"ACLU Turns Down $1.15 Million in Funding"According to the article above, the ACLU has turned down donations from the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation due to language included with the grants by these two firms were too strict.
The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that "promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state." [/b]
The Rockefeller Foundation's provisions state that recipients of its funds may not "directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity." [/b]
Romero said such vague grant language "could have a chilling effect" on civil liberties. "The ACLU cannot effectively defend the rights of all Americans if we do not stand up for those same rights ourselves," he said. [/b]
Now true, this is probably being taken out of context by the author of the article, but let's just look at this for the moment. The Ford Foundation does not want the recipient to use these funds to promotve violence, terrorism, bigotry, or destruction of state. Which of these 4 items (if not all) does the ACLU feel is being infringed upon as a "civil liberty?"
Or how about the Rockefeller Foundations language? All they say is they are against people using their funds to support and/or engage in terroristic activities. Does that mean the ACLU supports terrorism?
Makes you think twice about what has happened to this once GOOD group over the last 20 years.
