Local time where you're at. ("Where you're at"?)

Denizens, remember back about two weeks before the ’08 general election when then-Senator Hair-Butt-Plugs all but invited the Axis of Evil&#153 world to test them – to “come say it to their faces”, as it were?

Remember this money quote?

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

Well, lo & behold and saints be praised – for once, Vice-Ayatollah Gaffemeister has, probably to our everlasting detriment, been proven correct:

North Korea appeared to launch a rocket on Sunday, the Japanese government said, defying calls from world leaders to scrap a plan that has caused international alarm.

It was not immediately clear if the launch had been successful, or if it was a long-range version of the rocket.

Y’know, suddenly I feel a helluva&#160 lot less safe.&#160 How ’bout you?

The rocket is supposed to fly over Japan, dropping boosters to its west and east on a path that runs southwest of Hawaii.

The United States, South Korea and Japan say the plan is actually the test of a Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska.

Which would mean – depending on the launch vector, of course – it could also&#160 hit Hawaii and the Lower 48&#153.

Now there’s&#160 Change You Can Believe In&#153!!!&#160

The Ayatollah Obambi’s reaction, of course, was extremely predictable.&#160 Assuming, of course, you’re using former President Peanuthead as your template:

North Korea’s development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the northeast Asian region and to international peace and security. The launch today of a Taepo-dong 2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind. With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.

We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council. I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.

Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery is a high priority for my administration. The United States is fully committed to maintaining security and stability in northeast Asia and we will continue working for the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the Six-Party Talks. The Six-Party Talks provide the forum for achieving denuclearization, reducing tensions, and for resolving other issues of concern between North Korea, its four neighbors, and the United States. North Korea has a pathway to acceptance in the international community, but it will not find that acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and abides by its international obligations and commitments.

“Stop!&#160 Or we shall wag our fingers and scold you a second time!”

Lemme as you 52-percenter pussies a question:&#160 What good’s it gonna do arguing about the economy or bemoaning the fact that a lot of you people are jobless or bitching that we NEEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!!&#160 the bailout stimulus package du jour&#160 if we’ve all been reduced to a nation of glass?

So how does “Hope and Change!!!&#153” sound to you now, hmmmmmmm???

Asshats.

For your Sunday Tidbit&#153, Denizen David Hartung provides us with this very-well-written column by Victoria Toensing and Bruce Sanford concerning the Lame Plame Blame Game&#153 that Val & Joey are playing with Karl Rove.

For what it’s worth, ask yourself this:&#160 Given that a NY Slimes&#160 reporterette is now serving time in jail over her refusal to testify before a grand jury over her source for this leak of the identity of a CIA analyst – not a crime in and of itself, if the truth be told, but work with me here – and given that everyone seems to want to finger Mr. Rove for this…would the Slimes really&#160 want to stay quiet about this, if there was even the remotest chance that Karl Rove could be perp-walked out of the White House?&#160 Would the Paper of Broken Record honestly&#160 shut up to protect the Demoscum’s Public Enemies Number One and Two (Bush & Rove)?

(crickets)

Mm-hm.&#160 Thought&#160 so…

The Department of Foxes Guarding Henhouses chimes in with this blurb, courtesy of one of my co-workers:

The Department of Homeland Security raised some eyebrows last month when it appointed a representative of Claria, a prominent “adware” maker, to a privacy advisory board.

Now we have a chance to see whether the inclusion of Claria/Gator vice president D. Reed Freeman will make a difference in the committee’s discussions about privacy and security. The DHS announced this week that the committee’s first meeting will be Apr. 6 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.

So one of the high muckity-mucks of that insipid little software package Gator,&#160 notorious for taking your private information and doing Cthulu knows what with it, is now in charge over at the Data Privacy section of Homeland Security.

Why has my personal Terrorism Alert level just gone up to Red?