Wednesday, April 25, 2007

What's with the little gray guy with no pants?

The funny looking egghead you see to the right is Mr. Habeas Corpus. The ACLU has launched a new website, www.findhabeas.com, bringing some fun to an otherwise very serious situation- the end of habeas corpus, brought on by the Military Commissions Act. You'll be hearing more about our campaign to Restore The Constitution and about Mr. Habeas over the coming weeks.

In St. Louis this week, Mr. Habeas was spotted in the lunch line and at Busch Stadium, but no one could nab him. He's sly like that.

Mark your calendar now for a national day of action in Washington, D.C. on June 26.

Andy in Harrisburg

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andy, I applaud the ACLU's efforts to start a movement to restore the right to habea corpus and the Constitution. And maybe a little humor is the right way to go about it. But shouldn't there be a little education too? The average joe, who hasn't ever been arrested, especially for a political "crime", probably hasn't a clue what it means and how important it is to restraining government abuse. By approaching it only humorously, the ACLU may leave some readers to take the campaign too lightly.

11:21 PM  
Blogger ACLU of Pennsylvania said...

Hey, keanus. Good point. This probably depends on the audience. This is anecdotal, but I've found at various events I've attended that ACLU supporters are fired up about this issue. Sometimes it comes out unprompted. Sometimes I bring it up and people show their passion.

The audience you're referring to, I think, is the general public. The term "habeas corpus" probably doesn't mean much to the average person, so some education is warranted. "Due process" is a phrase that we've found does ring true for people, and over the coming weeks and months, we'll be leaning on basic American values to get this point across.

Andy

3:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is a problem in that the average Joe, not having any real comprehension of how the legal system works, almost certainly will never experience it, and probably doesn't care either.

3:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I find it interesting how the ACLU will pick and choose fundamental rights that are important. You justifiably complain about habea corpus rights, but you think abridging Second Amendment rights is OK.

If there were any consistancy, the ACLU would fight any time rights are taken away by the Government, whether they agree with the rights or not.

That is why I believe the ACLU is more of a political organization pushing an agenda than anything.

9:04 PM  

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