er majesty Queen Elizabeth is not amused; in fact she is downright hurt and angry. I could conjure up many other words to describe the Buckingham Palace reaction to the Queen not being invited to the Normandy Beaches, on the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The Queen is 83 and the only living head of state who served in uniform during World War 11. She was Elizabeth Windsor and her service number 230873. She was in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, as a driver and mechanic.

President Obama will be there, as will Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

On June 6, when Barak Obama and Mr. Sarkozy attend commemorations at the places most associated with the American D-Day assault - Utah Beach, the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, and the American war cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, the Prime Minister will represent Britain at the town of Arromanches, near the beaches where the British troops landed.

It is a bloody shame and I really would expect, or hope, that the diplomatic faux-pas would be corrected..

ow are things in the peculiar world of North Korea? The New York Times described the actions of the past few days as "erratic, frightening and hugely self-destructive." Pyongyang, of course, does not regard it that way. They have defied the Security Council's cease-and-desist orders and tested both a nuclear device and several missiles. Now they are threatening to launch other military strikes against South Korea. Before the situation deteriorates, this is where China should take over. War is not currently an option, stiff sanctions are needed as the goal should be to get inspectors back into North Korea and their officials back at the bargaining table. If we do nothing, or little, when they make such moves, Iran will surely be watching to see just how resolute the major powers will and should be. Pyongyang has already sold nuclear fuel technology and missiles to some unsavory customers, such as Iran and Syria. We must stop them, now.

n picking Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, President Obama has found an accomplished lawyer and judge, who might well become an extraordinary Supreme Court justice. This woman, in her rulings, has repeatedly displayed the empathy that Mr. Obama has said he is looking for in a supreme court judge. Her legal experience is most impressive and wide-ranging. Born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents she grew up in a city housing project. She made it to Princeton and graduated summa cum laude from Yale Law School. Conservative activists have already begun trying to paint her as a liberal ideologue. It won't work. Her carefully reasoned, fact-based decisions paint her as a fine thinking, well-schooled scholar.