Ebola Day 10, Priorities, America The Bad, Marriage Debate Not Over

Friday, October 10, 2014

Ebola In America: Day 10 

Here's some good news to report on the Ebola front: The Dallas deputy sheriff in isolation yesterday tested negative for the disease. 

Now for the not-so-good news. . .

Health officials are warning that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is spreading exponentially, "doubling about every three weeks." But don't worry -- we're doing more temperature screenings at five airports. Feel better?

President Obama has recorded a video message to residents of West Africa. In the message, Obama tells them that Ebola isn't easy to contract. He says, "You cannot get [Ebola] through casual contact like sitting next to someone on a bus."

Meanwhile, the CDC has issued an advisory for people traveling to countries currently battling the disease. In that advisory, the CDC warns people with symptoms of Ebola to "avoid public transportation." The advisory also adds that a person can get Ebola if he or she "spends a long amount of time within three feet (one meter) of a person who is sick with Ebola." 

While the Obama Administration can't agree on whether buses are safe, many Americans know what they want. An NBC News poll finds that 58% of Americans believe incoming flights from Ebola-afflicted nations should be stopped. Only 20% of Americans supported Obama's position that the flights should continue. 

Priorities 

Ebola has come to America. The disease is showing up all over the world and expanding exponentially in West Africa. 

There is chaos in the Middle East. There has been an explosion at one of Iran's nuclear facilities. ISIS is on the march, undeterred by Obama's limited airstrikes. Jihadists in America and Europe are rushing to join the ranks of our enemy. Our borders remain porous and insiders say another wave of illegal immigrants will hit soon. 

Yet with all these dangers, the White House is spending its time frantically working to shut down the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

The Wall Street Journal quotes a senior administration official as saying that Mr. Obama is "unwavering in his commitment" to close Gitmo. In fact, the president is so "unwavering in his commitment" that he is even considering "overriding a congressional ban on bringing detainees to the U.S." 

But Mr. Obama's priorities do not reflect those of most Americans. A June Gallup poll found that just 29% of Americans support closing Gitmo.   

American The Bad? 

Campus Reform recently interviewed students at Harvard University and asked a simple question: "What is the greater threat to world peace: ISIS or America?" 

Some of the responses were astoundingly stupid. Here's a sample: 
 

"American imperialism and our protection of oil interests in the Middle East are destabilizing the region and allowing groups like ISIS to gain power." 

"As a western civilization we're to blame for a lot of the problems that we're facing now. I don't think anyone would argue that we didn't create the problem of ISIS ourselves." 

"The amount of spending that America has on causes of potential destruction in the world is really outlandish."

These students are supposedly among the best and brightest. Yet for all their education, they have no appreciation for the values of Western Civilization or for many of them, the country of their birth. They seem not to have been taught American history. 

As Ronald Reagan often said, "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."

These kids should stop listening to their left-wing, anti-American professors and listen instead to people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Meriam Ibrahim.  

Tolerance isn't going to stop radical Islam. Progressivism isn't going to save this country or the world from another Dark Age. How many more journalists and aid workers must lose their heads before these "intellectuals" come to their senses? 

Marriage Debate Far From Over 

After the Supreme Court's refusal this week to review several cases involving same-sex marriage, the media rushed to shut down the debate and declared it to be over. It is not. Contrary to the opinions of culture elites and leftists who are relentlessly trying to force their morality on everyone else, the public has not embraced the idea of men "marrying" other men. 

Read more in my latest opinion piece at the Washington Examiner.