Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 29, 2009
Kathleen Pastula, a mother of four from El Dorado, California, went to the local Sheriff seeking help with her drug-addicted daughter. Without cause she was arrested, shot with a Taser, stripped naked, and left to wallow in her own waste in an isolation cell.

In February 2008, Mrs. Pastula discovered that her daughter had illegally acquired a large quantity of Xanax, which she intended to trade for narcotics. Pastula sought to talk with the sheriff, only to be rudely rebuffed by a deputy. When the anxious mother persisted, the deputy seized her and shoved her face-first into the floor.

Pastula was then taken to a jail where she was shocked with a Taser, stripped naked, and left shivering in an isolation cell without access to medical treatment or a bathroom, or even a blanket.

Mrs. Pastula recently received a $127,000 settlement from El Dorado County, but no explanation regarding the reflexive criminal violence displayed by her local Sheriff?s Department.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 28, 2009

The likelihood of a U.S. military strike on Iran increased last week with the dramatic announcement from Washington of the discovery of a supposedly secret Iranian nuclear enrichment facility.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has all but demanded that the U.S. go to war with Iran. The Saudis ? who, as Sunni Muslims look on Iran?s Shi?ite Muslims as heretics and regional rivals ? have reportedly expressed support for an Israeli strike on Teheran?s nuclear facilities.

The supposedly secret Iranian nuclear facility has been known to Washington for several years. The CIA under George W. Bush was aware of it when it issued a National Intelligence EstimateNational Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran was ?less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have judged since 2005.?

Although Iran is ruled by a nasty regime, its nuclear activities are compatible with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which Israel, ironically, refuses to sign. Should the U.S. go to war with Iran in order to preserve Israel?s regional monopoly on nuclear weapons?

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 25, 2009

Now that an ambitious left-wing Democrat is in the Oval Office, conservatives may be willing to help undo some of the damage that was done to the Bill of Rights during the eight years of Bush?s misrule.

One good place to begin would be repealing the so-called USA PATRIOT act. Among the numerous abuses begotten by that odious measure is the increasingly common use of ?sneak and peek? or ?black bag? searches.

?Sneak and peek? searches are supposedly necessary as a way of investigating terrorist suspects. However, according to a July report by the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, of the 763 ?sneak and peek? applications filed in 2008, only three dealt in any way with terrorism. The others involved routine criminal investigations.

Conservatives are understandably alarmed to see Obama exercising the powers Bush accumulated. It?s a pity they didn?t have the minimal foresight necessary to oppose that expansion of power in the first place.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 24, 2009

Sibel Edmonds? given name is derived from a Greek term referring to an ability to see hidden truths. As a Turkish and Farsi translator for the FBI, Edmonds uncovered an extensive network of espionage and treason involving key American officials.

FBI intercepts translated by Edmonds laid bare the efforts of Israeli and Turkish intelligence operatives to buy classified information. Some of the American officials involved in this scandal provided detailed information about the exploitable weakness of their colleagues. Others sold classified information dealing with nuclear technology.

Edmonds also learned that elements of the U.S. government, working in cooperation with Turkish intelligence, were actively building the al-Qaeda terrorist network literally up to the eve of the 9-11 attack.

Among those implicated by Edmonds are former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, former high-ranking State Department official Marc Grossman, former Pentagon official Douglas Feith, and Bush administration adviser Richard Perle.

The government ruling us is rotting from the top down.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 23, 2009

The principle of interposition requires that public officials use their authority to protect their constituents from the designs of lawless men, whether they are common criminals or political leaders who abuse their authority.

Former Austin Police Officer Ramon Perez understood and acted on that principle in January 2005, when he refused an illegal order to shoot a frail elderly man with a Taser. The man was suspected of domestic abuse, and Perez took him into custody without subjecting him to an electric shock that might have killed him.

A few weeks later, Perez was subjected to a disguised ?fit for duty? review that determined his Christian beliefs regarding authority were incompatible with police work. He was removed from the force, and he filed a religious discrimination suit against his former superiors. However that suit turns out, Perez?s courage in applying the principle of interposition should be an inspiration to other honorable men in positions of public trust.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 22, 2009

When he won the Democratic nomination, Barrack Obama predicted that history would record that very moment as the point at which ?the planet began to heal.?

Although Mr. Obama has often lectured the rest of us regarding the need to reduce our individual carbon footprints, he and his wife pointedly exempt themselves from their own advice.

First Lady Michelle Obama recently decided to visit a farmer?s market next to the White House. For this excursion she was shuttled a block and a half in an armored limousine. Four streets and the metro station were shut down; three dozen vehicles ferried in police and Secret Service agents. Magnetometers were installed in the middle of the street. Official camera crews were deployed to capture the First Lady in a rustic setting.

?Considering all of this,? summarized Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, ?each tomato [Mrs. Obama] purchased had a carbon footprint of several tons.? And of course, we taxpayers foot the bill.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 21, 2009

At what point will the public decide it?s time to take the Tasers away from the police?

Tasers supposedly offer police a non-lethal alternative to firearms when dealing with suspects posing a danger to the public. However, they are frequently used to dispense summary punishment on non-violent subjects who display even momentary hesitation in carrying out police commands.

Children as young as six have been shot with Tasers, as have elderly people, pregnant mothers, pastors, and others who posed a serious threat to no one.

Police in Merced, California recently used a Taser to punish and humiliate a wheelchair-bound double-amputee named Gregory Williams, who was left handcuffed on the pavement with his pants pulled down below his waist. Williams was jailed for six days on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting arrest, but never formally charged.

It?s time to deprive the police of their little torture toy and train them to act like peace officers.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 18, 2009

South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson has become a hero to some, and a demon to others, for shouting ?You lie!? at Barrack Obama during the president?s recent address to Congress.

Mr. Obama is a politician, and it?s wise to assume that all politicians ? with the smallest possible number of exceptions ? lie about everything all the time. This is particularly true of presidents, who are encouraged to think that their will is law, and that their pronouncements are self-ratifying truth.

As a Republican loyalist, Wilson was able to contain his disapproval when Mr. Obama?s predecessor emitted a steady stream of documentable falsehoods about matters both foreign and domestic . Similarly, many Democrat partisans who condemned Mr. Bush?s lies were scandalized by a challenge to Mr. Obama?s integrity.

The official rules of the House forbid Congressmen to call the president a liarThe official rules of the House forbid Congressmen to call the president a liar. If Wilson?s outburst brings an end to that stupid and un-American guideline, some good will have been done.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 17, 2009

At all times and in all places, those entrusted with the power of government will work tirelessly to expand their power.

The United States Constitution, as unveiled on this date in 1787, is the most carefully and prayerfully created charter of government in human history. Yet few years passed before many of the same men who helped to create the framework of our republic began to ignore or circumvent constitutional provisions they found uncomfortably restrictive.

The estimable George Washington was rebuked by the Supreme Court for attempting to enforce an executive order as if it were a law enacted by Congress. John Adams signed a measure criminalizing criticism of his government. Jefferson?s Louisiana Purchase, boon though it was to the U.S. , was an unconstitutional act of executive power.

For a constitution to work, it must be written in the hearts of the people, who will enforce its restrictions and not place their confidence in the supposed wisdom of rulers.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 16, 2009

Last January 29, New Orleans resident Josh Wexler saw a police officer named William Torres run a red light and strike a pedestrian. When the victim protested, Officer Torres angrily seized the man, preparing to handcuff him.

Wexler stepped from his car and informed Torres that he had witnessed the entire scene, and that the officer had no right to arrest the victim. The pedestrian was freed, and Torres redirected his criminal rage at Wexler.

When Wexler wrote down the officer?s name and badge number, Torres bellowed: ?You want to write down my name?? and demanded Wexler?s license, registration, and insurance. ?I know how to harass,? Torres exclaimed as he wrote Wexler a spurious ticket for a seat belt violation.

In spite of being warned by an attorney that further retribution would follow, Wexler filed an official complaint. Whatever follows, Wexler?s principled resistance to police abuse is a sterling example of true citizenship.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.