Beijing and the Nuts

How about this headline in the Daily Mail: Beijing considers hospitalising mentally ill for Olympics

Does this mean there won't be any media at the games? Sadly, no.

Beijing is considering hospitalising the mentally ill, relaxing restrictions on religious services and giving businesses and factories a holiday in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

A city newspaper and local official said the city office overseeing Olympic preparations has discussed dozens of contingency measures needed for the games.

These range from limits on the use of cars to banning the posting of handbills around the city, the Beijing Morning Post said.

Other measures discussed were shutting down heavily polluting factories to clean up the air, giving most Beijing residents a 16-day holiday to alleviate traffic and allowing foreigners to worship in groups, which is officially outlawed, although the ban is rarely enforced.

A spokesman for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Environmental and Construction Headquarters Office, which conducted the meeting, confirmed the newspaper report but stressed no decisions have been made.

"Everything is still under discussion," said the spokesman, Zhou Jiawang.

This sort of reminds me of a t-shirt my daughter has. It reads: "The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves".