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Home » E-newsletter » Archives » Deember 31, 2004
Deember 31, 2004 ACLU of Illinois E-News 12.31.04 Happy New Year from the ACLU of Illinois This marks the final edition of the ACLU of Illinois E-Newsletter for 2004. The past year has been filled with a number of critical developments, victories and continuing threats in the area of civil liberties. We thank you for your support of our organization and work and look forward to a great year in 2005. ACLU Releases Documents Showing Human Rights Abuses in Iraq You may have missed the story in the rush and travel that surrounds the holiday season, but the national ACLU recently released a host of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that demonstrates a disturbing pattern of treatment of Iraqi detainees in American custody. Among the troubling details in the documents, it appears that dog handlers at Abu Ghraib prison held contests to see who could make prisoners urinate the fastest and soldiers held mock "executions". You can read more about the documents and get a link to the documents themselves at http://www.aclu.org/news/NewsPrint.cfm?ID=17224&c=206. Next Town Hall meeting on Same Sex Marriage Scheduled for Springfield in January The ACLU of Illinois will sponsor the next in a series of town hall meetings on same-sex marriage, programs titled Leave No Family Behind, in Springfield on Wednesday, January 19, 2005. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Brookins Auditorium at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Please plan to attend. These meetings have been well-attended and well-received. ACLU Responds to Governor's Proposal to Bar Sale of Video Games In mid-December, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich announced a legislative initiative to ban the sale of some video games to minors under the age of 18. The Governor aims to block the sale of videos that are "violent" or "sexually-explicit" in nature. The ACLU of Illinois responded to the proposal by raising a number of questions that the Governor seems unable to answer. The ACLU noted, for example, that current state law already forbids the sale of sexually-explicit materials to minors in Illinois, making a law addressing that issue redundant. Moreover, the ACLU pointed to a number of court decisions striking down similar efforts in other areas as unconstitutional. The ACLU wondered why the Governor would pursue a policy that was so blatantly indefensible in court -- a policy that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars to defend in court. We will keep you posted on developments in this area. Christmas Celebrated without disruption In the past two issues of the E-newsletter we reported to you on efforts by a local law firm and a national conservative legal organization to suggest that Christmas -- and the celebration of Christmas -- needed to be "saved" from the ACLU. The local law firm was able to generate a great deal of local media coverage on the issue -- much of which exposed the paucity of evidence that the group had to suggest that Christmas was threatened. Indeed, in an appearance on Chicago Tonight featuring ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell, the local spokesperson for the Alliance Defense Fund was asked for specific examples that Christmas was threatened. His response? An example of a choral director changing the lyrics of a song -- an example that he acknowledged was "silly." The "save Christmas" story even got national attention. For our part, we concur with the view expressed by Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen, who wrote that "Christmas is being observed exactly where it ought to be, at homes, in our hearts, among friends and families." Hope you had a great holiday. Join the ACLU -- Fight Government Intolerance As we prepare to turn the calendar on a new year, many of us are thinking about the ways that we can speak up and speak out against the secrecy and intolerance that currently pervades so much of our government in Washington today. One way that you can join in this effort is to join the ACLU. If you already are a member and want to enroll someone else, you can give a gift membership! To learn more, go to http://www.aclu-il.org/membership/gift.shtml. |
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