I have yet to see any neutral, much less positive, report on the Olympics on CNN. Most of the allegations surrounding blocked web sites, red tapes and even difficulty in getting a cell phone (a Cuban journalist complains about having to provide a copy of the passport and mother's maiden name to get a cell phone), if you think about it, are fairly inconsequential. Come on, would you really hand out cell phones to strangers when attacks against Western atheletes are MOST LIKELY attempted during the Olympics?

The letter to the hotel chains seems to be the only substantial allegation, yet I failed to see the original letter, or the full translated version, anywhere on the Web. Spyware? what kind? Is that the word used in the original text? Smells fishy to me. Senator Brownback is known religious freak, and I wonder why the State Department didn't get a hold of the copy first?

As to the Amnesty International allegations, let's not forget America is on their black list for a laundry list of human right abuses. China allegedly locked up 30 something Tibetan "dissidents" (some of which I suspect, burned down a building or two to express it) without due process, which is about what, 1/8 of the number in Guantanamo.

CNN, along with a host of other media outlets, seem to be compiling a list of negatives regarding China, at a time leading up to the Olympics. If this is the best of their effort, I'd say China did pretty damn well so far.