Happy Independence Day Kim Jong-il

Well, my fellow Americans, our nation has reached its 233rd birthday, and this fact should make us all feel great.

For all of our struggles and challenges, the United States continues to lead the way when it comes to operating a relatively free and democratic society. I cannot imagine wanting to be a citizen of any other country.

Obviously, these are not the best of times in America. The economy continues in its recession as most experts predict the national unemployment rate will reach 10 percent in the coming months.

Internationally, our hands remain full in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran continues to be a powder keg. However, our most troubling foreign challenge may be coming from North Korea.

Lately, the nation's tyrannical leader Kim Jong-il has been making numerous threats against the United States. Among those threats is that his country may attempt to launch a missile toward Hawaii today.

As you read this, I hope this has not happened. Most experts consider Kim a lunatic and brush off his threats as just more of his ranting. In one way, the experts make sense.

Why would the leader of a small Asian nation attack a world superpower on its national birthday? From a logical standpoint, it does not compute.

This problem is that Kim genuinely is a lunatic. Any leader that declines international aid while his country is undergoing a famine, but at the same time, sends people to Beijing to get him food from McDonald's is a lunatic.

He rules with brutal power, and if he became crazy enough to launch an attack against us, I doubt there is anybody brave enough within his government to stand up to him.

If a launch happened, the missile would fall harmlessly in the ocean, but a hostile act like this would start an international crisis.

This may be what Kim is wanting. This may be a case of a dictator beating his chest to see how a relatively inexperienced leader like President Barack Obama will react.

It is a pretty kooky way of getting attention, but this is what Kim does. On the positive side, I am confident that President Obama understands that Kim is just trying to feel him out.

Still, what if the unthinkable happened and North Korea launched an attack that reached America? The last thing most citizens are thinking about on Independence Day is an attack from the other side of the world.

America is already fighting a war on two fronts. A North Korean attack would definitely be an act of war. Do we have the resources to fight on a third front?

If we aggressively responded to North Korea, they would definitely respond by attacking South Korea, and another big mess would be on the international scene.

However, our nation has been at war since 2001. Another commitment of troops into a war zone would be quite a burden on soldiers that are already wearing out. There is no telling how this would work out.

The bottom line is we cannot predict if others will attack us or not. This applies to international politics as well as our personal lives. Sometimes people fire missiles unexpectedly into our lives, too.

All we can really do is live our lives to the best of our ability. In the long run, it will all fade away. It's a reality Michael Jackson could answer all too well right now. What good is the title the 'King of Pop' doing him now?

No matter what happens, keep it all in perspective.

Happy Independence Day.