Bill’s Blog

“Not for the politically correct.”

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China Military Buildup | Dems Accuse CIA of Lying | Virus May Block HIV
 NBC Single Moms Show  | Sheep Dolly Euthanized | Madonna Not Anti-Bush
 Madelyne Toogood Pleads Guilty | Admiral Canned | Springer Was Anti-War in 1960s

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This is unprecedented. Japan has denounced the use of its armed forces, techically the Japan Seff-Defense Force, since the militarist regime fell in 1945.

However, Japan knows the horror of nuclear attack intimately; and it apparently doesn’t want to repeat the experience.

This is not just a South Korea–North Korea issue. North Korean missiles have the range to hit three nuclear powers (Russia, China, and America) as well as Taiwan.

Japan has warned it would launch a pre-emptive military action against North Korea if it had firm evidence Pyongyang was planning a missile attack.

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba said it would be “a self-defence measure” if North Korea was going to “resort to arms against Japan.”

Mr Ishiba said it would be too late if a North Korean missile was already on its way.

His remarks were the latest in the international row over Pyongyang's nuclear intentions, and followed a North Korean warning that it had the ability to strike American targets anywhere in the world, if provoked.

Not a good sign. This will make it harder for us to defend Taiwan should the Chinese Communists decide to annex it by force.

Question: other that Taiwan, what other countries does China see as opponents?

Russia delivered the latest batch of advanced SU-30MKK fighter bombers to China within the past month and additional jets are on the way, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

Russia's arms exports used to be public. But under pressure from Beijing, Moscow agreed to keep secret its major weapons systems transfers to China.

Intelligence officials tell us there are indications the Russians are planning to transfer a new and highly effective air-to-ground missile known as the AS-17x as part of the Su-30MKK deal.

The Su-30MKKs are one of the most visible elements of China's military buildup that is quickly tipping the military balance in the Taiwan Strait in favor of the mainland.

Other recent Russian weapons sent or on the way to China include Su-27s, A-50 airborne warning and control aircraft, Mi-17 helicopters, AA-12 air-to-air missiles, Sovremenny guided-missile destroyers, SA-10 and SA-15 surface-to-air missiles. China also has been given the licensing rights to produce a Russian flamethrower.

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In all likelihood this is a lie to confuse the American people.

Senior democrats have accused the CIA of sabotaging weapons inspections in Iraq by refusing to co-operate fully with the UN and withholding crucial information about Saddam Hussein’s arsenal.

Led by Senator Carl Levin, the Democrats accused the CIA of making an assessment that the inspections were unlikely to be a success and then ensuring they would not be. They have accused the CIA director of lying about what information on the suspected location of weapons of mass destruction had been passed on.

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BOSTON - An ancient virus that has tagged along harmlessly through human evolution appears to improve people's chances of surviving AIDS by blocking HIV’s ability to infect blood cells, new research shows.

Several recent studies have found that people who are infected with the recently discovered bug, called GB virus C, are substantially less likely than usual to die from AIDS. Experts assumed that GBV-C somehow interferes with HIV, but just how this protection works has been a mystery.

Now experts think they have the answer: It thwarts HIV’s ability to infect cells by wiping away one of the chemical docking posts that HIV needs to make its entry.

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AN OLYMPIAN plan to revamp China’s capital with a 16-mile boulevard connecting the Olympic Park with the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square has provoked a stormy public debate in Germany.

The project, commissioned by Chinese officials ahead of the 2008 Olympics, has sparked controversy because the renowned urban planner whose design is being used is also the son of Hitler’s personal architect, Albert Speer.

Albert Speer Jr, 68, has become reluctantly embroiled in a public debate over his master plan after comparisons were made between his father’s plans for Nazi Berlin and modern Beijing.

From historians to architects, the road which will connect north and south Beijing, has stirred up Germany.

BURBANK, Calif. (Reuters) - NBC, already hot on the trail for talented kids and senior citizens, is now looking for a few good moms to marry off.

The network on Thursday said it will launch a new reality series, “Who Wants to Marry My Mom?,” in a five-episode installment this spring.

Dolly the sheep, the world's first mammal cloned from an adult, was euthanized after being diagnosed with progressive lung disease, her creators said Friday.

The decision to end the life of 6-year-old Dolly was made after a veterinary examination confirmed the lung disease, a statement from the Roslin Institute said.

Dr. Harry Griffin of the institute said Friday that sheep can live to 11 or 12 years and lung infections are common in older sheep, particularly those like which are kept indoors.

Apparently she doesn’t recognize that we will have to defeat Saddam in order to have peace.

“I am not Anti-Bush. I am not pro-Iraq. I am pro Peace.”

There was a South Carolina case in the 1990s that held that wearing a thong doesn’t constitute nudity. One wonders if this will go to court.

In Daytona Beach, Fla., a new law bans thong bikinis and other super-revealing attire in public places. Another recent ordinance strengthens the prohibition against on-street alcohol consumption by banning open containers within 100 feet of main drag Atlantic Avenue. The idea is to prevent revelers at large events from drinking in parking lots and other quasipublic places, police officials say.

The beefed-up public-nudity law, passed in October, includes sometimes-arcane specifications (“ . . . that portion of the buttocks which lies between the top and bottom of the buttocks, and between two imaginary straight lines . . . ” must be covered). The restriction doesn’t extend to Daytona's beaches, however, which are under county jurisdiction.

A woman caught by a department store security camera repeatedly striking her 4-year-old daughter in the store's parking lot pleaded guilty Friday to a felony battery charge.

Madelyne Toogood, 26, made the plea as part of an agreement offered by prosecutors, who dropped a more serious charge of battery of a child and a misdemeanor charge of giving police officers a false address.

An offensive double standard—commander-in-chief takes a walk but admiral gets canned for the same behavior. Sounds like Slick had “a loss of confidence in his ability to command” but nobody cared.

The USS Kitty Hawk Battle Group commander, Rear Adm. Steven Kunkle, was relieved of command Thursday, accused of an “inappropriate relationship” with a female officer.

Citing “a loss of confidence in his ability to command,” 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Robert Willard took the action following an Article 15 hearing Thursday at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, said Cmdr. Matt Brown, a 7th Fleet spokesman. He added that Kunkle received a punitive letter of reprimand.

Some might find it incongruous for the Ringmaster to be talking about such weighty matters as health care and foreign policy. Truth is, Springer’s been talking about them for 35 years. He cut his teeth politically during the antiwar movement of the late 1960s.

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Carl Levin |  Austria Withholds Support | Belgium-Vietnam Connection
 Drunken NY School Principal Urinates in Street | Clinton Foundation Seeks Passionate Interns
Saddam and Osama Enemies? | Dem Candidates Out of Step | France Replaces Poland

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Best of the Web Today BY JAMES TARANTO
France to U.N.: Drop dead. Plus Bill Clinton unburdens himself on Iraq while seeking "passionate" interns.

France to U.N.: Drop Dead

It appears increasingly likely that when an American-led coalition liberates Iraq, it will do so under the authority of 17 U.N. Security Council resolutions rather than 18. As a matter of international law, this will not make a difference, but as a matter of international politics it could prove to be a very big deal. France may have destroyed the U.N. as a serious institution.

How do you say “Get us out of the U.N.” in French?

Best of the Web Today BY JAMES TARANTO
France to U.N.: Drop dead. Plus Bill Clinton unburdens himself on Iraq while seeking "passionate" interns.

Whose Side is Carl Levin On?

Michigan's Sen. Carl Levin, ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, is blaming America for Saddam Hussein’s defiance of the U.N. London's Independent reports that a group of Democrats led by Levin “accused the CIA of making an assessment that the inspections were unlikely to be a success and then ensuring they would not be. They have accused the CIA director of lying about what information on the suspected location of weapons of mass destruction had been passed on.”

Weasel Watch

Reuters reports that Austria, the country that gave the world such great statesmen as Adolf Hitler, Kurt Waldheim and Joerg Haider, has joined the axis of weasels by refusing to let American troops travel by train across the Austrian Alps, the fastest route from Germany to Italy. The country's foreign minister also says he sympathizes with the efforts of France, Germany and Belgium to prevent NATO from making plans to defend Turkey in the event of an Iraqi attack. Austria at least is not a NATO member, so this isn't a stab in the back from a purported ally.

The Voice of Vietnam reports (last item) that Belgium--the country Richard Perle calls the “caboose” of the Franco-German train--is seeking to “bolster comprehensive relations” with Hanoi. King Albert II, in a farewell visit with Vietnam's departing ambassador to Brussels, told the departing ambassador that, in VOV’s words, he “appreciated Vietnam’s renewal achievements as well as its regional and international integration.” Well, when it comes to making friends, beggars can't be choosers.

In the latest example of weasel unilateralism, the Associated Press reports today that “13 nations seeking to join the EU were excluded from a summit in Brussels on Monday to seek a common position on Iraq. The move came from Germany and France because the candidates mostly back the United States on Iraq, according to British diplomatic sources.”

Great Moments in Public Education

Peralta-Tessitore's occupation? She's the principal of a public school in Harlem.

Passionate Liberalism

Here’s a joke that writes itself: The Clinton Presidential Center is looking for interns. Atop the application brochure (link in PDF form) is a quote from a former intern--no, not the portly pepperpot but one Jean-Paul Tremblay, who boasts of his “passionate interest in making a difference.” The brochure also promises prospective interns “a unique opportunity for . . . meaningful service” and quotes the center’s director of operations, Hannah Richert, as saying: “In this environment, each intern is vitally important.”

The Democrats can’t admit the simple truth that Saddam is testing his limits, and that if he gets away with it he’ll get worse. In the 1960s the “anti-war” Dems peddled the belief that the 1930s were different and that appeasement was a viable strategy.

The EU got the politician who might have been more sympathetic to the anti-terror cause thrown out of office.

Communist Vietnam is one of the world’s poorest and most corrupt countries. So why does Belgium want to do business with it?

She was drunk and urinating in the street.

They should make daughters of FOB’s interns.

What our readers should understand is that the rulers in Iraq have also long admired the methods of bin Laden and other anti-American terrorists, going back before September 11, 2001. This is clear simply from reading the Iraqi press, which is of course government controlled. We sort through some of that evidence below, and nearby we reprint Iraqi magazine covers that give the most graphic indication of how much Saddam admires bin Laden's 9/11 handiwork.

Apparently the term “ultraliberal” is equivalent to “Left-wing” and “socialists.” When George McGovern got the presidential nomination in 1972 the Democratic Party effectively became Stalin sympathizer Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party.

Americans are not ultraliberals, but the Democratic presidential candidates are: All six candidates, with the possible exception of Mr. Gephardt, support an unlimited right to every kind of abortion (Howard Dean, a physician, says arguments against partial-birth abortions are “an issue about nothing”). They all support the University of Michigan's racial quota system and favor increasing income taxes. Every Democratic presidential contender in Congress at the time voted for Bill Clinton's tax increases and against George W. Bush's tax cuts. Mr. Gephardt and Dr. Dean want to repeal the Bush tax cuts that have already gone into effect. The Democrats stumping for the highest office in the land are also against sensible reform. They all oppose school choice, no matter how bad or dangerous the public schools the students are forced to attend. They also are against individually owned Social Security retirement accounts.

This article refers to “French Military Prowess Revisited.”

The governments of France and Germany started this bonfire of accusation and recrimination, now they can stand in it. All that remains is for Sherry-Lehmann, Morrell or some other elegant Manhattan wine seller to gather us into a party to pour out bottles of Haut-Brion into the East River. Polish-Americans probably thought they wouldn't live long enough to hear the end of Polish jokes, but France has liberated Poland from the grip of mockery.

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