Both independent and partisan observers have long described the United States as an ox or a mule that refuses to turn or move on the inclinations of an unpredictable caretaker. Symbolically, of course, we the people are the unpredictable and often unstable caretakers of our own nation.

I am not anti-gun activist. I believe that the Second Amendment gives all Americans the right to own firearms, to go hunting, to shoot targets, and, in the gravest emergency, to protect our lives and our homes. In two recent decisions, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the Constitution protects the right to self-defense through firearm ownership on both the state and the federal level. I'm cool with that.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, 1.4 billion people are overweight -- half a billion are obese -- and America is at the top of the list of the most obese developed nation in the world -- 31.8 percent of its population and rising. That means almost 1 in every 3 people in the United States is classified as obese.

That number is expected to grow to 42 percent by 2030.

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A small team of 7 immigration activists chained themselves to the White House fence Wednesday. The demonstration was prompted by President Barack Obama's announcement Monday that he would not stop deportations of undocumented immigrants which have climbed to their highest rate than under any other president.

According to the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, a record-setting 409,849 undocumented immigrants were deported last year.

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