Most Medals or Most Golds?

[Petos]

How about a point system?
3 points for a gold medal.
2 points for a silver medal.
1 point for a bronze medal.
Peace.
Tom

I am 100% with Tom on this one..

[circmand]

T/J, but we do give a lot of money to our troops. Free healthcare, housing, GI bill, hazardous duty pay, life-long disability benefits, great retirement plan for those that stay in, and the gift of nearly guaranteed employment following separation (at least for those continuing to live/work in military heavy areas). No doubt great sacrifices are made for these benefits, but it's not like they're going away empty handed. Maybe E-1/2/3 are underpaid, but it makes up for itself over time IMO.

FWIW, my wife was active duty and is still in the Guard, so I do speak from some experience.

Apperently you have not read the condition of military hospitals thanks to Bush or the push to bill a GIs personal insurance for battle injuries being pushed by Obama. The military is the only brangh of the government still being paid less than the private sector in return for more security. Now government flunkies are making out like bandits thanks to a $700 Billion tax payer funded stimulous that was used to keep government employees employed while millions in the private sector got taxed and laid off.

[Triathlete]

... why is this money funding stupid kids getting rich

Trust me, unless the athlete has outside indorsements they are no where near getting "rich" on the stipidends that the Olympic gives them. Most have to work real jobs just to make ends meet. I know several that if it wasn't for the generosity of a friends couch to crash on wouldn't be able to make ends meet.
The government spends WAY more money on WAY stupider things!

[circmand]

Trust me, unless the athlete has outside indorsements they are no where near getting "rich" on the stipidends that the Olympic gives them. Most have to work real jobs just to make ends meet. I know several that if it wasn't for the generosity of a friends couch to crash on wouldn't be able to make ends meet.
The government spends WAY more money on WAY stupider things!

The government does spend money on stupider things but is that a valid arguement for wasting what they do spend. Sure these kids do not get rich while training but I would like to see what the US tax payer pays to train them. Then if they do get successful and win a gold medal they start getting rich on endorsements. At least with overpaid professional athletes you have an owner and fans voluntarily paying for it not another steal from the tax payer for it. As for tax payer funded stadium deals I am against those too.

[WormGod]

I have an old friend who was training years ago as an Olympic skier. Had been skiing since I met him, and that was around 5-6 years old. Lives in Colorado now and his biggest gripe with it was, he never received a gov't penny towards training. According to him, if you make the cut and are a "chosen one" to perform for and represent your country, you MIGHT get your travel covered, That's it. I never actually thought much about that and don't know if there is a shred of truth to it, but hey.... sounds like the American way, so I wouldn't doubt it.

And ya know, still, I don't care. Let some kids play their reindeer games. Doesn't effect me one way or the other.

[vt_maverick]

Apperently you have not read the condition of military hospitals thanks to Bush or the push to bill a GIs personal insurance for battle injuries being pushed by Obama. The military is the only brangh of the government still being paid less than the private sector in return for more security. Now government flunkies are making out like bandits thanks to a $700 Billion tax payer funded stimulous that was used to keep government employees employed while millions in the private sector got taxed and laid off.

Military hospitals sucked way before Bush friend, and they continue to do so under Obama. In my experience the problem has far less to do with who sits at the top of the pyramid than it does with laziness, incompetence, and apathy on the part of uniformed health care professionals (not just doctors and nurses but administrative staff as well). But maybe if we paid them more they'd care more. Who knows.

[circmand]

Military hospitals sucked way before Bush friend, and they continue to do so under Obama. In my experience the problem has far less to do with who sits at the top of the pyramid than it does with laziness, incompetence, and apathy on the part of uniformed health care professionals (not just doctors and nurses but administrative staff as well). But maybe if we paid them more they'd care more. Who knows.

Whether it is teachers, doctors etc who are doing a lousy job that we should pay them more and maybe they will do a better job. The only arguement for better pay is to FIRE the lousy workers and replace them with better workers.

That arguement is really just saying give a raise to lousy workers. I say make them earn it then pay them more.

[Mark B]

I think the olympic gold medal is the most prestigeous sports award in the world. I was a swimmer in college and actually swam against Mark Spitz in the early 70's. Tried for the 1972 olympic team but did not make it. To many world class swimmers. Of course that was the time when the world was getting into steroids in sports to enhanse preformance.
Amatures were truely amatures. No sponsors to give the athlete money for training. You had to get there on your own. Athletes did training and competition for the love of the sport.
Of course I would not mind being a world class athlete getting millions of dollars from sponsors. But of all the awards, to me the olympic gold medal is the best.

[vt_maverick]

Whether it is teachers, doctors etc who are doing a lousy job that we should pay them more and maybe they will do a better job. The only arguement for better pay is to FIRE the lousy workers and replace them with better workers.

That arguement is really just saying give a raise to lousy workers. I say make them earn it then pay them more.

Agreed, but it was you who suggested better pay above. Actually I think the problem is simply accountability. I don't know if the other services use this phrase, but in the Air Force they talk about "Firewall 5's." As in, on the OPR/EPR scale of 1 to 5, everyone is a 5, because if you're not, you will almost certainly be passed over for promotions or sweet assignments. So mid-managers are afraid to put a realistic number on performance reviews because they don't want to screw people. I've known very few officers (commissioned and otherwise) who dared to challenge this hypocrisy.

Btw, this is also how the civil service works to a large degree. If you can't / won't fire people, you breed this culture of apathy. IMO at least.