Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 21, 2013

During the Bush presidency, a conservative filmmaker produced a documentary entitled ?Michael Moore hates America,? which accused the left-leaning director of undermining the national interest. Now that Barack Obama is facing political turmoil in his second term, Moore has redirected that accusation at critics of the incumbent president.

Moore was among the guests in a recent installment of Bill Maher?s HBO program Real Time, in which Maher ? one of Obama?s most slavishly devoted followers ? denounced Congressional Republicans as ?traitors.?

?At some point, obstruction becomes treason,? Maher smugly declared, insisting that Republicans were driven by hatred of Obama rather than principled opposition to his policies. Moore was eager to elaborate on Maher?s charge, insisting that ?these conservatives and right-wingers ... for as much as they say they love this country, they hate it.?

It?s clear that many if not most Republican Congressional leaders act out of partisan motives, rather than out of constitutional principle. The same is true of congressional Democrats, as well. Both factions demand deference when in power, and accuse their opponents of disloyalty to the country when they confront opposition. Both factions are blinded by partisan self-interest and have very short and selective memories when they find themselves on the short end of the political equation.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 20, 2013

Ever since Adam tried to avoid answering a direct question by re-directing blame at his wife, human beings have done everything we can to evade responsibility for our transgressions. This is a universal failing, of course, but like every other human weakness it is dramatically magnified by political power ? as the childish behavior of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford illustrates.

Recently, a video materialized that appeared to show Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine, something for which residents of his city are routinely arrested and sent to prison. Rather than publicly confronting the accusations, Mayor Ford went into hiding ? allowing his brother Doug, a City Councilor, to deflect criticism. Meanwhile, the compromising video is reportedly being shopped around to media outlets by people who are involved in drug trafficking.

Augustine warned that a man has as many masters as he has vices. Men who are prone to vice have no business offering themselves to be public servants, especially if the position they seek entails prosecuting the vices of other people. When public officials leave themselves compromised by their immoral conduct, they should immediately admit their failings and resign ? rather than hiding and pretending that the problem will disappear. But that course of action would require character, something rarely seen among politicians.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 17, 2013

On May 16, the Homeland Security Department raided the Boise home of an Uzbek national named Fazluddin Kurbanov, who has been accused of providing material support to an organization called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). As headline bait, the Feds also charged Kurbanov with possessing components of a ?weapon of mass destruction,? which in this case appears to be a small improvised explosive.

Although the IMU is listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization, it has never been a threat to the United States.

The IMU is a Muslim insurrectionary group that seeks the overthrow of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, a Communist holdout who is sustained in power by secret police who were trained by the KGB. In recent years, Washington has used Karimov?s secret police as subcontractors for the CIA, sending detainees to Uzbekistan to be tortured in Soviet-created dungeons. The IMU is considered a terrorist group because it wants to overthrow a dictator Washington supports.

The IMU is a dangerous and violent group. The same may be true of Mr. Kurbanov. But as is usually the case, the people Washington supports are even worse.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 16, 2013

Sometimes the most unpleasant and important truths are disclosed in unintended ways.

Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights activist, is the head of the legal group Reprieve, which documents abuses inflicted on detainees at theGuantanamoBayprison camp. In a letter to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Smith reported that several detainees ? among them British citizens such as Shaker Aamer ? have been required to undergo invasive body cavity searches before being permitted to meet with their lawyers.

Those conversations do not take place face-to-face, but rather by telephone through a transparent barrier. There is no danger to the lawyers. Smith describes this requirement as a pretext ? a means of punishing prisoners who are seeking legal counsel. Wrote Smith: ?The prisoners do not need to be sexually assaulted in order to be taken to a telephone to talk to their lawyer.?

Speaking on behalf of military officials atGuantanamo, Lt. Col. Samuel House denied that the searches are abusive.

According to House, the searches imposed on Gitmo detainees ?are conducted with clothes on, similar to pat-down searches conducted by an airport security screener.?

Doesn?t this mean that it is standard operating procedure for TSA screeners to treat innocent American air travelers as if they were Gitmo detainees?

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 14, 2013

In November 2010, 17-year-old Utah resident Tamsen Reid was stopped by former Box Elder County, Utah, Sheriff?s Deputy Scott Womack. She and her two friends were told to get out of the car, stand barefoot in the snow, and submit to an invasive search. Womack told them to lift their shirts and expose their breasts so he could search for tattoos and body piercings.

Reid was singled out for special attention. Womack told her to get in the back of his patrol vehicle, remove her clothes, and spread her legs so he could inspect her for an intimate tattoo. When the teenager refused, Womack warned her that she could either submit or be taken to jail. She relented as far as removing her clothes, but she refused to undergo a mock gynecological inspection.

Reid was one of at least eight women who were molested by this opportunistic predator in uniform during a period of more than a year. The deputy?s behavior was nothing less than felonious aggravated sexual assault. Yet prosecutors have allowed Womack to plead guilty to three counts of attempted custodial sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor offense. This means he would avoid prison ? and keep his law enforcement certification intact.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 13, 2013

Rita Hutchens is a 57-year-old quilt artist from Sandpoint, Idaho. Until two years ago, she had never experienced trouble with the police. After checking on a rental property, Rita was followed home by an officer who assaulted her and arrested her without cause. The resisting and obstructing charge against Rita was thrown out of court by a judge who recognized that there was no legal cause for the police officer to be on Rita?s property or lay hands on her.

Rita filed a damage claim with the City ofSandpoint, which rejected it. So she filed notice of her intention to sue the city in federal court. While researching public records at City Hall, Rita was harassed by city officials. In frustration, she threw down a ballpoint pen, which ricocheted off a table and hit a deputy clerk in the arm. This incident led to an entirely spurious charge of battery to be filed against Rita. She is now enduring a campaign of undisguised harassment and persecution from city and county officials that has included a midnight police raid on her home and an order that she undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

All of this is happening inSandpoint,Idaho, not Soviet Russia ? although it?s becoming difficult to tell them apart. 

Liberty Minute for April 11 2013

Most adults are equipped with a mental inhibitor that prevents them from making foolish statements when addressing large groups of people. Vice President Joe Biden is famously free of such hindrances, and he is unburdened by a sense of irony.

During an April 9 speech on gun control at the White House, Biden referred mockingly to what he called the ?Black Helicopter Crowd? for opposing universal background checks on firearms purchases. According to Biden, there would be ?No way that Uncle Sam can go find out whether you own a gun because we?re about to really take away all your rights and you?re not going to be able to defend yourself and we?re going to swoop down with Special Forces folks and gather up every gun in America.?

Biden didn?t mention that every day in the U.S. there are, on average, about 220 SWAT raids carried out by police units who are trained by Special Forces operators and equipped by the Pentagon. Most of them target people suspected of non-violent ? and usually trivial ? narcotics offenses. Nearly all of them involve gun confiscation. And as both a Senator and Vice President, Biden has been a key architect of that federal war against the American public.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

April 10, 2013

Oklahoma political activist Al Gerhart has been charged with two felonies for sending what was described as ?threatening? e-mails to a member of the state legislature. Gerhart warned Republican State Senator Cliff Branan that he would ?make you the laughingstock of the Senate? if he didn?t seek to pass an education bill. Gerhart, who founded the Sooner Tea Party group, promised that ?We will dig into your past, your family, your associates and once we start on you there will be no end to it. This is a promise.?

Brenan contacted the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, which arrested Gerhart on charges of blackmail and violating the Computer Crimes Act. If convicted, he could spend up to five years in prison. A judge released Gerhart on $15,000 bail and imposed a restraining order requiring him to stay at least 1,000 feet from the politician or his family.

Every "law" enacted constitutes a threat to the person and property of those who live within the territory over which the legislature claims jurisdiction. We are told that we have to submit or lose what freedoms we enjoy -- or even our lives. But only promises of political retaliation against those who presume to rule others can be prosecuted as a form of "blackmail."

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

April 9, 2013

Touting a recent study by a left-leaning think thank called the Center for American Progress, the liberal media site Think Progress claims that refusal to enact restrictive gun laws constitutes a threat to ?officer safety.? They refer to Louisiana as a state that ?exemplifies the real risk weak gun laws pose ? not only to residents, but also to the men and women charged with protecting them.? 

Significantly, the view that so-called weak gun laws endanger the lives of police doesn?t seem to be shared by many police officers.

 A survey of 15,000 active-duty police officers  conducted on behalf of PoliceOne.com found that nearly all of them ? 95 percent ? said that a federal ban on high-capacity ammo magazines would not reduce violent crime. Seventy-one percent said that a federal ban on so-called assault weapons would likewise be useless as a crime reduction measure ? and twenty percent said that it would actually have a negative effect on reducing violent crime.

Most interesting is the fact that 85 percent of these active-duty police officers said that enactment of the White House?s gun control measures would have ?a zero to negative effect on their safety.?

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

April 8 2013

For political progressives, there is no such thing as other people?s money ? or other people?s children. People who espouse that ideology believe that an artifact they call ?the community? collectively owns property and exercises control over children. This evil conceit was recently put on display by Melissa Harris-Perry, host of a weekend program on MSNBC and a professor of political science at Tulane University.

In a recent installment of the network?s ?Lean Forward? ad campaign, Harris-Perry stated:

 ?We have never invested as much in public education, because we?ve always had a sort of private notion of children ? your kid is yours, and totally your responsibility. We haven? had a very collective notion of, `These are OUR children? [W]e have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents ? and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.?

It?s significant that Harris-Perry, a devout proponent of abortion, has referred to the unborn child as a ?thing? that will, at some unspecified point, turn ?into a person? with ?economic consequences? for the ?community.? She doesn?t consider a child as an individual endowed with rights, but rather as the collective property of society to be used as its self-appointed rulers see fit.

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