ACLU Looks at Good, Bad in 2007 Government
American Civil Liberties Union Praises Passage of Freedom of Information Act Bill, Laments Stripping of Hate-Crimes Amendment
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/3/2008 7:48:00 AM
The American Civil Liberties Union came out with its list of the top 10 ways the government failed us and the top 10 reasons not to completely lose faith.
No. 7 on the list of reasons not to lose faith was the House and Senate passage of a bill to toughen Freedom of Information Act rules to prevent the government from foot-dragging for years on requests for information. A study released last summer showed that some requests were more than one decade old and one was over 20 years old. The bill was signed into law this week by President Bush.
On the other side of the coin, reason No. 10 on the government failure list was the stripping of the hate-crimes amendment from a Defense appropriations bill. The ACLU hailed the bill as one that would allow crimes against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders to be classified as hate crimes without compromising free-speech rights. But some religious broadcasters lobbied hard against it, saying that it could be used against ministers preaching against homosexuality from the pulpit.
