Quote Originally Posted by BOBBY SHEPHERD
The last I heard the A.C.L.U. has not yet been successful in killing god and free speach in America.
What utter nonsense!

If it were not for the American Civil Liberties Union, the open exchange of ideas regarding sexual matters would not even be legal in this country. Have you never heard of "Ulysses"? "Lady Chatterley's Lover"? These were books by novelists of international reputation (James Joyce, DH Lawrence); and each was banned in this country for quite some time, as were many others, because they included relatively tame references to human sexuality.

Here is the mission statement of the ACLU:

"The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty. We work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Our job is to conserve America's original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights.

Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) and the Nineteenth Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920.

The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:
• Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state.
• Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
• Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
• Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.

If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled."
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Please tell me what part of that manifesto you disagree with.

The ACLU stood up for blacks when they were being lynched in the south. They stood up for Jews when there were quotas on Jewish admissions to certain colleges and universities. They stood up for Japanese-Americans when they were being thrown in concentration camps during World War II. They stood up for freedom of thought and association during they hysterical frenzy of post-WW II McCarthyism.

And they will stand up for you if the right-wing zealots in this country ever decide to go after pornographers and their readers and viewers.

Boccaccio