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Fish: Why do Olympic opponents hate America?
By adamg on Thu, 04/02/2015 - 1:51pm
UPDATE: Looks like WCVB has removed the video. Transcript in the comments.
WCVB has video of John Fish saying that
What bothers me a lot is the decline of pride, of patriotism, the love for our country.
Meanwhile, Mayor Walsh denies a report in the Herald that he's calling for Fish to step down from an active role in Olympic organizing effords:
I said on Wednesday that John Fish should be an ambassador for Boston 2024, which is a position he holds now as Chairman. I want to be very clear, I did not call for John to step down from his role. John was one of the first people to carry a vision for the Olympic bid in Boston and I strongly believe that he should continue to be involved as we move forward.
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Comments
And he wonders why we aren't rallying behind him?
Idiot.
patriotism, etc
Mr Fish has done nice things for the community with his wealth so there's that.
The deal that Mr Fish (and the USOC and IOC as his partners) is proposing is a crappy deal for citizens.
We get billion of dollars of construction of things you need for an Olympics but you don't need when the Olympics is over. The deal requires taxpayers to provide the financial guarantees for deficits, which could amount to billions of dollars. While the USOC gets a $600M payment off the top, the citizens of Boston get artifacts (such as pool at Franklin park.) We don;t even get rent for Franklin Park or the Boston Common. Planning and building for the Olympics isn't anything but a huge detour for Boston's priorities-- the welfare of the citizens who live and work here-- for the next 10+ years. Then they are the people who lose big, their property is taken and they have to relocate. The Olympics are BIG business-- it's a three week made for tv reality show-- and we're not in on the deal.
We should be putting our resources into our people and infrastructure that grows our economy.
Mr Fish's view of my patriotism is something I really don't care about. He's angry and he's a loose canon. I understand that. Remember when all the people who were unpatriotic because they didn't support invading Iraq? I do.
Our Mayor's endorsement for bringing the Olympics to Boston has complicated his dual role as protector of pubic asset and cheerleader for private development that he feels is in the best interest of the city.
He could have done both jobs better if he maintained an arms length posture with Boston 2024. As it is, he risks losing public trust. He is seeking to insure it by playing watchdog over Boston2024 budgeting planning but in reality he cannot and the record is that cost overruns are huge and predictable. At the same time, only once has the USOC/IOC not required taxpayers to guarantee cost overruns and the was LA 1984.
I contend that neither MA nor Boston will tolerate taking responsibility for cost overruns. If the IOC accepts that, there are other major issues about the use of public space and private real estate when the Olympics comes to town.
404 - WCVB Seems To Have Pulled The Video Now!
... though his comments can still be heard in this other video.
Nothing on the internet is lost forever
http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/kwidget/wid/_557781/uico...\
Also, if you know a bit about kaltura, you can save the mp4 version of this video to your computer.
And here's a transcript
From the Google cache of the report (which could disappear at any moment):
Seriously.
I think what he meant to say is
"Why do liberals hate America".
Ah yes
Because "thinking critically" = "hating America". Right.
Because "loving America" = bending over and doing what you are told while singing patriotic songs about God and Heroes of the Otherland, just like Paul Revere and those farmers in Lexington did. Right.
If you haven't noticed, it isn't just the liberals thinking critically about this "monorail" and saying "no", anyway. It is a fairly broad swath of the Hub Universe.
Sigh
Take a deep deep breath and a swig of Old Overcoat, Swirly. I strongly suspect that the person you just jumped all over, far from attacking "liberals", is making fun of the tendency of flag-wavers to attack "liberals".
Hard to tell
If it were someone we knew by name/pseud, sarcasm would be easier to infer.
I mean, Anon is a regular commenter, but also a bit of a troll.
I wasn't talking about Boston24
I was talking in general!
See?
See?
Nope, wait, I changed my mind
I meant in specific. Yeah, specifically liberals hate America!
Are you sure I didn't mean "walking" about Boston2024?
I sure do love walking!
Whooooooooooosssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh
.
There's nothing American about knee jerk reactions.
You decided the Olympics in Boston were a horrid idea before you had any idea what Boston 2024's plan was for the games. That's your right. But don't call it critical thinking. Critical thinking would have been to evaluate the plan (which is still being developed and vetted) before forming such a strident opinion. Luckily, you're not a stakeholder and your outsider opinion doesn't move the needle one fucking centimeter.
Are you on the community outreach team?
Most of us started out skeptical - we know we have needs that aren't going to be met with all the money flowing to the games, and we heard the horror stories about the congestion and the security BS in previous Olympics, but the more we hear from the clownshoes operation in charge of this mess (and seriously, your last sentence makes me believe you might actually be John Fish himself) the more it seems less like a dubious idea and more like what a bunch of sociopaths would do if they for some reason decided to level a city to the ground.
Any idea?
You know, it would be nice to have ANY IDEA what the plans are. The fact that the promotional group wouldn't LET us have ANY IDEA of their plans was red flag #1.
That the plan is still being evaluated and vetted is red flag #2.
Considering how the IOC asks to take over a city AND that city is REQUIRED to pay for overruns that we have no control over ... yes, not having any idea would be a REAL PROBLEM, no?
Shit, I would love to see this happen - I already have offers to rent my house!!! But not at the price of infrastructure that people who live here actually use going down the toilet while white elephants are built with the money instead. Not at the price of hundred year old trees being axed for a frigging beach volleyball stadium that should be, you know,on a beach? Not if people are pushed out of their homes. Not if established businesses are pushed out for white elephants and what becomes more luxury condos.
Talk to someone in Atlanta about this and check back, eh?
Re: I think what he meant to say is why do liberals hate America
I doubt it since most of the high priced operatives working with Fish on Boston 2024 are far-left, liberal former Patrick administration flunkies, including Patrick himself.
As Otter said:
Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America!
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
And since we're on Animal House:
And Boston2024 and Fish are just the ones to do it!
Germans bombed Pearl Harbor??
Germans bombed Pearl Harbor????????????? Wow.
There are certain movies that inform the UHub zeitgeist
And one of them is Animal House:
Germans?!?
And another as Mr. Fish slaps
And another as Mr. Fish slaps us all on the back:
Well I'll show him!
"I'll show him! Where do I sign up to support the Olympics coming to Boston so I can prove I'm patriotic!", said nobody ever.
Where is a Plan for after the Olympics leaves our metro area?
a) Where is a Complete Plan for after the Olympics leaves our metropolitan area?...
b) What happened around the Lake Placid area after the Olympics?... ask Jim Rogers Sr. of Lake Placid !
By Pat Bradley
Lake Placid Looks At Changes In The Olympic Games
http://wamc.org/post/lake-placid-looks-changes-olympic-games
Wrong Mitt Romney Speech
Did Willard Mitt just shape shift? Johnny, you are supposed to say how great everything is and how you will save the Olympics, just like Mitt, not be the Mitt which chastised us worker bees for being slackers.
Good luck going forward now Mr. Oyster Harbors.
Exactly
And I'm thinking the same thing I thought when I first saw that "other" Romney speech:
This thing is over.
I'll support your Olympics, John
When I don't have to pay for it.
Nothing's more American
...than handing over our civic agenda and checkbook to the bunch of European viscounts and minor barons that make up the IOC
+++++++
Plus eleventy!
Except for dressage!!
Ain't nothin' more American than some fine dress-age!!
does ANYONE believe these guys?
It's a bad sign that we have to worry that the greedy backroom dealers will actually get their way with Boston's finances and future.
Screwing the city out of billions of dollars always makes my heart swell up with pride.
They were okay with Sochi
Maybe the USOC should switch the bid to Indianapolis before it's too late. Or Little Rock.
or Los Angeles?
Really, why not LA? They've done it twice before, they *like* doing it, and because of LA's sheer size it's going to have a lot less impact on most people's day-to-day lives there.
Fish doesn't seem to respect
Fish doesn't seem to respect our long standing tradition of opposing anything. Next he's going to ban space savers.
No spaces left
In the New Order of J. Fish, there won't be any spaces left to put a space saver in.
We're world class!
Look, we made the Guardian!
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/02/bostons-referendum-on-2024-...
side note
"IOC member Dick Pound"
oh my god oh my god oh my godddddddddd
is April Fool's a day late in England? is there REALLY a grownup named Dick Pound - one NOT working in porn?
oh my GOD.
FYI
Dick Pound is the main, um...dick...behind WADA. He's not exactly a regular on WEEI, but if you follow the Olympics or international sport at all, you've heard of him. He's been around for a long time.
representing canada
Yes, he has many hats. Including chancellor of mcgill university. For a time he was floated for IOC leadership, but the europeans didn't trust him.
So Mayor Marty is defending Fish's comments??
It sure looks like it. He certainly isn't criticizing Fish.
Fuck anyone who says I'm not a patriot because I don't want the Olympics in Boston. Fuck anyone who supports anyone who says it.
Message to Marty. I voted for you but I'm looking for another candidate for Mayor in the next election.
Fish owns Walsh. The unions
Fish owns Walsh. The unions own Walsh. The developers own Walsh.
If you aren't part of one of those groups Walsh doesn't care about you.
Pride you say? Yes, I take
Pride you say? Yes, I take pride in not being dumb enough to want to hand over public money and land to a group of 1% swindlers.
"Patriotism is the last
"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels"
we've been doing patriotism around here since at least 1775
no need to lecture us about that subject.
I like to think I'm the kind of American patriot who
stands for public process transparency, fiscal accountability, and putting the needs of the entire citizenry ahead of some self-appointed group of leaders whose sense of civic duty just happens to coincide with lining their own pockets. (I know Fish has recused himself from direct involvement, but if his competition is busy constructing Olympic facilities, he still rakes it in by soaking up everyday business.)
My memory is also sound enough to recall the whole sorry Big Dig fiasco, brought to you courtesy of some of these same greedy, shameless charlatans, and all the attendant ills that the Commonwealth has been suffering for a couple of decades as a result. Stiff me once for tens of billions of dollars, shame on you...
Anyone who wants to question my patriotism in that context is invited to go fuck themselves.
I wonder if Mr. Fish is reeling from the reaction to Shirley
I'm sure that they keep an eye on the comments on the Globe and in other places (like, oh I don't know, UHub?).
Yesterday afternoon I couldn't help but wonder if Shirley Leung might have unintentionally set in motion the process by which the USOC yanks our right to bid and gives it to a place that wants it.
No pretty link, sorry:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/31/boston-olympic-problem-bi...
I suspect it was the WSJ
I suspect it was the WSJ article about the rumors of the USOC shopping the Olympic bid back to LA and Chicago that precipitated the Leung article as well as Fish's little outburst.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/lack-of-public-support-may-doom-bostons-bid-...
Whoops, meant to say LA, SF, and DC
I meant to say LA, SF, and DC not LA and Chicago. My mistake. Clearly didn't follow the 2024 bid very closely.
I suspect it was the WSJ
I suspect it was the WSJ article about the rumors of the USOC shopping the Olympic bid back to LA and Chicago that precipitated the Leung article as well as Fish's little outburst.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/lack-of-public-support-may-doom-bostons-bid-...
us vs. them
I noticed that Leung's column yesterday likened this to a "civil war" - and now Fish is making us all out to be a buncha no-good Johnny Rebs, apparently.
This isn't a civil war. The thing where a bunch of powerful jerks try to bully their way into hostile (to the invaders) territory, taking from it whatever they want, leaving behind a mess of infrastructure that they have no interest in maintaining - that's more like colonialism.
Parasitization
More like a parasite, invading a host, commandeering its resources for its own growth program, and then leaving the host impoverished while moving on to the next one.
MBTA leaders looking for
MBTA leaders looking for money to expand despite recent troubles.....
Dead horses
Dead horses don't show jump.
You would prescribe diet pills to an anorexic.
There's no such thing as a
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Milton Friedman
How come
from the F Troop episode Iron Horse Go Home
swrrly
sometimes I like your comments
tomato/tomahto
Definitely. Colonialism is parasitism writ large.
It was pretty Summery back in
It was pretty Summery back in Sochi for those Winter games they could probably re-purpose half that stuff for Summer Games and I'm sure Putin would love another diversion.
Let's test their patriotism
I am proposing that the backers of Boston 2024 sign a contract where they will take all profits from construction of any project related to the effort and put them into escrow. When the final tally is done if the Olympics loses money they must turn that money over to the city. If that is not enough to cover it then their companies (e.g. Suffolk Construction) must turn all profits over to the city/commonwealth until that debt is repaid with interest and a 25% penalty on top of that.
If they refuse to sign we can question their patriotism (and lay bare their real motivation).
When there's $ to be made
Of course, for Mr. Fish and Mr. Henry, thar's money to made in these hills.
Civic pride is all very nice but when it turns over a lot of money and that money goes into certain pockets - well, isn't that the best of both worlds?
Even better
Fish wants the Olympics. Leung wants the Olympics. I have the answer - put the Olympic Stadium and village in Milton.
Too Late for Milton
Heard his house was for sale....$7,000,000...............Coldwell Banker...
Yes indeed.
7 million is correct. And guess who has the listing?
Mary Joyce, AKA, wife of Senator Brian Joyce.
I said this before
And I'll say it again.....Something's Fishy.
Keep it up, John. You're doing wonders for NOBOSTON2024
Things are looking grim for
Things are looking grim for the Boston2024 cronies who stand to make a lot of money when they're trying to smear anyone as not supporting their get-rich scheme as unpatriotic. Let's just call this what it is, a shameless transfer of wealth from public coffers to a small group of well connected individuals who have found a way to legally embezzle public funds.
Because if anyone thinks when everything is said and done tax money isn't going to pay for these games they're delusional.
So tragic...
It is amusing to watch a millionaire lash out against the horrifying possibility that he actually might not get what he wants.
He has cultivated all the right relationships. All the right people are indebted to him. He should get what he wants by fiat! But the commoners are talking about how they don't want to be stuck paying his expense check while the fat cats are sorting out all the real estate that will be put into play.
So now he has to get people who owe him nothing to vote against their own interests. Fortunately, this attempt was subtle as a train wreck and unintentionally hilarious. The way the original video disappeared so quickly is also entertaining. Too bad about the Streisand Effect.
He would hav had it, too...
if it wasn't for those darned kids!
excerpt from WCVB comments
Dear Mr. Fish,
You've pissed me off! You DO NOT come into my home uninvited and dare call me unpatriotic or lacking in pride. I think you intended to shame the people into supporting YOUR cause. I'm confident that, not only did you fail miserably, but you got the complete opposite result. We became prouder than you can ever imagine. That doesn't change our opinion of your plan, it changes our opinion of you. Your comments will make some people dig in their heels, you've lost them permanently. Others might listen but probably will vote against you. The people who were with you, are probably insulted as I am.
To suggest we are unpatriotic and have lost pride in our Commonwealth is beyond ignorant. YOU sir, DO NOT KNOW US. You can't find a prouder, more patriotic people. We wear our hearts on our sleeves. We celebrate our wins and our losses. We do it all with pride and with class. We help our neighbors, our friends and strangers the same, because that's who we are. We are the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will not be bullied, we will not be shamed. You do not speak to us like we don't matter. We do. We are the heart and the soul of this state. Looking down from your ivory tower, you can't even see some of us. We are quite an intelligent people. We will not just blindly fall in line so you can achieve your lofty goals. We have our own goals. As great as our state may be, we have a lot of issues that may very well take priority. We have too large a population of homeless people, veterans, men, women and children, families who cannot afford housing. We have an elderly population that often has to choose between food, heat and life sustaining medications. We have children who go to school hungry every day. Some days the only meals they eat are the ones they get in school. On weekends, they go hungry. For those who want to invest in an olympics, invest in our people. Build homes that the homeless can afford. Feed our hungry. Help our elderly. Don't be blinded by one mans vision when his vision is clouded by dollar signs.
When we are guaranteed that it will not end up costing the tax payers a penny -- When we are certain, that your company will have no involvement, especially with ANY of the construction projects -- When we are certain there is no conflict of interest or impropriety or questionable activity concerning your involvement -- ONLY, when presented with all of the facts AND figures, we will make an informed decision, of our own free will, not because you are jamming it down our throats.
Why has the video been taken down?
Adam, follow up would be welcome.
Channel 5 not talking?
It's been 7 hours since Adam asked WCVB on twitter why they took the video down. I don't see an answer from them. Strange. Who is hiding what and why?
WCVB still in the cone of silence?
It's Friday morning and I cant find anything here or on WCVB's website about why they pulled this report. Is John Fish really that powerful?
maybe
he probably threw a shitfit, and WCVB buckled, but they all seem to forget that the internet always remembers. that's one of the things that's been so funny about this: the Boston 2024 people are just so BAD at social media. it's not Nazi Germany anymore, guys. you can't yell at us and censor us into believing you.
Why did WCVB pull the report?
Simple. Because the media is increasingly run by paranoid and cowardly lawyers instead of real journalists trained in reporting news and events.
WCVB Spineless Cowards controlled by Fishy money?
There may or may not have been a good reason to pull the Fish report from their website. But WCVB's cowardly refusal to explain or respond to inquiries can only lead us to assume that that Fish's dollars speak louder than WCVB's reporting.
Shame on you WCVB.
America is a great country.
A country where you can put the boots to subcontractors then write a big check to the Cardinal.
In 2013 John Fish was unpatriotic (by his own standards)
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/04/02/boston-2024-john-fish-negative-...
For those folks who can't
For those folks who can't understand why there's so much angry opposition to the idea of holding an Olympics in Boston allow me boil it down to a Cliff Notes version:
Fix the Commuter Rail, MBTA and then come talk to me about holding an Olympics.
Since many of Boston 2024 come from state government and other civic leaders. Let me offer a short explanation of my thinking.
The MBTA and commuter rail shut down while Mr. Davies and other state leaders who had the responsibility of running our state transit system stopped working. If there were so many problems, why weren't they beating the drum to alert the public?
Recent stories have reported that Massachusetts has one of the greatest income inequalities in the nation. This manifests itself in homelessness, crime and no doubt the unprecedented heroin problems. While this is going on, we let our bridge to Long Island shelter rot so that facility is no longer usable. Again, where were the alarm bells?
The most recent outrage was to learn that a bungled "big data" effort to save food stamp cash resulted in elderly and disabled folks unceremoniously being left to fend on their own. This comes on top of a similar big effort that resulted in the State spending big money to medically insure those who had the misfortune to experience the melt down of the Mass health connector.
I'm sure planning an Olympics is fun, but for those of us who use the MBTA, pay for our own insurance, drive to work - we don't quite believe that you'll handle the Boston Olympics with any more efficiency than you did with things that actually matter to people's lives.