A masterpiece of doublespeak

Yesterday's New York Times reported that Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, clarified earlier promises of unrestricted internet access for foreign journalists during the Beijing Olympic games with this statement: "It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet.”

An about-face on the part of China's internet censors? Not on your life. This was Weide's way of explaining that foreign journalists' surfing habits would be subject to the same censorship restrictions as everyone else in China. The Times piece goes on to say, "Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages — among them those that discuss Tibetan issues, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown on the protests in Tiananmen Square and the Web sites of Amnesty International, the BBC’s Chinese-language news, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse."

Nothing new from the Chinese government - but what skill at spinning totalitarianism into a plus!

You know, I once promised my girlfriend I'd give her convenient and sufficient oral sex. She didn't appreciate it either.