[TigerLikesRooster]

Police and security forces surround an athlete as he carries the Olympic torch on the Champs Elysees in Paris April 7, 2008. Eighty Olympic torch relay runners cover 28 km (17 miles) from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in the French capital. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier (FRANCE)

Pro-Tibet protestors demonstrate at the Trocadero place opposite the Eiffel tower during the Beijing Olympics flame relay in Paris. Paris city hall has cancelled a ceremony to mark the passge of the Beijing Olympic torch through the French capital, the mayor said. (AFP/POOL/Bertrand Langlois)

Demonstrators shout during the Olympic Torch relay in Paris, Monday April 7, 2008. Chaotic protests against China's human rights policies forced security officials to extinguish the Olympic torch twice during a relay Monday through Paris that became a tortured procession of stops and starts. Poster reads: The Torch in Paris, Guns in Beijing. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Pro-Tibet demonstrators and members of the French rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hold banners which show handcuffs in the form of Olympic rings during the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay April 7, 2008. Protests over China's crackdown on Tibet forced organisers in Paris to put the Olympic torch on a bus on Monday to protect it from demonstrators. Eighty Olympic torch relay runners cover 28 km (17 miles) from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in the French capital. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen (FRANCE) ++ EDITORS NOTE THAT FRENCH LAW REQUIRES THAT FACES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS ARE MASKED IN PUBLICATIONS WITHIN FRANCE ++

Police security run beside the bus where the torch was placed after it set off from the Eiffel Tower in Paris April 7, 2008. Protests over China's crackdown on Tibet forced organisers in Paris to put the Olympic torch on a bus on Monday to protect it from demonstrators. Eighty Olympic torch relay runners cover 28 km (17 miles) from the Eiffel Tower to the Charlety stadium in the French capital. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen (FRANCE)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Santa Fe_Conservative]

Maybe it’s a sign...

[TCats]

Aside from the obvious basis for these protests, this exercise in Olympic hype must be costing a fortune. These Security people have special Olympic outfits (Probably made in China) and there are veritable armies of them.

Doubt these Olympics will be profitable but that OK with the Chinese. They'll just sell a few more toys to the U.S. and/or charge U.S. media a little more for the coverage. IMO nothing but a commercial extravaganza barely related to the true Olympic Spirit. Again, JMO.

[maggief]

French former tennis player Arnaud Di Pasquale reacts as he carries an extinguished Beijing Olympics flame in Paris. Pro-Tibet activists have disrupted the Paris relay of the Beijing Olympic torch, clashing with police and three times forcing torchbearers to extinguish the flame and take refuge on a bus.

[ASOC]

I suppose if people were ‘really’ upset about China and human rights

they would quit buying ANYTHING from China.

Dollars, or lack thereof, speak louder than a bucket of water on some poor old (local) dude carrying some cheezy torch.

But, that’s just me.

[WakeUpAndVote]

Anyone see any ROP youths here burning things.

I didn’t either.

[Atlantic Bridge]

News from

Wonderful pictures:

This Chinese official is obviously not amused about his extinguished torch.

Where has the flame gone??! ;)

Vive la France!

[gunservative]

Stupid torch. I hate the Olympics.

[Centurion2000]

Some 3,000 officers were deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and using inline roller skates. Still, police barely stopped the second rush at the torch, and the attempt to extinguish it with water. Other demonstrators scaled the Eiffel Tower and hung a banner depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

3000 to guard a freakin flame going to a communist regime. PATHETIC.

[MacDorcha]

Viva France!

[bert]

One protester was heard to say “I’ve had that “Free Tibet” bumpersticker on three different cars but today was the first time I really felt like I accomplished something”

[rod1]

Lretty soon the UK bookies will be giving odds on which country will see the torch extinguished the most and also over-under odds on the number of times extinguished in the upcoming countries.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> “The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular,” said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee.

Tell that to the French, Mr Sun Weide. Tell it to the French. Defiance? Is that what Protest is called in your tin-pot Dictatorship? Defiance?

Vive le Defiance, then!

> “It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace

Like the Tibetans, f’r’instance?

> and adore the Olympic spirit.

Like drug-cheating and institutionalized corruption, you mean? *That’s* the Olympic Spirit, mate!

> Their attempt is doomed to failure.”

We’ll see. We’ll see.

MESSAGE TO THE FREE FRENCH FROM FREEDOM CommandCentral in Aotearoa New Zealand: Nothing less than the immortal words of that great British Patriot, Mr Punch:

“That’s the way to do it! That’s the way to do it!”

Well done. Vive la France Libre! Vive la Tibet Libre! Vive la Chine Libre!

That is all. As you were.
*DieHard the Hunter*

[elli1]

One torch bearer, two-time French judo gold medalist David Douillet, told RTL radio that he regretted the choice of China, "because it isn't up to snuff on freedom of expression, on total liberty, and of course, on Olympic values."

Huh?? Then why participate as a torch bearer?

[Ronin]

LOL...

It just gets worse and worse — for Beijing!

I imagine there is a whole pisspot of pissed off commies in China tonight!

[tanuki]

Can’t wait-it gets to San Francisco this Wednesday.

[Tarkus2040]

Ah, the French. The Frogs lie down in the face of the Muslim invasion, but are willing to go to war over a symbolic torch. Priorities, people!

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Hey, isn’t it in the IOC rulebook somewhere that if the torch goes out at anytime while in transit, then they have to start all over again back in Athens?

[JACKRUSSELL]

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.

(This can be a high volume ping list.)

[Fishing-guy]

Did the French surrender again? Now to bunch anti-flame dudes? LOL.