Politically correct "greening" is a cancer that can and will kill the essence of freedom and liberty.

If you pick a leaf from a tree, it will dry up and die. If you drop a rock in a bucket of water, it will displace volume. If you threaten a bear cub, mommy bear will react. For every action there is a reaction.

There are two things I remember from my college freshman logic class:

1. Father Theodore Hall of the Dominican Order had forearms like Popeye, and for a guy who routinely wore a white dress he was a devastating handball player.
2. The dialectic: Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis, Problem-Reaction-Solution.

We have seen this method at work in an ongoing, multi-front war for the hearts and minds of America. The primary tactic is incrementalism, and the goal is control.

Facts in evidence to support the would-be controllers' long-range incremental assault on freedom and liberty are ubiquitous: outcome based education; diversity training/mandates; bioethics; abortion propaganda; English language corruption; erosion of privacy; environmental issues; implementation of the gay agenda; and, as our friend Charlotte Iserbyt chronicles, "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America."

Lead is a cheap and abundant material, used in a wealth of products including pipes, solder, radioactivity shields, fishing sinkers and bullets and more -- but that could be changing. Lead has been targeted in multiple venues for vilification and elimination.

The metal has been removed from paint for fear children may consume lead-contaminated paint chips. Lead shot is now restricted for hunting -- waterfowl hunters must use inferior, more expensive shot to hunt. Manufacturers of fishing tackle in California must now include a caveat on lead sinkers: "Warning. This product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects and other reproductive harm."

About a year ago I read a piece in Insight magazine by Kelly Patricia O'Mera (March 2000), "Tungsten Bullets to Replace All Lead Ammo?"

"The Army's plan to use lead-free bullets is drawing criticism from Ballistics experts, while gun-rights activists see it as a scheme to make an end run around the Second Amendment." Actually the subtlety of the finesse would make Machiavelli smile.

Freshening up on their dialectics, the envirowacko R&D wonks are intent on creating a solution for a non-existent problem. Why? Most weapons experts aren't aware of any environmental problem as a result of the use of standard M-16 ammunition -- with the exception of victims actually shot.

Some want to blame buttinski busybodies at the Environmental Protection Agency for the ammunition switch. However, reportedly it was the Army's idea.

"The Department of the Army announced ... that it would begin issuing U.S. troops 'lead-free' bullets as part of a comprehensive program to move to 'green ammunition' in the 21st century." What?

Politically-correct ammunition with which to kill the enemy? This is a joke right?

Nope.

"The new M-16, 5.56mm, copper-jacketed bullets are the brainchild [more like brain flatulence] of the Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center in Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. A tungsten-tin composite is used to make these bullets rather than the standard lead core that has been used effectively for centuries. Critics of the new 'green' ammunition not only question the reasoning behind the change but, more importantly, are concerned whether the new bullets will do the job intended."

The "health-hazard assessments and potential for environmental consequences of tungsten alloys in bullets were studied and tungsten was found to be of no health risk," except to the potential targets that would be catching the stuff.

Here's the spin: "We're simply trying to be better stewards of the environment. ... If we know that one compound is more environmentally friendly than another, and we can make that material substitution, such as tungsten for lead, it's the right thing to do. The tungsten bullets showed to perform as well as the lead bullets. The soldier will notice no difference when he/she fires the lead-free bullets."

But here's the reality: Shawn Dodson, former technical consultant with the International Wound Ballistics Association and director of the Firearms Tactical Institute, a company based in Washington state that specializes in wound-ballistics research, was quoted by Insight saying, "It's a mistake to go to this new bullet ... it is inferior to its lead predecessor because of the way it is constructed." That is, "The new bullet stays completely intact. Basically you'll just be punching small holes in your enemy with far less serious wounds. We can see them using this bullet on the test range, but not as combat ammunition."

Ballistically speaking, "lead is the best material to make bullets, which is why we've been using it for more than 200 years."

So why make this change? Here's my take. You connect the dots:

"Then there is the matter of the nation's tungsten reserves and the cost of importing the heavy metal," as Insight observed. "While Congress often has been accused of micromanagement, that rarely is the case. Certainly lawmakers would have been very interested in the Army's ammunition changes if hearings had been held and Congress had been made aware that the United States has no tungsten reserves, a problem that could become a matter of national security."

Of course, this was another one of those Clinton regime time bombs planted to further undermine the long-term security of the nation.

Reportedly, the United States commercially uses nearly 20 million pounds of tungsten ore every year in products such as filaments for light bulbs, oil-drill bits, steel and automobiles. According to Insight (and this is from a year-old article), "About 83 percent of both the tin and tungsten being used in the United States is imported. The tin comes from Brazil, Indonesia -- and China, which is the world's largest producer of both tungsten and tin."

Hello? Another Clinton kiss to the ChiComs.

It's easy to plot where this could go. The Tungsten Finesse linked with the "Lead Bad" incrementalism results first in military weapons' longevity eroded. From there it's scarcity and/or elimination of lead ammunition, which means, in short, de facto gun control. With this phony environmental problem, the dialecticians are moving to erode our freedoms.