Why is the ACLU (the American Civil Liberties Union) getting involved with the rights of enemy combatants and terrorists that live in foreign countries?
vraiblonde said:Why is the ACLU (the American Civil Liberties Union) getting involved with the rights of enemy combatants and terrorists that live in foreign countries?
SmallTown said:been discussed many times. They don't really care what the topic is, as long as they get their names in the papers and people are talking about them. Case in point: this thread.
vraiblonde said:Why is the ACLU (the American Civil Liberties Union) getting involved with the rights of enemy combatants and terrorists that live in foreign countries?
Seems to me that I recall that when the ACLU was formed, it was composed mostly of lawyers and law students. They made it their (STATED) business to use tort law (civil law) and some of the Constitution to ensure fairness in society. At that time, the overwhelming majority of cases they jumped on were about racial stuff. They used their legal capabilities as a weapon and may have been a catalyst in starting the trend of using lawsuits as a means of shaping society.vraiblonde said:I think it's interesting how these watchdog organizations (ACLU, UN, etc) always turn into these "roll over and bare your belly" organizations.
Some of the causes the ACLU takes up are just UFB to me. Terrorists? NAMBLA? People who are extremely offended by God? School kids with profanity on their t-shirts? Women who want to kill their children?
Who are these people, anyway, and where did they come from? Why do we care what they think? Why do they have any legitimacy whatsoever?
I'm just trying to figure out how this stuff happens - that some people get together and decide to form a group to protect predators and other bad people and basically throw the rest of us to the wolves. And they actually become a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Ken King said:Excellent post Larry.
I have to agree, great post. It has actually made me think of the ACLU differently.Ken King said:Excellent post Larry.
When did we get the right to avoid things we find distasteful?vraiblonde said:Oh what the hell - I"ll poke a pin in this love-fest.
While the ACLU is going to battle to defend a group's right to assemble and protest, they're not taking into consideration the rights of the rest of us to avoid that group's message.
What's the purpose of a bunch of Nazis marching through a Jewish neighborhood? To say "We hate you and want you to know it so here we are to legally rub it in your face."
Why doesn't the KKK hold their rallies in a building somewhere and put out flyers? Because the people that would attend those rallies aren't the ones the KKK wants to hear their message.
Why didn't Bush protesters rent a hall and hold a big "I Hate Bush" meeting there? Because they don't want to preach to the choir - they want to preach to the rest of us and force us to hear their message. Or at least be largely inconvenienced in order to avoid it.
While the ACLU is busy filing lawsuits on behalf of gays who want to teach at Bob Jones University and be Boy Scout leaders, they're ignoring the right of free association these groups are supposed to enjoy.
When they go to bat for some kid who was kicked out of school for wearing profanity on their t-shirt, they ignore the rights of the rest of the students to not have to be exposed to that kind of crap.
In trying to ensure that government and corporations don't abuse their power, the ACLU has grown powerful and become an abuser itself. Classic Communist cause and effect. It's how Castro got started.