing an article.

I was reading about record snowfall up at Whistler a couple weeks ago. Last week it was clear down here in Seattle, but now it's raining again and I hope its dumping up in Whistler!

Let's all pool our resources together by publishing anything Winter Olympics-related to this group, the winter-olympics tag page and the Vancouver region page.

Here's to an exciting new year and the 2010 Winter Olympics!