Instapundit and the ACLU
Posted on August 31, 2005
Update: Many months later, we talk Glenn into debating us.
Update #2: I just got off the phone with someone from the Alliance Defense Fund who suggests that maybe Glenn should read Alan Sear’s new book ACLU Vs. America before he bashes it. Makes sense to me. Have you checked the facts and resources Glenn?
Update: Hey, just because a few of us don’t agree with Glenn, and no longer wish to read him, I wonder why he thinks it was worth an instalanche. I mean, whats the big deal? Not that I don’t appreciate the traffic, and will gladly add anyone to the list who agrees with us. Glenn sends his readers here telling them we are delinking because he said that “demonizing the ACLU is silly.” We don’t think it is silly at all. And Glenn is entitled to his opinion. We just no longer wish to link to someone that supports an anti-American organization. It isn’t just because we disagree with him, but that he provides no avenue in which to debate him on this. We link to many sites that we disagree with on ocassion, but they provide a means to counter them. We have invited Glenn to debate us here in our comments, but he has just ignored the email. Here are a few reasons why they should be demonized.
The ACLU’s evil far outweighs any of its good.
They work with CAIR, an organization with known terrorist ties.
They advocate the legalization of child porn distribution and possession.
Oppose Tax Exemptions For All Churches, But Fight For It For Witches.
They try to erase our Christian Heritage. Former ACLU Lawyer, Reese Lloyd says it well, “The ACLU has become a fanatical anti-faith Taliban of American religious secularism.”
Oppose every effort to National Security
And My Personal Favorite:
In October of 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.15 million in funding from two of it’s most generous and loyal contributors, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying new anti-terrorism restrictions demanded by the institutions make it unable to accept their funds.
“The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that “promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state.”The Rockefeller Foundation’s provisions state that recipients of its funds may not “directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity.”SOURCE
And Now:
CLEVELAND (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said today it will no longer accept funding from the United Way so as not to complete a required counterterrorism compliance form. SOURCE
Need more reasons? Take a look around the site.
Hat tip for info: Junkyard Blog Who says in response to the instalanche…
“He belittles, then plays the victim card, right on cue. No wonder he’ll work with the ACLU.”
Several conservative blogs are calling for all right-oriented blogs to delink Instapundit, one of the most high-profile blogs on the internet, in light of this post. Owner Glenn Reynolds called outspoken disagreement and “demonization”of the ACLU “a bit silly”. He goes on:
I do feel that they’ve become overly partisan in recent years, but they still do good work (I’ve worked with them in the past, on the New Orleans rave case for example, and will probably do so again.)
Euphoric Reality notes:
Is Glenn making nice-nice for the sake of popularity? I know he’s got to be more intelligent than to actually think the ACLU is good for anything, or that their goals have anything to do with what conservatives believe in. How can any conservative worth his or her salt see the ACLU as anything besides what it is - a lions’ den of leftist thought that makes it a point to attack anything good and true and right. They are anti-American, anti-truth, anti-good. They are, quite literally, an evil organization. They support child molesters, approve of the “homosexualization” of the United States, and fight for everything sane people with morals are against. They support CAIR, the American version of al Qaeda. (If that’s not enough to tell you there’s a problem here, then you need to read this blog more.) In almost any court case that makes conservatives want to bang their heads against a wall, chances are good that the ACLU was involved.
Perhaps even more disturbing is this post. A reader emailed Reynolds to say basically “You just lost another reader because of your remarks.” Reynolds’ reply?
That’s okay - there are plenty of blogs out there, and this guy would clearly be happier somewhere else.
Yes, perhaps that reader would be happier here at my blog. I sorta found that statement by Glenn a little on the high and mighty side.
Cao’s Blog notes:
That is just plain “politically correct”. The only people Glenn is making points with on that one is lawyers and leftists. Glenn is ignoring the plethera of information out there which indicates that the ACLU’s goals and achievements have been all about the destruction of American values, under the deceitful auspices of supporting the Constitution.
Basil’s Blog is providing a way that you can reference these statements by Glenn without providing a link to him.
Laurence of This blog is full of crap has this to say:
Try not to have a heart attack, but finally there’s something that Stop The ACLU posts that I find madly compelling and necessary for something beyond a BlogAd or a Blogroll link.
Oh, he has a lot more to say than just that…go read.
Of course I have to delink him. I’m anti-ACLU, and I must stand by principle. Here is a site that doesn’t get that much attention yet deserves it: Choose Life. Add her to your blogroll.
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yeah, someone disagrees with you, ban them! that’ll show them, won’t it, adolf? i mean, we can’t hang them for allying themselves with that nasty homosexualization agenda, right? hey, anyone ever tell you you have really nice lips, adolf?
I recieved this as a comment on my blog : Delink to Instapundit. ACLU
I emailed Glenn Reynolds telling him that I was de-Bookmarking his site. He answered telling me to not let my monitor hit me on the way out. He gave me a dishonorable mention on him 8/29 page, citing my email but didn’t include his “monitor” comment.
Thanks, John
John Rieman | 08.31.05 - 10:48 darn this guy hasnt a blog ? tooo bad , hope you see this and maybe start one ..keep that email too .
Glenn is anything but a Conservative. He is definitely Liberal-leaning while claiming to be a “moderate.” He wistfully offers endless advice to Democrats when they repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot and never offers similar advice to Republicans, instead offering endless criticisms of their political platform, personal beliefs and attempts to redirect this country back towards its core values embodied in that silly Constitution thing.
It’s no wonder Glenn *loves* the ACLU, he is a fellow Lawyer and as with Clinton they all stick together no matter what.
It seems odd that conservatives don’t value personal freedom. Isn’t a big part of conservatism protecting individual rights from the government??
Whatever the case, Glenn musn’t be too upset. After all, he greenlighted this link and is subsequently sending a surge of traffic to the StopTheACLU website.
Dave the ACLU has you fooled if you think they are about freedom, and no one is banned from here. I’m just not linking to his site, and could really care less about his opinions. I haven’t really ever liked his site anyway. I’m free to link or not link to whomever I choose.
I’m no big fan of the ACLU either, but right now, everyone who is delinking Instapundit is proving DailyKOS and DU right when they say that the conservatives all march lock-step to their overlords’ orders. God forbid Glenn be allowed to express an opinion!
I think it’s amazingly funny how the far left calls Glenn a conservative, and now the far right brands him liberal. You children (someone tell Cao that it’s PLETHORA, BTW) need to grow up.
Gee, like Glenn’s gonna care if any of you stop linking to him; he has hundreds of times the traffic of all of you put together. I don’t like much of what the ACLU does, but I’m not going to demonize a nice libertarian blogger because he says the ACLU isn’t ALL bad. (And some of you need to learn what a libertarian is; they are pro social liberalism, fiscally conservative, and want to protect their rights.)
Whoah there, dave. WTF does this have to do with Hitler and Homosexuals???
Methinks you have some major “issues”, to be delicate. YIKES!
Jay, if you’re concerned about gayness becoming mainstream, you might want to read this. If you’re still convinced that you’re 100% hetero, watch some gay porn and test yourself. Let us know the results!
it was not meant for you, sorry. i should have posted not here but on euphoric’s blog it was the nasty comment you link to about ‘the homosexualization’ of society, whatever that means. but this wholesale ‘delinking’ is about as immature as anyone can get. no more hypocritical talk of the left being babies when someone says something they don’t agree with. and it has nothing to do with banning someone in comments. and everything to do with tactics like the one you are attempting (although it’s sort of like deciding not to buy one book from amazon–no effect. talk about issues.
Wow! Reynolds is going to lose at least a dozen or two hits a day from all the third/fourth tier blogs delinking him. How will his blog ever recover?
Reynolds is not a conservative, and never has been. Indeed, to be fair to him, he has said so many times. He became popular only because he has helped bring attention to the pervasive liberal bias in the media. But that doesnt make him conservative, only honest. Liberals like to portray Reyolds as a conservtive, so they can point to him and say ” See, even conservatives support ( fill in) homosexual marriage, abortion on demand, the ACLU, federal tax money for embyonic stem cell research, etc. etc.
The truth is, conservatives have been so watered down that they are willing to accept Rockefeller RINO subsitutes like National Review for their reading, or even outright liberals like Reynolds. People have to rally around classical conservative writers like Coulter or Steyn. Sure, everyone loves to portraty them as extreme, but their wild popularity shows that they represetn authentic conservatisim.
Reynolds will always be an honest and respectful fellow, but he’s simply a liberal with honest views of the media. He deserves our thanks for fostering the growth of the new media, but it’s time to move on from his site. For the moment, Michelle Malkin is a well known subsitute, and let’s hope some lesser known, but forceful, conservatives will rise to the fore.
Conservatives don’t believe in boycotts except in the most extreme situations. They believe in letting markets — including markets of ideas — sort themselves out.
Heh. A mass delinking of Instapundit by blogs no one’s heard of. This site’s probably got more traffic from the Instapundit link to this article than it ever had in the past…
While I am not a fan of the ACLU nor do I agree with most of their actions, you have just labeled yourself an “extremist.” To say everything the ACLU does is “evil” is not only showing your ignorance, but inherently untruthful. Sure, they maybe “extreme” in their support of the freedom of speach, but that does not make EVERYthing they do inherently wrong. And to completely dis-associate yourself with anyone who shows even an ounce of credibility towards them shows your over-all close-mindedness to any and every issue.
This whole thing is rather funny.
I agree that the ACLU has not lived up to its name, or rather has decided to live up to its name only to support a select group. They deserve the oppposition they have generated and have only themselves to blame.
I think that the idea people are getting upset about Glenn saying what he did is a bit silly, he states the biggest issue the group has pretty clearly. I assume he will work with them when they agree with him and not when they don’t. That seems normal to me but hey to each his own blog.
Its always struck me that Glenn was the most fair minded man on the net. I disagree with him on several subjects but that’s fine.
My impression is that blogging was always a hobby to him and the blog even as its grown remains something he enjoys. I think he writes more for himself than others. If he is the man I take him for he will be just as happy with his blog if his readership was down to pre-9/11 levels as he is now.
His reaction about blogs has always been there are a lot of good choices out there and you should find what you like. I like Glenn.
It seems that Michelle Malkin , Captain’s Quarters and PowerLine have been catching my eye lately and I seem to agree much more with them than Glenn, however he is my home page and shall continue to be to my great reading pleasure.
I haven’t tried the blogs on the list above, now that I know about them I’ll give them a peek and if I like them I’ll visit. The only reason I know about them is because I read Glenn’s link.
Irony abounds.
I never did link to that overrated blog…maybe I was ahead of myself.
I found this post via an Instapundit link [/irony]. Presumably, uou have positions you are trying to promote to a broad readership. It’s unclear to me how this de-linking campaign demonstrates the strength of those ideas. Suppose one of your friends or neighbors supported the ACLU (some of mine do…): would you still talk to them?
Other than that, what kobayashimaru #11 said. And lighten up.
Too many of you conservatives are a bunch of friggin nut cases. You give Bush a walk for all his lies about Iraq and then get yourself all worked up into a killin’ frenzy about whether or not one of your brethren is espousing the party line.
Guess the best thing about this is that you’ll all turn on each other eventually and we’ll be rid of you!
Count me in, even if my sentiments are mostly based on his refusal to respect the many catbloggers of the Blogopshere.
This cracks me up. Were you somehow unaware that Glenn is a socially liberal libertarian? It’s not like he hides it.
I typically have no use for the ACLU, but some people who I respect have different views than mine. To throw a hissy fit because someone who disagrees with you supports an organization that disagrees with you is just silly.
I’m not sure that I understand all the fuss here. Glen is entitled to his opinion, and other people are entitled to theirs. If an individual no longer wants to link to Glen because of his support of a pro-anarchist organization like the ACLU, a group I might add that thinks that serial killers have rights, but unborn babies do not, then why shouldn’t they be able to exercise that right without being attacked? Cripes, talk about fascists and “big babies.”
Lighten up? I think this whole thing is an absolute riot, as Glennn clearly does!
These other commenters wanting to have anal sex with Jay are a bit off, aren’t they? Geez. Talk about overreactions…
The ACLU is a communist organization that absolutely despises freedom. If you can’t see that, you need to read this site a little more often and let some facts filter in to your life.
Reynolds is not a conservative…he?s simply a liberal with honest views of the media
Actually, he’s neither. He’s what most Americans are: a free thinker who makes up his mind according to the issue at hand and not via some “ideology”.
You people make up the 20% of the population that exists at the polar opposite of the 20% that make up the Kos crowd. Luckily, it’s the 60% of us (like Glenn) who can think for ourselves that actually run the country. Any time one side gets too full of itself and starts to think that it can dictate how this country works (like the conservatives are starting to), we throw water on the fire. Keep spouting out silly crap like this, you’d be wise to grab your raincoats.
Wow! Reynolds is going to lose at least a dozen or two hits a day from all the third/fourth tier blogs delinking him. How will his blog ever recover?
Priceless.
Enjoying your Instalanche? Somehow, the fact that I’ve never heard of a single one of the blogs you’ve got listed as having delinked Glenn, and that I would have never heard of you guys if he hadn’t mentioned it, has the whiff of… hrm, irony?
After having looked over your blogroll… jebus, do you actually read all of those? Me, I prune people I don’t read…
Ah, how quickly we light the match to burn the books. We might as well be moonbats ourselves.
Personally, I will leave the link to Instapundit on my blog, and after reading this I might consider an ACLU link as well.
Just because I like them doesn’t mean I always agree with them. Or in the case of Kos, who I never agree with, I just go for the opposition viewpoint.
Professor Reynolds is actually the opposite of what currently passes as a liberal, and that is not a conservative, but a libertarian. It’s funny that I’ve seen him referred to by many leftist moonbats as an extreme wingnut. I guess it’s difficult for some people to comprehend that the universe of political views is not a one dimensional line.
I think the thing I enjoy most about Dr. Reynolds is that he tends to talk about what he’s for rather than ranting about what he’s against. I also like his pragmatically optimistic view of a future that doesn’t involve a Marxist utopia or heavenly paradise. I have to admit that I don’t always follow all of his techno-geek links, but it’s nice to be reminded that some people out there are actually creating things rather than wallowing in politics.
I don’t always agree with what Dr. Reynolds has to say, but if I ever found a website or pundit that I agreed with 100%, I don’t think I’d go back for more, as I’m not sure what the point would be. Anyway, for now at least, Instapundit is set as my homepage, and nothing I’ve read here has convinced me to change that.
I sorta found that statement by Glenn a little on the high and mighty side.
Well, unless you and other ACLU-haters are just going to read Instapundit from now on for troll material or because it’s a “guilty pleasure,” which I highly doubt. Otherwise, Reynolds’s statement is fitting.
You guys are going overboard. Glenn’s involvement with the ACLU was limited to a cause he supported — and I would be surprised if any big-government-disliking conservative wouldn’t have.
Conservatives aren’t generally fond of adulating the government when it oversteps its authority or uses excessive force. (Although I wonder where the ACLU was post-Waco, for example.) Sadly, there aren’t a whole lot of other organizations dedicated to these causes other than the ACLU, and instead of harping on them, I’d like to see more efforts directed at creating an ACLU alternative.
As crazy as the ACLU is, there aren’t a whole lot of other organizations that can organize to speak up when the government does overstep its bounds. And for that matter, there remains a sliver of its agenda that does intersect with conservative principles that conservatives do, and should, support. Glenn and the ACLU were pursuing a common goal together, and for that he should not be lambasted.
It doesn’t take too much reading to see the Left Leaning Lawyer looking down on the unwashed masses in both Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Volokoh but they can both be interesting and imformative. As with everyone else you read, you should do so with a critical eye.
Greetings to a new Bookmark. I’m the “reader” that de-bookmarked Instapundit. And I’m thrilled that he quoted me. Thanks for running with the delinks. That’ll help me in my time of suffering from loss of his blogging. Your list of delinks is no doubt a good list of sites to follow. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, John
You people need to recognize that you were brought into the conservative movement to provide votes, not set the agenda. You are not actually political Conservatives and have no right to claim that you represent Conservatism as a political philosophy.
We all know that if McGovern had advocated the persecution of homosexuals and prayer in school that today you’d be out protesting with Cindy Sheehan decrying the malice of the capitalist hegemon. Your role in the Republican party is an historical accident that will soon be remedied.
– please leave America
It’s a damn shame y’all won’t be taking part in the Hurricane Katrina Blog Relief Day fundraiser, something that Glenn has worked hard on (and I’m guessing none of you have worked at all on). But hey, what’s a couple million victims in the delta when you have a website to blow off?
Glenn supports some conservative positions, but anyone who reads him regularly knows that he’s pro-choice, pro-stem-cell research, and pro-gay marriage. Not to mention that he has said very plainly on several occasions that he’s not a conservative. So what are y’all so shocked about? Maybe you should just be grateful that someone with such a huge volume of traffic so frequently links to conservative bloggers like Hugh Hewitt, giving them wider exposure than they’d otherwise have, and that his sympathies are with the conservatives in many things if not all. De-linking like this, and in general being more zealous to cast out heretics than to make converts, just ends by creating a tiny ghetto of like-minded people who are speaking only to each other. Plus it smacks of junior high school.
Can we grow up a bit, please. What, are going to act like the left? Are we a bunch of mind-numbed robots, who can’t tolerate differences of opinion. If so, join the democratic party.
So, Glen works with the ACLU to defeat a common enemy. Sounds almost like us allying with the Soviets to defeat Hitler. According to Godwin’s Law, this thread is now officially dead.
Point of personal information!!!
Who do you folks consider conservative? The new big-government-borrow-and-spend Republicans who run Washington? How about Bob Barr, the man who was so conservative the Republicans redistricted out of seat?
Delisting Glenn because he said one positive thing about the ACLU seems petty and narrow-minded to me, but I must be a liberal because I disagree with your opinion.
Stupid stuff like this is why I cant call myself a republican. Of course I cant call myself a democrat because they are even crazier. And cant be a Libertarian because they are crazy in a completely different way. Whats an average American to do?
Glenn Reynolds is, at best, a libertarian conservative. He is not, and never has been, part of the ideologically motivated neo-conservative movement.
Professor Reynolds worked for the Gore camp in 2000, I believe. Which is frankly bizarre to my mind, as I don’t understand how a freedom loving individual could, but evidently it is so.
Look, he’s a moderate libertarian with a slight distaste of religion in politics, and a mild bit of libertinism, and I think a willingness to trust his own reason a bit too far in making policy which occasionally leads him in leftward directions, plus he is probably hoping to become a post-human superhuman via way of the Singularity which gets him to sign on to stem cell research.
Or thats my take.
But, he’s bright, mostly fair-minded (much more so than 99% of the rest of the population, but he is human), and friendly enough with conservatism.
But he’s not a conservative. Or a Republican.
So yes, I’d like to see a Conservative replacement for him. But I could not in fairness agree to delink him.
Sure the ACLU is mostly harmful, and I’d like to see a Conservative replacement which wasn’t so insane, but you know, I found myself agreeing with Atrios one time. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, after all.
But if one of you can show me a conservative replacement for Glenn, I’ll add the fellow to my blogroll at Tales of Tadeusz. Not that I’ll drop Glenn, but if I can find something better, I’ll link to that instead.
Sorry for the rambling
Eric R. Ashley
i just de-linked.
First of all, I’m pretty sure that Glenn would consider himself a libertarian and not a conservative, as you implied. Second of all, I don’t think that it is silly to dislike the ACLU, but do think that you are overreacting. I generally strongly dislike the ACLU, but they do on occasion do something valuable as Glenn mentioned. My free market physician organization, The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, you know the one that sued the Clinton admininistration to open the records of their secret healthcare taskforce in 1994 and won, has on occasion worked with the ACLU, such as on medical privacy issues, where their help has been valuable. More to the point, Glenn does a tremendous and valuable job of blogging. No doubt every blog will occasionally include a statement with which you disagree. Don’t, however, throw the baby out with the bath water.
great work guys. i hope next you’ll be “delinking” from Rush Limbaugh & Bob Tyrrell–
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=6530
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/emmetttyrrell/et20010603.shtml
Did anyone read about the case the Glenn worked with the ACLU on? Seems to me to be a pretty straightforward First Ammendment case, the kind of thing anyone could support. The DEA actually was arguing that Glow Sticks and bottled water were drug paraphenilia! For what it is worth, I have not de-linked instapundit.
-R
You seem to imply that Glenn linked to your piece as some form of revenge. I’d have thought you’d regard it as a service. Now anyone who comes to instapundit will see your piece and, in the event they agree, de-link or stop reading instapundit. What’s the problem?
This whole issue reminds me of the many petty wars that erupt on FreeRepublic.com over minutiae. Some people can’t differentiate between disagreement and apostasy.
I delinked a while ago http://badhairblog.blogspot.com/2004/12/genn-reybolds-lays-egg-and-i-just.html
I am de-linked and I got a post up on my site, plus a cross-post of this article. Really, I never was linked so can’t delink, but you know what I mean
Actually READ THE CASE! Madness! That would involve critical thinking, and that’s a no-no in Red Lock-Step Blogdom.
The conservative insecurity is amazing– you’re even SOMEHOW offended that Glenn gave you free publicity– oh, but it’s all a part of his evil plan! And he hurt your feelings too! Just go cuddle with your guns and you’ll feel better soon.
Twits.
You need to relax. Why are you doing a hatchet job on instapundit? If you don’t like the aclu, make your point and leave instapundit out of it. In particular, equating CAIR with Al Qaeda is way beyond reasonable. “Homosexualization” of the US?!!!
Sean, we fight the ACLU and those who support it. Instapundits reign of the blogasphere needs to be cut short.
#37 chrth
“It?s a damn shame y?all won?t be taking part in the Hurricane Katrina Blog Relief Day fundraiser, something that Glenn has worked hard on…”
Actually, I plan on rolling up my sleeves and helping out. Got a Dome to get ready for some visitors. Not that Mr. Reynolds thinks it’s a good idea from the tone of his link to Washington Post (not the Hosuton Chronicle, which is the local paper covering this generous move on the part of my city and my state), but then what’s his city doing to welcome folks?
“And I?m guessing none of you have worked at all on.”
You guessed wrong. Signed up the moment I saw it.
Way to go, A-hole. But thank goodness the ACLU is there to protect your Constitutional right to be 100% dead wrong and the freedom to open your mouth to prove it.
Glenn is not a conservative. He’s a libertarian.
I really don’t care what he is. A true libertarian would care about liberty…liberty the ACLU fights to take away.
Just BECAUSE of all this nonsense I have found on this site — such as a LAME ASS comment about the “homosexualization” of the US (are you people for real? Do you so repressed and hate individuality and freedom THAT much so as to spend your days worrying about Jay and Jane get their jollies off with?), I am writing a check to the ACLU tonight.
So, thanks guys, for reminding me why the ACLU needs to exist in this country. Have fun!
Count me in — though I’ll hafta link him to delink him… Hope that counts.
[TriMT7: way to miss the point, kid.]
George P. Burdell #43! GO Tech! Glad to see the tradition is still followed…
How sad.
You have reinforced my decision to leave the Republican party and become a Libertarian.
You are no worse the DailyKos and his minions.
There are a lot of things that I don’t agree with Glenn about, but I don’t freak out over them and take extreme steps.
Sean, we fight the ACLU and those who support it. Instapundits reign of the blogasphere needs to be cut short.
Ain’t gonna happen. Glenn is more in tune with the Centrists of this nation then either the Right-wingers or the Left-wingers. You forget that Centrists make up the majority of voters, whether Republican or Democrat.
mendacious fools. you’ll all rot in hell.
Thanks for the list of blogs-to-ignore.
Seriously, the ACLU is a diverse organization, and advocates even for unpopular positions. Freedom of speech for the KKK is still freedom of speech, etc. etc. blah blah.
=darwin
Kinda silly not linking to a blog, because it isn’t in lockstep with ones thinking. I read and link Instapundit because he is logical, but comes to different conclusions than I or others might come to. If I wanted to read only opinions that agreed with mine, I would only read my own blog.
Ah, Jay, this is just like the good old days. Glenn Reynolds is covering his lawyerly arse. Plain and simple. If he works with the ACLU, then IMO, he agrees with their agenda; take Christ out of Christmas, etc.. That isn’t a plain vanilla generic organization there; it’s blatantly anti-American when it goes to bat for criminals pedophiles and terrorists. Most people have figured out -that it claims to “uphold the constitution” but is destroying what the values this nation was founded on; God, Family, Country.
Hell, they even defend the “constitutional rights” of illegal aliens! That makes no sense; aliens have no “constitutional rights”, they’re not citizens.
#70:
You might want to reread your Constitution some time. It speaks of ‘priveleges and immunities’ of citizens, but ‘rights’ of people. Clearly, the framers intended that there could be people governed by our constitution who are not citizens, but that they have rights regardless. Strangely, however, the only time they used the word ‘right’ in the original text was to establish the basis for patents and copyrights. The rest of the rights they considered so ’self-evident’ that they didn’t bother to spell them out.
I’ve been reading blogs since before 9/11 and doing it religiously since. I can honestly say I don’t recall ever reading this, or any of the blogs listed in this thread. This is not a knock on you guys though. The blogsphere is a big place and I’m constantly discovering new sites, but being introduced to you and these other blogs in this manner is NOT the way you wanted it to happen *ie keeping me as a reader*.
Is it because you disagree with Glenn, hell no! I’m a libertarian/conservative and damn proud of it *you should see the debates I get into with one of my slightly more hippie friends*. I disagree with him on abortion, stem-cells, and some other issues. However, whether I’m reading a post of his supporting or challenging my views he is always honest, intelligent, and puts together a well thought argument with content to back it up. You don’t want to link Kos because he is a ranter with no substance, I couldn’t agree more, but to delink Glenn becaue he won’t march lockstep with your views is idiotic and too similar to far left blogs crushing of dissent.
Right now there is a post on DU blaming Bush for the death of 2 people in a hospital in New Orleans because the power went out. THEY ARE BLAMING BUSH FOR THE LOSS OF POWER!!! And every person there that dares call them on the stupidity of this comment has their comment deleted. You want to be like the DU, safe in your own little shell of a world where everything runs your way, fine, but don’t pretend to talk for all ‘true’ conservatives like several people in this thread seem to be implying. If you are so right *and I am inclined to agree with you* and Glenn so wrong, convince him, don’t ignore it because it’s inconvienient for you.
**Don’t have the DU link, you can find it at LGF in one of the comment sections from today**
I detect a desire to de-throne Reynolds and install someone more conservative in the seat of Blog King. Mass de-linking didn’t seem to do much damage to Andrew Sullivan, however. What makes anyone think it will accomplish anything here?
It’s also pointless. Of the top ten TTLB blogs, five are conservative (Malkin, Powerline, Captain’s Quarters, LGF, and Hugh Hewitt) one is left-wing (Kos), one is Drudge, one is Boing Boing (whatever that is), and two are libertarian-leaning law professors (Reynolds and Volokh). Hello! Winning already!
Yes, Sean, “homosexualization.” Is it really that hard to decipher? It’s a term I’d stand by. How can you argue differently, given the ACLU’s recent support of anti-Hetracil legislation and Proposition 313?
If we say that foreigners are guaranteed rights under the Constitution, we could have claimed to invade Iraq to preserve their “rights under the Constitution” Its crazy. The point still is, Glenn is siding with a leftists and an organization which wants to destroy America.
You got some code for that de-linked blogroll? If so, I need it.
As we say in Australia, I hope your chooks (read chickens) turn into emus and kick your dunny (WC) down. Since I enjoy both Instapundit and admire the ACLU (though disagreeing with both at times), I reckon this would be my first and only visit to this christian fundamentalist site.
#59: Mr. Simon:
So you’re not going to Chicago, then?
Beth Sobol, please, tell me you’re joking and you know that “Proposition 313″ is a hoax.
Who friggin cares?
There is a [edited] disaster going on in Nawlins and all you people can do is throw political paper airplanes at each other.
Shove it.
Hey. Justbarkingmad did a horrible trackback. He called us bullies because we are de-linking. He hates the ACLU but fails to see we are the ones standing up to the bullies using civil liberties as a scapegoat to push a liberal agenda.
Andrew Who??
ACLU is a joke and so is this blog.
I never understood why the prom king was so popular.
Anyway, off the blogroll.
Having never linked to Instapundit, I had no decision to make here. I have commented elsewhere that we are right, and Instapundit is wrong. He deserves some credit for linking back to here, though. He must’ve known about this “instalanche” thing. Why did he drive readers here? We may never know.
You can add me to that list. Never have, never will.
For the most part, I’ve read nothing but criticism of the ACLU from Glenn Reynolds in the few times he’s broached the subject, and I was rather surprised to see him support the organization. But, that’s really neither here nor there… To take a tempered response to an issue is what matters. I may not support the ACLU in an overall sense, I may also be critical of the things they do as much of it is *deeply* stupid, but it’s as important to support good policies as it is to criticize foolish ones. Simply taking hard-line stances against an organization, saying “Anti-American, anti-truth, anti-good”, and other such sweeping generalized nonesense without consideration of the actual *issues* at play is putting all of you in the same catagory as those who call America “Empirealist”, or GitMo a “gulag”. It detracts from your cause, and makes your legitimate criticisms (I’m sure there are quite a few here, though most of them probably by accident) more easily dismissed.
Put me on that list. I just delinked instapundit.
“I really don?t care what he is. A true libertarian would care about liberty?liberty the ACLU fights to take away.”
HAHAHA I almost thought for a second that words had meaning.
liberty isn’t just “random good word that I want to be associated with, and want my enemies to not be associated with.” Just so you know, in case you ever decide to use the English language as a more full-time thing.
I agree with your call for a boycott of Reynolds. Everyone should delink from Instapundit. As for the rest of your post, I found it truly hilarious, if you find rightwing paranoia funny, which I do.
I bet Rush Limbaugh appreciates the ACLU’s efforts to keep his medical records private.
Funny stuff. I think I’ll send $100 to the ACLU today.
And Ollie North, you *always* hear him thank the ACLU for defending him on the basis that his conviction based on his coerced testimony was a violation of his, er, civil rights, aka that old librul poppycock, the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
Gawd! It must give you guys migraine headaches trying to spin the facts to suit your Bizarro-world opinions where you believe that Bush is a good president and not a lying sack of turdblossom, Iraq is going well, and we’re gonna get Osama “dead or alive.”
All of you sillies are aware that the ACLU filed petitions on behalf of Rush Limbaugh and Oliver North, right? Does that mean they’re communists/terrorists now? And they’d file petitions on YOUR behalf to protect YOUR liberties, too, despite your willful misunderstanding and misrepresentations of their mission.
The measure of a society’s freedom is measured in how it allows and protects unpopular opinions, and it’s a good thing someone is doing that these days.
Just one question here. How can the ACLU be the Taliban of secularism? That’s like saying something is the Saddam Hussein of democracy or the Hitler of Judaism. It just does not compute.
Uh-oh, Straleno is bringing up those damn “facts” about the “reality” of the situation. Doesn’t he know those don’t apply to Wingnut World?
Ewww, I shoulda gotten a warning by the site that sent me here. But some good of it will come anyway. I’m off to become an official member of the ACLU.
Nice rack wearing that “Enemy of the State” T-Shirt.
I have written an article about this controversy. If anyone here wishes to clarify anything in my article, please let me know.
If the software is cooperating today, you should be getting a trackback from me.
Another thing worth pointing out — the ACLU is officially a non-partisan organization, dedicated to protect individual civil liberties. They only seem “partisan” because right-wingers tend to infringe on those liberties so much more often than liberals, leaving the ACLU fighting conservatives most of the time. Ergo, the ACLU are “liberal,” “America-haters,” “homos,” “doody-heads” and other well-considered epithets.
The ACLU skirmished with the Clinton administration plenty, don’t forget.
He’s history.
This site is rather turd-ish
heeby jaco: you give me the heebie jeebies.
Perhaps it’s your Michael Jackson-like alias? Or, your just your Michael Moore-like intelligence and good looks?
Hmmm. Nope. Can’t decide.
And thanks to this post, I’m now linking to Instapundit.
Maybe we can have a trade? Let’s get those idiots over at the dKos to hate the ACLU and you can have them instead.
I’ve delinked Glenn too!
Glenn may never even notice that I did, but I feel better now.
If Glenn wants to support the ACLU, this is America, he can do it!
As for me and my blog, we support America…..Stop the ACLU
(censor) (censor), let’s revert to yore.
This comment was censored by Gribbit. The only reason why it has been approved is so that the person making the comment will know, that language such as was used in this comment will not be tolorated. Keep it clean troll el loco or go somewhere else.
Ever wonder why the ACLU always wins? Because they’re usually right.
Puppy-blenders get no permalinks. I have one post link to him for the Katrina relief but I will never give him the courtesy of a spot in my blogroll. Indeed.
Straleno said “the ACLU is officially a non-partisan organization, dedicated to protect individual civil liberties”
“I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself… I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.”
Roger Baldwin - Founder ACLU.
That is how they started, and they are still the same.
Let me know when they take a 2nd Amendment case.
Jay - Removed Instapundit link, but have one in a post to list all the charities for the hurricane. Does that count? The link isn’t for him, it’s for the victems. No sidebar link though.
Put my name in you list? Thanks.
Who’s Glenn Reynolds? Seriously, this is the first I’ve heard of him. You can count me as not linking to him either way.
ACLU in a joint effort with CBS, NBC, and the New York TImes are pressing for release of photos that do not futher a news story, but will incite violence against Americans and aid terrorists in recruitment efforts. Stop the ACLU and let your local affiliates know how you feel!
After reading the comments of the ACLU fellow travlers, I feel like I’ve been wading thru muck and filth but It’s typical isn’t it? You go to be among your friends and suddenly a dis-stink odor announces the arrival of the blog skunks and they have brought their soapboxes ( the better to preach to us). Well , since I didn’t bring a clothes pin for my nose to this party, I have this comment: People who on public blogs use words like ” friggin “, ” A- hole” and “lame-ass” show , not only alack of vocabulary but convince me that They were raised without a mother and in the gutter, I also have my doubts about whether or not their fathers last name appears on their burth certificate! I didn’t come here to be abused by uninvited potty-mouthed interlopers! If you put them all under an identifyed heading, I could cheerfully ignore them! Oh, in case I didn’t make it clear: I DESPISE the ACLU and ALL WHO SAIL WITH HER!!! L J Ferguson
In reference to comment 78. Maybe they will take the ACLU in Australia and we will not have to worry about them any more. f Robert like them so well he can have them.
When I see conservatives, of which I countmyself one, acting like whiny liberal drones — de-linking a blog which expressed a POV not in tune with the standard right wing one, for example — I feel a bit sick.
Grow up. People disagree. Refusing to acknowledge the existence of contrary opinion is about as childish as you can get.
Glenn Reynolds teaches Constitutional Law at a major state university’s law school. Simply stated, he can’t disavow the ACLU and remain in good credible standing with his colleagues. In fact, when push comes to shove, amongst that cohort, he is affirmatively obliged to come to the ACLU’s defense as a matter of self-preservation.
I went to a private law school that is relatively conservative and button-down, and its emphasized banking law, securities & commercial law, and corporate law as its academic strengths. It markets itself as a corporate and securities law school. Even in that environment my Constitutional Law professor’s outside activity was being the director of the local ACLU chapter.
Reynold’s professional reputation as a Constitutional Law scholar at a major university would be toast if he was in any way affiliated with any anti-ACLU group. Such is the power and standing of the ACLU. That’s why he says what he says.
To the extent that he’s a conservative or a libertarian, he’s sold out for the sake of his professional reputation.
To whoever mentioned Hetracil, maybe you should look again. Look up Hetracil. Seriously. That’s right, Hetracil from Shetty Pharmaceuticals.
Unless you were part of this from the get-go. In which case, I’m the moron.
For the record, I’m pro-ACLU.
Glenn seems to be a psuedo-conservative. Support for the ACLU is completely at odds with individual freedom and conservative thought. I think the Romans said it best, “You or either for us or against us”. There is no in between here. The ACLU wants to strip us of our 1st and 2nd ammendment rights as well as force secular nilism down our collective throats. There is nothing civil, American or remotely related to freedom about their goals. Even the name, ACLU, is a lie.
“Support for the ACLU is completely at odds with individual freedom”
HAHAHHAHAA. Oh brother! Too bad that wasn’t meant to be a joke because it would make a damn good one.
The reason why Glenn doesn’t support you guys is because you’re [edited] nutjobs. When your own start to disown you, you should realize you have issues.
Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, and a damn good one. Large swaths of the GOP ranks are lawyers. Lawyer is a neutral word with numerous connotations. Stop trashing lawyers - everyone hates them until they need them, then they’re the only chance a person’s got.
Oh, and because I can’t resist, Thomas Jefferson wore “secular humanist” and “liberal” as badges of honor… practically invented the terms. So lay off that too, unless you think the Dec. of Ind. and Bill of Rights are radical leftist screeds, you wascawy wight-wingers you.
By the by, hope the Midterm elections in ‘06 don’t leave you smarting too badly. We moderates - oh, sorry, “rabid commie pinko baby killing cowardly un-American Jesus haters” - got through the last five years, so you can tough out the next ten or so. That’s the beauty of the U.S. - whoever’s in charge, they can always look forward to being out of power so they can bitch about the other guys.