ACLU v America, again

[nChrist]

ACLU given 'veto power' over free-speech rights

Christian groups are appealing a federal judge's ruling that bars the Gideons from distributing Bibles to students of the South Iron Missouri School District.

This is an OUTRAGE! The individual or collective power of the ACLU is to vote - no more and no less than any other citizen. The ruling of this judge is ridiculous, illegal, and Unconstitutional! This judge needs to be removed from the bench and disbarred for a start. He is trampling on the RIGHTS of others under THE COLOR OF LAW! Realistically, he is also subject to civil and criminal prosecution! This is not a matter of interpretation, rather a matter of a mini-dictator making and enforcing law that is illegal and Unconstitutional!

Christian Quotes 32 - Glory be to God for fulfilling His promises in
raising Jesus Christ from the dead. Nevertheless, does His
resurrection have any meaning to you? Has it had any impact in your
life? Have you experienced the work of salvation that Jesus Christ
perfected in His resurrection? Commemorating this historic event
should not be on a special day each year alone, or even on every first
day of the week only, but on every day of our lives. -- Bayo
Afolaranmi

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Hissy Fit Over School Banning of Travel To Terrorist Countries

Day after day, the ACLU never fails to amaze. Shock? Not so much. I am used to their ways. Stupify and amaze? Yup:

    The American Civil Liberties Union is pressing its lawsuit against a Florida law banning university researchers from traveling to countries listed as terrorist nations.

    A hearing is scheduled Friday in Miami federal court on the lawsuit filed in 2006. The ACLU claims the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on academic freedom.

    The law passed two years ago bans Florida public universities from spending any money on travel to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Those countries are on a U.S. list of terrorist states.

So, apparently the ACLU thinks it is peachy keen for public institutions to pay for employees to travel to those countries. No one is stopping them from going on their own dime, if they so choose.

Most public institutions have regulations against using what is, essentially, the People’s money for personal vacations. Will the ACLU next have a fit over that?

[HisDaughter]

ACLU Hissy Fit Over School Banning of Travel To Terrorist Countries

Day after day, the ACLU never fails to amaze. Shock? Not so much. I am used to their ways. Stupify and amaze? Yup:

So, apparently the ACLU thinks it is peachy keen for public institutions to pay for employees to travel to those countries. No one is stopping them from going on their own dime, if they so choose.

Most public institutions have regulations against using what is, essentially, the People’s money for personal vacations. Will the ACLU next have a fit over that?

 

The ACLU leaves me pretty much speechless.

[Soldier4Christ]

 

The ACLU leaves me pretty much speechless.

I think you voiced it quite well with the graphics. 

[nChrist]

       

Great graphics, and they fit the situation perfectly!

[Soldier4Christ]

The ACLU falsifies information again in order to achieve their agenda of supporting terrorism

The ACLU released a reports that the TSA had over one million names on the "Terrorists Watch List". This report from the ACLU also claims that a number of prominent Americans such as Former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson, Ted Kennedy, Catherine Stevens, and "Robert Johnson" are on this list.

The following is a list of these accusations made by the ACLU followed by the truth.


MYTH: TSA's watch list has more than 1 million names on it.


BUSTER: First, TSA doesn't have a watch list. TSA is a customer of the Terrorist Screening Center, a component of the FBI that is responsible for maintaining the consolidated terrorist watch list. The center has said publicly that there are less than 400,000 individuals on the overall consolidated watch list, 95 percent of whom are not U.S. persons and the vast majority of whom are not even in the U.S.


TSA uses two subsets of this list, the no-fly and selectee lists. These small subsets of the overall list are reserved for known or suspected terrorists that reach a threshold where they should not be allowed to fly, or should get additional scrutiny.


MYTH: There are 1 million names on U.S. Government terror watch lists.


BUSTER: There are less than 400,000 individuals on the consolidated terrorist watch list and less than 50,000 individuals on the no-fly and selectee lists. Individuals on the no-fly and selectee lists are identified by law enforcement and intelligence partners as legitimate threats to transportation requiring either additional screening or prohibition from boarding an aircraft.


MYTH: The ACLU's math estimates that there will be 1 million people on government watch lists this July.


BUSTER: Assumptions about the list are just plain wrong. While a September 2007 report may have said that there are 700,000 records on the terrorist watch list and it was growing by an average of 20,000 per month, that is not the same as the number of individuals on the watch lists. A new "record" is created for every alias, date-of-birth, passport and other identifying information for watch listed suspects. The ACLU does not account for the name-by-name scrub that took place in the Fall of 2007 by all government agencies involved with the lists through the Terrorist Screening Center. This review reduced the no-fly and selectee lists by almost 50 percent and eliminated records of individuals that no longer pose a threat.


MYTH: Ted Kennedy, Catherine Stevens, and "Robert Johnson" are all on the no-fly or selectee watch lists.


BUSTER: These individuals are NOT on the no-fly or selectee lists. They, and other Americans, are being misidentified as individuals on the selectee list. Today watch list matching is carried out by the airlines for every passenger manifest. In cases when individuals with similar names are misidentified, folks experience inconvenience like no remote check-in but they are allowed to fly. Once TSA's Secure Flight initiative is in place the number of misidentifications will be GREATLY reduced. Under Secure Flight, TSA assumes watch list matching from dozens of airlines and implements a uniform, efficient matching process. Today the Department of Homeland Security's Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) is a single point of contact for individuals who have inquiries or seek resolution regarding difficulties they experienced during their travel screening at transportation hubs--like airports and train stations--or crossing U.S. borders.


FACTS ABOUT TERROR WATCH LISTS:

    Terror watch lists keep legitimate terror threats off of airplanes every day, all over the world.

    According to the Congress' investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, terror watch lists have, "helped combat terrorism" and "enhanced U.S. counterterrorism effort."

    Our partners in the law enforcement and intelligence communities work tirelessly and in some cases under great physical danger to identify individuals that pose a terror threat. The simple truth is that it would be negligent to not use this information to our advantage.

[nChrist]

If one sees or hears the term ACLU, one is sure to see and hear BALONEY! Anything has been and will be done to achieve the agenda. The ACLU agenda fits in two categories:  IMMORAL OR DESTRUCTIVE TO AMERICA. The DESTRUCTIVE includes SOCIALIST initiatives. FREEDOM IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THE ACLU IS TRYING TO ACHIEVE!

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Continue to Enable Terrorists

    As if your common sense wasn’t enough, the fact that the American Civil Liberties Union has reservations

    about a new surveillance system being employed at ferry docks by the Washington State Patrol should reassure everyone that the idea is a good one.

    Earlier this month, WSP started running criminal checks on the license plate numbers of all vehicles boarding ferries to and from Bainbridge Island as a test of its fledgling Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) system.

    WSP may seek funding to install the ALPR system at other Washington State Ferries terminals, including Southworth, if the Bainbridge and Seattle testing is successful.

    The ALPRS system uses digital cameras to photograph the license plate of each vehicle as it pulls away from the terminal toll booth. The license plate numbers are then digitized and checked against four FBI criminal databases.

    A computer will automatically flag a vehicle if it has been reported stolen, if it is listed in an AMBER Alert, if someone associated with the vehicle is wanted for a felony crime, or if the license plate is associated with a suspected terrorist.

    If a vehicle matches any of those criteria, an alarm is sounded at a WSP command center in Seattle, and a trooper is dispatched to verify the plate number and investigate the vehicle.

    Sounds like a pretty nifty setup to us, one with the potential to keep Washington residents safe. Which apparently drives the ACLU crazy.

    Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU chapter in Seattle, said the organization has no problem with the camera system being used for flagging stolen vehicles, potential child abductors and wanted felons.

    He does, however, have concerns about flagging vehicles based on federal terrorist watch lists, because the ACLU believes those lists are often erroneous.

    His group is also concerned that license plate information will be stored for two months, even if the vehicle is not flagged for criminal activity.

    The mere fact that the ACLU is agreeable to using surveillance cameras to thwart one type of crime but not another underscores the basic hypocrisy of its position.

    We know of no credible evidence to suggest that terrorist watch lists are inherently any less reliable than any other FBI database. Given the recent emphasis on terrorism, one might assume such lists are, in fact, given more scrutiny.

    In any case, just because someone is considered a potential terrorist doesn’t mean they’re going to be arrested on the spot, thrown in jail and water-boarded. But it does mean they bear watching, which is precisely what WSP aims to do.

    And that’s a good thing.

    From where we sit, a terrorist who would potentially injure or kill hundreds of commuters aboard a ferry boat represents a significantly more serious threat than a car thief, and we applaud WSP for taking proactive steps to ensure such a disaster doesn’t happen in Washington.

    As for the ACLU, one can’t avoid the suspicion that the organization isn’t quite as worried about the new surveillance system failing as it is that it might actually work.

    Lest we forget, it’s been almost seven years since the most devastating attack in history on American soil, but the threat hasn’t gone away — as much as some might wish to believe it had.

    Good intentions and happy thoughts won’t keep us safe in these dangerous times. It will take diligence, intelligence and a commitment to never taking chances where human lives are concerned.

    To that end, an electronic surveillance system that can detect the presence of a terrorist before he or she has a chance to act works just fine.

    And if that doesn’t sit well with terrorists and their enablers, so much the better.

[Soldier4Christ]

Ten Commandments poster inside courtroom approved
Display compares Decalogue with 7 'humanist principles'
Posted: August 11, 2008
5:39 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A federal judge has rejected a demand from the American Civil Liberties Union that she censor a document posted in an Ohio courtroom titled "Philosophies of Law in Conflict" because the Ten Commandments are included.

"It is truly unfortunate that the ACLU apparently has nothing better to do than to file baseless charges against a dedicated public servant like Judge [James] DeWeese," said Francis J. Manion, a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice.

"A first-year law student – looking at the facts and law of this case – could have told the ACLU that there never was a legal basis for this ridiculous contempt charge. We're pleased that the [federal] court acted expeditiously in tossing out this latest gambit in the ACLU's ongoing harassment of Judge DeWeese."

The latest conflict in the nationwide battle over the display of Ten Commandments monuments and representations involved the ACLU and DeWeese, who several years ago had a copy of the Decalogue posted in his courtroom and was sued by the ACLU, resulting in an order that the Ten Commandments could not be posted by themselves in the courtroom.

Subsequently, DeWeese posted the "Philosophies of Law in Conflict" a document that includes the Ten Commandments as well as a list of "humanist precepts" and a commentary by the judge about the two conflicting philosophies.

The Ten Commandments state the biblical foundation for morality: You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not kill, You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, and the rest.

The humanist precepts include: The universe is self-existent and was not created. Man is the product of a cosmic accident, and there is nothing higher than man, Ethics depend on the person and the situation, There is no absolute truth, The meaning of law evolves, and others.

The result was a request from the ACLU that the judge be held in contempt for posting the Ten Commandments. However, the judge who originally ordered the first Ten Commandments display removed said the current display is perfectly legal.

"The court can find no principled basis upon which to find that, or even fully consider whether, the new display is constitutionally impermissible," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen O'Malley in her opinion.

She held DeWeese is not in contempt of her prior order and further, said the ACLU's attempt to censor the philosophies of law was "misplaced.

The ACLU had accused DeWeese of putting up the display, which graphically compares and contrasts the Ten Commandments with the seven humanist principles, in violation of O'Malley's 2002 injunction against the Ten Commandments under the caption "Rule of Law."

The ACLU claimed DeWeese was in "public defiance" of the court order and was "undermining the administration of justice."

O'Malley found no validity to the ACLU argument.

"It was clear from the start of this latest episode in the ACLU's harassment of Judge DeWeese that the ACLU was choosing to ignore current law regarding public displays that include the Decalogue in an educational or historical setting," Manion said. "The U.S. Supreme Court has made it perfectly clear – in cases brought by the ACLU itself – that government officials are permitted to discuss, acknowledge and display the Ten Commandments in a context that underscores the role played by Decalogue in 'history, civilization or ethics.' Any reasonable person can see that this is precisely what Judge DeWeese's current display does.'

Along with the displays of the differing faith systems, DeWeese has added his own commentary.

"All law is legislated morality," he writes. "The only question is whose morality. Because all morality is based on faith, there is no such thing as religious neutrality in law or morality."

He continued, "Ultimately there are only two views. Either God is the final authority, and we acknowledge his unchanging standards of behavior. Or man is the final authority and standards of behavior change at the whim of individuals or societies."

"Our Founders saw the necessity of moral absolutes. President John Adams said, 'We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other,'" he continued.

"The Declaration of Independence acknowledges God as Creator, Lawgiver, 'Supreme Judge of the World," and the one who providentially superintends the affairs of man," he said. "I join the Founders in personally acknowledging the importance of Almighty God's fixed moral standards for restoring the moral fabric of this nation."

An image of DeWeese's commentary has been posted on the ACLJ website.

DeWeese told the Mansfield News Journal the ACLU simply was trying to silence his speech.

"It's really about a debate of philosophies and how that affects our criminal caseloads," he told the newspaper. "I put both sides up. People can make their own decisions."

[Soldier4Christ]

Arkansas Town Expands Curfew, With Assault Rifles

One of the issues guaranteed to get the America Civil Liberties Union (I’m trying to remind the ACLU what the A stands for) up on their moral high horses is people actually owning guns. Another is “excessive police force.” A third would be curfews.

Here they get all three

    HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. — Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that’s been under a 24-hour curfew for a week.

    On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.

    Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost.

    “Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I’m fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the citizens see it here,” Mayor James Valley said. “The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution.”

You know PC Fielder is speaking to the ACLU and weak kneed liberals, right? The people would sooner protect criminals from having to stop acting criminally instead of the law abiding citizens.

However, such stops likely violate residents’ constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.

Right on time! Free assembly goes with, according to the 1st Amendment, the word peaceably, which is something criminals tend not to do. And, no, I am not talking about Code Pink. Also, the point of the phrase was to allow people to assemble to protest the government, not hang on a street corner selling crack to 14 year olds and doing drive by’s.

And, in terms of the arrests, what Dickson means is that the ACLU will fight to overturn any arrests of stone cold criminals

“The residents of these high-crime areas are already victims,” she said. “They’re victims of what are happening in the neighborhoods, they’re victims of fear. But for them to be subject to unlawful stops and questioning … that is not going to ultimately going to help this situation.”

No, Holly, they are not victims of fear. They are victims of crime. Real, honest to goodness crime. Why don’t you have their back, Holly?

BTW, the town told the ACLU to take a short stroll off a short pier, even going so far as to ask Holly Dickson if she lived in that neighborhood, which must have caused serious liberal sputtering and indignation, followed by a totally unrelated “morality” speech.

It really is great to see another town put the ACLU back in their place.

[Soldier4Christ]

Prayer in public: Can you still say 'Jesus'?
ACLU sues to stop clergy from invoking 'religious messages' at meetings

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop a suburban Atlanta county from opening its meetings with prayers that mention "Jesus" or other "sectarian" references, claiming the invocations represent government favoritism of Christianity.

The three-judge panel of the court, however, was immediately skeptical of how the ACLU expected prayers to be crafted without appering to favor one religion over another.

"What about King of Kings?" Judge Bill Pryor asked ACLU lawyer Daniel Mach in the case's hearing last week. "Is that sectarian?"

"What about Lord of Lords?" Pryor persisted, interrupting the ACLU lawyer's arguments. "The God of Abraham? … What about the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad?"

Judge Charles Wilson wondered just how far Mach was suggesting the county go in editing people's prayers.

"As a practical matter, how do you draw the line?" Wilson asked.

He also asked what steps the ACLU suggested the Cobb County, Ga., board of commissioners take before its regulation became "some sort of censorship" or "just government prayer."

At one point in the hearing, ACLU attorney Mach pointed out that the invitations Cobb County sends to guest clergy already ask that the prayers not proselytize or disparage other religions. According to the Associated Press, Mach suggested that the invitations simply be amended to ask the clergy to refrain from invoking "religious messages" at all.

Cobb County attorney David Walbert countered that such restrictions would make it a "virtual impossibility" for clergy to draft any kind of meaningful prayer.

Liberty Legal Institute Chief Counsel Kelly Shackleford was indignant about the ACLU asking clergy to pray without "invoking religious messages."

"I think this is really where you pull the cover off and see what you're really looking at with the ACLU," Shackelford told OneNewsNow. "This is religious bigotry; it's anti-free speech; it's everything that they're supposed to be against."

"The government really has no business telling anybody how they should or should not pray," Shackelford said. "And the fact that the ACLU is trying to use the power of government to tell people how to pray is just an incredible invasion of freedom, and (it) shows that they are not about freedom and liberty at all. They're about oppression and trying to stamp out religious speech."

The ACLU, together with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, are arguing on behalf of seven individuals who filed suit in 2005 challenging the "sectarian" nature of Cobb County's invocations, claiming 70 percent of the prayers were Christian or mentioned Jesus Christ.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Richard Story ruled the prayers could continue and said that because the county invites clergy from all denominations, the practice doesn't constitute endorsement of one religion over another.

Story did, however, criticize the county's practice of selecting its invited clergy by merely thumbing through a phone book and awarded $1 to each of the seven plaintiffs.

The ACLU then appealed the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ALCU attorney Mach argued that federal appeals courts in Richmond, New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco already have ruled sectarian invocations at government meetings violate the First Amendment.

Cobb County attorney Walbert, however, disagreed with the argument, saying that the U.S. Congress has opened its sessions with sectarian prayers since the appointment of the first Senate chaplain.

"Everything that is at issue here was clearly being done in 1789," Walbert said.

The AP reported Judge Pryor also questioned the reasoning, pointing out that even the Supreme Court opens its session with a prayer that could be called sectarian: "God save the United States and this honorable court."

With arguments concluding last week, the court is expected to rule on the case sometime in the coming months.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU attack dogs maul student prayer
Group snarls at admin for allowing invocation, Christmas concerts at churches

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two high school students who say they are offended by the school's policy of allowing prayer at voluntary events and holding Christmas concerts at churches.

The students, from Pace High School in Pace, Fla., are identified only as Minor I Doe and Minor II Doe in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court because they are both under 18. The complaint alleges disclosure of their names would put the students at risk of "social ostracism, economic injury, governmental retaliation … and potential physical harm."

Benjamin Stevenson, staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida's Northwest Region office, released an ACLU statement accusing school officials of using governmental positions to promote individual religious beliefs in public school.

"Parents, not the public schools, should be responsible for deciding whether their children receive religious education," said Benjamin Stevenson, staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida's Northwest Region office. "Religious freedom is eroded when the government endorses any particular religious viewpoint."

The lawsuit states, "(S)tudents not only face overt compulsion to adopt the religious beliefs of school officials, but also must contend with subtle coercive pressures to conform their religious beliefs to those favored by school officials."

According to the complaint, graduation ceremonies at the high school have included prayers by students who are "often members of groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Christian World Order." Attendees are asked to stand during prayer. The grievance also alleges Pace High School has conducted school-sponsored events at private places of worship and that school officials have promoted personal religious views and proselytizing of students in class and during extracurricular activities.

The complaint claims teacher and girls' track coach Clint Martin has used a bullhorn to preach to cross-country students before school in the parking lot. It also states faculty and staff invite students to pray before sports events such as football and basketball games and before club meetings.

Pace High Principal Frank Lay and Superintendent John Rogers, defendants in the suit, declined to comment on the pending legal action. However, Daniel Mach, director of litigation for the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief said he believes the school should refrain from endorsing religions.

"The government should not be in the business of deciding which religions to promote," he said in an ACLU statement. "Individuals, families and religious communities should be free to make their own decisions about religion."

[Soldier4Christ]

This is not the first time that the ACLU has brought up a lawsuit over "voluntary events". It probably won't be the last one either. It is obvious that they are stepping up their agenda in an attempt to silence any and all things that have to do with Christ.

[nChrist]

This is not the first time that the ACLU has brought up a lawsuit over "voluntary events". It probably won't be the last one either. It is obvious that they are stepping up their agenda in an attempt to silence any and all things that have to do with Christ.

The ACLU will look for a place to hide one day soon from JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, and Christians know this will be impossible. They will also answer for their acts in the HIGHEST COURT OF THE UNIVERSE. Their JUDGE WILL BE JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, and they will be condemned to eternal punishment. THE JUDGMENT WILL BE FINAL WITH NO APPEAL!

[HisDaughter]

It's not religion....it's a way of life and the pursuit of happiness through belief to the bottoms of my soul in salvation through Christ.  Religion is what everyone else does.