more fun with the ACLU

Stark

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2000
7,735
0
0
Some people just need to be burned -- in effigy, of course. The officers of the Boulder chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union are among those people. Maybe they would be less upset about such an act if the effigies were wrapped in an American flag at the time of the burning...

Here in Boulder, Colorado - a.k.a. "The People's Republic of Boulder," or "the Berkeley of the Rocky Mountains," -- there was a controversy when the Boulder Public Library refused to display a large American flag in the aftermath of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan, because a flag might offend some people.

However, at the same time, the library was displaying an exhibit called "Hung Out to Dry," which consisted of ceramic penises hanging from a cord running across the library. "Hung Out to Dry" was part of a larger exhibit called "Art Triumphs Over Domestic Violence." Apparently, the penises are supposed to symbolized domestic violence [1].

On Saturday, November 10, somebody stole the penises and replaced them with an American flag [2].

After Bob Rowan - who became known as "El Dildo Bandito" - called a radio talk show and admitted to stealing the "art," Boulder Police recovered the items the next day. The police did not arrest Rowan, because they were not able to contact the "victim" - artist Susan Walker - to see if she wanted to press charges [3].

Of course, the Boulder police would have looked really bad if they had made an arrest of "El Dildo Bandito" within 48 hours, while still unable to make an arrest in the murder of 6 year old Jon Benet Ramsey after five years, but that's another topic.

Now, it's not hard to imagine that if the situation had gone the other way - say someone stole an American flag from the library and replaced it with a ceramic penis to make some idiotic statement about domestic violence - the ACLU would be defending such a courageous act of artistic expression on first amendment grounds, and probably demand federal funding for it.

However, not only will the ACLU refuse to defend Bob Rowan, they are urging that he be prosecuted. Judd Golden, vice chair of the Boulder County Chapter of the ACLU [4], referred to Rowan's brave act of civil disobedience as "censorship," even though Rowan was not an agent of the government.

Barry Satlow, chairman of the Boulder ACLU, is demanding that the district attorney prosecute Rowan. Satlow stated that leaving the decision to prosecute up to the victim is comparable to the days before arrests for domestic violence were mandatory. "If she doesn't complain, it's OK, it's not a crime? Bull. This is a crime and should be treated as a crime" [5].

Funny - the ACLU consistently claims that they're for a "woman's right to choose." Now they want to deny Ms. Walker - the artist - the choice of whether or not to press charges against Bob Rowan, and deny Mary Keenan - the district attorney - the choice of whether or not to prosecute him.

Of course, for years the ACLU has not defended the right of women to, say, weigh the risks vs. benefits of owning and carrying a firearm for self-protection, and act upon that choice. And they actively oppose a woman's right to choose how to use the funds collected and allocated for the education of her children, because she might *gasp* send her kids to a private school. To them (and most of the political Left), a woman's "choice" is narrowly defined in a warped Orwellian way, and has become an exclusive synonym for the termination of fetuses.

Somebody - and I wish I could remember who so I could credit him - said that the United States needs an American civil liberties union, and it's too bad that we don't have one.

1. Catherine Donaldson-Evans. "Colorado Library Exhibit Pushes Boundaries of What Defines Art." Fox News. November 08, 2001.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,38368,00.html

2. "Ceramic Penises taken, replaced with Old Glory." Boulder Daily Camera. November 11, 2001.

http://www.bouldernews.com/news/boulder/11lpeni.html

3. "'Bandito' admits to stealing library art.' Boulder Daily Camera. November 12, 2001.

http://www.bouldernews.com/news/boulder/12llib.html

4. Boulder County Chapter of the ACLU web page:

http://www.aclu-co.org/chapters/bld_aclu/boulder.htm

5. "Libarary art won't be reinstated." Denver Rocky Mountain News. November 13, 2001.

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_876414,00.html

Sorry, but I'm not linking all that :p
 

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,410
616
126
I work in boulder so read the daily camera. Im very famliar with this story. Crap like this is why i wont live in boulder. It really is a beautiful town but i will not live in a city or county where crap like this goes on.

another side note to this story. The Librian did not put the "ART" back up not because she finally saw the light and finally realized that she works in a library not a museum. NOOOOOOo she didnt put them back up because she feared for the saftey of her and her staff.

personally I really dont want to see large ceramic penis's in the PUBLIC library It offends me, but i guess that doesnt matter.

The reason it offends me is because this art symbolizes cutting off the mans sex organ, it also implies that men are always the abuser. even the name of the art "Hung out to dry" that again implies that men are the only abusers.
 

Lucky

Lifer
Nov 26, 2000
13,126
1
0
WTF are you talking about?

The issue is very clear-cut: He stole something.

It does not have anything to do with women's right and all the crap you try and associate it with. Why would the ACLU defend a vandal when his rights have (clearly) not been infringed upon? Is the ACLU supposed to do pro-bono work for all criminals now?

The issue of how ridiculous the library was in its decisions is another matter, he should not have stolen the artwork.
 

Dedpuhl

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
10,370
0
76


<< WTF are you talking about?

The issue is very clear-cut: He stole something.

It does not have anything to do with women's right and all the crap you try and associate it with. Why would the ACLU defend a vandal when his rights have (clearly) not been infringed upon? Is the ACLU supposed to do pro-bono work for all criminals now?
>>



true
 

Pyxis

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2001
2,554
0
76


<< WTF are you talking about?

The issue is very clear-cut: He stole something.

It does not have anything to do with women's right and all the crap you try and associate it with. Why would the ACLU defend a vandal when his rights have (clearly) not been infringed upon? Is the ACLU supposed to do pro-bono work for all criminals now?

The issue of how ridiculous the library was in its decisions is another matter, he should not have stolen the artwork.
>>

 

Cyberian

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2000
9,999
1
0


<< The issue is very clear-cut: He stole something.
>>

Entirely correct.
Why, however, is the ACLU demanding that this particular perpetrator be prosecuted?
I don't recall them being on record calling for prosecutions in other cases.
 

AndrewR

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,157
0
0
Is the ACLU supposed to do pro-bono work for all criminals now?

Apparently it's only the criminals who manage to fit their liberal profile and are anti-establishment.