Protecting our nation may extend overseas but it must start right here at home with our borders. Anyone who believes our borders are secure should give New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson a call.

Last week, Richardson declared a state of emergency in four counties so he could free up much-needed funding to battle problems that include drug smuggling, illegal immigrants and livestock that has not been approved by the USDA entering the United States.

Richardson has been pleading for help from the federal government and anywhere he could get it including the Minutemen volunteers who grabbed headlines earlier this summer.

Some people may say that Richardson's problems do not concern us here in Ohio but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Keeping our nation's borders secure will become increasing more vital as the war on terror rages on in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.

What good does it do to "stop" terrorism abroad if we are doing nothing to stop the terrorists from just waltzing in our backdoors lugging nuclear or chemical weapons?

The federal government's position remains what it has always been: We don't have the money for everything.

Maybe not but let's look at how some of the money is being spent.

Earlier this month, President Bush signed into law a $286.4 billion transportation bill, but he should not be held entirely at fault because Congress created it.

In the works for years, the bill was envisioned as a way to improve highways and infrastructure across the nation. In reality, it became jumbled mess full of "pork" projects to please Congressional constituents.

"Pork" is a derogatory term used to describe government spending that is intended to benefit constituents of a politician and that is often lumped into other bills that may or may not be related.

Even though Lawrence County and the much-needed Chesapeake Bypass would receive more than $10 million in funding from this bill, we have to question many similar projects.

One of the best examples is a $231 million bridge project in Alaska that would connect a town smaller than Ironton to an island that has 50 people living on it. In fact, the bill calls for another bridge in Alaska that will cost $250 million.

We can't provide adequate body armor for our soldiers in a timely manner but we need to make sure these people save 10 minutes on their commute? Come on.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization, estimated the bill contains 6,000 examples of pork, totalling more than $24 billion.

Think how safe our borders and our troops would be if even a fraction of this went to these areas. We are waging a war on terror but we may be losing because we have failed to declare war on political pork.