In preparation for next year’s Olympic Games, the Chinese are working overtime to rid the country of activists who might prove an embarrassment by expressing dissent during athletic competitions. Potential targets? Topping the list are Christians and non-governmental organizations whose actions would be considered legal in other countries.

Government spy agencies and think tanks are compiling lists of potentially troublesome foreign organizations, looking beyond the human rights groups long critical of Beijing, security experts and a consultant familiar with the effort said.

They include evangelical Christians eager to end China’s religious restrictions, activists wanting Beijing to use its oil-buying leverage with Sudan to end the strife in Darfur and environmental campaigners angry about global warming.

Now if we could only get Cindy Sheehan added to the list …. Of course, there is a potential public opinion downside to withholding visas and konking protesters on the head or the favored Chinese approach to protesters — run ’em over with a tank. Fortunately, the Chinese are getting high-level, high-value advice from PR consultants:

Scott Kronick, the president of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide’s China operations, said he raised concerns about the way protests might be handled when an official with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee asked him about the possibility of activists disrupting the torch relay.

“I said, ‘People will understand that. That’s the way different groups act. What you need to worry about is what your response is going to be and how you will act,'” said Kronick, whose clients include Adidas, an Olympic sponsor.

Sage advice, indeed, Scott — can you spell conflict of interest?

Beijing was especially alarmed by the Darfur campaigners, who threatened to re-brand the games the “Genocide Olympics” if China does not pressure Sudan to stop the conflict. Catchy name, eh? So China responded with the same tactics it used to disband the once-popular religion, Falun-Gong: infiltration and intimidation.

“They are worried about a larger number of things and they are worried about keeping the lid on,” said Arnold Howitt, who runs crisis-management training programs for Beijing officials at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Like all Olympic hosts post-Sept. 11, China’s security services are concerned about terrorism. Attacks by militant Islamic groups, some of them homegrown, top the list of scenarios the police and the military are preparing for, Chinese and foreign security experts said.

Yet China also faces a plethora of disaffected domestic groups – Tibetans eager to cast off Chinese rule, farmers upset at land confiscations and Falun Gong, a once-popular spiritual movement the government suppressed as a cult. A research institute involved in crisis-planning for the Olympics has looked into possible unrest by unemployed workers, analysts at the think tank said.

Let the games — but not the protests — begin!

A new low:

Among all Americans, 25 percent approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 71 percent disapprove. When it comes to Bush’s handling of the economy, 23 percent approve and 73 percent disapprove.

As usual, these results speak as much to the delusional mindset of a quarter of our fellow citizens as they do to the performance of George W. Bush. By any objective measure, his performance could only be given a big fat goose egg.