Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 16, 2011

Like many other cities in California, San Juan Capistrano was settled by Catholic missionaries. The historic mission building that gave the city its name still exists today, and tourists who visit the site contribute a fair portion of the revenue on which the city government subsists. The same municipal government that indirectly profits from that long-shuttered house of worship is now extorting money from a couple as punishment for the supposed crime of holding prayer meetings in their own home.

Chuck and Stephanie Fromm hold Bible study sessions each Wednesday evening and Sunday morning. They also run a home-based business publishing Worship Leader magazine. Their 4,700-square foot home was built on a parcel of land that includes a corral, barn, pool, and sizeable back yard. While dozens of people assemble for the study meetings, parking is ample and the proceedings are meditative ? which means that there is no reason for anyone to complain about the noise.

Yet complain someone did, and now the city government has inflicted on the couple $200 in fines for failing to receive a ?conditional-use permit? to do something on their own property that no government has the authority to forbid or regulate.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 15, 2011

See if this story sounds familiar:

Alex Clemens of Alameda, California was getting ready for work at around 7:00 the morning of September 14 when he heard an insistent pounding on the front door of his home. When he opened the door he saw ?four guns raised at my face.?

Clemens was dragged out to the front lawn, and forced to the ground with his hands behind his back. The officers ? policemen from two local agencies and two FBI agents ? asked if there was anyone else in the home. Clemens replied that his wife, Priya David Clemens, was upstairs nursing the couple?s 7-month-old daughter. Mrs. Clemens, as it happens, is a correspondent for CBS News.

It turns out that the raid had targeted the individual who had sold the house to the Clemens family three months ago before moving across the street. That individual is 43-year-old San Ung, who was wanted on marijuana-related charges ? and who doesn?t much resemble Alex Clemens.

If this were a free country, police would nail down such details before snatching people from their home at daybreak. Then again, if this were a free country, the government wouldn?t be engaged in prohibition.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 14, 2011

Several years ago, Texas Governor Rick Perry issued an order compelling schoolgirls to undergo mandatory vaccinations with a dangerous STD drug called Gardasil. Chided in the recent presidential debate for receiving campaign contributions from the company that produced the vaccine, Perry insisted that he had received only a pittance: ?If you?re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I?m offended.?

As the Washington Post points out, ?campaign disclosure records portray a much deeper financial connection with Merck?. His gubernatorial campaigns, for example, have received nearly $30,000 from the drugmaker since 2000.? In addition, since 2006 Merck and subsidiary companies have given nearly $400,000 to the Republican Governor?s Association, where Perry built political support in anticipation of his White House bid.

Winston Churchill once asked Lady Astor if she would sleep with him for a million pounds. When she replied that she would, Churchill asked if she would consent for a pound. When the offended Lady Astor indignantly asked, ?What sort of woman do you think I am?? Churchill replied:

"I think we've established what sort of woman you are. Now we are just haggling over price."

We?ve established what kind of politician Rick Perry is.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 13, 2011

?As Americans, we refuse to live in fear,? insisted Barack Obama during a 9/11 memorial service. This would come as news to Shoshana Hebshi, a young mother who was arrested, handcuffed, and traumatized after a flight from Denver to Detroit simply because of her vaguely Arabesque looks.

Mrs. Hebshi, who is of mixed Arab and Jewish ancestry, was seated in the same row with two East Indian men whom she had never met prior to the flight. The two men, furthermore, had never met each other. Somebody on the flight ? either an air marshal practicing the crudest form of ethnic profiling, or a passenger doing the same thing ? was spooked and filed a report.

When the plane landed in Detroit, a contingent of paramilitary police carrying machine guns stormed the plane and seized Hebshi and the two men.

?The cops brought us to a parked squad car next to the plane, had us spread our legs and arms,? Mrs. Hebshi later recounted. ?Mine asked me if I was wearing any explosives.?
When the three were released, they were told that someone had reported that they were engaged in ?suspicious activity? ? when in fact they were simply of a suspicious color.

We can be free, or we can be fearful. We can?t be both.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 12, 2011

Once reserved only for exceptional situations involving hostage rescues, armed robberies, and barricaded gunmen, SWAT teams are now increasingly used for routine police calls.

It often seems as if police agencies actively seek for excuses to deploy SWAT teams. That impression is fortified by a recent essay in Tactical Response magazine, a specialized publication for SWAT and tactical team operators.

?SWAT teams, even the better ones, are going to make operations errors,? observes author Ed Sanow, a SWAT veteran himself. What this means, Sanow insists, is that rather than being used more judiciously, SWAT teams should be employed whenever possible ? which means, in effect, using the public as training tools.

?Stay active. Yes, I mean do warrant service and drug raids even if you have to poach the work,? writes Sanow. ?First, your team needs the training time under true callout conditions?. You need to train to fight.?

A SWAT team that needs to ?poach? work is one that has no reason to exist. SWAT operators anxious to ?fight? aren?t peace officers; they?re armed gangsters who need to be locked away, not unleashed on the public.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 9, 2011

It was about a quarter to nine in the evening, and Raleigh, North Carolina resident Lynwood Artis hadn?t eaten since breakfast. He grabbed a taco from a popular Tex-Mex restaurant and went to catch a bus.

Artis had discarded a beer can nearby.

?Why, Officer, if that beer were mine, I would be enjoying it with my meal,? Artis replied equably, turning his attention back to his taco. Seconds later, Rollins kicked Artis?s leg, and the victim heard a distinctive cracking sound, a noise that resulted from a severe fracture. He was handcuffed and arrested.

Roughly an hour and a half after being assaulted by Rollins, Artis was taken, by wheelchair, before a judge who demanded that the injured man stand while bond was set. Artis complained that he was unable to do so. Hit with a contempt citation, Artis spent the night in jail before he was able to receive medical attention. The initial charges were later dismissed when Officer Rollins didn?t even bother to appear in court.

Artis has sued the police department and the city, and a taxpayer-funded settlement will likely result. At some point, hopefully, uniformed bullies will have to start paying their own freight.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 8 2011

Jeremy Hill of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, shot and killed a grizzly bear that threatened his family. The Federal government threatened to prosecute him under the Endangered Species Act, a charge that could have sent him to prison. On September 7, Federal Attorney Wendy Olson announced that the Feds had dropped criminal charges against Hill

This wasn't done in recognition of Jeremy Hill's innocence, or as a gesture of supposed clemency (which isn?t necessary, since Hill didn?t commit a crime). Instead, it was a successful act of extortion: As part of a deal, Hill agreed his actions violated a regulation of the Endangered Species Act and paid a $1,000 fine.

This is exactly the resolution that had been sought by Idaho Governor C.L. ?Butch? Otter, who advised Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that ?prosecution [of Hill] may further damage community support for recovery efforts.?

The Federal government has no constitutional authority to claim land or regulate wildlife in Idaho. As Governor, Otter had the duty to protect Hill from the Feds ? even by expelling Federal prosecutors, if necessary. Instead, he chose to act as a collaborator, and the totalitarian Endangered Species Act remains a potentially lethal threat to Idaho residents.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 6, 2011

Last October, Donetta Foster was visiting the library in Decatur, Georgia in the company of her 14-month-old son. As the two of them reviewed a set of animal flash cards, the toddler?s delighted giggling began to annoy some of the other patrons. The mother, who was waiting to use a computer to prepare for a job interview, was approached by a security guard and asked to leave. When she protested, the library staff called the police, who forced her out and issued a warning citation for ?criminal trespass.?

Foster ? a single mother and college student struggling to improve her situation ? became frustrated when the police refused to listen to her side of the story. She admits that her reaction was loud and emotional, and she likewise concedes that she may have emitted an off-color remark or two. However, she did nothing to warrant the arrival of a half-dozen police cars and an arrest for ?disorderly conduct.?

Because a judge refused a request to drop the charges, Foster faces a trial on September 13 that could result in a year?s imprisonment away from the child who depends on her ? as punishment for behavior no rational human being would call a crime.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 6 2011

Despite the rampant abuse and institutionalized corruption that characterize the regime ruling us, most Americans still cherish the idea that the rule of law ? specifically, God?s law -- is at the center of our system of government. Those who presume to rule us, and those who do their bidding, see the world much differently.

?We?re the dark matter,? an unidentified Navy SEAL told Dana Priest and William Arkin of the Washington Post, referring to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). ?We?re the force that orders the universe but can?t be seen.?

Historian Nick Turse, who has spent years investigating covert military operations, describes JSOC as ?a clandestine sub-command? whose primary mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists and other enemies of the state.

The promise of America was a society built on the rule of law. The reality of contemporary America is a society founded on institutionalized murder without accountability or legal restriction.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 5, 2011

Is there any incumbent dictator who has not allowed his secret police to act as torture subcontractors for the CIA?

Human Rights Watch recently uncovered a trove of documents in the office of Moussa Koussa, former spy chief and foreign minister to Libyan dictator Muamar Qadaffi. The stash includes letters dealing with the capture and ?rendition? of people to Tripoli to be interrogated and tortured by Qadaffi?s secret police.

One document was a propaganda speech drafted for Qadaffi by the CIA and prepared for delivery during the 2003 Christmas season. That oration was intended to depict the dictator as an instrument of international peace: ?At a time when the world is celebrating the birth of Jesus, and as a token of our contributions towards a world full of peace, security, stability and compassion, the [Libyan revolutionary government] presents its honest call for a W.M.D.-free zone in the Middle East.?

Washington opened diplomatic relations with Qadaffi?s junta after the Libyan despot renounced nuclear weapons; a few years later, Washington launched a war to remove him from power. Other dictators examining those developments will now have an increased incentive to develop nuclear weapons.

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