Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Idiotic ACLU

One of my lawyer friends donates time and money to the ACLU. I always give her crap about it.

It seems half of what they get involved in I'm against.

Sometimes it's a man writing a blog about his love of child pornography. And they'll fight to say he has the freedom of speech.

The two most recent stories take place close to home.

One happened in Reno.

The ACLU was upset that the school board voted to implement a full calendar-year of random drug testing for high school students who participate in sports.

The logic by the school board is that if athletes are doing steroids or other drugs, between seasons, they have a better chance of catching them. Why the ACLU would have a problem with this just baffles me.

When I played high school basketball, I had to get a physical. That involved the nurse grabbing my balls and asking me to cough.

It seems that if students want to participate in activities, they can agree to be drug tested, or whatever that activity requires. If that's selling candy bars or doing a car wash to raise money for the band, or submitting to drug tests. How is that a violation of a students "rights"? For any student that had a problem with this, I'd ask if they'd prefer the school just drop the program they want to be involved in. Either because it was too expensive or because it wasn't worth the legal hassles with the ACLU.

I remember the schools would occasionally check our lockers. Again, nobody should have a problem with this. If they do, they can opt to not use a locker.

Even closer to home, in Ramona, a school is having problems with the ACLU. A girl (I believe she was 12) wanted to do a report on Harvey Milk. The teacher let her, but had all the other students take home a permission slip to show their parents. Half of the parents didn't feel comfortable with their children hearing this report, so when the girl gave it to the class, it was only half full.

Now, why in the world is this an ACLU issue? And how could they have a problem with this?

They claim Harvey Milk is an important figure in history and blah blah blah. Well, nobody is disputing that.

To me, the school did EVERYTHING RIGHT in this instance. They didn't tell her she couldn't do a report on Milk (which to me, they should've had the right to do...not that I would've necessarily agreed with that, but a school should have the right to tell you who you can and can't write about).

When the school thought about how there might be a parent or two out there that freaks out about this, they were smart enough to send out permission slips. And apparently they were right to do so, as half the parents objected.

How in the world can anyone have a problem with this? If anything, this is an example of how a school did everything right.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Dia de los Muertos Celebration, Love Thy Neighbor(Hood): Food & Art Exploration

Events November 2-November 6, 2024
Next Article

Halloween opera style

Faust is the quintessential example

One of my lawyer friends donates time and money to the ACLU. I always give her crap about it.

It seems half of what they get involved in I'm against.

Sometimes it's a man writing a blog about his love of child pornography. And they'll fight to say he has the freedom of speech.

The two most recent stories take place close to home.

One happened in Reno.

The ACLU was upset that the school board voted to implement a full calendar-year of random drug testing for high school students who participate in sports.

The logic by the school board is that if athletes are doing steroids or other drugs, between seasons, they have a better chance of catching them. Why the ACLU would have a problem with this just baffles me.

When I played high school basketball, I had to get a physical. That involved the nurse grabbing my balls and asking me to cough.

It seems that if students want to participate in activities, they can agree to be drug tested, or whatever that activity requires. If that's selling candy bars or doing a car wash to raise money for the band, or submitting to drug tests. How is that a violation of a students "rights"? For any student that had a problem with this, I'd ask if they'd prefer the school just drop the program they want to be involved in. Either because it was too expensive or because it wasn't worth the legal hassles with the ACLU.

I remember the schools would occasionally check our lockers. Again, nobody should have a problem with this. If they do, they can opt to not use a locker.

Even closer to home, in Ramona, a school is having problems with the ACLU. A girl (I believe she was 12) wanted to do a report on Harvey Milk. The teacher let her, but had all the other students take home a permission slip to show their parents. Half of the parents didn't feel comfortable with their children hearing this report, so when the girl gave it to the class, it was only half full.

Now, why in the world is this an ACLU issue? And how could they have a problem with this?

They claim Harvey Milk is an important figure in history and blah blah blah. Well, nobody is disputing that.

To me, the school did EVERYTHING RIGHT in this instance. They didn't tell her she couldn't do a report on Milk (which to me, they should've had the right to do...not that I would've necessarily agreed with that, but a school should have the right to tell you who you can and can't write about).

When the school thought about how there might be a parent or two out there that freaks out about this, they were smart enough to send out permission slips. And apparently they were right to do so, as half the parents objected.

How in the world can anyone have a problem with this? If anything, this is an example of how a school did everything right.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

ACLU Strikes Again -- Fallbrook High Gets Tomahawk Chopped

Next Article

Prince in Nigeria

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader