A January 2009 poll by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which can be viewed right here http://people-press.org/report/485/economy-top-policy-priority, rated global warming dead last as a priority issue—number 20 out of 20—well below issues like the economy, jobs, terrorism, Social Security, education and Medicare, to name a few.  Democrats’ desire to jam Americans by attempting to make global warming a priority and the EPA the tip of the spear is a mistake.  Democrats are demonstrating that they are out of step with Middle America and in lock-step with those outliers desiring a command-and-control economy.

This is not to say that Republicans are in touch with the needs of those in the middle, it’s just to point-out the obvious; the public’s interest in addressing global warming is waning.  Many folks are quite frankly a bit confused.  The rabid zeal with which many of the global warming alarmists advocate and the redistributive wealth solutions they advance leave reasonable people in Middle America wondering if this fanatical environmentalism is the new socialism.  Are these environmental extremists like watermelons, green on the outside and red on the inside?

Most Americans have little to no interest in the globalism that attaches to any discussion of reparations or remedies to be paid to developing nations by developed nations as part of a global warming solution.  In fact, most Americans are likely more isolationist than not, with tough economic sledding at home and two wars abroad.  Further, any solution assumes that there is in fact a global warming problem, which some argue may also be in dispute, given recent revelations that some of the science behind global warming was done to produce a predetermined result.

Given the gravity of the financial cost that any global warming solution would have on the world economy—$45 trillion has been mentioned—no solution should be proposed without a virtual unanimity of solid science behind global warming.

Many Americans have read that 10-20% of global warming is man made and 80-90% of global warming is natural, not man made.  Additionally, they believe that global warming is part of a natural cycle that has been occurring on earth for 4.5 billion years.

Nonetheless, the desire for a clean environment is non-partisan—we all want it, and many of us on the left, right and in the middle are doing our part every day to protect the environment and reduce the size of our carbon footprint, without the need for globalism, redistributive wealth solutions, or saber-rattling by environmental extremists.

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The discovered tunnel from Mexico to San Diego had lighting, electrical, ventilation systems and an elevator to move workers and supplies to depths reaching 100 feet.  Authorities estimate that the tunnel had been under construction for two years and was nearly complete.  The good news is that this tunnel had not yet been completed and hopefully had not yet been used for human trafficking or contraband.  The bad news is that this tunnel is likely one of many such tunnels that dot America’s porous borders with Canada and Mexico, through which thousands of humans and contraband move daily.

According to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank,” there are approximately 12 million illegal aliens or “unauthorized immigrants” in America.  It is very difficult to get accurate data on the true number, which some say is 10 million and others say is 70 million.  Additionally, estimates indicate that 500,000 individuals enter the country illegally every year, which is difficult to comprehend if America’s borders are secure, and clearly they are not.

How is this happening and why is our government not protecting its citizens by securing its borders?  As Americans, we are entitled to security, which could be argued, is the most paramount of functions a government is to provide its citizenry, and without which many of the freedoms and liberties guaranteed to the people are meaningless.

Somehow, border security has shamelessly been linked to immigration policy in a way that allows political correctness to triumph over sound public policy and public safety.  Fortunately, America’s security from foreigners seeking to do it harm is a nonpartisan issue—Americans want and Americans are entitled to security, the bedrock function of any government.  There are immigration laws in place and as a nation of laws, which is what America is, these laws must be enforced and our borders must be secure, because our safety depends on it.

America has been relatively immune from terrorist attacks on its soil, relative to what other countries have endured and in light of America’s campaign abroad against terrorism, which tends to inflame anti-American hatred and instigate terrorist acts globally.  As Americans, enjoying the greatest freedoms and liberties on earth every day, we have difficulty grasping the likelihood of increased terrorism on our soil.  We are an optimistic, rational, thinking nation and we just cannot wrap our minds around the fact that people strap explosives to themselves and detonate them in public places, but they do, and they will some day do it here.  It is not a question of “if” but rather “when” will America be hit on its own soil.

We know that terrorists have already entered America illegally and are here living among us in sleeper cells.  They wouldn’t have difficulty joining the 500,000 illegal aliens that enter America annually, would they?  To think or hope they are not here in America living among us is naïve.  This is not fear-mongering, this is reality—America’s intentional unwillingness to secure its borders has been and continues to be an open invitation to terrorists to come to America, live among us and lie in wait.

The freedoms and liberties Americans enjoy are threatened, and they are nothing more than theoretical if our borders are not secure.  Of what value are freedom and liberty if they cannot be enjoyed by the citizenry?

What would happen if terrorists started bombing coffee shops, malls, schools or sports stadiums?  Remember how mortified people were when the Washington D.C. sniper, John Allen Muhammad, was randomly shooting people from what was later discovered to be the back of his automobile?  People were rightly afraid to leave their homes and engage in normal activity.  A greater climate of fear will grip this nation and paralyze it when terrorism occurs on American soil.  So in the meantime, just hope that everything is fine, plug your nose and look the other way as illegal aliens enter America, and wait . . .

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There really are no good options for America and the situation in Afghanistan.  Looking backwards into the rearview mirror does us no good; we are where we are and fair or not, the President is forced to look ahead and play the hand he has been dealt.  As evidenced by the delay and lengthy deliberation regarding additional troop commitments, President Obama is learning that it is more difficult to actually lead a nation than it is to merely campaign to lead a nation.

Whether the best course of action is committing more troops or withdrawing could be debated by reasonable people, but it is less important than commitment and dedication to one or the other, with resolve.  The President needed to get it right last night—either we’re all-in or we’re out—and he failed, choosing conditional commitment and putting his weakness and equivocation on full display for the world.

Rather than attempting to placate his left flank by holding back 25% of the 40,000 troops requested by General McChrystal, the President could have demonstrated he was in it to win it, giving the general the 40,000 troops he requested.  Why hold back 10,000 troops?  If ever an ounce of prevention were better than a pound of cure, this would be it—give the general what he is requesting and “get ‘er done.”  The left is not placated by his gesture to send 30,000 more troops and hold back 10,000, and history informs us well that underwhelming the enemy or relying on the pathetic troop commitments of our allies is a recipe for disaster and defeat.

Clearly, the ultimate pusillanimous act last night was announcing a troop draw-down in 18 months.  This was not leadership, but a cowardly act that undermined any attempt by the President to even feign commitment, again serving only one purpose, to unsuccessfully attempt to appease the left.

The left and right are not happy with the President, nor is Middle America, which wants us out of Afghanistan, best achieved by either a total commitment to get out or bucking-up and committing overwhelming force.  Giving General McChrystal less troops than he requested  and announcing a draw-down in 18 months are jellyfish maneuvers, difficult to rationalize other than through a purely political prism.  Middle America deserves leadership from President Obama and knows all too well that the only thing in the middle of the road is a dead possum on a dotted white line.

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