It should be no surprise that North Korea's recent provocative actions are dividing the U.N. Security Council. An unequivocally weak measure to sanction North Korea (which would only further impoverish the people without harming Kim Jong Il) is being criticized by Russia and China.

Let's just cut to the chase: opposing a swift and overwhelming show of force to dismantle (as much as possible) the North Korean ability make war is like opposing a ban on box cutters on September 10. We have to stop living in a 9/10 world and realize that pre-emptive action is favored to American loss of life. Period.

It's highly likely that North Korea could fire a missle that could hit the West Coast and it's guaranteed they have a missle that could reach Japan. And those missles are controlled by a manaical leader who has no concern for human life, as evidenced by his oppression and murder of his own people.

Sadly, there are many in the Democratic Party that believe the only way to address belligerent dictators is through diplomacy. Even when previous agreements have been broken...blatantly. Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice...

I'm not advocating a nation-building exercise here, such as that was undertaken in Iraq and Afghanistan. Simply decapitate the regime. North Korean refugees will quickly stream into China forcing them to engage, or to South Korea potentially beginning a unification of the countries under the South Korean model (much like the combination of East and West Germany in the early 90s).

I read Hugh Hewitt's BLOG on a fairly routine basis and was delighted to discover the migration of great conservative minds to townhall.com.

I wouldn't consider adding my name to such an A-list of personalities and intellects (well, at least not in writing), but I couldn't resist Hugh's invitation to join him and others in the virtual world of influence.

At http://wcblogger.townhall.com (West Coast Blogger), you'll find my insight and humor on the daily grinds of life.

From the insanity of North Korea's missle test...

• Kim Jong Il's long-range fireworks display worked about as well as the Chinese-made fireworks I tried to light in front of my Seattle home on July 4. That is, they fizzled out and I blamed the high moisture content of the Pacific Northwest.

...the dastardly deeds of the LA and NY Times sharing national secrets critical to winning the War on Terror...

• I think the rules of the schoolyard apply to disclosure of national secrets. In some cases, tattling on the Big Dog is appropriate and necessary (for example, the Watergate break-in). But even snot-nosed little kids knew enough to keep quiet when an obvious greater good was being served by being secretive (for example, when the girl's locker room door was open just enough to see inside). I think that might be too high a bar for the editors of the Times.

...to the insanity of the Democratic Party...

• Joe Lieberman is in the primary battle of his life from a challenger who is probably to the left of Ted Kennedy. Only the Democrats would throw their Vice Presidential candidate of just six years ago out of office for defending America against terrorists. Of course, national defense isn't exactly the Democratic party's strong suit. Which begs the obvious question: what is their strong suit? (Power suits from the Men's Wearhouse don't count.)

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