[KnowItAll]

So, the fun has begun with a not so flattering headline on Drudge.

The flight crew of the Northwest Airlines 747 had been expecting to park at a VIP terminal, but after landing was instead directed by the control tower to a normal international gate.

White House officials would say only there were "logistical problems" getting clearance to unload the aircraft. The flight crew was told the Chinese were insisting that all luggage be inspected.

Typically, the White House press charter receives the "custom of the port," meaning reporters, photographers and camera crews are able to get off the plane right after landing, board buses and head to their hotels and work areas while U.S. State Department officials process immigration and customs details.

Can someone report clear skies in Beijing?

[DanielandHayley]

time to hibernate for a few weeks?...someone wake me up when it is all over...

[jayinhongkong]

Can't wait to see how wild the protesters get today. More power to 'em.

[KnowItAll]

Doubt there will be protesters. Very tightly controlled atmosphere.

One thing someone who just returned from Beijing said ... "The hotels seem to be empty". Looks like the visa policy has paid off.

[Crocodile]

I was checking the flight loadings on Cathay Pacific and DragonAir for next Friday and there are plenty of economy seats left. Not so many business seats left though. No cheap flights though - all economy are full price.

[jayinhongkong]

No matter how tightly controlled things are, there will be protesters. Two or three of them are set to be deported through Hong Kong (if they haven't been already) for putting up FREE TIBET banners right by the bird's nest.

[climber07]

The Associated Press: Hong Kong reportedly turns away Chinese activists

Harvard scholar detained in Hong Kong - The Boston Globe

The Associated Press: Protesters detained by Beijing police

CHINA "Free Tibet" banner raised in Beijing: four foreign tourists arrested - Asia News

[KnowItAll]

Here's a really good article about the timing of the games.

FT.com / In depth - Athletes pay price for IOC riches

It may or may not pelt down when the opening ceremony begins at the allegedly auspicious hour on Friday night (noon GMT), and wreck the occasion for everyone involved, if not for the worldwide television audience. The TV shots are the International Olympic Committee’s main worry. If there is a storm, justice demands the IOC members get drenched.

It is absurd to blame them for giving the games to the most populous country, a decision that could be delayed no longer. The laughable (to an outsider) and leaden-footed strategies being pursued by the Chinese government to stamp out every hint of protest don’t change that.

This isn’t the wrong place. But it is certainly the wrong time. The Chinese wanted to hold the Olympics in September, when the Beijing air was clearer, cooler and drier. They lost the argument to what in Olympic terms is a far more powerful force: the American TV network NBC.

NBC, the US broadcasting rights holder, insists on avoiding a clash with the Democratic and Republican conventions which roll around at the same point of the four-year cycle, the new autumn ratings period, and the American football season. And it pays billions of dollars to get its way.

[kombuchakid]

Around 4 billion people are expected to have so little to do in their lives that they will tune into this evening’s Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing. It is hard to believe that two-thirds of the planet’s population is so zombie-like that they will obediently sit in front of a TV screen and watch a Chinese Communist Party Onan-a-thon as arranged by the Pyongyang Cirque de Soleil. Presumably, such inflated estimates keep those ad revenues rolling in.

[NOT ME]

[jayinhongkong]

Nor I. I'll be working.