One week to go

We're in August, and the propaganda bonanza is so close the cadres can almost taste it.

They're also determined to make sure nothing gets in their way. So we see Hu Jinato demand that the rest of the world just stop complaining (BBC and Washington Post), while his minions rip President Bush for meeting with exiled dissidents (Washington Post). We see a partial lifting of the Communists's Internet crackdown - but only for foreign journalists (BBC and Epoch Times). They even have "an emergency plan" (CNN) for the Beijing smog (see also Washington Post), almost certainly a move sparked by reports that athletes might resort to breathing masks while in the city.

Meanwhile, Tibet continues to smolder (CNN); a Communist instigator admitted to terrorizing an exiled dissident (Epoch Times); and Stalinist North Korea continued to hold on to its nuclear weapons (One Free Korea) even as the people of northern Korea starve (OFK). What's that? You didn't notice? That's the whole point.