We would like to make utmost efforts

AP headline: “Dems, Bush Call on One Another to Be Bipartisan.” Well, when both sides are accusing the other of being partisan, isn’t that pretty bipartisan all by itself?

Bush, for example, in his weekly radio address, complained that “some” congresscritters “gave a reflexive partisan response” to his State of the Union speech, although he did say that others were more willing to “reach across the aisle,” quoting remarks sort of to this effect by Barack Obama and Ben Nelson, not of course that he uttered their names while taking their comments out of context.

Japan’s Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa calls on Japanese women, whom he calls “birth-giving machines,” to have more babies, or as he put it, “do their best per head”. Last month he commented that “There are many young people who want to have children. In order to meet such a wish, we would like to make utmost efforts.” I’ll bet.