I keep seeing North Korean missile fear-mongering all over the cable news channels.  Now I'm not going to pretend that North Korea isn't dangerous, but the fear-mongering seems to be just that.  It's the same retreads of the fat Republican/pundit lazy cowards who are too insular and stupid to understand the difference between risk and certain doom.  Normally I'd put this in breaking blue, but this story seems to be huge (though not really discussed in the liberal blogs).

Defensetech offers a long post with lots of experts chiming in.  It's worth reading.  The gist is that there's lots we don't know, the intelligence is incomplete, and it's quite possible that the threat is much smaller than the Dick Cheney's of the world presume based on North Korea's use of military hoaxes to achieve negotiating leverage.

At any rate, I'm glad that sane and sober people are in charge of our government and media right now.  Ugh.

UPDATE: Redstate seems to think that the words of former Clinton hacks as well as the words of uberloser Walter Mondale are sufficient proof that military strikes against North Korea would be swell, or something along those lines. I prefer to rely on the US inelligence agencies we didn't listen to prior to invading Iraq before destroying the world economy with another lazily conceived war:

U.S. satellites have observed liquid fuel canisters being placed near the missile, but officials said there was no confirmation that fueling took place. "We can't say anything for sure," said one top official with access to the intelligence.

Loading fuel into the rocket boosters for the Taepodong-2 missile would almost certainly suggest a launch will take place, because it is difficult to siphon out the fuel. But North Korea has a long history of doing things simply for the benefit of American satellites -- and to bring the world's attention back to the Stalinist state.