Amish prosecuted because scissors 'crossed state lines'

I have to admit that, other than noticing some
of the headlines in the mainstream media, I haven’t given much thought to
this case. As this author points out, the Amish beard-cutting case happened a
long way from where I live and, being a seemingly internal squabble within
the Amish community, didn’t seem to affect me or my family.

But in retrospect the flimsy justification
used by the government to insert itself into this matter is truly chilling.
Despite the headline, it was actually a Wahl hair clipper that was used in
the attacks. The governments justification? Although purchased locally (at
Walmart), the offending clipper was manufactured in another state and crossed
state lines before the eventual sale.

Think about it! Virtually anything that we buy
was made somewhere else before being delivered to whichever local outlet made
it available for sale. Therefore almost every item which we buy, if used in a
manner that is deemed illegal, is an open invitation for the federal
government to insinuate itself into the proceedings. Combine that with the
fact that the feds see almost anything which might be considered offensive to
someone (other than a white male of course) as a hate crime and we have a
recipe for disaster.

If you hold up a sign critical of a political
point of view for example, and someone seeing the sign feels offended by it,
you can be federally charged with a “hate crime” because that Magic
Marker you used to make the sign as well as the cardboard upon which you have
written were both made in another state.

In my opinion, it is far past time to reign in
the runaway federal government and it’s intrusion into every facit of our
daily lives. To allow our “public servents” to continue down this
path is to invite tyranny, like the proverbial vampire, into our homes. The
time to draw that line in the sand is now – even though it may very well be
too late!

— snip —

What does the federal hate crimes law inspired
by the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. have to do with an
internal dispute among the Amish in which the beards of men and the hair of
women were forcibly sheared?

— snip —

U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach, of the Northern
District of Ohio, argued in the indictment that the “Wahl battery-operated
hair clippers” used in the assaults “were purchased at Walmart and had
travelled in and affected interstate commerce in that they were manufactured
in Dover, Delaware.”

— snip —

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