Have you ever wondered why Arab Palestinians think Jerusalem is so important to them?  Why they say there will never be Arab-Israeli peace until they control it?  They say it's because of the "sacredness" of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

So here's a thought experiment:  What if it were discovered that Moses, of whom the Bible says, "no man knoweth of his grave site," was buried in Mecca?

What would be the response of the Islamic world if millions of Jews began claiming that Mecca was sacred to them now just as it is sacred to the Moslems, and demanded that they had the right to build a Dome of Moses next to the Kaaba as a pilgrimage shrine honoring the Founding Patriarch of the Jewish People?

Well, not quite yet, but soon.  The funniest headline of the week was "South American Leaders Support Bolivia Gas Nationalization."  Yesterday (5/4), at Puerto Iguazo, Argentina, Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner met with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales and promised to "respect" Morales' nationalization of Bolivia's natural gas.

Only folks who are interested in buying bridges in Brooklyn are going to believe that.

In the wilds of Louisiana's St. James Parish, amid the alligators and sugar plantations, Lester Hart is building the $750 million steel plant of his dreams. Over the past decade, Hart has constructed plants for steel producer Nucor everywhere from Trinidad to North Carolina. Today, he says, Nucor sees its big opportunities here, along the banks of the Mississippi River, roughly an hour west of New Orleans by car.

"The political climate here is conducive to growth," Hart explains as he steers his truck up to the edge of a steep levee. "We are here because so much is going on in this state and this region. With the growth of the petrochemical and industrial sectors, this is the place to be."

Nucor isn't alone in coming to Louisiana, or to the vast, emerging region along the Gulf Coast. The American economy, long dominated by the East and West Coasts, is undergoing a dramatic geographic shift toward this area. The country's next great megacity, Houston, is here; so is a resurgent New Orleans, as well as other growing port cities that serve as gateways to Latin America and beyond.

While the other two coasts struggle with economic stagnation and dysfunctional politics, the Third Coast - the urbanized, broadly coastal region spanning the Gulf from Brownsville, Texas, to greater Tampa - is emerging as a center of industry, innovation, and economic growth.

While Neil Cavuto was very cordial when I was on his Fox news show recently, he was nonetheless startled to hear me claim that Mexico is the greatest national security threat to America, more than Iran, China, or Moslem terrorism.  He suggested my prediction of a possible Second Civil War could be "inflammatory."

How inflammatory, then, would he consider these public statements?

Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico: "The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot."

Jose Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General: "We are practicing 'La Reconquista' in California."

Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets:  "Go back to Boston!  Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims!  Get out!  We are the future.  You are old and tired.  Go on.  We have beaten you.  Leave like beaten rats. You old white people.  It is your duty to die . . Through love of having children, we are going to take over."

America is not in a struggle regarding "illegal immigration."  America is in a struggle for its physical existence.