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(Yahoo)   Organizers battle fiercely over the ACLU's greasy, rancid heart and its twisted black soul   (news.yahoo.com) divider line
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574 clicks; posted to Politics » on 31 Oct 2006 at 12:19 PM (16 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



25 Comments     (+0 »)
 
jimmyhaha
2006-10-31 11:32:48 AM  
Why's it gotta be black?
 
Hot Carl To Go
2006-10-31 11:49:09 AM  
"greasy, rancid heart" = differently abled
 
Pocket Ninja [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2006-10-31 11:54:16 AM  
Exactly. What an astonishingly ignorant headline. It should be:

"Organizers battle in a fierce battle over the ACLU's differently abled heart and its twisted soul of color."

I think "twisted" might be offensive, too, though, since it might imply some sort of mental infirmity. So, maybe:

"Organizers battle in a fierce battle over the ACLU's differently abled heart and its special soul of color."
 
FlashHarry [TotalFark]
2006-10-31 11:55:15 AM  
Yeah! How dare the ACLU fight for our Constitutional rights - even if they're unpopular!
 
gilgigamesh
2006-10-31 11:57:59 AM  
The headline made me loller.

This, however, did not:

These incursions on ACLU employees' civil liberties have silenced public dissent by them, as documented in an e-mail last Dec. 20 to the ACLU national board by an "employee rights" group in the national office, including lawyers and projects staff, protesting these management practices. It was sent anonymously, the group wrote, because "the fear of reprisal for speaking out ... is heavy, palpable and widespread."

W. T. F.
 
gilgigamesh
2006-10-31 12:00:57 PM  
RTFA, FlashHarry.

As an honest-to-god card carrying ACLU member, it chilled me a bit.
 
Sensei Can You See [TotalFark]
2006-10-31 12:03:46 PM  
Pocket Ninja: "Organizers battle in a fierce battle over the ACLU's differently abled heart and its special soul of color."

"Battle" sounds warmongering. How about

"Organizers calmly discuss their differences over the ACLU's differently abled heart and its special soul of color."
 
BobtheFascist
2006-10-31 12:03:59 PM  
"loss of ... candor and its commitment to honesty and its growing intolerance for dissent and free speech within its own ranks. Such intolerance cannot be contained ... (and can change) the instincts and reflexes that drive the ACLU's mission."

They've become drunk w/ power. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
 
Kyosuke
2006-10-31 12:12:14 PM  
There is no constitutionally-granted or morally-granted right to air your company's dirty laundry in public.

Of course, it doesn't help that the anti-ACLU clowns are trumpeting news of this minor internal squabble from the hilltops.
 
RocketRod
2006-10-31 12:15:12 PM  
As an ex-supporter of this group, I now call them by their "new" acronym:

A
Craven
Lawyers
Union

'Cause they haven't yet met a cause where they can't extort cash so as to back away from it.
 
gilgigamesh
2006-10-31 12:15:21 PM  
Sounds like more than a minor internal squabble to me, Kyosuke.

Suppressing dissent? Retribution for speaking out? Monitoring employee communications?

It sounds to me like the ACLU leadership has been taking some cues from the Bushies.
 
jimmyhaha
2006-10-31 12:17:52 PM  
By the way, "Politically Correct Humor" (i.e. "it's not 'short', it's vertically challenged") is as topical and original as yelling "Show me the money!"
 
Not Available
2006-10-31 12:23:12 PM  
it doesn't help that the anti-ACLU clowns are trumpeting news of this minor internal squabble from the hilltops.

Um, Nat Hentoff is a fairly well-respected civil libertarian and long-time contributor to the Village Voice. He's not exactly a brainless right-wing shill.

From teh Wikipedia:

In recent years, he has become a vocal critic of the organization he once supported, the American Civil Liberties Union, for its support of government-enforced campus and workplace speech codes [1] and affirmative action, which he considers to be state-sponsored racial and ethnic discrimination. In effect, he has criticized the ACLU from the left, accusing it of not standing up strongly enough for free speech and other civil liberties.

Also, this has been coming to a head for some time now and is a lot bigger than a "minor internal squabble." I remember reading about problems @ the ACLU well over a year ago - maybe longer. The leaders are increasingly less interested in civil rights and more in continuing their own power. That is, they look less like a civil rights organization and more like a labor union.
 
gilgigamesh
2006-10-31 12:24:00 PM  
Oooooo, don't go there, Jimmyhaha.

SssssssNAP.

Oh no he di-int.

Jerrrr-y! Jerrrr-y! Jerrrr-y! Jerrrr-y!

Um, um, uh, GAG ME WITH A SPOON!

Or something.
 
the_gospel_of_thomas
2006-10-31 12:40:05 PM  
gilgigamesh: These incursions on ACLU employees' civil liberties have silenced public dissent by them, as documented in an e-mail last Dec. 20 to the ACLU national board by an "employee rights" group in the national office, including lawyers and projects staff, protesting these management practices. It was sent anonymously, the group wrote, because "the fear of reprisal for speaking out ... is heavy, palpable and widespread."


.... it's not "repressive actions against individual rights" when we do it?
 
MBA Whore
2006-10-31 12:41:38 PM  
I don't like the "cash cow" strategy the ACLU does on some cases but lets face it. . .what other nation wide organization has such a strong record of fighting against (real or perceived) threats to civil liberties?

Yes, they certainly have made mistakes. However, it seems to me that they adopt the concept of "nothing is sacred" which means "nothing is off limits," including asshat Nazis who (rightly) want to exercise their 1st amendment free speech rights. I like that "nothing is sacred" approach because the very minute you allow something to "be sacred," thus offlimits, you set an informal precedent for other things to get "sacred" treatment.

In fairness though, I have been focusing on ACLU's legal operations. I have no idea how well (or poorly) it is managed. All organizations, after years of growth, risk falling into dangerous group think, so a management shake up might be in order.
 
SmnM4g1s
2006-10-31 12:42:54 PM  
omfg smitty, buy a damned thesaurus!
 
MasterThief
2006-10-31 12:48:18 PM  
You're a mean one, ACLU.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel.
ACLU!

You're a bad banana
With a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, ACLU.
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You've got garlic in your soul.
ACLU!

I wouldn't touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a vile one, ACLU.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
ACLU!

Given the choice between the two of you
I'd take the seasick crockodile!

You're a foul one, ACLU.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
ACLU!

The three words that best describe you, are, and I quote:
"STINK! STANK! STUNK!"

You're a rotter, ACLU.
You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
ACLU!

Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots!

You nauseate me, ACLU.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You're a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
ACLU!

You're a three decker saurkraut and toadstool sandwich
With arsenic sauce!
 
Koggie
2006-10-31 12:50:24 PM  
I hate Illinois Nazis.
 
Tarl3k
2006-10-31 12:57:29 PM  
I heard there is a battle over a battle that was a battle for a battle.
 
damonkboy
2006-10-31 1:45:22 PM  
You know, I hope they fix the ACLU, because we seriously an organization now that is adept at defending our civil liberties in a court of law. I'd like to see 99% of you go to bat for yourself to defend your right to free speech and other Constitutional rights if the government comes after you for this or that. Actually I wouldn't like to see that, I hope no one ever has to go through such trials.
 
SmnM4g1s
2006-10-31 2:35:22 PM  
thanks admins for fixing that terrible headline!
 
BrotherTheodore
2006-10-31 3:23:27 PM  
ACLU is like lawyers.

They're all scum...except when they're on your side.
 
implementor
2006-10-31 7:54:40 PM  
One of the ACLU's primary goals in the United States has always been to promote socialism. Such as the statement made by one of it's two founders, Robert Baldwin, 15 years after it's founding:

"I am for Socialism, disarmament and ultimately, for the abolishing of the State itself ... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal."

And until the ACLU starts defending all of the Constitution, not picking and choosing which parts to defend and which parts it finds distasteful (like the 2nd Amendment), then I won't have much respect for them.
 
ridiculous_fish
2006-11-02 5:19:54 AM  
implementor One of the ACLU's primary goals in the United States has always been to promote socialism. Such as the statement made by one of it's two founders, Robert Baldwin.

That's *Roger* Baldwin - and he denounced communism and purged the ACLU of all communist ties after seeing how it farked up in the USSR. But feel free to point out all the steel mills that the ACLU has tried to nationalize.

And until the ACLU starts defending all of the Constitution, not picking and choosing which parts to defend and which parts it finds distasteful (like the 2nd Amendment), then I won't have much respect for them.

The NRA picks and chooses the parts of the Constitution that they defend. Do you therefore disrespect them?
 
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