In case you missed this in the paper a couple of days ago, here’s a story that’s absolutely priceless. The Beijing Evening News (circulation: 1.25 million) printed a word-for-word translation of an American news item in its June 3 edition. The article concerned the threat by Congress to leave Washington D.C. unless they get a new Capitol building with a retractable dome. “Don’t get us wrong: We love the drafty old building,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert was quoted as saying. “But the hard reality is, it’s no longer suitable for a world-class legislative branch. The sight lines are bad, there aren’t enough concession stands or bathrooms, and the parking is miserable.”
The story was plagiarized from The Onion, which regularly delivers the best humor on the Internet. Y’know, it’s a pretty basic rule of journalism – if you’re going to copy a news article, try to avoid copying it from a well-known parody site!
