Surprise, surprise, the New Hampshire American Civil Liberties Union is at it again.  When I last complained about their evil-doings, they were trying to block parents from receiving free drug tests from local police and school administrators.  They felt it “destroyed the trust” between parent and child.  This is the same organization that defends the criminal who hurt himself while breaking into your house – your glass window apparently shouldn’t have sharp edges after it’s smashed by a burglar; someone might cut themselves.

The NH ACLU’s latest idiocy stems from cities and towns across the state trying to protect children from sex offenders.  Some communities, not just in New Hampshire, but across the country, are implementing ordinances that prohibit registered sex offenders from living within a half-mile of a school or daycare.  Sounds sensible, right?  Keep the foxes out of the henhouse, so to speak.  These ordinances are put in place by well-meaning officials who are trying to protect our children and their futures from predators with dark intent.  So why would the ACLU be trying to get a court to declare these ordinances unconstitutional?

Short answer: because the ACLU’s narrow view doesn’t consider the long-term, harmful effects of their “intervening”.  Remember, this is the organization that defended the Westboro Baptist Church’s “right” to protest at the funeral of soldiers killed in Iraq.  You know the Westboro Baptist Church, right?  They’re the ones who, while mourners gather at the grave of their deceased loved one, protest with signs like “Thank God For Dead Soldiers” and “Thank God For 9/11”.  The ACLU fought for the church’s right to make the lives of these already distraught families just that much worse.  Thanks, ACLU – what would we do without you?

That’s just one example of the many “causes” the ACLU has taken up over the years.  There are dozens and dozens of cases where the ACLU defends evil over good.  The latest is the attempted overturning of these local ordinances.  So why are they doing it?  Long answer: because the ACLU feels that every person’s rights are just as important as every other person’s rights.  I couldn’t disagree more.

Everyone in this country has certain unalienable rights.  Very, very few, however, and you can lose them, which, of course, negates the whole “unalienable” thing.  Just look at capital punishment: death removes each and every right you have, period.  So no one in the entire world is guaranteed rights of any kind – you have to fight for them, which is what the ACLU claims it’s doing. 

Convicted sex offender Richard Jennings is the latest in a long line of criminals of whom the ACLU has decided to come to the defense.  Jennings violated the local ordinance by living within 2500 feet of a daycare (actually, it was within 1200 feet).  The NH ACLU came rushing to the defense of this sex offender saying that he has the right to live anywhere he wants.  I say he’s lucky to be alive.

Back in 2000, Jennings was convicted of felonious sexual assault of a minor.  He spent a brief time in prison then was released back onto the streets.  He is now and will always be a registered sex offender.  It is my philosophy that with certain crimes come certain punishments, some short-term, others long.  The registration of sex offenders is one of the long-term consequences of making that kind of decision – the kind that ends you up as an outcast of society.  He can no longer possess a firearm, either.  He has lost some rights because of his actions – pretty cut and dried.  He isn’t on the same playing field as someone who hasn’t committed heinous crimes and that’s what the ACLU is blind to.  In their SNAFU view, everyone is entitled to the same rights, whether you’re Mother Teresa or Theodore Bundy – whether you’re a saint or a monster. 

The mission statement of the ACLU is the following: “To defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States."  There are no guarantees, people, especially after you flagrantly trample the rights of others.  This guy Jennings raped a kid and the ACLU thinks he should be able to live next door to a kindergarten?  Why aren’t they defending the children’s rights to live their childhood without memories of being sexually assaulted by this poor excuse for a human?  It seems they’re more concerned with how this miscreant pervert feels than they are the protection of children in our society.  What’s wrong with that picture?