[Peace-discuss] ACLU liberals

Fri Nov 19 21:34:38 CST 2010

The ACLU does some undoubtedly good work, but they have also been remarkably 
selective in regard to whose rights they're willing to defend.

Case in point: I'm sitting here with my month-old granddaughter, named for 
Julian of Norwich.  (See Eliot's /Four Quartets/.) In the ACLU's mythological 
world view, her civil liberties were suddenly, magically conferred (how?) when 
she struggled free of her mother's body.  That's patent nonsense.

Julianna, having a future like ours,  had rights like ours more than a month 
ago.   --CGE

On 11/19/10 8:57 PM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>  The ACLU, like the NRA, will take Anyone as a member. I offer as
>  evidence the fact that I was a member of the ACLU in the mid '90s
>
>  But David Green makes a good point.
>
>  Mr. Gehrig is a highly visible member of ACLU.
>
>  Gehrig obviously supports American imperial militarism, and the
>  current wars specifically to the point of inciting public mockery of
>  those who are proactively anti-war.
>
>  Gehrig, in the typical paradoxical authoritarianism of "liberals"
>  seeks to squelch the voices of those he disagrees with. The
>  Orwellian shift of their appellation seems less and less paradoxical
>  as one gets used to how these "liberals" operate.
>
>  One still wonders at times if the "A" in ACLU stands for "Anti-" or
>  for Authoritarian. As "American" becomes more and more associated
>  with Authoritarianism, narrow bounds, and narrower minds, perhaps it
>  doesnt matter much to bring any clarity.
>
>  Since "you know them by their fruits", Mr. Gehrig as a prominent
>  ACLU'er represents the produce of the ACLU. It doesnt matter what is
>  happening nationally because at the local level that the people get
>  to see who the ACLUers really are. Right now everyone can see that
>  the ACLU are purveyors of bitter mocking invective and hip urban
>  neologisms like "squashrot".
>
>
>  On 11/20/2010 5:20 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
> > I object to your guilt-by-association. If you want to slam one
> > person with whom you have an issue, that's one thing. It's another
> > thing to slam an organization, based on your interaction with one
> > individual who is in the organization.
> >
> > If you follow what the national ACLU has been putting out on the
> > policies of the Obama Administration, on detention, on
> > assassination, on military commissions, on accountability for
> > torture, etc. I think one would be hard pressed to argue that they
> > have been pulling their punches.
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 3:07 PM, David Green
> > <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> The ACLU stands for one of many possible fundamental principles.
> >> Too many of its members think that that is the only one worth
> >> standing for, and wish to cover themselves with glory for doing
> >> so. It's become a pretty transparent business, and Gehrig's
> >> behavior exposes one aspect of that--he's an overt racist vis a
> >> vis the Palestinians, and he's especially annoyed that I showed
> >> him to be a liar regarding the death of Rachel Corrie. Bob, I
> >> would think that that would concern you regarding the credibility
> >> of the ACLU, as well as the substantive issue I've raised in my
> >> letter; likely I would think wrong. Nothing about liberals seems
> >> to bother you.
> >>
> >> DG ________________________________ From: Robert Naiman
> >> <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> >> Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> Sent: Fri,
> >> November 19, 2010 12:14:54 PM Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] ACLU
> >> liberals
> >>
> >> Is the ACLU responsible for what David Gehrig writes in letters
> >> to the DI? When he volunteered to sit at the table, should they
> >> have said: now, not just anyone can sit at this table. What kind
> >> of letters do you plan to write to the DI?
> >>
> >> On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 12:03 PM, David Green
> >> <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> The last time I saw David Gehrig, he was manning the ACLU table
> >>> at the Farmers Market. I hear that he has resigned from the
> >>> Urbana City Council. Here's his comment in response to my DI
> >>> letter:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> 
http://www.dailyillini.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/2010/11/17/exploitation-of-war-for-fun-profit-disturbing#comments-title
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
"Is the Daily Illini really so hard up for letters that it must print
> >>> near-weekly squashrot from the fringe flake David Green? Has he
> >>> absolutely no idea of how he comes across? I've never seen
> >>> anyone so brilliantly incarnate every facet of the far-right
> >>> parody of what a dour, smug,
> >>> holds-the-copyright-on-sanctimonious leftist is like. Is he
> >>> some kind of counter-Colbert, except that nobody's in on the
> >>> joke?"
> >>>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20101119/c7dcf325/attachment-0001.html>