On July 1, 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) of the United Nations opened its doors in The Hague, ready to hear, file and investigate complaints alleging human rights abuses, genocide and crimes against humanity on the part of any of its member nations whether signatories to the ICC treaty or not, including members of the globetrotting U.N. peacekeeping forces.

Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russell Feingold (D-WI) and the media have promoted their campaign finance "reform" bill (McCain-Feingold [S. 27] and Shays-Meehan [H.R. 2356]) as the solution to a "broken system" riddled with "too much money in politics." They also say that big, powerful, moneyed interests have a pervasive, vested interest in government that is detrimental to the public good.

You may not agree with every expression or thought written by Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist and syndicated journalist Vin Suprynowicz, but if you are a libertarian or a true conservative (and/or constitutionalist), you will cheer and applaud his astonishing, eye-opening new book, "The Ballad of Carl Drega: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1994 to 2001."

But I warn you, if you are a bed-wetting, bleeding-heart liberal with a penchant for statism, socialism, collectivism, authoritarianism, welfarism or any of the associated modern "isms" --- beware!

Georg Hegel (1770-1831), the father of dialectical idealism, which Karl Marx transmogrified and misappropriated as dialectical materialism, lamented that what we learn from history is that man does not learn its lessons! Despite what we have learned about the deleterious effects of draconian gun control in other countries, particularly during the last bloody century, politicians with authoritarian leanings, mostly Democrats but also some Republicans, continue to beat the drums calling for more gun control.

Dennis Farney's "Why Two Doctors Still Value Their Guns, Knowing the Toll" (page one, Dec. 13) was a poignant piece of reporting. The shooting tragedy notwithstanding, Drs. Kelly and Borkon represent the naivete of many Americans who still believe the Second Amendment is about hunting. It's not. It's about the right to protect yourself and your family, and even more importantly -- preserving freedom.