Things I Know for Sure…

(Previously posted in 2007 at Redstate.com)

At least I'm pretty sure.

There are four problems facing the US President and the Government that stand head and shoulders above all others, and they can be prioritized.

The first is the problem of our porous borders. This tops the list because it allows our enemies an easy way to attack us directly. Even more important, however, it is allowing our country to be stealthily changed without our consent—not necessarily by our enemies, but simply by millions of people who don’t share our outlook on life. They also don’t share our concerns about following legal and democratic processes, although they’re perfectly willing to use those processes to tie us in knots while they figuratively and literally take to the streets. This is tops in importance because it is happening gradually. If what has already taken place had occurred in one organized attack, we’d have stopped it at the time, or we’d at least have been aware of what was happening. If we do nothing about it, Al Qaida will eventually be at war with the country that succeeds the United States of America.

The second is the situation in Iraq. I don’t say war because it’s not a war, it’s a holding operation while we try to give the Iraqi people a chance to get their own government established and we eliminate Al Qaida and sympathizers while we’re at it. Although it’s very important to fight Al Qaida there, it’s more important to cut off their access to our homeland.

The third problem is that of selection of the next Supreme Court Justice. If it’s in the hands of a liberal we might face forty more years of questionable Court decisions.

The fourth major problem is that of Social Security and Medicare. I don’t think that further explanation is necessary.

Any candidate who wants to talk too long about anything else is just filling out his resume.

Then, in no particular order—

It looks like the Roberts and Alito selections will be known as the high points of the Bush Administration.

The “Case of the Flying Imams” was not a random occurrence.

The government makes more money per gallon of gasoline than Exxon does.

To announce in advance the day you will quit fighting in a war is to tell the enemy what date to set aside for their victory celebration.

I’d have more confidence in the leadership of someone who is willing to take a firm and defensible position that’s different from mine than I would in someone who seems to agree with me but can’t tell me why.

The 9/11 Commission should have been disbanded when it didn't expel Jaime Gorelick from its membership.

It serves no purpose for Republicans to treat Democrats as if we were on the same team. We're not, and the Democrats know it. We cooperate with them. They use us.

There’s no legitimate reason that there are three border Patrol Agents in jail, with Lewis Libby on his way there too, while Rep. William Jefferson (D) hasn’t even been charged with anything other than having cold, hard cash in his freezer.

The 45-day sentence of Paris Hilton for a fourth offense has drawn more public criticism and comment than the sentences of Libby and the three Border Patrol agents. That’s just plain wrong.

The illegal immigration problem has many causes, but it has two primary components. (1) There already are millions of people in the US illegally. (2) Thousands more join them or attempt to do so every day. Anybody who doesn’t acknowledge that component #2 can, and should, be addressed before attempting to address component #1, is somebody who is either logically challenged or who has some agenda other than solving the problem.

The Kelo decision was not only wrong, it went exactly opposite to the intent of the Constitutional prohibition against government taking of private property. There is either a serious cognitive or ethical problem with any Supreme Court Justice who didn’t notice that.

There are only two workable solutions to the Social Security problem of underfunding. The best is to allow Personal Accounts that can be invested in something other than government bonds. The other is to reduce benefits. (OK, or do both together.) It is impossible to devise any tax increase that won’t eventually become too burdensome to bear.

Anthropogenic Global Warming may or may not be real. There may or may not be things we can do to mitigate it if it is real and needs to be mitigated. Those things may or may not be practical and worth the cost. What I know is that neither side has done a good job of convincing me they are right--too much double-talk. It’s just so easy to disbelieve Al Gore, though.

Whatever the truth about AGW, it is foolish to waste time and resources on an as yet largely unquantified threat from Nature that will have no real effect for years, years that can be spent solving real problems that we know exist and for which we have solutions (if we don’t spend the resources on half-baked solutions for AGW). Especially since Iran already has the only true “solution” to the “problem:” Eliminate all the non-Muslims in the world, thus removing all those CO2 generators and all their power-consuming vehicles. That will leave only a billion or so people on Earth, and they will all be living as they did in the tenth century. AGW solved!

Gas prices are not the business of government. If they’re too high for you, either quit buying gas or drill your own well. If you quit buying gas, you’ll at least be helping solve the “problem” of Global Warming.

The anti-Conservative, anti-Bush bias of the general media IS hurting the country because it masquerades as unbiased reporting. Anyone who believes that wide dissemination of slanted reporting isn’t effective doesn’t understand how advertising works. Even Rosie O’Donnell can convince the uninformed if there is nobody to point out that she’s delusional.

If we are providing social and educational benefits for Mexican citizens, Mexico should be reimbursing us.

If we desert the people of Iraq and leave them to fight Iran alone, we will never again be able to get the support of any people who will be in danger when we desert THEM.

It makes no sense to vote for a “surge” and to then claim it isn’t working before it's fully implemented.

Anybody who accuses the US of being “imperialist” has no idea what “imperialist” means.

If/When Iran obtains a nuclear weapon the world will be in much more danger than it ever was during the Cold War. At least the Russians wanted to be alive after the bombs stopped falling, so they never started. Iran’s leaders don’t seem to think that matters. The Iranian leaders’ belief in their own immortality also makes them more dangerous than Kim of North Korea, who figures that when he’s dead, he’s done.

When a TV series starts featuring programs about conspiracies against its heroes, the writers have run out of ideas.

There is no good argument for continuing to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Mitt Romney’s left profile looks a bit like Robert Duvall.

Arthur Branch will announce that he’s leaving his post to run for “Governor” in the Law & Order season finale. OK, I don’t know that. It’s only a guess,

I also know there’s more, but I can’t think of it right now.

(Original comments are here.)