You have to feel a little sorry for those fellows over at the Beijing Evening News. Here they are a global laughingstock, and they still don't get why. But was it altogether their fault? Those of us who have tried and failed to comprehend humor, let alone satire, in a foreign language are privately thinking, "There but for the grace of God go we."

To recap what happened: First, the popular state-run paper published a "report" gleaned from the Internet that the U.S. Congress was threatening to leave Washington unless it got a brand-new Capitol building, complete with a retractable dome and luxury boxes. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was quoted as saying that the Capitol was "no longer suitable for a world-class legislature. The sight lines are bad, there aren't enough concession stands or bathrooms, and the parking is miserable."

It seemed like a good story. Unfortunately, the Evening News' reporter, having missed the stadium-size gag that cast Congress as a baseball franchise, also failed to note (a) the story's source, a well-known American satirical tabloid called the Onion, and (b) the fact that no other major newspapers or wire services appeared to have detected it. The Evening News ran the story straight, until, within hours, its gaffe was exposed by a Los Angeles Times correspondent. All of a sudden, the Evening News was the story.