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Jewish Family Flees Delaware Town: Stop The ACLU Coalition Director "Pleased" By Outcome
Bruce Wilson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 11:11:53 AM EST
After looking over various treatments of this emerging scandal, I've decided I like Richard Bartholomew's best : see Bartholomew's Notes On Religion. The only details I'd add to Richard's account [Talk To Action version], below, are these : two families seem to have fled the town of Indian River MD., amidst alleged death threats and threats of violence [one family has remained anonymous] and the Dobrich family has sold its home in the town and completely relocated to another area. Further, the Stop The ACLU Coalition also has been doing significant work in the recent campaign accusing the New York Times and the Washington Post of treason, and that, besides being "pleased" by the Indian River outcome, Stop The ACLU is no doubt pleased with its new radio show
UPDATE, and a followup: PLease see the update on this story Richard Bartholomew has kindly posted and also my comment attached to Richard's update. Excerpt: A few days ago, as this story was heating up, I posted an idea - that the bloggers who say they support the "Stop The ACLU Coalition" should simply be asked, directly and politely - one by one as individuals with their own voices - whether they thought the outcome in Indian River was a good thing. I only emailed few people - 7 in all - and only received a response from one person, whose views I sharply differed with but who was willing to post his views and who was, in the email exchange, quite polite. However, nothing more than my call for such an undertaking - which really could have only worked if many joined in, because one person alone cannot serve as any sort of collective moral voice - had an unexpected result. Others in the group of 200 bloggers listed as supporting the "Stop The ACLU Coalition" stepped up as voices of moral clarity to shame an entrenched few who chose to hunker down and defend their behavior. When I called for such a project, there were voices on the left who told me that my idea was pointless because the group in question was "extreme" and all the same......
.

[ Richard Bartholomew writes ]
br / >Stop the ACLU Director "Pleased" with Role in Jewish Family's Flight

A couple of days ago Bruce Wilson posted on a story broken by Jews on First about a Jewish family who had allegedly been forced to leave town after complaining about aggressive proselytising by the local Indian River School District in Delaware. One detail which was not included by Jews on First, but which I picked up on via a commentator at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, was that an organisation named the "Stop the ACLU Coalition" (STACLU) had publicised the family's home address and phone number, in order to "expose" them as "ACLU plaintiffs". STACLU's denunciation wasn't even accurate  - the ACLU has given the family some support, but they are in fact being represented by a Wilmington law firm.

Jesus' General has now contacted STACLU director Nedd Kareiva, to congratulate him for his part in what he calls the "Indian River Pogrom":

...I think you deserve partial credit for making that happen. After all, you did publish their name, address, and phone number on your web site (see screen cap below) as part of your "Expose ACLU Plaintiffs" project. It certainly wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that such information gave people the means they needed to drive the Dobrich family from their home...

Kareiva responds to the General (emphases added):

Pogrom? I'm not sure I want to call it that. That is not an appropriate term, however, I am pleased that we had an effect in this case. We have others we want to put up on the site to shame them but have not gotten around to it. And I'm not so sure I can take credit for it. However, if an ACLU speaker was booed, that's music to my ears.....
story now running at Crooks and Liars and The Daily Kos : see Jesus' General, Bartholomew's Note's On Religion, and Talk To Action for recently uncovered aspects of this scandal

Here's the blurb, from the Stop The ACLU Coalition website, on their new radio show. I believe it's only an internet stream.

Stop The ACLU Radio Show by Jay on 07-02-06 @ 3:58 pm Filed under ACLU, War On Terror, 1st Amendment, Boyscouts, Child Exploitation, News If you haven’t heard yet, a huge line up of conservative bloggers will now be getting their own talk radio shows on Wide Awakes Radio. The launch is on the 4th of July, and we will have our first show next Saturday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. That will be a weekly show for the time being. We are doing some testing right now if you wanna listen in. Just click on the wideawakes radio icon in the left sidebar. Our show will be hosted by me, Misha from Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller, and our other main contributor here Gribbit who put together this little promo video for our show. Tune in! [ Link ]


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Jewish Family Flees Delaware Town: Stop The ACLU Coalition Director "Pleased" By Outcome | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
Additional Information... (5.00 / 1)
I am trying desperately to look up some of the articles that ran way back in 2004, giving some really detailed information about how the whole thing got started.

I had covered the "case" as a "special interest piece" for the Jewish community here at home - and kept copies of the relevant news articles...

...and aaaauuugh, I can't find them!!!

As the resident correspondent from Delaware - I'll keep looking!!!

In the meantime, it's important to note that, despite the long-term state of this "case", the Dobriches are still living in fear of retribution...

-Emily
emilywynn.blogspot.com


by EmilyWynn8 on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 11:52:17 AM EST

You've got the background? (none / 0)
If you find it, we would love to hear more about how this came about, and particularly the groups behind it; who they are; what they said, how they did what they did.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 12:09:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
In the office right now... (none / 0)
So I can't search my files on my home computer, nor my paper files on the issue... I'm trapped with only what I have saved to my blog - which unfortunately isn't much...

Will check when I get home (late tonight unfortunately)...

-Emily
emilywynn.blogspot.com


by EmilyWynn8 on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 12:14:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

That's great ! (none / 0)
You'll find it eventually. You should see my filing system. Any worse and I'd meet the fate of one of the Collyer Brothers.

I talked to Tish Grier this AM and she had some fascinating observations in terms of relevant parallels. Most are tempted to draw parallels with emergent fascism in Germany, progroms in Russia, persecution under Stalin.... Fred Clarkson's been trying to cure me of such impulses, but Tish Grier may have finished the cure, indirectly, by mentioning to me justfiable comparisons that can be made to an earlier period of American 20th Century history. We may even be so lucky as to hear a bit from her on that on this site.

by Bruce Wilson on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 12:37:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

yes (none / 0)
let's stick to the thing itself and avoid analogies.

Refererence to things that happened in another time and place often cloud rather than inform and clarify our present circumstances.  It is not that we should not learn the lessons of history. We should. It is that these lessons need to be applied.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 03:46:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Discrimination is an age-old American problem! (none / 0)
Frederick, I am not sure I would agree, especially in situations such as my people face.

We've only had freedom of religion for 27 years (before 1979 it was against the law for most Native Americans to practice their religion), and we're still heavily to severely persecuted today.

Sue and I lost 4 jobs in the last 8 years directly because we're Native Americans.  We were also thrown out of a church just because of our heritage about 12 years ago.  The usual insults, slurs, and hostility has also been a constant problem.  

Persecution and repression has been a fact of life in this country for hundreds of years.   What has happened to that Jewish family is, in my opinion, a continuation of and return to the "old ways".  

I wish we could help them directly.  We CAN help them indirectly by fighting openly and hard against all forms of oppression and discrimination.

I'm not sure if this would be helpful, but a couple of decent letters of support from TTA and CAP might be appreciated by the family.

by ArchaeoBob on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 07:06:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I think you misunderstand, Bob (none / 0)
There is a difference between drawing shallow, poorly drawn analogies instead of keeping our eye on the contemorary ball and seeing clearly what is happening in the here and now.

When we write, hopefully we do so, having learned the lessons of history, including keeping in mind the history of discrimination in all of its forms. I don't think there is anyone writing on this site who is not quite aware of this history, committed to fighting it, but also learning new things all of the time. (Give us a little, credit.)

But if, when we are analyzing or reporting on a situation, we draw-into our writing, highly charged material from another time another place, we can easily lose sight of the things we need to focus on in the present; and distract from the contemporary story that needs to be told and understood on its own terms.

I am sorry to hear about your experiences with discrimination. That is certainly not America at its best, but it is America at its all too common; and we are all committed to improving in what ways we can.

This site is one of those ways.  It is a place where we can report on the activities and ideologies of the religious right, including those who advocate religious supremacism in all of its forms. And, in fact, that is exactly what we do.  

We have done much to highlight this particular situation. This is not the first, and certainly not the last time we will shine a bright light into dark corners.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 07:54:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Light in dark corners (none / 0)
Yeah... from our perspective- there are so many dark corners that I think someone forgot to turn on the light!

(GRIN!)

I've been thinking about this situation for much of the day.  I think what you've been trying to say is that even though what has been done to this family is evil, the really wicked/sinful/demonic thing is that this new organization dedicated to blocking or stopping the ACLU is starting to be active- and their goal is active (and vicious) discrimination.

I'm very much a "big picture" type of person- when I do research, I generally try to see the big picture- how everything fits together.  That is how I'm seeing this new group- as part and parcel of the big picture.  (However, I also see our history and many other things I've mentioned as part of the picture as well.)

My thoughts about this situation- first, the ACLU has a nasty reputation with the conservative churches I've had the misfortune to be around.  This reputation is false, and now I see that the church leaders deliberately have created it.  People don't hear about the GOOD things done for Christianity by the ACLU, so they have only a tiny, distorted part of the picture.  Thus, they really don't understand the situation at all.

(I know you have heard what some people say about what ACLU stands for.)

We've broken free of the brainwashing and programming, and so we've learned to see the truth.  That truth is in direct opposition to the leaders of the conservative churches.  However, we can't just go in and say "You're listening to liars!"  People won't listen.

So, where do we fit in- how do we help the ACLU?  That is the question we need to ask ourselves.  The next question is how do we get the rank-and-file in the conservative churches to see past the lies, and see the value that the ACLU has brought?

We're already striving against the organizations that have fathered this abomination of a group.  This bunch are just part of the family- and we will end up having to resist them as well.  But we need to think about going one step further- maybe by actually trying to help the ACLU.

I also think that TTA or CAP should do something specific to help this family... even if it is just a letter of condolence and unconditional support!!!

My thoughts...

by ArchaeoBob on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 10:48:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]









Jewish Family Flees Delaware Town: Stop The ACLU Coalition Director "Pleased" By Outcome | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)

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