The Real Headline

As Austin Bay declares "the tv networks are going crazy" about N Korea's series of missiles launches yesterday. Gloom and doom sells and its not right, as Austin says:

Sure, the missiles are big news but they aren't the strategic shocker. The shocker occurred in August 1998 when Pyongyang tested a long-range ballistic missile. That launch revitalized the United State-Japanese alliance and blew away any legitimate arguments that the U.S. could wait to develop and deploy ballistic missile defenses.

Our obsession with these petty dictators is causing Japan to rearm at Pre-World War 2 levels, and us to spend billions of $$$$ on missile defense which could be used to rebuild our worn-out conventional forces ( though Bay thinks BMD defense is a good thing). Instead of constantly reacting to the mad tyrants of Iran, Korea, and Venezuela every time they have a tantrum, they should beware of us and our unchallenged military might. When Libya got out of line in the 1980's, Reagan sent an aircraft carrier off her shores and shot down a few airplanes. We did the same thing against China when she sabre-rattled off Taiwan in 96.

The real headline today is America's return to space with the shuttle Discovery and NASA's amazing achievment of keeping this rather antiquated program alive, at least until something better comes along. I was myself a skeptic, but those astronauts are real heroes and should be celebrated, not bumped to the side my our sensation seeking media.