200 Years Of Greatness
Just where would we be had Abe Lincoln not fought so hard to preserve these United States and give meaning to the ideal of equality under the law. While Lincoln may not have had a perfect record on issues of racial equality, there can be no doubt that the actions and oratory of the Great Emancipator set in motion the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, the very foundations of our modern civil rights laws. While I am sure that we all would be fighting hard for equality even if Lincoln had never been born, his life and achievements have certainly made that task easier.
Charles Darwin has also become an important figure in the fight for civil liberties. While the theory of evolution does not raise First Amendment issues, those who have fought so hard to keep public school students from even being exposed to Darwin’s teachings have consistently found themselves frustrated by the constitutional prohibition against the establishment of religion. For over 80 years, the ACLU has been in courthouses and legislatures, pushing back against those who have opposed and undermined the teaching of evolution in science classes. Every decade provides us with fresh opportunities to fight for upholding the First Amendment against those who seek to inject religion into the curriculum of our public school science classrooms.
And it is not just the principles associated with Lincoln and Darwin that should be remembered. Both of them used words in powerful ways to advance the ideas they believed in. They were masters of the art of using powerful writing to change people’s minds and hearts.
And finally, there is one more reason to be celebrating today. I will be taking great pleasure knowing that those who oppose us when we fight for equality and religious liberty and state are being unhappily reminded by this 200th anniversary that they have been and continue to be on the wrong side of history and progress.
Feb 15th, 2009 at 4:40pm
Our political system was a revelation in 1776. Before indoor plumbing, before toilet paper, before corporations took over the majority of natural resources, before lobbyists, before ... the National Security Agency.
I propose that we the people elect “State elected doctors of science” as representatives to lead the National Security Agency (NSA). As such, their job would substantially be to Ethically monitor and guide the various factions of our Government so as to consistently make broad-based ethical decisions.
Ethically Eliminate ALL Political Corruption:
http://eliminate-all-corruption.pbwiki.com
O ur political STRUCTURE must keep pace with our government's corrupting influences.
In an ethical environment, Freedom and Security are NOT mutually exclusive.
Feb 15th, 2009 at 10:58pm
Ironic how it is that the All Crap Loser Union will defend the rights of terrorists combatants, but when one American Citizen is turned down for a job because of the color of his skin not one thing can be done because the All Crap Loser Union only will take up the rights of those who have the right viewpoint, which is only the All Crap Loser Union viewpoint (which is WRONG by the way).
True story I still have the letter that states "I am the wrong ethnic group" even though I was more qualified, so therefore any garbage you spill out is CRAP and should be treated as such, I am surprised that this organization still exists as far as I can tell you are anti-american, but I'm certain that you do enjoy Government kickbacks all the while you kick dirt into the faces of those who truly make America great. To paraphrase another All Crap Loser the All Crap Loser Union is the worst people in the wwwwoooorrrrrrrrlllllddd.
Feb 21st, 2009 at 4:19pm
On March 6, 2009 the Women's Rights Law Reporter, the nation's first legal journal devoted to gender rights, will hold a symposium exploring the intersections of gender and terrorism entitled "The Gender Dimensions of Terrorism: How Terrorism Impacts the Lives of Women." The Symposium will feature a morning keynote from Susan N. Herman, President of the American Civil Liberties Union, and an afternoon keynote by Professor Karima Bennoune, Professor at Rutgers School of Law – Newark and Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan Law School. The Symposium is free and open to the public and will take place at the Rutgers Center for Law and Criminal Justice, 123 Washington St., Newark, NJ 07102 from 9:30am to 4pm.
The Symposium will also include three panel discussions. The first panel will attempt to define terrorism and guide the discussion throughout the day and the following two panels will discuss the impact of terrorism on women’s rights and the ways in which women are involved in terrorism.
Panelists discussing definitions of terrorism will include Tom Parker, Policy Director for Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Human Rights at Amnesty International – USA; Beverly Gage, Assistant Professor, U.S. History, Yale University; Vince Warren, Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights; and Ahmed Bulbulia, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University. Panelists discussing how terrorism impacts women's rights will include Rhonda Copelon, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law; Jasmin Zine, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University; Amina Jamal, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal; and Dr. Maliha Chishti, Professor, Ryerson University. The final panel, on women involved in terrorism, will feature Professor Mia Bloom, author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror; Dr. Margaret Gonzalez-Perez, Professor, Political Science, Southeastern Louisiana University; Paige Eager, Professor, Hood College; and Farhana Ali, former International Policy Analyst with the RAND Corporation and current senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies on Terrorism.
Please RSVP by emailing WRLR.symposium@gmail.com. Those interested can also visit http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~wrlr/Symposium.html for more information.
Mar 3rd, 2009 at 3:30pm
I can't believe all the left wing, liberal, communist loving pigs that belong to the ACLU.
I just heard there was a contest to rename the ACLU.
Here are two:
ACLU - Anti-Christian Liberal Union
ACLU - American Communist Liberal Union
I wonder if OBAMBA is a card carrying ACLU member.
Mar 28th, 2009 at 12:31am
I don't understand. I do not agree with the bloggers who call the ACLU ugly names. But I don't understand why it is okay to refuse any religious speech--primarily Christian speech--in our schools and then say that you are promoting religious freedom. I'm not suggesting promoting religion, but how can you free something you are prohibiting?
Apr 29th, 2009 at 1:25pm
Which country are you fighting for?
It isn't the UNITED States of America.
If it were you would be working to unite us instead of tearing us apart.
May 1st, 2009 at 4:26am
Oh Rhonda, give me a huge break! It's people like you that voted in this so called "messiah that will unite the united states." All the while insulting us to other countries. The fact of the matter is, the ACLU will support anything that is total crap! They will support aborting unborn babies, and rally against killing a convicted murderer. They will defend the uneducated black man that isn't even remotely qualified for a job and blow off the qualified white guy who didn't get it because the company HAS to hire the black guy so they don't appear racist! And now they're saying that our schools have to include the teachings of Darwin but don't you dare let a teacher even mention Jesus or the bible. Hell, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be all over that. The ACLU is a bunch of shit!
And as far as your question as to which country we are fighting for...I invite you to ask that question of your radical, terrorist loving, welfare giving, ultra spending, Allah worshiping, spineless, socialistic, Kenya born, President Obama!
May 2nd, 2009 at 11:30am
In honor of our great fore-fathers and fore-mothers, we should restore individual rights, and abolish corporate personhood - the root cause of many evils today.
"The right to petition the government is the freedom of individuals to petition their government for a correction or repair of some form of injustice without fear of punishment for the same." - from wikipedia.
It has become increasingly obvious that some private corporate interests and the financial "masters of the universe" have had far too much influence on our government, and have brought our great economy down to it's knees. While we are losing jobs, homes, health, liberties and freedoms, it is appropriate to resolve the controversy over "corporate personhood".
Corporate personhood began in our courts during the 1800s, it was never really defined in the constitution. The courts extended the rights of the individual to legal entities called corporations.
Per wikipedia, "Since the mid-1800s, corporate personhood has become increasingly controversial, as courts have extended other rights to the corporation beyond those necessary to ensure their liability for debts."
Today, the individuals of America have to compete with powerful global corporate lobbies and influences when we petition our government to represent our interests.
To further aggravate the problem, the corporations have gone global, with far flung interests all over the world. They do not necessarily represent America's best interests. In fact, American workers are at a disadvantage to global outsourcing.
I think it is time to take back our individual rights, and abolish the current court mandated concept of corporate personhood. We should be a country of and by the PEOPLE - as our constitution defines it.
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