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Related:

China Daily - Fake Viagra maker given 10-year prison term, Excerpt:

2006-05-10 05:56
HANGZHOU: A man has been given a 10-year prison sentence for producing millions of fake anti-impotence pills.

Wang Weiping was also fined 2 million yuan (US$250,000) in a first ruling on Monday at Shaoxing Intermediate People's Court in East China's Zhejiang Province.

The 34-year-old, a legal worker at Kangdeli Health Care Co Ltd in Xinchang County of the province, was arrested in November last year on suspicion of producing and selling counterfeit drugs.

A total of 381,000 fake Viagra pills and 1.4 million counterfeit Cialis tablets, worth a combined total of 241 million yuan (US$29 million) on the market, were also seized from workshops at Kangdeli Health Care, according to a release from the court.

dailynews central Blindness Warning Added to Impotence Drug Label, Excerpt:

Maybe your mother should have warned you about this, too. At least 38 men who have reached for the impotence pill Viagra have gone blind or suffered some vision loss, according to federal regulators and the company that makes the drug, Pfizer Inc.
The US Food and Drug Administration also received four reports of blindness in men who have taken the impotence drug Cialis, and one report of a fellow who used Levitra, FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said.

This leads me to suspect that certain people I know probably mixed Viagra with Ex-Lax. When both are taken and you are confronted by an extremely beautiful woman you don't know whether to shit or go blind.

A little bit of trivia here: I was almost an original investor with the guy who invented Viagra, unfortunately I backed out because I mistakenly thought he was going to stiff me.

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Others blogging on the North Korean Missile Crises:

Ed Driscoll.com - Whew!, Excerpt: Unfortunately, the Space Shuttle wasn't the only vehicle launched towards space today

A Blog For All - Rockets Red Glare, Excerpt: It is possible that the North simply chose to abort the missile rather than have it fly to its full distance, although an alternative, and far less likely, possibility is that the missile was sabotaged so that it could not succeed in its mission.

Scrutator - time to nuke the mullahs of North Korea?, Excerpt:

The mullahs in North Korea are at it again.

One angle none of these blogs addresses, however, is the timing of the launch: coming just a few weeks after the New York Times’ (illegal) revelations about the Treasury Departments’ banking surveillance program, this comes at a time when the United States has been made to look particularly weak in the eyes of the rest of the world. If North Korea succeeds in hitting the United States with a missile — or in developing a suitcase nuke that can be smuggled into our country and detonated — the New York Times will have the blood of millions of American civilians on its hands.

LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI - NORTH KOREA FIRES 5 NODONGS: TAEPODONG FALLS APART AFTER LESS THAN 40 SECONDS, Excerpt: It's a good bet that China, being the key player in this situation, is limiting No. Korea's expertise with their missile program. They have no desire to see any nuclear retaliation aimed at a country on their border.

Assorted Babble by Suzie - North Korea HAS Fired a Missile has a roundup of the news as it broke.

Blue Star Chronicles - North Korean Games, Excerpt:

Kim Jong-Il is up to something. North Korea is the poster child for the utter failure of communism as a form of government.

North Korea is also a prime example of why Truman should not have relieved General MacArthur of his command and finished the Korean War.

Beth at Blue Star Chronicles also has a caption contest:

How about "Teetering on the Edge of War"?

Oblogatory Anecdotes - 4th of July Fireworks From North Korea, Excerpt: North Korea is no longer a regional problem but a worldwide threat. The Madman Kim Jung Il not only has nuclear weapons, but now has the ability to reach the United States.

Michelle Malkin - NORTH KOREAN FIREWORKS, Excerpt: Update - all the latest here

expose the left - [defunct blog] North Korea Test Fire Missiles, Excerpt: CNN says the timing wasn’t coincidental.
The senior State Department official said the launches were timed to coincide with the launch of the space shuttle Discovery from Florida, calling it "a provocative act designed to get attention."

Moonage Political Webdream - [defunct blog] North Korea launches missiles, Excerpt: By shooting bad rockets into space, for the time being, they have gotten themselves back on the headlines the threat of a flawless Shuttle launch threatened to usurp. If any of their launches had been more successful, NASA would have been forgotten.

Shining City Atop a Hill - North Korea's Missiles Reminds Us Of Our Freedoms, Excerpt: Despite the huge tragedy of starvation North Korea has the 4th Largest Army in the World!

Independent Conservative - North Korea Test Fires Missiles, Iran Working on Nukes. What You Thought the USA Would Do Something About it?, Excerpt: I never spoke about North Korea’s planned test firing of missiles before and for good reason. Because I knew the US Government would not do a thing about it. Yea I heard all the talk about "should we knock it down”, but the fact of the matter is that America should have knocked North Korea’s current government out even before the current little brat got power.

FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog - North Korea Watch, Excerpt:

AP reports that Japan said it "sternly protests" North Korean missile test-launches.

"North Korea has gone ahead with the launch despite international protest," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said. 'That is regrettable from the standpoint of Japan's security, the stability of international society, and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

The Florida Masochist - Missile launches, This happening on the 4th of July can be considered provocative or Kim Jong-il's idea of pulling the tiger's tail. I've said previously its a dangerous game to be playing.

conservative cat - Funny Stuff - July 4, Fireworks Rankings, Excerpt: Kim Jong Il: All the vigor and enthusiasm of a limp noodle.

American Conservative Daily - Kim Jung Il's Dong Goes Soft, Excerpt: So after all the tough talk by North Korea and their dog eating dictator we find out that their missile program is just as impotent as he is. Quick, someone get them some Viagra to help keep their dongs up!

suitably flip - North Korea Test Fires Several Missiles, Perhaps Including Taepodong ICBM, Excerpt: Kim Jong Il may be feeling pyromaniacal today, but he doesn't hold a roman candle to our fireworks.

Macmind - Conservative Commentary and Common Sense - North Korea Crazy Kim Watch - II, Excerpt: Well Crazy Kim took a shot, well, three of them, just to coincide with the Shuttle lift off.

CNN reports that North Korea did unsuccessfully try a long-range missile test:

North Korea launched a long-range Taepodong-2 missile early Wednesday in an apparently unsuccessful test that failed in flight, a senior State Department official said.

North Korea also tested at least two smaller missiles, U.S. sources told CNN.

Both missiles were launched from a site other than the one intelligence officials have watched for weeks ahead of the long-range missile test, a senior State Department official said.

Morning Coffee - North Korean Fireworks a dud, Excerpt:

The political reaction was swift. The White House called the tests a "provocation,” while the U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday and Tokyo warned of economic sanctions against the impoverished communist country.

In Moscow, Russia summoned the North Korean ambassador to discuss the issue.

In Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso warned of a "very high possibility” the U.N. would level economic sanctions against North Korea. Japan also protested the launches officially through Chinese capital, and banned a North Korean ferry from Japanese ports for six months.

Blogs of War - NORAD Detects Two North Korean Missile Launches, Excerpt:

It turns out that North Korea has a July 4th message for Hugo Chavez:

Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly, Monday sent a message of greetings to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias on the occasion of the day of its independence. The message reaffirmed the DPRK’s full support and solidarity with the president and people of Venezuela in their efforts to resolutely defend the Bolivarian revolution from the U.S. attempt for interference and aggression and expressed the belief that bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries would grow stronger in the future.

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Viagra Related:
Don Surber - [defunct blog], AP: "Limbaugh Will Not Be Charged Over Viagra" - Rush did, however, admit he pulled a boner...

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