Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:53 pm Posts: 20537 Location: The City Of Trees
I'm just curious about what everyone's feelings are on this organization. Ther prior support of NAMBLA is a bit concerning, but on the whole I've never had a huge problem with them.
Doing a quick browse on their website, the only major issue that I really disagreed with them on was affirmative action. (Put the abortion issue aside because I don't have a dog in that fight). There were a few minor votes here and there I think I disagreed with as well, but nothing huge.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
I'm a member.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
I was raised in the north, were the consenus was "they are a good thing" now i live in the south and everyone hates them. So I was raised to be thankful for them, but somethings they do remind of beating a dead horse.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
I applied to work for them.
They're a group that has a defined and highly principled reason for being and acting. There are times when you or I may find their clients to be distasteful, but if a person or group is being denied their constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, the ACLU will support them, and I have a great respect for that.
Conservatives seem to dislike the ACLU because they feel it's a liberal organization that supports all sorts of deviant and dangerous people. But IMO< the ACLU is a uniquely non-political organization. The fact that conservatives end up on the other side from the ACLU more often than not speaks more about the relationship of conservatives to the Constitution and civil rights than it does about the politics of the ACLU itself. The ACLU is the advocate of "civil liberties" regardless of who is specifically seeking the protections. One week it may be NAMBLA (which is a joke organization that half the members are undercover cops anyway), the next week it may American Nazis. Another time it may be someone seeking the right to preach their religion, the next it may be someone seeking the right to be free from that same person preaching their religion.
SInce I believe in teh bill of rights a hell of a lot more than I believe in any cause or person, I firmly stand behind the ACLU. The only time I get annoyed with them is when they support someone who it just looks really bad from a PR persepective. But I can't really complain about that because it's the fact that the ACLU will advocate for unpopular views and people that makes them a steadfast ally of civil liberties.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
Estranged wrote:
I can't stand the ACLU.
There should be a law against people saying shit like that.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:59 am Posts: 18643 Location: Raleigh, NC Gender: Male
Estranged wrote:
B wrote:
Estranged wrote:
I can't stand the ACLU.
There should be a law against people saying shit like that.
There should be a law against organizations such as the aclu existing.
Care to explain?
Quote:
The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty. We work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Our job is to conserve America's original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.
Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) and the Nineteenth Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920.
The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:
* Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state. * Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin. * Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake. * Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.
We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.
If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled.
The ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, Crystal Eastman, Albert DeSilver and others in 1920. We are nonprofit and nonpartisan and have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 400,000 members and supporters. We handle nearly 6,000 court cases annually from our offices in almost every state.
The ACLU has maintained the position that civil liberties must be respected, even in times of national emergency. The ACLU is supported by annual dues and contributions from its members, plus grants from private foundations and individuals. We do not receive any government funding.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:39 pm Posts: 3306 Location: 4336 miles west of St. Albans
Serjical Strike wrote:
Estranged wrote:
I can't stand the ACLU.
Care to elaborate?
I have done before.
For one, their support of organizations such as nambla and pedifilers completely disgusts me. Anyone or any group that stands up for their rights totally sickens me.
_________________ But if home is where the heart is
then there's stories to be told.
No you don't need a doctor
no one else can heal your soul.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:59 am Posts: 18643 Location: Raleigh, NC Gender: Male
Estranged wrote:
Serjical Strike wrote:
Estranged wrote:
I can't stand the ACLU.
Care to elaborate?
I have done before.
For one, their support of organizations such as nambla and pedifilers completely disgusts me. Anyone or any group that stands up for their rights totally sickens me.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
Estranged wrote:
Serjical Strike wrote:
Estranged wrote:
I can't stand the ACLU.
Care to elaborate?
I have done before.
For one, their support of organizations such as nambla and pedifilers completely disgusts me. Anyone or any group that stands up for their rights totally sickens me.
This is really for the general education of everyone on the board, but you do understand that the ACLU does not argue for the rights of people to have sex with children, right? They argue for the rights of these groups to create and distribute literature which deals with the subject.
Unless you think that Lolita ought to be a banned book, then I think you ought to try to get your facts about the ACLU from a news source that does not involve two people screaming at each other or the word "FOX".
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Let's not get confused and think that the ACLU is supporting the right of adults to have sex with children. When they supported NAMBLA, they were supporting the organization's right to FREE SPEECH, not free stick-your-dick-in-children-ing.
Free speech is a constutional right. for everyone. not just for people who's beliefs and actions we agree with.
_________________ Ringo: Wretched slugs, don't any of you have the guts to play for blood?
Doc: I'm your huckleberry.
For one, their support of organizations such as nambla and pedifilers completely disgusts me. Anyone or any group that stands up for their rights totally sickens me.
This is really for the general education of everyone on the board, but you do understand that the ACLU does not argue for the rights of people to have sex with children, right? They argue for the rights of these groups to create and distribute literature which deals with the subject.
Unless you think that Lolita ought to be a banned book, then I think you ought to try to get your facts about the ACLU from a news source that does not involve two people screaming at each other or the word "FOX".
oops, I guess you got there before me. good to see there is someone else with a logical head about them.
_________________ Ringo: Wretched slugs, don't any of you have the guts to play for blood?
Doc: I'm your huckleberry.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:39 pm Posts: 3306 Location: 4336 miles west of St. Albans
punkdavid wrote:
They argue for the rights of these groups to create and distribute literature which deals with the subject.
Unless you think that Lolita ought to be a banned book, then I think you ought to try to get your facts about the ACLU from a news source that does not involve two people screaming at each other or the word "FOX".
And these rights allow the door to be open to gain contact with children thru places such as their website they have or had.
And I'll watch what I want to watch. I heard about this on CNN Headline News and FOX. So, I don't need you up my ass telling me who and who not to watch. This is another thing I've been over. I'm very cautious of what news organizations I watch anyway. They ALL spew lies and all mislead their views all the time.
_________________ But if home is where the heart is
then there's stories to be told.
No you don't need a doctor
no one else can heal your soul.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
ACLU Statement on Defending Free Speech of Unpopular Organizations
August 31, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK--In the United States Supreme Court over the past few years, the American Civil Liberties Union has taken the side of a fundamentalist Christian church, a Santerian church, and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In celebrated cases, the ACLU has stood up for everyone from Oliver North to the National Socialist Party. In spite of all that, the ACLU has never advocated Christianity, ritual animal sacrifice, trading arms for hostages or genocide. In representing NAMBLA today, our Massachusetts affiliate does not advocate sexual relationships between adults and children.
What the ACLU does advocate is robust freedom of speech for everyone. The lawsuit involved here, were it to succeed, would strike at the heart of freedom of speech. The case is based on a shocking murder. But the lawsuit says the crime is the responsibility not of those who committed the murder, but of someone who posted vile material on the Internet. The principle is as simple as it is central to true freedom of speech: those who do wrong are responsible for what they do; those who speak about it are not.
It is easy to defend freedom of speech when the message is something many people find at least reasonable. But the defense of freedom of speech is most critical when the message is one most people find repulsive. That was true when the Nazis marched in Skokie. It remains true today.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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