ACLU In The News

[Soldier4Christ]

Chaplain badges revoked at LACFD
BY TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

Los Angeles County's fire chief is revoking the badges of the department's chaplains and drafting new policies on when firefighters who volunteer as chaplains can be paid in the wake of new state and federal homeland security restrictions.

But the move has drawn the ire of some firefighters, who say they are offended that chaplains' badges - which contain a large Christian cross or Star of David - are being taken away and that their role in consoling families in emergencies is being reduced.

"It would give my wife some solace knowing there is someone there representing a higher authority," said a county firefighter who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation.

"We have a messy job. Why would you take that away? Prayers have always been part of the fire service. ... Even if you are not a religious person, it makes you feel better. What if a chaplain can't get to you in time, or won't go now because he won't get paid?"

The badge revocation comes after a long-running controversy over the Board of Supervisors' 2004 decision to remove the cross from the county seal after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue.

"This is a natural progression of the secular cleansing of the county," said seal proponent David Hernandez.

But county Fire Department Chief P. Michael Freeman said he has to take away the badges that chaplains wear because of new state and federal laws.

Freeman said chaplains, along with a number of other as-yet undetermined county officials, are not allowed to wear the badges under new rules that make it a misdemeanor for an unauthorized person to have a badge.

"This will preclude someone from having a badge and selling it on eBay," Freeman said.

In 2002, officials discovered that county firefighter badges were being sold on the Internet but when they went to prosecute, they found a loophole in the law that only allowed them to prosecute people who were illegally manufacturing, selling or possessing a law enforcement officer badge.

The law did not address the badges of firefighters, health inspectors, agricultural inspectors, judges, deputy district attorneys and others.

Later that year, the county sought state legislation to prohibit the unlawful manufacture, sale or distribution of all state, county and local government badges and their associated photographic identification cards.

The bill was signed into law in March 2004. In January, President George W. Bush signed a similar federal law.

Research into those laws also brought to light a 1960 county badge ordinance that restricts badges to certain government employees.

Freeman said he expects to release a report April 30 specifying what other employees in his department won't be allowed to keep their badges.

Freeman said if some chaplains want to keep their badges, the county can encase them in plastic so they can display them.

"The chaplain badges have been around the department for a long time," Freeman said. "It's valuable that we've gotten updated on the code, but it's tough to see the badges taken out of service."

Freeman said he also is updating the department's chaplain policies to clarify when firefighters who volunteer as chaplains are paid for their duties.

"I've heard rumors in the department that we are doing away with our chaplain program and that's not accurate," Freeman said.

That means that the department's eight chaplains will no longer be paid for chaplain duties such as praying with the families of firefighters injured or killed in the line of duty, Capt. Mark Savage said.

But they will be paid in their new secondary role as "employee crisis support coordinators," Savage said.

Those duties include family support, transportation, death notifications, hospital visits and benefit coordination, Savage said.

In the past, Freeman said the chaplains would visit a family and spend 75 percent to 80 percent of their time on nonspiritual duties, such as helping the family file a workers' compensation claim.

[Soldier4Christ]

Lawmakers seek tougher punishments for Louisiana's sex offenders

 BATON ROUGE, La. -- Sex offenders are perhaps society's least popular people, but they're also a popular topic in the Legislature.

Lawmakers have filed 30 bills dealing with sex offenders, including efforts to give the offenders longer prison terms, monitor their whereabouts after they're released, create the new crime of "harboring a sex offender" and allow judges to impose a form of "chemical castration." Sen. Nick Gautreaux said the push stems from the amount of news media attention given to recent sex crimes against children, including several in Louisiana.

"These guys will do anything to grab these kids, and we need to do anything we can to stop them," said Gautreaux, D-Meaux, sponsor of five bills aimed at sex offenders who target children. "If someone's convicted of molesting a juvenile and they're getting a suspended sentence or parole, then there's something wrong with our system."

Getting tough on child molesters is also politically easy for lawmakers _ no lawmaker will oppose such measures, fearful of being labeled a friend to molesters.

Some who think the bills go too far call the measures by Gautreaux and others "trophy bills" that sound great to voters but could be counterproductive in reducing the number of sex attacks on children. The American Civil Liberties Union has not actively opposed any of the measures but considers one proposal _ electronic monitoring for life for child sex criminals _ a possible violation of constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.

"All these bills are just a contest to see who can bash sex offenders the hardest," said J. Michael Malec, an ACLU lobbyist. "It's really gotten out of hand, and legislators need to do something to come up with better ways of handling this."

A case that generated plenty of news media coverage was the rape and killing of 4-year-old Mary Jean Thigpen of Calcasieu Parish in 2001. The killer, Jason Reeves, who had been convicted of sex crimes previously, was sentenced to die in 2004.

Carin Thigpen, the girl's mother, has testified at the Capitol in support of Gautreaux's bill to dramatically increase sentences for child sex convicts.

The measure would more than double sentences for certain sex crimes committed against children younger than 13, requiring such convicts serve at least 25 years in prison. Under current law, 10 years is the maximum. Sex criminals released from prison also would _ for the rest of their lives _ wear a global positioning system electronic monitoring device under the bill.

But even some prosecutors have questioned the wisdom of such mandatory 25-year prison sentences. In such trials, the only witness is often the victim and usually a child fond of and closely related to the defendant.

The child is often reluctant to be the cause of punishment for her father or uncle, so a rigid 25-year sentence would make her less likely to agree to testify against him, said Sue Bernie, lead prosecutor in the sex crimes division of the Baton Rouge district attorney's office.

A man who rapes his daughter, for instance, often pleads guilty to a lesser charge because the girl is reluctant to put him in prison. However, Bernie said, such offenders still are forced to register with state police as a sex offender. With tougher mandatory minimum sentences, Bernie predicted that fewer children would be willing to testify and fewer child sex offenders would be convicted.

"I would rather have that person convicted and be a convicted sex offender than to have him walk away with nothing," Bernie said while testifying against Gautreaux's bill last week.

A Senate committee and the full Senate unanimously passed the measure.

[Soldier4Christ]

Green Party nominates slate for statewide office

The Green Party candidate for governor has called for an end to the drug war, voicing support for the legalization of marijuana.

Cliff Thornton, a retired businessman, told about 50 delegates room at the Greater New Haven Labor Council yesterday that the war on drugs was never designed to be won.

The Green Party nominated candidates for statewide office yesterday. They include anti-nuclear energy activist Nancy Burton for attorney general, Mike DeRosa for secretary of the state, David Bue for treasurer and Ralph A. Ferrucci for U.S. senator.

DeRosa announced yesterday that the party has joined the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the state over campaign financial reform legislation that he said blocked ballot access for third parties.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bible study draws a crowd
City Hall meetings concern the ACLU


On Thursday about noon, a group of Mandeville City Hall employees ambled into the City Council chambers for lunch. But unlike most days, the lunchtime chatter didn't involve the increased traffic in St. Tammany or weekend sporting events. Instead, the discussion was about Jesus of Nazareth.

 Mayor Eddie Price started holding weekly Bible study sessions at City Hall on April 13 and continued the practice Thursday. He said the lunchtime program is open to people of all faiths and the location makes it easy for his employees to participate.

But the mayor's decision to hold the sessions calls into question whether the practice violates the political doctrine known as the separation of church and state called for in the Constitution.

About 20 people attended the first Bible study, held in a conference room at City Hall, Price said. Roughly the same number joined the second session, this time in the City Council chambers, though several new faces were present, Councilman Jerry Coogan said. He noted that Marlaine Peachey, the mayor's secretary, donated the food for last week's program.

Price, who considers himself nondenominational, bristled when a reporter asked about the practice, saying he feels it is his right to hold Bible study sessions inside a public building if he chooses. He noted that the sessions are nondenominational and that anyone interested in participating may join the group.

The sessions simply serve as a way to educate people about God, Price said. He said the practice doesn't violate the law separating church and state; it's just about reading the Bible.

Chuck Staub, a local minister, led the first two sessions and said he plans to continue leading the weekly program. He, too, stressed that the sessions are not based on a specific religion and therefore should be viewed as open to all.

"All we're dealing with is Jesus of Nazareth," Staub said Friday, noting that the participants study what Jesus did and why that's important. "Everybody is welcome to come."

But not everyone would feel welcome at a gathering of this type, which makes holding the sessions at City Hall problematic, said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Cook was unaware of the Bible study sessions until contacted by The Times-Picayune.

The ACLU has been fighting for years with officials in neighboring Tangipahoa Parish to ensure that the line between church and state doesn't become blurred. The organization won a battle in federal court last year to keep the parish's School Board from allowing prayer at board meetings and before athletic events.

And the ACLU won a challenge several years ago that prohibits the Tangipahoa Parish School Board from allowing a man known as the "pizza preacher" from preaching Christianity during lunch periods at local schools while distributing free pizza.

Officials cannot advance or endorse religion in their public capacity, nor can they use public property for this purpose, Cook said in interpreting the law. A municipal building cannot serve as a public forum, as a park or square may, because everything government does must have a secular purpose, he said.

The problem with offering Bible study sessions at City Hall has to do with the fact that public officials are advancing one particular religion -- Christianity -- while excluding the rest, Cook said. In addition, Cook said the officials likely aren't making concessions for those who don't believe in God, and he worried that some employees might feel they have to attend the sessions to stay on the mayor's good side.

While forcing employees to attend the sessions would be inappropriate, City Attorney David Cressy said he thinks it's OK to hold the Bible studies at City Hall because they are private functions primarily for the people who work there. For instance, he said, officials could not rent the building to Christian groups but deny Hare Krishnas the same opportunity.

Coogan, who is Catholic, said he thinks people rediscovered their faith in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and want more opportunities to express themselves in a religious setting. He said people who wish to learn more about the Bible must take it upon themselves to study outside of church.

Cook said there are numerous houses of worship in Mandeville offering countless opportunities for religious expression.

"I don't think the mayor and City Hall need to get into that business," he said.

Price said he isn't looking to stir the pot; rather he just wanted to make the opportunity to study the Bible easy and convenient for anyone wishing to participate.

"This is not an 'in your face' issue," he said. "If it becomes a point of confrontation, I'll have it at my house."

[Soldier4Christ]

Commandments display upheld
Mercer exhibit mirrors two high court rejected



A federal court yesterday upheld a Ten Commandments display at the Mercer County, Ky., courthouse -- even though the display is identical to one that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in two other Kentucky counties last year.

The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, upheld a December ruling by a three-judge panel on the court that validated the display.

That ruling served as a basis for a new Kentucky law allowing religious texts to be posted as part of historical displays on public property.

But in a sharp dissent, five of the 14 judges on the appeals court accused their colleagues yesterday of misreading Supreme Court precedent.

The dissent, written by Judge R. Guy Cole Jr., said the majority turned a "blind eye" to the religious motivations of Mercer officials in posting the display.

Attorney David Friedman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which challenged the display, said he was "disappointed" with the ruling but was pleased to get support from the dissenting judges. He said it is "much too early" to say whether the organization will appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Mercer display includes framed copies of the Ten Commandments along with copies of various historical documents. It is identical to displays in McCreary and Pulaski counties, which were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in June.

But the appeals court panel ruled in December that the Mercer display could remain because it had a different history.

The other two counties had first displayed the copies of the Ten Commandments on their own. Then, after a court challenge, they displayed the commandments with religiously themed historical documents before settling on a third display involving other historical documents with fewer religious references.

This history, plus the public comments and actions by McCreary and Pulaski officials, indicated a religious motivation all along, the high court ruled.

In contrast, Mercer County only posted a display identical to the third version of the displays in McCreary and Pulaski counties, and the appeals court ruled that its officials had secular, not religious, motivations.

Judge Richard Suhrheinrich wrote in the majority opinion in December that a "reasonable person" would say Mercer County had a secular motivation -- and that the ACLU "does not embody the reasonable person."

Cole, however, wrote that it would be "naïve" to think the Mercer officials lacked religious motivation just because they didn't voice any. Cole said the context shows the county put up its display in solidarity with "its fellow counties' embattled and religiously motivated display."

Cole said the majority misread the Supreme Court's ruling last year on McCreary and Pulaski counties. The court said that proving the officials' religious motivation was "sufficient" to rule the displays unconstitutional but that it's not "necessary" if the religious intent can be proved otherwise, Cole wrote.

Cole noted that the Supreme Court was suspicious of the counties' actual displays, not just the motivations behind them.

The high court had questioned why -- even in the third version of the displays -- the officials omitted the U.S. Constitution, which doesn't refer to God, but included the Declaration of Independence and the Magna Carta, which do.

Cole cited the Supreme Court's statement that governmental actions favoring religion tell non-believers they "are outsiders."

Cole said it "defies reason" to picture a nonreligious person in Mercer County who "passes by the Ten Commandments display in his state courthouse, reads the opening words, 'Thou shall have no other gods before me,' and thinks, 'Thank goodness I don't live near my uncle in McCreary County, where I'd be a second-class citizen.' "

But attorney Francis Manion, who argued on behalf of Mercer County, said the court was right.

"You have … a clear majority saying yes, you can display the Ten Commandments if you're doing it for other than a predominantly religious reason," said Manion, of the American Center for Law and Justice.

The appeals court's decision sets precedent for Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU to help student who posted 'spoof' of school official on Web


A 14-year-old Springfield Middle School student, who posted a "spoof profile" of a school administrator and a teacher on a popular teen social networking computer site, will be represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio during a board of education meeting tonight.

Jeffrey Gamso, legal director for the ACLU of Ohio, said yesterday that the eighth-grade student was expelled in late March after administrators learned about a "parody profile" of an assistant principal that the student created at home on her computer on www.MySpace.com.

However, Kristina White, spokesman for Springfield Local Schools in Lucas County, said yesterday the girl had not been expelled.

"An alternative to expulsion was offered so the student has not been expelled," she said, adding that administrators thought that the family had accepted the alternative.

The board of education hasn't had an opportunity to respond to the parents, she said. The board plans to meet with the parents to discuss it, she said, noting that administrators were "very surprised to hear that the family had involved the ACLU" because the family hasn't completed the disciplinary process yet. Details were unavailable because it involves a pupil and personnel matter, she said.

Arnold Gottlieb, a Toledo attorney, said he will represent the girl on behalf of the ACLU at the 7:30 p.m. board meeting at the district's administrative offices on Hall Street in Holland.

The girl, he said, was initially suspended for 10 days and then expelled. If the board fails to reinstate the student, the ACLU could discuss litigation and ask for a court order to return the student to school, he said.

On MySpace.com, she pretended to be the school administrator and included sexual remarks and sexual innuendos on the false profile, he said.

The family is "not granting interviews. They prefer not to. Quite frankly, they want it to go away. They do not want to make a big deal out of it," Mr. Gottlieb said. The parents approached the ACLU, he said, because they weren't making headway with administrators in efforts to get their daughter back in class.

Mr. Gamso called punishment absurd and unconstitutional.

"She's being penalized for making fun of her principal. How many kids go through school without making fun of their principal?" he said. "The difference between what she did and almost everybody else who has gone to school is that she did it on the Internet. Everyone else does it on the telephone or talking with friends."

School officials learned about the profile from middle school students, Ms. White said. Because so many students were talking about the profile, it was beginning to disrupt the educational process, she said.

The girl voluntarily removed the profile, Mr. Gamso said. She "made a full apology to the teacher and assistant principal," Mr. Gottlieb said, and she wrote an online apology.

The student was disciplined for violating school rules including a rule prohibiting students from disrupting school, he said, but she wrote the information at home on her computer. This, he said, should be a parental disciplinary matter.

Her parents have written an apology letter to the school, saying they have taken the matter into their own hands, such as restricting their daughter's Internet access, Mr. Gottlieb said.

Officials from MySpace.com did not return phone calls yesterday requesting comment.

Numerous children around Ohio and the nation have been disciplined or criminally charged recently in connection with information that they have posted on MySpace.com.

Two 14-year-old eighth-grade students from Washington Junior High School in Toledo were charged March 24 with delinquency in connection with inducing panic for talking about a "Columbine-type" shooting plot at the school.

Two 16-year-olds at Genoa Area High School were charged in early March with two counts of delinquency in connection with aggravated menacing for allegedly posting threats to kill a 15-year-old girl. The two girls are scheduled for a pretrial hearing on May 8 in Ottawa County Juvenile Court.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Request Hasn’t A Prayer


Once again, America’s number one religious censor is attempting to stomp on the first amendment, and deny people the right to freely express their religion.

    RALEIGH - City Council members refused Tuesday to strip Jesus, Buddha, Guru Nanak or any other religious figures from the prayers that open its meetings, bracing for a legal fight with the American Civil Liberties Union.
    An April 10 letter from the ACLU asked that Raleigh instruct all clergy to steer clear of specific religious references at council meetings.

    But the council’s Law and Public Safety Committee opted to risk a lawsuit, arguing that the prayers expose citizens to a variety of faiths and bring needed comfort in a hot-tempered political climate.

    “You talk about civility,” Councilman James West said. “That brings a little calmness and civility.”

    Prayers open each meeting of the full eight-member council, which still must vote on whether to change the policy. Raleigh’s leaders defend the practice by noting that multiple faiths — Coptic, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim — attend.

    Ralph Puccini, the city’s assistant deputy clerk, selects a church from the Yellow Pages and invites a prayer leader from there to each meeting.

What would actually violate the First Amendment would be the ACLU’s proposal. For the city to tell who someone could and could not pray to would be prohibiting the free exercise, something clearly prohibited in the Constitution. Others agree, that this is just another bullying attempt of the ACLU to censor religion.

    No one from the ACLU attended the meeting Tuesday. Similar letters have been sent to Pittsboro, Clayton and Chatham County commissioners, whose members also rebuffed the ACLU.

    In its letter, the group cites the First Amendment, which prohibits Congress from making a law “respecting the establishment of religion.”

    The group has asked to review any letter to be sent to clergy asking for religion-neutral prayer, and it had set an April 24 deadline. Last week, ACLU executive director Jennifer Rudinger would not speculate on what steps the group might take next.

    Three speakers at the committee meeting Tuesday urged council members not to give in.

    Raleigh would find trouble if it imposed a program that forbade praying to Jesus or Allah, said Steve Noble of the conservative Christian group Called2Action. Inviting people to share their faiths publicly is different, Noble told the committee.

    “The ACLU is hoping — I would dare say they’re praying — that you don’t do your homework,” he said. “The ACLU likes to bully, and sometimes you’ve got to punch a bully in the nose.”

    The Rev. Renee Bethea, an activist in West Raleigh’s Method neighborhood who also spoke at the committee meeting, said no one can give instructions for prayer.

    “You cannot tell anybody what name to pray to,” she said. “They are not praying to you. They may be praying for you.”

Amen to that in Jesus name! We continue to urge everyone’s prayers for the ACLU to wake up, and start defending the Constitution instead of destroying it. A friend of mine is asking why a huge group of people don’t get together for a prayer vigil outside the ACLU offices?

[airIam2worship]

Amen to that in Jesus name! We continue to urge everyone's prayers for the ACLU to wake up, and start defending the Constitution instead of destroying it. A friend of mine is asking why a huge group of people don't get together for a prayer vigil outside the ACLU offices?

 

[Shammu]

Ten Commandments Ruling Hailed as Evidence of Tide Turning Against ACLU

by Jenni Parker
April 25, 2006

(AgapePress) - - Pro-family attorneys are hailing the decision of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a three-judge panel's prior ruling allowing the Ten Commandments to remain on display at Kentucky's Mercer County Courthouse.

Last December the Sixth Circuit panel unanimously ruled the Mercer County Ten Commandments display constitutional on the grounds that its purpose is historical rather than religious. The Sixth Circuit Court has jurisdiction over Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.

In yesterday's 19-5 vote by the full court, the majority of the judges refused to rehear the case of ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County, Kentucky, rejecting arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union that the Commandments display violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court's ruling allows the panel's previous decision to uphold the constitutionality of the display to stand.

According to an Associated Press report, in the December 2005 ruling the panel cited the fact that the courthouse's biblical laws are displayed alongside replicas of nine other historic documents, including the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The judges also noted that the font size is the same for all the documents, and no attempt was made to put the religious document at a higher level.

A dissenting judge on the Sixth Circuit Court argued that the Mercer County display was similar to two other Kentucky counties' displays that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional last year. However, Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law & Justice, one of the legal groups representing Mercer County, says the full court's ultimate decision demonstrates the majority's belief "that its three-judge panel ruled correctly in upholding the constitutionality of this display."

An 'Important Defeat' for Secularists, A 'Great Victory' for Religious Liberty
Yesterday's ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court is "an important defeat," Sekulow contends, both for the ACLU and for other groups "committed to removing our religious heritage and traditions from the public square." If the case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, he adds, he and his group stand ready to defend the Ten Commandments display "and remain confident that the constitutionality of the display will prevail."

Mercer County was also represented by Liberty Counsel, another legal organization that specializes in defending religious freedom. Mathew D. Staver, Liberty Counsel's president and general counsel, is hailing the Sixth Circuit's decision as a great victory that has begun to "turn the tide against the ACLU."

[Photo compliments of Liberty Counsel]
Mat Staver   �
The ACLU has been on what Staver calls a "search-and-destroy mission to remove all vestiges of our religious history from public view." But whether that liberal civil liberties organization likes it or not, he asserts, "history is crystal clear that each one of the Ten Commandments played an important role in the founding of our system of law and government."

The Liberty Counsel spokesman believes federal courts are beginning to reject extreme notions of the so-called separation of church and state. After all, he notes, the Sixth Circuit expressly rejected the ACLU's "repeated reference" to the Establishment Clause, saying that this "extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome" and noting, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."

It is about time, Staver insists, that courts start interpreting the Constitution of the United States according to its original purpose. And with the recent changes of personnel on the nation's highest court bench, he says, "the trend toward a more historical approach to the First Amendment is well under way."

The original, three-judge panel in ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County adopted the reasoning of the Seventh Circuit Court in Books v. Elkhart County, an earlier Liberty Counsel case in which the court upheld an identical Ten Commandments display. Liberty Counsel notes that public displays of the biblical laws have enjoyed unprecedented favor in courts and legislatures since two Ten Commandments cases were argued at the Supreme Court last year.

Last week, the legal group notes, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue signed House Bill 941, a law permitting the exhibit of the Ten Commandments as part of a "Foundations of American Law and Government" display in public buildings across the state. Liberty Counsel defended this same display last year before the U.S. Supreme Court, and two federal courts have upheld it in the past several months.

Likewise, on April 10, 2006, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher signed a bill allowing the posting of the Ten Commandments. Meanwhile, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which governs Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, has upheld a stand-alone Ten Commandments monument.

Also, a federal district court in Toledo, Ohio, upheld a Commandments display that had been on the courthouse lawn for 50 years. So far, the ACLU has not asked the Supreme Court to review these cases. Liberty Counsel's president believes the reason is obvious.

"The tide is turning against the ACLU's war on the Ten Commandments," Staver says. "The courts and history are working against the ACLU."

http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion04358.shtml

Additional information on ChristiansUnite.com is available on the Internet at http://www.christiansunite.com/
Copyright © 2003 ChristiansUnite.com. All rights reserved.

[airIam2worship]

Ten Commandments Ruling Hailed as Evidence of Tide Turning Against ACLU
 

"The tide is turning against the ACLU's war on the Ten Commandments," Staver says. "The courts and history are working against the ACLU."http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion04358.shtml

Additional information on ChristiansUnite.com is available on the Internet at http://www.christiansunite.com/
Copyright © 2003 ChristiansUnite.com. All rights reserved.

AMEN

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU Policy To Legalize Child Porn Distribution


Many of us find it disturbing to hear the sympathetic apologists defend the ACLU’s work to protect pedophiles over our children. We watch the ACLU fight for sex offenders to live next to Elementary schools, and playgrounds. We watched in horror as the ACLU defended NAMBLA, under the banner of free speech, to plan and talk about how to rape young boys. It doubles the anger to hear the apologists defend the ACLU with some twisted talk perverting the Constitution.

In Mississippi, billboards of sex offenders and child molesters are being errected, but of course the ACLU oppose this. Of course all of these things we hear excused away by liberal apologists, but lets take a deeper look at the ACLU’s agenda. Let’s take a deeper look at the industry that the ACLU wants to defend here.

“It would be a mistake to think that all the children who are being exploited sexually are kidnapped by “kid porn” operators. Many of the children are being sold to people by their parents. In some cases, the parents have agreed to perform incest with their children. Gonorrhea of the throat in infants as young as nine and eighteen months has been reported”.source
This is as sick as it gets folks. But the ACLU believes it is a freedom being denied to people. And before liberals start to ask. Yes, the ACLU has a current policy advocating the legalization of child porn distribution and possession.

    “Students of liberty, from John Stuart Mill to Thomas Emerson, have all intentionally excluded children from their formula for freedom. The ACLU does not. Not even when the subject is pornography.Quote from Twilight Of Liberty

In 1982, the ACLU, in an amicus role, lost in a unanimous decision in the Supreme Court to legalize the sale and distribution of child pornography.”

    In a quietly prosecuted case in 1981, People v. Ferber, the ACLU won a 5-2 decision in the New York Court of Appeals that for a short time “legalized simulated intercourse, real intercourse, lewd conduct … with children,” says Reisman, author of the soon-to-be-released, “Kinsey’s Attic: How One Man’s Psychopathology Changed the World.” Fortunately, says Reisman, the Ferber case was later appealed by the New York attorney general and ultimately reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Oregon cases, like Ferber, just demonstrate how far the ACLU will go in defending pornographers, adds Reisman.WND

The case is…: New York Vs Ferber, 458 U.S. 747


    The ACLU’s position is this: criminalize the production but legalize the sale and distribution of child pornography. This is the kind of lawyerly distinction that no one on the Supreme Court found convincing. And with good reason: as long as a free market in child pornography exists, there will always be some producers willing to risk prosecution. Beyond this, there is also the matter of how the sale of child pornography relates either to free speech or the ends of good government. But most important, the central issue is whether a free society should legalize transactions that involve the wholesale sexploitation of children for profit.”

    The ACLU objects to the idea that porn movie producers be required to maintain records of ages of its performers; this would be ” a gross violation of privacy.”Quotes from Twilight Of Liberty

I don’t think that any other ACLU stance evokes more anger from me, than this one. I mean, how sick can you get? Do these people not have a conscience at all, or are they just plain EVIL? How can one argue this sick, twisted view in the name of “protecting civil liberties?” Please, some liberal out there that loves defending this evil organization…explain this to us. No wonder the ACLU doesn’t want the public to have access to its policy guide!

    Since the ACLU thinks that child pornography should be legal, it is not surprising to read that it is against making it a felony to advertise, sell, purchase, barter, exchange, give, or receive child pornography. It is particularly distressed about the prohibition on advertisement, arguing that “the law cannot expect every publisher to decode every advertisment for some hidden and sinister meaning,” as if it took a technician-armed with a special decoding device-to ferret out pictures of children ludely exhibiting their genitals.Quote from Twilight Of Liberty

    As legislative counsel for the ACLU in 1985, Barry Lynn told the U.S. Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography (of which Focus on the Family President Dr. James C. Dobson was a member) that child pornography was protected by the First Amendment. While production of child porn could be prevented by law, he argued, its distribution could not be. A few years later (1988), Lynn told the Senate Judiciary Committee that even requiring porn producers to maintain records of their performers’ ages was impermissible.
    “If there is no federal record-keeping requirement for the people portrayed in Road and Track or Star Wars,” he said, “there can be no such requirement for Hustler or Debbie Does Dallas.”Quoted Reference

Is the ACLU completely retarded? I would love to think there was some kind of saving grace for an organization that says it is about protecting civil liberties, but with positions like this…which you KNOW are against the will of the people, I don’t know if there is. My head is about to explode just typing this stuff!

Let’s take a deeper look at the industry that the ACLU wants to defend here.

“It would be a mistake to think that all the children who are being exploited sexually are kidnapped by “kid porn” operators. Many of the children are being sold to people by their parents. In some cases, the parents have agreed to perform incest with their children. Gonorrhea of the throat in infants as young as nine and eighteen months has been reported”. source
This is as sick as it gets folks. But the ACLU believes it is a freedom being denied to people. And before liberals start to ask. Yes, the ACLU has a current policy advocating the legalization of child porn distribution and possession. Yes, the ACLU still currently defends pedophile organization’s.

    “Mere possession should not be a crime,” said John Roberts, executive director of the Boston branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.”


I have gathered all of this info from various books written by authorative, and reliable sources including William Donahue of the Catholic League, and Alan Sears of the Alliance Defense Fund. I have personally called the National ACLU HQ and asked them for evidence to the contrary, of which I was told their policy was not for the public, but only for internal purposes. If there is any ACLU representative out there that has evidence to the contrary of this policy, please provide it and this information will be included.

They are a radically, out of control organization that consistently goes too far, and they must be stopped, before they destroy our Nation. And as for those who support the ACLU, this is the kind of crap your money goes to. As a parent of a 5 year old child, and as a citizen of this great nation, I am outraged! Help us stop this insane organization!

[Soldier4Christ]

Sen. Specter Threatens to Block NSA Funds


Via Breitbart

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Thursday he is considering legislation to cut off funding for the Bush administration’s secret domestic wiretapping program until he gets satisfactory answers about it from the White House.

    “Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment,” Specter, R-Pa., told the panel. “If we are to maintain our institutional prerogative, that may be the only way we can do it.”

    Specter said he had informed President Bush about his intention and that he has attracted several potential co-sponsors. He said he’s become increasingly frustrated in trying to elicit information about the program from senior White House officials at several public hearings.

    According to a copy of the amendment obtained by The Associated Press, it would enact a “prohibition on use of funds for domestic electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes unless Congress is kept fully and currently informed.”

    Specter also agreed with Democrats who say that any of the bills to tighten guidelines for National Security Agency program and increase congressional oversight could be flatly ignored by an administration with a long history of acting alone in security matters.

    “It is true that we have no assurance that the president would follow any statute that we enact,” Specter said. He said he’s considering adding an amendment to stop funding of the program to an Iraq war- hurricane relief bill being debated by the Senate this week and next.

    Senior Republican officials said they had not received guidance about the legislation and could not say when it might come to the Senate floor.

    Bush has insisted that the program falls within his authority.

    “The appropriate members of Congress have been and continue to be informed with respect to the Terrorist Surveillance Program,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. “The Administration remains confident that a majority of members of Congress continue to recognize the importance of protecting Americans through lawful intelligence activities directed at terrorists.”

    Specter’s announcement came a day after the House passed an bill 327- 96 to dramatically increase spending on intelligence programs. In the process, Republicans blocked an amendment to expand congressional oversight of the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program.

Sounds like Senator Specter has been listening to ACLU talking points.

    “Our Founding Fathers insisted on preserving our liberty by limiting federal power and providing rules for the government to follow before invading our privacy. One of the things they most feared was unbridled, unchecked executive power.

    “This administration’s track record on domestic spying and running rough shod over the Constitution is shameful. If Congress aids the president in sweeping the facts under the rug rather than getting them on the table, their crumbling to the presidential pressure rather than defending the Constitution will be equally shameful.”

When will these moonbats and RINO’s get it through their skulls that the reason it is so difficult to get information about this program, is that it is supposed to be classified? All of this political grandstanding on this issue is out of hand. If we are attacked again, and it could have been prevented by this program, you know who to point the finger at.

Freepers are bombarding him with phone calls.

[Soldier4Christ]

ROTC Attacked

    Vandals staged attacks early Wednesday on the buildings used by the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill, echoing similar assaults on three Triangle recruiting stations last month.
    As before, vandals sprayed anti-war slogans and profanity, splashed red paint and claimed responsibility with a mass e-mail message to area media outlets.

    Lt. Col. Carol Ann Redfield of the Army ROTC program at N.C. State was caught off guard. “This is the first time I know of that anything like this has happened here,” she said. “I certainly appreciate that people have different opinions, and they should be able to express them, but I have a problem when they damage property.”

    The e-mail, from someone calling himself “celest ialbeing” said, “Stop these recruitment centers that target poor people and people of color to fight to maintain the power structure that (literally and figuratively) imprisons us daily.”

    The vandals sprayed slogans at the base of an entrance to Reynolds Coliseum, which holds the Department of Military Science, and tossed paint onto an ROTC sign above the entrance.

    Investigators had good leads, said Sgt. Jon Barnwell of the N.C. State Police Department.

    At UNC-Chapel Hill, campus police spokesman Randy Young said investigators were aware of the e-mail and the link with the attack at N.C. State. “We’re certainly looking into that,” he said. Investigators think the UNC Naval Armory was attacked between 4 and 5:30 a.m.

Yet another example of liberal tolerance.

[Soldier4Christ]

ACLU probes funds for proselytizing in jails
Group looks at 25 facilities in Va. to determine if public money used in such services

The ACLU of Virginia wants the state's prisons and jails to stop giving public money to Christian ministries that proselytize inmates.

The civil-liberties group has sent Freedom of Information requests to 25 Virginia jails -- including four in the Richmond-Petersburg area -- to see which ones have been providing direct payments of public funds to religious groups such as Southeastern Correctional Ministry and the Good News Jail & Prison Ministry.

The ACLU says it has no issue with the religious services being provided, but it believes government funding of such programs runs counter to the constitutional separation of church and state.

"Jails can open their doors to individuals of all religions to come in on a volunteer basis and offer religious services of any kind -- even sectarian if they like," said Kent Willis, executive director of Virginia's ACLU. "They just can't pay them to do it."

Willis said, "We're just trying to . . . see if this is something that's very wide- spread or whether it has a more narrow focus."

The ACLU acted after learning that three jails in the Tidewater region -- Portsmouth, Hampton and Virginia Beach -- had paid from their jail-canteen funds to Southeastern Christian Correctional Ministry Inc., a Hampton nonprofit that provides Christian Bible study and religious counseling.

Willis said Portsmouth paid nearly $50,000 to the ministry between 2003 and 2005, while Hampton paid $20,280 between 2004 and 2005. Virginia Beach has paid between $6,000 and $7,500 annually since 2002, he said.

The 25 jails selected by the ACLU were picked largely at random, Willis said, to ensure a "geographic distribution all over the state."

The ACLU, Willis emphasized, has no problem with jails paying religious leaders to provide inmates with religious programs as long as the services being provided are "nonsectarian" and have a "broad religious-spiritual kind of counseling."

"There's a delicate line here," Willis said.

Someone trained to deliver services to all denominations -- like a military chaplain -- would pass muster if he or she didn't promote a specific faith, Willis said.

"In both instances in Hampton and Portsmouth," Willis said, "[Southeastern Ministry] was provided payment from the jails specifically to proselytize inmates to the Christian religion," Willis said. The ACLU is less sure how the Good News Ministry operates, he said.

Henrico County Sheriff Mike Wade said he stopped the practice of giving money directly to the Good News Ministry that works with inmates at Henrico Jail East and Jail West after he succeeded former Sheriff Toby Matthews in 2000. He said Matthews gave the ministry about $2,000 a month from the canteen fund during his administration.

"We didn't feel it was right to give to one and not the others," he said.

Wade said the department does buy Bibles, Qurans, prayer rugs and other religious materials for inmates with proceeds from the jail canteens, which sell food, toiletries and clothes to inmates. "That's perfectly fine," Willis said of that practice.

The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office has given $18,123 to the Good News Ministry from its jail-canteen fund from March 2001 to October 2005, said Lt. Col. Dennis Proffitt.

"We don't plan to change a thing that we're doing," Proffitt said. "The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office operates according to the law, opinions of the court and policy of the sheriff, and not the opinion of the ACLU."

Proffitt said the sheriff's office doesn't regard the canteen fund as government money. "There's no tax dollars involved in the inmate fund," he said.

Virginia law pertaining to canteen funds was amended in 2002, stipulating that monies derived from the operation of them "shall be considered public funds."

The law requires the funds to be used inside jails for purposes to benefit inmates, which some jail officials say they are doing through payments to ministry programs.

"Jails may make an argument that canteen funds should be treated separately from government funds," Willis said. "We would argue that they aren't. Once they enter the canteen it's the government's money and needs to be treated like any other money that belongs to the government."

Willis said Hampton has suspended funding to Southeastern Ministry pending an advisory opinion from the Virginia attorney general. Portsmouth advised that it discontinued the practice with the election of its current sheriff.

"This is an interesting position for us," said Willis, adding the ACLU doesn't "want to be taking steps" resulting in inmates having less access to their religious practices.

"Most of the work the ACLU has done in the prison system," Willis said, "is to make sure the jails and prisons are accommodating [inmates'] religious beliefs."

[Soldier4Christ]

Coast Guard relaxes head-coverings rule

NEW YORK — The Coast Guard has abandoned a rule requiring anyone seeking a merchant marine license to submit photographs showing no religious head coverings, civil rights lawyers said Wednesday.

The lawyers, from the New York Civil Liberties Union, sued the Coast Guard in Manhattan federal court on March 28 on behalf of Khalid Hakim, a devout Muslim who has served in the merchant marine while working for private shipping companies since 1973. Workers such as Hakim are not members of the military but are required to obtain licenses to work on commercial ships that transport cargo in U.S. waters.

Before Sept. 11, 2001, Hakim regularly received licenses after submitting photographs in which he wore his religious knitted hat, called a kufi, the NYCLU lawsuit said. After Sept. 11, though, the Coast Guard said he would have to remove the headdress to get a license, it added.

The NYCLU said that on Monday, just before an initial conference in the case with Judge Jed S. Rakoff, the Coast Guard directed field offices to enforce the regulation so as to accommodate religious beliefs and thus permit the use of photos with head coverings so long as the applicants can be identified.

The NYCLU said it welcomed the Coast Guard’s change of policy.

“Muslims, like anyone else, should be able to obtain government licenses without sacrificing their religious beliefs,” NYCLU associate legal director Christopher Dunn said.

But Dunn said the lawsuit would proceed until the NYCLU was satisfied that the change in policy was permanent.

A Coast Guard spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.