WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said the United States is “prepared for any contingencies” involving North Korea _ including the regime’s reported threat to launch a long-range missile toward Hawaii.

Japanese media have reported the North Koreans appear to be preparing for a long-range test near July 4. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protections for Hawaii in case a missile is launched over the Pacific Ocean.

“This administration _ and our military is fully prepared for any contingencies,” Obama said Friday during an interview with CBS News’ Harry Smith, to be broadcast Monday on “The Early Show.”

“I don’t want to speculate on hypotheticals,” Obama said. “But I want … to give assurances to the American people that the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted in terms of what might happen.”

Hey, how about this:

If North Korea looks like it’s going to launch a missile at Hawaii, we don’t let it happen and we pound the living crap out of them.

We give our pals in South Korea all the warning they need to protect themselves – but we make it clear – shoot at us, and you get to live like the Flintstones – but without the modern conveniences of the bird telephone that says “Eh, it’s a living.”

I respect this administration’s attitude on Iran.  I agree that Iraq was a mistake.  But this thing is as clear as clear can be.

If they are preparing a missile to be launched toward the U.S., it should never leave the silo. 

And neither should the people launching it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/22/laura-ling-euna-lee-detai_n_177725.html

SEOUL, South Korea — Two American journalists detained by North Korean soldiers are believed to have been sent to Pyongyang for questioning, a news report said Sunday.

North Korea said Saturday it was investigating two Americans it detained Tuesday for “illegally intruding” into its territory after crossing the border from China.

A brief dispatch from the North’s official Korean Central News Agency gave no other details, but it was apparent confirmation of reported arrests of two female U.S. journalists reporting on North Korean refugees in the border area.

South Korean media and a South Korean missionary identified the two detained Americans as Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s San Francisco-based media outlet Current TV.

A U.S. official said Saturday that the U.S. has been in touch with North Korean representatives about the journalists and is awaiting a reply. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the issue, said the U.S. doesn’t know where the North is holding them.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Sunday, in a report from the Chinese city of Yanji, that it is highly likely that they were sent to Pyongyang to be investigated for their alleged border intrusion.

“Considering the significance of the case, there is a high possibility that the two U.S. journalists have been sent to Pyongyang and are undergoing a direct investigation” by the North’s spy agency and military, Yonhap quoted a source in China it described as privy to North Korean affairs.

Yonhap quoted other sources in China as saying the North’s confirmation of the arrest appeared to demonstrate that Pyongyang’s intelligence and military headquarters are directly interrogating the journalists.

Okay.

Oh, and P.S. – Where the hell is John McCain, huh?