To Adm. William Fallon, chief of U.S. Pacific Command.

As alert readers will recall, we darted Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace last month for his giddy optimism about U.S.-China relations. This month’s Pace Dart goes to Fallon, who pooh-poohed Beijing’s rapidly expanding military capabilities in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee at a recent hearing. Contradicting the conclusions of the Quadrennial Defense Review that “the pace and scope of China’s military building already puts regional military balances at risk,” Fallon’s independent assessment is that China’s forces are “not anywhere near” a threat to U.S. forces. Maybe the phone lines to Hawaii are down.