A North Korean missile test and a legislative gut check both failed miserably as we "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:

» North Korea’s test of a rocket that could someday deliver a nuclear warhead to Hawaii fizzled into the ocean soon after launch. It seems the only defense we need against their current missile technology is to stick out our tongues.

» State legislators, meantime, aimed to attract visitors from South Korea by designating a block near Kalakaua Avenue and Makaloa Street as Koreatown. Next on the agenda is designating the block of Beretania Street between Punchbowl and Richards streets as Toontown.

» Caving in to pressure from the teachers union, the House and Senate shelved bills that would have required teacher performance evaluations tied to student growth. Hawaii legislators prefer to tie teacher evaluations to their union’s political endorsements.

» The Senate passed a bill that would make it a crime to disrespect a house of the Legislature. Anybody who lacks the sense to disrespect both houses of the Legislature deserves to be punished.

» Preparations for the 2012 election faced possible new delays after the U.S. District Court agreed to hear yet another challenge to legislative districts set by the state Reapportionment Commission. At this rate, we’ll see the next Pro Bowl in Hawaii before the next election.

» U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye told construction workers hoping to start soon on the city’s $5.27 billion rail project that nothing can stop rail but World War III. It’s a stretch to blame Ben Cayetano for the North Korean missile tests.

» Former TV reporter Dan Meisenzahl and cameraman Cliff Watson joined ex-news anchors Lynne Waters and Jodi Leong in the University of Hawaii’s external affairs department. Our university may not be Ivy League, but it’s live, local and late-breaking.

» The state was held liable for more than $500,000 in the medical malpractice case of a Big Island surgeon who implanted part of a screwdriver into the spine of a 73-year-old patient. Medicaid wouldn’t pay for the whole screwdriver.

» The Transportation Department is trying to unload a $75,000 drone aircraft it bought to patrol the skies over Honolulu Harbor without bothering to check federal rules that bar flying it so close to Honolulu Airport. We should hang onto it in case we ever need to shoot back at North Korea.

And the quote of the week … from Senate Education Chairwoman Jill Tokuda on the death of her bill for teacher evaluations: "I know that what we were asking all of our colleagues to do took a lot of political will. We were asking them to be very courageous." It’s the same disappointment Dorothy felt when she looked behind the curtain in "The Wizard of Oz."