I don't hate President Obama- I love my country.

LOL...

Okay, are you trying to be witty or ironic here? Because you're coming off as petty and ignorant.

Certainly there are people who support gun ownership and do some bad things- does this somehow validate the argument against firearms?

Although I know you're just trolling, God help me- I can't resist...

I am actually shocked that you're using this as the base for your argument, it's almost cute. Your little point was almost childlike in it's ignorant innocence.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not surprised at all by this. Nor am I surprised by Iran's defiance- and I expect that we'll be feeling some waves from Chavez soon too.

Let's face it... we've all known that the Obama administration would lack the fortitude to make a clear and decisive stand on *anything*- including national security.

"North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community..."

No- they're directly and recklessly challenging the United States.

They know what they're doing- historically, it has been up to the United States to police these kinds of issues, as we're one of the very few nations out there willing to show a backbone and stand up to tyrants. Its been proven that we can't count on the "international community" to do anything other than placate and pacify.

They know the Obama administration is going to do just that. Sure, they may talk about 'consequences' every now and again, but if we keep talking about and threatening these consequences but back down every time they cross us... then we teach the Koreans and Iranians that they don't really need to abide by what we say.

Are we going to wait until we're forced to take some pro-active action? What will it take to force our hand? A detonation in S. Korea? Taiwan? Israel? Or someplace far worse- a US city?

This isn't some high school civics lesson. This isn't a video game or lab experiment. These are real people, real countries... real bombs.

It's high time somebody started taking this seriously and recognizes the inherent danger here. Look at the bigger picture. Stop worrying so much about the carbon output or Chrysler's advertising budget and 'green' energy and start worrying about unstable dictators with something to prove. Start worrying about world leaders who believe it's their destiny to usher in prophecy.

Make no mistake, these threats are real, and they're growing more real as each action goes by unchecked.

First off, I have the utmost faith in our military, and understand that they are always ready. These special teams are always operating at 100%.

It didn't take them 5 days to get a clear shot. They were instructed to wait, and I believe that waiting will prove to be detrimental. We are constantly aware that the world is watching, and instead of being worried of being viewed as too harsh, I would argue that it's more dangerous for us to be viewed as too soft.

And in this case, we shouldn't have waited so long. I trust that those SEAL teams didn't need 5 whole days to get their clear shot. They're better than that, WE'RE better than that.

I'm not going to argue about a grieving widow or any other such nonsense, she isn't grieving- it all worked out for him- this time.

How many more will we see? How can they be avoided in the future? I think that acting swifty and decisively would speak louder than hesitance and (what can be perceived as) indecision. Or worse, pacifism and appeasement.

Point taken, but you're referring to a duel between two individuals- this wasn't a dual, a third party's life was at stake. It was a dangerous game- a gamble to wait as long as they did.

They should not have waited as long as they did. There was no strategy to this, just hesitation.

US: 3; Somali Pirates: 0

I'm at a loss as to why it took so long to take action, the reports I've read indicated that we were to take action only if the captain's life appeared to be in 'imminent danger'? Isn't the simple fact that he was being held hostage, by pirates, at gunpoint 'imminent' enough? Now don't get me wrong, I'm pleased with how it worked out in the end, but I think that our hesitation spoke volumes. These pirates are now vowing revenge against the US for their fallen brothers? Seriously? We're taking them seriously?

I think that waiting 5 days ultimately proved a couple of things: (1) That our military can still get the job done, with extreme precision and prejudice, and (2) that, as a nation, we're hesitant to pull the trigger. Unfortunately I believe the latter speaks louder.

The best thing that we could have done when coming up on this lifeboat was to lay siege to it, conduct an operation and get our man out of there. It was proven that we could do it, we just should have done it about 4 days sooner.

Apparently we're more concerned with how the rest of the world will view us- perhaps even sections of our own citizenry- than we are with the life of an American citizen. A citizen whose life was in the hands of his captors: Somali Pirates.

How did we get here?

As I thought: just trolling.

Still, the problem with you and your stance (besides the trolling) is that you know you're wrong. You're taking an emotional stand on issues that need logic to understand.

I'd like to see some actual data to back up your claim of such extreme lawlessness and "huge problems with gun violence" in these areas where "fire arms laws are so loose".

Now, I live in Florida, and we have very permissive gun laws, many people hold concealed carry permits and carry firearms, on their person, everywhere they go. I have yet to see this state revert to the "wild west". I don't see gun violence everyday (by the way, I am formerly employed by the local Sheriff's department, where my wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother and father all still work)- as a matter of fact, I don't see gun violence very often at all. And when there is a gun crime, that gun in most every case, has been obtained illegally- by a criminal- for the purpose of committing a criminal act with it.

The simple fact remains that law abiding citizens are the only people who would abide by any gun control legislation- the criminal elements would not. They don't bother abiding by the laws in place now. If you start criminalizing firearms, you will start making criminals out of the responsible gun owners.

LOL .... my thoughts exactly, MR2.... but I just can't help myself....