Of All the Ridiculous things....

From CNN:

Dalai Lama denied visa for South Africa peace conference

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- South Africa has refused the Dalai Lama a visa to attend an international peace conference in Johannesburg this week, a presidential spokesman said.

The Dalai Lama fled China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Laureate did not receive a visa because it was not in South Africa's interest for him to attend, said Thabo Masebe.

South Africa thinks that, if the Dalai Lama attended the conference, the focus would shift away from the 2010 World Cup -- the global soccer championship it will host next year.

In case you didn't get it, I'll dumb the dumb reason down further for you: The reason is simple. Having him here NOW will ruin their advertising campaign for the World Soccer Cup games in 2010.
WTF?