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

“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  lot less safe.  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  hit Hawaii and the Lower 48™.

Now there’s  Change You Can Believe In™!!! 

The Ayatollah Obambi’s reaction, of course, was extremely predictable.  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!  Or we shall wag our fingers and scold you a second time!”

Lemme as you 52-percenter pussies a question:  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!!!!!!!  the bailout stimulus package du jour  if we’ve all been reduced to a nation of glass?

So how does “Hope and Change!!!™″ sound to you now, hmmmmmmm???

Asshats.