End the War on Freedom

# I got a pair of Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2 snow tires for my Civic last week. Tested them out on snow and ice over the weekend. They made a snowy surface feel like bare pavement. And I didn't even get the studs. Wikipedia says that Hakkapeliitta "was the name given in Germany to the Finnish horsemen of King Gustav II Adolph of Sweden." To me, it means "damn good snow tire."

# Gilmore v. Gonzales - Gilmore Heads to the Ninth - John Gilmore gets an oral hearing in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco this Thursday, December 8th at 9am. He invites supporters to fill the public gallery. [picks]

At stake is nothing less than the right for all Americans to travel freely in their own country without 'papers'.

# Doug Newman - Just Ignore the ACLU - Mr. Newman proposes that Christians follow in the footsteps of their brothers and sisters throughout the world and throughout history who have disobeyed the "law" and practiced their religion. Bravo! [smith2004]

The next time the ACLU prevails on a federal court to declare some public expression of Christianity unconstitutional, the defendants in the case should just ignore them.

Yes, just ignore them.

I was at a bible study the other evening when someone suggested that we could really hack off a lot of folks at the ACLU if we each sent them a Christmas card. Oh, how they hate the very mention of His Name! Perhaps I take things too seriously, but I did not think this was that funny.

It is not the fault of the ACLU that our religious freedoms are evaporating in this country. It is the fault of Christians who obey all the restrictions placed on their religious freedom by the courts at the behest of the ACLU. It is not the fault of the ACLU that liberal judges legislate from the bench. It is the fault of all the Christians who treat these court decisions as actual laws.

If some federal judge told you to do 75 pushups, would you just obey? Or would you say, "I don't think so. Where do you get off ordering me around like this?"

# Robert Higgs at LewRockwell.com - Traveling Sheep - the only purpose of the Taking Scissors Away gauntlet at the airports is to turn once-proud Americans into compliant sheep. [lew]

Two years ago, in an assessment of the new federal airport-security arrangements published in the San Francisco Chronicle, I noted that it "routinely abases and humiliates the entire population, rendering us docile and compliant and thereby preparing us to play our assigned role in the Police State that the Bush administration has been building relentlessly." In the light of what I have observed since making that observation, I cannot help but believe now that I was barking up the right tree then.

# Robert Greenslade at The Price of Liberty - The Victims of the Public School System Guide to the Bill of Rights - Mr. Greenslade reminds us of the preamble to the Bill of Rights, to wit, "THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution." The Bill of Rights neither establishes nor protects any "Constitutional rights". It imposes implicit restrictions on the power of the federal government, restrictions that are routinely ignored today. He rewrites the Bill of Rights with the intent of the preamble included in each amendment. Here are the first four:

Article I. Congress is expressly denied the power to enact any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Article II. Because a well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a free State, the federal government is expressly denied the power to infringe the people's right to keep and bear Arms. (Footnote 1)

Article III. The federal government is expressly denied the power to quarter any Soldier in any house, in time of peace, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, except in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article IV. The federal government is expressly denied the power to infringe the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the federal government is expressly denied the power to issue Warrants, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.