Thursday, January 13, 2005

ACLU AGAINST RELIGION

Well, I guess we all know from their track-record what the ACLU thinks of religion. But this post lifted from Taranto is revealing too:

"It turns out the Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman isn't the only one to dowdify the First Amendment. This is from the American Civil Liberties Union's Web page on free speech (ellipsis in original):

It is probably no accident that freedom of speech is the first freedom mentioned in the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The Constitution's framers believed that freedom of inquiry and liberty of expression were the hallmarks of a democratic society.


Not to slight the importance of free speech, which we happily exercise every day, but the ACLU has edited out freedom of religion, which comes ahead of speech".



HATEFUL BUREAUCRACY FORCED TO BACK OFF BY PUBLICITY

It's the only weapon people usually have

All 10-year-old Carolyn Lipsick wanted to do was help some kids in a far away place where there was a tsunami, because, she says, "you can't just think of yourself, you have to think of other people." She had several ideas. "A coffee stand, a snack stand, a fruit stand, any kind of stand," Carolyn said Monday. Eventually, she settled on selling lemonade and cookies. So, her mom called the city of Miami Beach to find out what to do about getting a license for her enterprise.

That's when Carolyn got her first taste of dealing with government. "Food vending's not allowed in our city, so she can't get a license," says Miami Beach spokeswoman Nannette Rodriguez. And that's basically what Carolyn's mom was told on the phone. "I got really, really mad," said Carolyn.

It was all a big misunderstanding, the city says. They wouldn't have shut her down had she opened some sort of stand, Rodriguez said. But in the end, the confusion may have been the best thing that could happen. First, a TV station reported that she couldn't get a license. Then suddenly, Carolyn found herself being whisked to Tallahassee by a politician. "It bothers me to see any child shut down," said state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, who paid for her trip to the Capitol.

On Monday, Carolyn was selling lemonade and cookies at the state Capitol right outside Gallagher's office, and doing pretty good business. "I feel really good how it's turning out so far," said Carolyn, a fourth grader at Lehrman Community Day School.

While technically she couldn't have gotten a license, Rodriguez said if she had set up her stand, it's not likely anybody would have shut her down. And the city might have even helped her. "The police chief offered to let her use the police station," Rodriguez said.

More here

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