MAYFIELD, Ky. (The Blaze/AP) — A group of Amish men were sent to jail in western Kentucky Thursday for refusing to pay fines for breaking a state highway law that requires their horse-drawn buggies to be marked with orange reflective triangles. This is not the first time this has happened, however. The men have a religious objection to the bright orange signs, which they say are flashy and conflict with their pledge to live low-key and religious lives. Ananias Byler, the first of 10 Amish men who appeared in Graves County District Court on Thursday, was sentenced to 10 days in jail. The men were jailed for being found in contempt of court for refusing to pay fines. Byler told Judge Deborah Crooks Thursday that he would not pay the $489 he owes. “I totally understand your objection,” the judge told Byler. “But you’re in violation, and it’s not up to me to change the law. It doesn’t really matter what I think about any of this.” The men belong to a conservative breakaway group of Amish known as Swartzentruber. They live simply, with no electricity, plumbing or appliances. But in recent years they have been running afoul of the law here for refusing to use the triangles on their buggies, and some were sent to jail last year. The Amish men, wearing long dark coats on a snowy day in Mayfield, removed their black wide-brimmed hats before entering the courtroom. They sat quietly until their names were called. Jacob Gingerich said he and the other men will continue to refuse to pay the fines. Gingerich owed more than $600 and was sentenced to 13 days in jail Thursday. “We’re just not going to pay,” Gingerich, a farmer with 12 children, said before the court appearance. Their sentences ranged from three to 13 days for fines ranging from $153 to $627. Serving the jail time will clear their fines off the books, at a rate of about $50 a day. County Jailer Randy Haley said the men were staying together Thursday in a large holding cell. They will wear special dyed jail uniforms because they object to the orange jumpsuits, he said. The men also asked that they not be submitted to mug shots, and Haley said he agreed. The issue over the orange triangles has come up before in other states with Amish populations. Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania have allowed exemptions for the Swartzentrubers, and courts in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan have sided with them. But police and prosecutors in Kentucky say the orange triangles are the law because they help motorists see the buggies and avoid collisions. “You get behind one of the buggies at night, you can’t see it,” Graves County Sheriff DeWayne Redmon said. “We’re citing them for their own safety as well as the safety of others.” Gingerich and two other Amish men, with help from the Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, have sued over the state highway law, saying it infringes on their religious freedom. The Kentucky Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case later this year after the state appeals court rejected the Amish men’s argument in June. Gingerich said Thursday that he wished the judge would have waited for the state Supreme Court to hear the case before throwing the men in jail. Kentucky lawmakers are considering changes to the highway law to allow the Amish to use gray reflective tape instead of the orange triangles. Of Kentucky’s 120 counties, Graves County has recorded the most violations for failure to use the orange triangles in the last five years, according to data obtained by The Associated Press. The county has recorded 57 of a total of 89 violations statewide since 2007.
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Amish Men Jailed for Refusing to Mark Horse-Drawn Buggies with Orange Reflective Signs
An interesting review, from Yascha Mounk, at Wall Street Journal , ” A Continent’s Discontents .” Mounk reviews Walter Laqueur, After the Fall: The End of the European Dream and the Decline of a Continent . And Mounk writes: Like Mr. Laqueur, our current doomsayers are very good at portraying the scale of the threats we face. They may be vindicated sooner than we’d like. Even so, none of them have made a definitive case for all-encompassing pessimism. If the West does experience a steep loss of status, the resultant adjustments will be painful. But so long as we retain enough defensive capability to thwart outside meddling and enough economic productivity to take advantage of living and trading in a richer world, we might be able to weather our decline rather better than expected. After all, the law of comparative advantage reminds us that, because free trade allows us to profit from increased productivity elsewhere, a relative loss of standing need not mean an absolute decline of living standards. In that sense, the embattled dream that most Europeans truly care about might not be such a bad model for Europe’s—and indeed America’s—future after all. I don’t think Mounk’s read Mark Steyn’s, After America: Get Ready for Armageddon . Europe is covered quite well there, and you can’t get more pessimistic — doom!!
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Europe’s Gloomy Prospects
Well, somewhere in between bourbons, bon bons, and blog posts, I’m finding time to read one of the books I received for Christmas, Martin Gilbert’s, The Story of Israel . I’ll read more today and I’ll also try to make it out to the movies with my boys. More on all of this later…
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‘The Story of Israel: From Theodor Herzl to the Roadmap for Peace’
Well, somewhere in between bourbons, bon bons, and blog posts, I’m finding time to read one of the books I received for Christmas, Martin Gilbert’s, The Story of Israel . I’ll read more today and I’ll also try to make it out to the movies with my boys. More on all of this later…
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‘The Story of Israel: From Theodor Herzl to the Roadmap for Peace’
There’s a controversial Kentucky law on the books that requires all homeland security documents to recognize mankind’s dependence on God. The 2006 state law, some say, is more reminiscent of a Middle Eastern theocratic proclamation than it is a Western legal mandate. The regulation was put into place by State Rep. Tom Riner, a Democrat from Louisville and a Southern Baptist minister. He put the contentious “Almighty God” language into law without much fanfar. But now, years after it was enacted, the clamor is intensifying. Edwin Kagin, an atheist who is leading the legal charge against the law, says, “It’s outrageous.” Kagin contends that the regulation is unconstitutional by both Kentucky and the federal government’s standards. He claims that the state is forcing religion on its residents and on a federal agency. “The Constitution states that there shall be no attempt by the government respecting an establishment of a religion and that’s precisely what (the law) is doing,” Kagin said. “What if the law said we cannot be safe without reliance on Allah, perhaps, or the flying spaghetti monster or anything you could come up with?” he continued. “A law such as this is a step toward establishing a theocracy in our state.” While some may see Kagin’s views on the matter as a bit excessive, others say the law’s elements are uncommon. The state’s Department of Homeland Security, for instance, is required to prominently display a plaque that reads, ”The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.” And the department’s literature, too, must pledge the same allegiance to a higher power. Watch for more, below: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Riner (who’s also a Baptist minister) doesn’t agree with Kagin’s feelings on the matter and he believes that the state is acting within its legal bounds. ”The safety and security of the state cannot be achieved apart from recognizing our dependence upon God,” Riner recently told Fox News. “We believe dependence on God is essential…What the founding fathers stated and what every president has stated, is their reliance and recognition of Almighty God, that’s what we’re doing,” he continued. He holds the Declaration of Independence up as the inspiration for the regulation. ”In that document, it sets forth the need for men to understand that our protection, our rights come from God, not government,” Riner said. ”Trusting God is our heritage. We will not surrender that heritage, which is a heritage of looking to Almighty God for His blessing.” Legal action first began back in 2008 after a news report about the law was published. Atheists won the first court battle in 2009, when Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate took their side . Then, a three-judge appellate reversed this decision during the last round of legal sparring back in October. These judges found that the law does not violate the constitution. The coalition against the regulation, which includes American Atheists, a well-known non-profit atheist group, is planning to appeal the decision. What do you think? Does the Kentucky law go too far? Take the poll, below: Does the Kentucky ‘God’ law go too far? (H/T: Fox News )
Newt Gingrich as well as Herman Cain when he was still in the race (yet oddly, not Michele Bachmann) have drawn criticism for selling books while campaigning. Many saw it as a way for the candidates to simply advance media careers or make money off running for president. Gingrich is continuing to sell books. It’s the only item on his agenda for Friday, according to the New York Times. But he says it’s simply because he’s enlightening American minds. Mr. Gingrich said that book sales, far from a distraction, effectively conveyed his views and values. They are “the cultural wing of what we’re doing,” he said in an interview. “I am a cultural teacher, with a political campaign to change a government. And that’s how I see myself.” Who buys that? For $25 per copy, you can.
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Gingrich continues selling books because he‘s a ’teacher’
I’m reading Archie Brown’s book, which I enthusiastically recommend for your holiday gift giving. See the link at Amazon . And the Telegraph review is here: ” Simon Heffer praises a book by Archie Brown that strips away the romance of communism .” And more: Shop Amazon’s Holiday Book Deals .
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The Rise and Fall of Communism
(Photo: GeekoSystem)
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Ironic? ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Author Allows Digital Publication
And, ICYMI, the interview with Eminem, at GQ ‘s, ” Survivors Music Portfolio “: The current Mathers narrative revolves around his triumph over a nasty addiction to prescription meds. It’s not a touchy subject: Within minutes, he introduces the topic, explaining how he used to drink and pop pills to get through his concerts. “I’m very much a creature of habit,” he says, picking up his Red Bull. “If I’m used to waking up in the morning and having one of these, I could do it every morning for the next ten years straight until I find something else to move on to. So if I’m used to taking a Vicodin when I wake up in the morning because I’m hungover from drinking or taking pills…” He trails off. “The bigger the crowd, the bigger my habit got.” Mathers says you can trace the arc of his addiction by listening to his albums: He was more or less sober writing the white-trash party that was The Slim Shady LP (1999); he credits experimentation with drugs for taking his music to unexpected places on The Marshall Mathers LP (2000); with The Eminem Show (2002), he struck the perfect balance—a potent mix of punch-line raps and intensely biographical material. Then the balance tipped: His fourth album, Encore, was his weakest, and it took him two years to complete because of his addiction to pills. “Five or six songs leaked from the original version of Encore,” he says. “So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them. In my head I was pissed off: ‘Oh well. Songs leaked. Fuck it. I’m just going to take a bunch of fucking pills and go in there and have a party with myself.’ I’m sure the more pills I took, the goofier I got.” He’s a little hazy about that time, when he was taking, by his own account, somewhere between sixty and ninety pills a day, including Valium, Vicodin, Ambien, and Seroquel (used to treat schizophrenia). “Ambien,” he says, “ate a hole through my brain.” He thinks he went to rehab in 2005, but don’t hold him to that. Like I said, it’s a little hazy. Rehab was not a safe space for Eminem. “Look,” he says, “every addict in rehab feels like everyone’s staring at them. With me? Everyone was staring at me. I could never be comfortable. There were people there that treated me normal. Then there were a bunch of fucking idiots who aren’t even concentrating on their own sobriety because they’re so worried about mine. They’re stealing my hats, my books—it was chaos. Everything was drama in there. And at the time, I didn’t really want to get clean. Everybody else wanted me to. And anyone will tell you: If you’re not ready, nothing is going to change you. Love, nothing.” He left rehab pissed off and heavily burdened with what he calls “woe is me”—and started popping pills again. It nearly killed him. “I came to in the hospital and I didn’t know what the fuck happened,” he says. “Tubes in me and shit, fuckin’ needles in my arms. I didn’t realize I had [overdosed]. I wanted my drugs—get me the fuck outta there! I think I was clean for two weeks. I was trying so hard—I was trying to do it for my kids—but I just wasn’t ready.” What finally got him clean after a second relapse wasn’t his kids or his coma or even hip-hop. This time he really thought he was going to die. “I had a feeling in my arm that was weird, man,” he says. “Like, it really freaked me out. So I went to some people I trust and said, ‘Look, I know I need help. I’m ready now.’ I got a room in the same hospital where I overdosed, and I detoxed.” More here: ” The Survivors: Eminem .”
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‘Love The Way You Lie’
A thoughtful look a the philosophical differences between the two populist movements that were created in response to America’s struggling economy: The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street h/t Ben Shapiro at Encounter Books
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Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street
