Beyond political issues, there's a huge difference in attitude with China hosting the Olympics. I remember the last time the Olympics were in Los Angeles, my first thought was "Oh, that's just great. As if there isn't already enough traffic, now I gotta deal with this BS." It seems to me that having the Olympics in the U.S. is only a big deal to selected folks in the host city (businesses, elected officials and such) and folks who follow specific events. Other than that, "Meh, good for them. Where's the remote?".

For China, hosting the Olympics is probably the biggest thing since Mao's troops marched into Beijing. IT IS an event of national import and the target of intensive government effort. Not only is the government shipping in hundreds of thousands of volunteers from all over the country to cheer on the athletes, but they've spent the last several years in a nationwide effort to identify kids with potential talent in any Olympic event, bring them into government ran...