Islamists have threatened a Christian Bishop in the Philippines… (H/T: UP Pompeii)

Philippine bishop reports receiving threat to convert to Islam

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — A bishop in the southern Philippines reported receiving a letter threatening him with harm if he does not convert to Islam or pay “Islamic taxes.”

Such brazenness in a country where over 86% of the population is Christian, 9% is Muslim and the remaining 5% is divided among various groups such as: Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, animists and non-believers.

Even if those who sent these letters are no more than common criminals who use religion as a mere tool, the fact that they chose to represent themselves as Muslims is in itself significant. But Muslim brazenness does not stop there, unfortunately, this one is far from an isolated case! Remember the kidnapped and murdered Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Mgr Faraj Rahho? What about the plight of Assyrian Christians in Iraq? What about the Sabian Mandaeans? Or the plight of Christians girls kidnapped in Nigeria by practitioners of the Religion of Peace? What about the treatment of Christian Copts in Egypt? Ot the threats against Western politicians like Geert Wilders or Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi? The list, gentle reader, goes on and on ad nauseum…

You may read the rest at: Freedom’s Cost

Kathy Shaidle reports that she and other bloggers are being sued by Richard Warman, a former member of Canada’s Human Rights Commission and frivolous lawsuit filer extraordinaire:

Canada’s busiest litigant, serial “human rights” complainant and — the guy Mark Steyn has called “Canada’s most sensitive man” — Richard Warman is now suing his most vocal critics — including me.

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Michelle Malkin has this story about a California court that has issued an outrageously harsh - and grotesquely incorrect - indictment against the practice of home-schooling.

From the LA Times:

“Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey

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Okay, civil libertarians, it’s about the time where the rubber hits the road. We’ve heard a lot of talk from some quarters about how our rights are being eroded right out from underneath us thanks to seven years of His Fascist Chimpitude. Now, I’ve yet to actually see one of these eroded rights, but I grant that they, like the Loch Ness Monster and Chessie, might well exist in some form or another.

Today, though, presents a far more solid target for our ire and action. Do we dare take the challenge as eagerly as some took the Patriot Act and the new FISA legislation?

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Commenter David in the E.J. Dionne and the Second Amendment thread:

I think that judicial activism is a very real phenomenon and not just some label.

The problem with judicial activism is that it completely undermines the rule of law. If a law just means what judges arbitrarily decide that it means then we are in big problems.

The US has led the way with judicial activism, but other parts of the world have followed suit. Unfortunately this has diminished the role of the law as a force which limits the power of the state.

In the European Union, for example, the European Court of Justice has frequently used its powers to extend the powers of the European institutions against member states. The ECJ is one of the major centralising forces in Europe.

Similarly the courts of many common law countries, such as Canada, the UK and Ireland have become much more activist in recent years.

Courts have become the modern equivalent of the arbitrary prerogative power of the monarch in medieval society.

The New York Times reports:

Keith Patton was driving home one night in February when police officers pulled over his red Ford Explorer for a traffic stop.

His license and insurance form were in his gym bag on the floor near the back seat. Under the bag was a .357 Magnum.

Mr. Patton, 51, an oil-field geologist, software tester and martial arts instructor from suburban Katy, told the police about the gun, which he said he had bought hours before from a co-worker for target shooting. Moments later, he was handcuffed and on his way to jail, facing a charge of unlicensed carrying of a weapon.

The arrest might have been routine elsewhere, but this is Texas, where a code rooted in the days of the highwayman recognizes the right of travelers to be armed, and the Legislature has repeatedly endorsed that principle.

The conflict has led to a legal standoff and a new effort by legislators to resolve the issue. It has also inspired an unlikely alliance between the gun lobby, which has long drawn support from the political right, and civil liberties advocates, long identified with the left, in defense of pistol-packing travelers.

And so, the ACLU and the NRA have “found common ground on self-defense as an endangered liberty.”

As a European, gun (rights) cases fascinate me tremendously. To us, Americans seem to be obsessed with their guns and it is difficult for most of us to understand why. Why are Americans so fond of their guns? many Europeans wonder. When one takes a look at U.S. history, and the role guns, personal freedom, etc. played in it, it becomes more understandable, but it continues to be fascinating.