Another splash

That is, the splash of an unintercepted test missle hitting the ocean, during a failed test of our Star Wars missle nondefense program. This time, the interceptor rocket didn't even launch -- I sort of imagine it looking innocently around at the scientists like, "what? can't a guy sleep around here?!"

Mr. Lehner said it was too soon to speculate on when another test might be held, because it takes about 60 days to build a target missile. He said the latest failure was similar to one on Dec. 15, when an interceptor also failed to launch from the Marshall Islands to chase a target sent up from Kodiak, although that misfire was linked to a problem in the interceptor itself.

The Dec. 15 event was a major disappointment, because it was the first full test of the defense system since Dec. 12, 2002, when an interceptor failed to separate from its booster rocket, missed its target by hundreds of miles and burned up in the atmosphere.

Of course, supporters urge that we plunge ahead, arguing that "it is better to field even a limited system sooner rather than later, especially with North Korea's formidable missile arsenal and its embrace of nuclear weaponry." Hey, I could fix you up something out of plastic for a billionth of the cost that would meet these standards!

I'm kind of with Eliot at Follow Me Here in feeling a sense of relief when these tests don't work. It's another reprieve from our overt scoffing at international treaties, not to mention the temptation to develop a sense of inpenetrability by spending a few hundred billion on more of these things (that barely work in theory, let alone in practice)...