Are you going to the Olympics?

How would you like to attend the Olympics starting next week in Beijing? Before you answer, consider the following:

Foreign-owned hotels are being forced by the Communist Chinese government to install software that can spy on hotel guests. Republican Senator Sam Brownback got a hold of a government document calling on all hotels to use the spyware. If they don’t agree to monitor their guests’ web history, searches, etc., the hotels could face “severe retaliation” – including financial penalties, losing Internet access or losing their license to operate a hotel in China.

There are reports that 22 Chinese gold medalists have been purged from the team, some of them allegedly for “political” reasons.

Ten days ahead of the start of the games, Amnesty International is out with a report that says the human rights situation in China has gotten progressively worse. They claim China is using the Olympics as an excuse to crack down on dissents.

Amnesty says the government has locked up activists, kicked people out of their homes, required some demonstrators to report to the police every week, and detained journalists and bloggers. There is a report today that the Chinese government will block access to certain sites on the Internet as well. Amnesty also says the use of so-called “re-education through labor” camps and beatings in prison have increased.

China says the Amnesty report is unfair and biased.

No banners or whistles will be allowed. No flags of non-participating countries can be displayed. No gambling. No sit ins or demonstrations, no soft drink containers, musical instruments, cameras or radios. No drunkenness or streaking. And dog meat has been ordered removed from all official Olympic restaurants. You can still get a Fido burger, though, at those quaint little out-of-the-way places. And don’t forget your gas mask, the air can be pretty foul.