China, who controls the media, who controls the internet, who suppresses dissent among its people (usually by arresting you and never letting you see the light of day again if they don't just take you out back and shoot you instead) has the unmitigated gall to actually criticize anyone about tarnishing the Olympic spirit??

Officials in Paris on Monday were forced to extinguish the Olympic flame and carry it by bus when anti-China protesters tried to seize it. During the British leg the day before, activists waving Tibetan flags and shouting "Shame on China" turned the event into an obstacle course.

"We express our strong condemnation of the deliberate disruption of the Olympic torch relay by 'Tibetan independence' separatist forces, who gave no thought to the Olympic spirit or the laws of Britain and France," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement posted at www.fmprc.gov.cn.

"Their despicable activities tarnish the lofty Olympic spirit."

They've been at it so long, they are able to say this with a complete lack of irony. Not even a tiny snicker in the background. Perhaps our media and government spokesmen have been studying how China does it. They still need alot of work. They're not as naturally inscrutable.

On top of that, i think doing their best to pretend the rest of the world didn't exist until the last few decades, has caused them to forget they can't rewrite all reality (that's another tip for you, Fox News). It's bound to leak out someplace else.

The version of the torch run from the rest of the world:

The torch went out more than four times, according to the French Olympic Committee, as the police repeatedly moved it aboard the bus, including the final stretch between City Hall and the stadium that houses the French Olympic Committee's offices.

...And China's version:

[Foreign Ministry spokeswoman] Jiang [Yu] also took issue with reports that said officials in Paris were forced to extinguish the flame, saying the relay was temporarily changed there to safeguard the security of the torch.

"The reports by foreign media are false in claiming that the Olympic torch was forced to be extinguished during its relay in Paris," she said.

Listen, mebbe the French Olympic official could have gotten the total number of times the flame went out wrong (although, i don't see how someone working for the Olympic committee would want to make things sound worse than they are), but here's a picture of the torch with no flame:

And here's another:

So....yeah.