The Most Gracious Hosts

Those boffo Olympics are sure the talk of the town, aren't they? Breaking ratings records and world records! Excitement personified!

Here's what is happening off camera:

Six Americans detained by police this week could be held for 10 days, according to Chinese authorities, who appear to be intensifying their efforts to shut down any public demonstrations during the final days of the Olympic Games.

Since the Games began, no foreigners are known to have been detained for more than a few hours. Most of the approximately 40 non-Chinese involved in a handful of unauthorized, small-scale demonstrations have been deported.

A short statement faxed Thursday by Beijing police to foreign news agencies said the six foreigners were apprehended for "upsetting public order" and would be subject to the 10-day detention. It identified one of the six, detained Tuesday, as "Thomas."

These are mostly videobloggers from Students for a Free Tibet who had been broadcasting video of protests, sometimes using the live streaming technology of Qik, around the world. You always cut the communication lines first.

It could be worse, they could be this elderly couple, headed to the re-education camps:

In the annals of people who have struggled against Communist Party rule, Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying are unlikely to merit even a footnote.

The two women, both in their late 70s, have never spoken out against China’s authoritarian government. Both walk with the help of a cane, and Ms. Wang is blind in one eye. Their grievance, receiving insufficient compensation when their homes were seized for redevelopment, is perhaps the most common complaint among Chinese displaced during the country’s long streak of fast economic growth.

But the Beijing police still sentenced the two women to an extrajudicial term of “re-education through labor” this week for applying to hold a legal protest in a designated area in Beijing, where officials promised that Chinese could hold demonstrations during the Olympic Games.

Their crime is APPLYING to protest. Not protesting, just wanting to do so.

I'm so glad China got these two weeks of free propaganda on the world stage! Never mind the illegal detention and the re-education camps. That Bird's Nest is exquisite!