http://blog.aclu.org Because Freedom Can't Blog Itself Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:03:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last Friday, President Bush signed the Child Soldiers Accountability Act into law. The act criminalizes the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and gives the government the authority to deport or deny entry into the United States individuals who engage in such activities. This law would ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/06/do-as-we-legislate-not-as-we-do/ As I walked along the manicured lawns of South Dakota this past weekend knocking on doors adorned with Halloween decorations and asking people to vote to protect reproductive freedom this November, one thing became clear: people here love their families and their country. Maybe Leslie Unruh, ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/06/south-dakota-abortion-ban-the-sequel/ Today, the Supreme Court returns for business and John Roberts begins his fourth term as Chief Justice. According to the latest edition of ACLU Legal Director Steven R. Shapiro’s annual overview, there is no doubt that Roberts presides over a conservative court. Indeed, there is little doubt ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/06/the-hotly-anticipated-and-exceedingly-handy-aclu-supreme-court-overview-is-here/ The U.S. death penalty system is a failed government program unworthy of a people that cherish fairness and justice. If we needed any further proof of this fact, the Troy Davis case seals the deal. On September 23, 2008, Troy Davis came within two hours of being executed. He ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/06/troy-davis-case-proves-death-penalty-is-fatally-flawed/ This December 10, 2008, marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by 48 countries — almost the entire membership of the U.N. at the time. The UDHR describes "the inherent dignity and ... the equal and inalienable ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/06/dignity-liberty-and-justice-for-all-celebrate-the-udhr-at-60/ (Originally posted at ACSBlog.) In Lesson One: Your Gender is Your Destiny, Bonnie Scott Jones and Michelle Movahed offer creative and insightful analysis on the constitutionality of teaching gender stereotypes in federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.As the authors of the Issue Brief recently released by ACS ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/03/when-will-we-learn-the-many-failings-of-abstinence-only-programming/ (Originally posted on Daily Kos.) In the 1980s and 90s, "tough-on-crime" legislators held enough sway to pass draconian sentencing schemes that exponentially increased the number of Americans behind bars — mostly by sentencing nonviolent drug offenders to lengthy terms once reserved only for violent criminals. However, despite an 1,100 percent increase ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/03/new-reports-offer-resources-for-plugging-the-prison-pipeline/ The BRCA (breast cancer) genes have been at the forefront of a lot of conversations these days. All men and women have the BRCA genes, but some of us have hereditary mutations along these genes that have been linked to breast and ovarian cancer. In the Family, a documentary film ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/02/brca-genetic-testing-and-civil-liberties-its-what-christina-applegate-oprah-and-pbs-are-all-talking-about/ Well, this sounds familiar:A group of Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers has discovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include politically charged words.The surveillance is being conducted on users of Tom-Skype, a text ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/02/the-golden-shield-is-watching/ This week, I represented the ACLU at the annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe (OSCE) in Warsaw, Poland. The OSCE is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 56 "participating states," including the United States, Canada, ... http://blog.aclu.org/2008/10/02/aclu-outlines-unfair-trials-and-the-death-penalty-at-human-rights-meeting/