Priorities

When I was growing up, one of my dad's favorite sayings to me was "You need to get your priorities straight!" I would like to, now, pass that little pearl of wisdom on to the ACLU, or American Civil Litigation Union. As a group dedicated to the defense of the Bill of Rights and civil rights, in general, they really need to do some serious soul searching about what is really important. I say this because it has been over 100 hours since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of private land grabs, and yet, the ACLU has said nothing about it. Instead, they have spent their time working on the following:

Governmental Protection for Flag Burners
In spite of all you have seen and heard, there is no Constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression. We have freedom of speech and freedom of the press - in other words, of the spoken and written word. While our rights to freedom of assembly, freedom to petition and freedom of religion give us a great deal of latitude toward the afore mentioned freedom of expression, the framers did not, in my opinion, ever intend to completely open the door to all forms of expression.

In our time, as in years past, actions speak louder than words. Ideas, however forceful, can suffer greatly in the face of deeds. Some forms of expression are dangerous, like shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater. Some are hypocritical (as well as immoral and illegal), like killing an abortion doctor. And some are outright treasonous, like burning the flag and spitting on soldiers. The founding fathers were nothing if not insightful. They new the dangers of opening some doors too far.

Guaranteeing Citizen's Rights to Enemy Combatants
Civil rights guaranteed by the American Constitution apply to American citizens first, legal residents second, legally visiting aliens next. Nowhere were the rights guaranteed by the Constitution meant to apply to foreign citizens and soldiers intent on doing us harm. I fully agree that as a nation, we need to take the high road when dealing with military prisoners. The isolated abuses at Abu Gharaib and (if any) at Guantanamo were/are wrong. But what is more wrong is to place the lives and rights of those prisoners above the lives and rights of American soldiers and citizens. Let's not forget, however, that it was the military that blew the whistle on itself in Iraq...not the ACLU.

Rights of a Murderer vs Rights of the Unborn
It never fails to amaze me that ACLU places the right to life of a convicted, even confessed murderer over the right to life of an innocent unborn child. I recognize that there are extenuating situations in both cases, but the ACLU's stance on these two issues are hypocritical, immoral and indefensible. I do not completely agree with the Catholic church's stand on capital punishment, but I do understand it, and respect it because it is consistent with their stand on abortion. I can even understand supporting capital punishment and limited abortion ( as I do). The ACLU, however, has it all backwards.

Connected with these are the ACLU's opinion that children should not be required to notify their parents when seeking an abortion. There is also protecting the ability for twelve-year-olds to get condoms from their school nurse whether their parents approve, or not. The ACLU puts these under the overall category of reproductive freedom. What freedom is there, however, for the aborted fetus? In most cases, the life of the murderer is beyond repair, whether the fault of society or parents. The unborn, however, is a clean sheet of paper, full of promise and potential. Whatever your position on abortion and capital punishment, you can't deny that the ACLU values the life of the guilty over the innocent.

Conclusions
I didn't even mention the ACLU's work on selective religious freedom, legalizing drugs, protecting illegal immigrants, etc. And still, not a word in defense of the citizens of New London about to be evicted from their homes. According to the ACLU, it isn't a violation of civil rights if person B wants person A's land and only has to promise the city more taxes in order to get it. Clearly, the ACLU's priorities are all screwed up. Dad would have a field day with them. Instead of supporting and defending civil rights, they support and defend excess, irresponsibility, indiscretion and treason. Yeah, that makes sense.