Free Republic

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution declares, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”The first line of the amendment is referred to as the “establishment clause,” and it is one of the most abused and misapplied lines in the Constitution—right up there with the “general welfare” clause, the “commerce clause” and the Second Amendment. The establishment clause is simple. The...

Deaths, many injuries in Calif. tour bus crash At least 7 killed in accident involving multiple vehicles, NBC affiliate says SOLEDAD, Calif. - At least seven people were killed and dozens more were injured in a crash Tuesday afternoon involving a tour bus and several other vehicles, NBC affiliate KSBW-TV reported, quoting the California Highway Patrol. Initial reports said as many as 10 people were killed but that number was later lowered to six and then changed again to seven. The Orion Pacific Charter bus carrying 38 passengers, all reported to be French-speaking tourists, crashed at about 3:25 p.m. PT...

SOLEDAD - A 30-year-old convicted child molester is dead after being killed at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. Lt. Eric Moore of the prison said Donald Jones was assaulted by a group of prisoners Friday morning in the general population maximum-security yard. He was pronounced dead about 90 minutes later. Prison officers recovered a stabbing weapon at the scene. Jones had been in the facility since 1995, serving a 20-year sentence out of Los Angeles County for sodomy on a child under 14. Authorities said six men are suspected in Jones' death. They already are serving sentences for convictions...

SAN DIEGO - Philip Paulson, an atheist who waged a 17-year legal battle to have a giant cross removed from public land on Mount Soledad, has died. He was 59. Paulson died Wednesday of liver cancer. He was diagnosed in July and was hospitalized on Oct. 20 after complaining of abdominal pain, remaining in critical condition until his death, said Lorelei Lindsey, his companion of 17 years. Born in Clayton, Wis., Paulson was the grandson of a Lutheran minister but said he lost his faith during two bloody tours of duty in Vietnam. The City Heights resident sued the city...

Philip Kevin Paulson, a Lutheran preacher's grandson who lost his religion and waged a 17-year legal battle to remove the Mount Soledad cross from public property, died yesterday of liver cancer. He was 59. HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune Mount Soledad cross foe Philip Paulson (left) attended a luncheon in his honor Sept. 3. Mr. Paulson, a 6-foot-5 Vietnam War veteran who lived in City Heights, became one of the county's most reviled residents when he prevailed in a lawsuit against the city of San Diego and continued with years of appeals that still are pending. On July 31, doctors told...

An individual from San Diego who is "discomfited" over a veterans' memorial has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to renew its attack on the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial. The Thomas More Law Center said yesterday it is preparing to defend the cross memorial from a new attack by the ACLU, this time in U.S. District Court in California. A 17-year-long battle apparently reached a conclusion earlier this month when Congress approved and President Bush signed legislation giving ownership and control of the memorial to the federal government. That essentially should have ended a state case over the monument that...

Schwarzenegger Issues Statement Celebrating Continued Preservation of Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Gov. Schwarzenegger issued the following statement today following President Bush's signing of Representative Duncan Hunter's Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Protection Act (H.R. 5863), which transfers possession of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla, to the federal government: "Today's action by the President preserving the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial is a great signal to our veterans that we will not forget the sacrifice that they made during times of conflict. The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial is a historic landmark that has been an important part of the San...

WASHINGTON – The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would transfer the land beneath San Diego's Mount Soledad cross to the federal government. With a 349-74 vote, House members voted to seize the land and give it to the Defense Department in an effort to avoid a court-ordered removal of the 43-foot-tall cross that towers over La Jolla. “The memorial cross serves a legitimate secular purpose of commemorating our nation's war dead and veterans,” said El Cajon Republican Duncan Hunter, one of three San Diego-area congressmen who wrote the legislation to preserve the cross, which was dedicated in 1954...

The House voted 349-74 Wednesday to acquire a monumental cross and the park around it from the city of San Diego. The 29-foot cross has been the target of a 17-year court battle between an atheist and the city, which owns the hilltop property where the monument stands. A federal judge ruled in May that the cross cannot stand in the municipal park because it violates a state constitutional prohibition on the governmental endorsement of any one religion. That ruling is being appealed by the city. San Diego-area congressman Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, said in floor debate that federal ownership would...

Charles S. LiMandri, Regional Director of the Thomas More Law Center and the attorney who has led the litigation effort to save the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial, will be interviewed on the Roger Hedgecock Show in San Diego at 4:05 p.m., today, July 17. The broadcast can be heard online at rogerhedgecock.com. Click on Listen Live. Please call/e-mail Congressional Representatives to support Rep. Duncan Hunter's Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Protection Act, H.R. 5683, which is scheduled to be debated on the House floor on Wednesday, July 19, 2006. It is needed to save Mt. Soledad National War Memorial as...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy ordered Friday that his temporary stay protecting the Mount Soledad cross extend until state and federal courts can hear the city of San Diego's appeal this fall. In blocking a federal judge's order that the city remove the cross by Aug. 1 or face a daily fine of $5,000, Kennedy also indicated that the full court may want to review the controversial case. Kennedy said the court, which refused three years ago to get involved in the dispute, may consider it because of two new factors favorable to cross proponents. He cited legislation to...

SAN DIEGO – Three local congressmen have introduced a bill that would transfer the Mount Soledad cross from city control to the federal government, a step they hope will preserve the La Jolla landmark. Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad and Darrell Issa, R-Vista, sponsored the bill, which Hunter introduced late Monday. The city has been ordered by the court to remove the 29-foot cross from city property by Aug. 1 or pay a fine of $5,000 a day. A judge has ruled it is an unconstitutional preference of religion for the cross to be displayed on public property....

Via ACLJ Yesterday evening the City Attorney in San Diego along with Mayor Jerry Sanders decided to take the Mt. Soledad case to the Supreme Court of the United States. I have already assembled one of our Supreme Court teams to file briefs on behalf of the Members of Congress that we represent, as well as ACLJ Members across the country in this important case. It appears at this time that the City will be asking for both a stay of the Ninth Circuit decision as well as a petition for writ of certiorari. The stay of the decision will...

SAN DIEGO A three-judge federal panel on Wednesday rejected a last-ditch appeal by the city of San Diego to keep a giant cross standing on city property after a 17-year legal tussle. The city is under federal court order to move the 29-foot-tall cross from a La Jolla hilltop before Aug. 2 or face $5,000 daily fines. The failed appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was intended to stay that order and allow the cross to remain standing until appeals currently pending in state courts can be heard. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said that Wednesday's ruling, issued...

The decade-and-a-half assault by one, self-esteem challenged atheist with little more to do than spit on the memory of brave men who gave their lives to defend the freedom the ACLU regularly abuses has resulted in an unprecedented move by the California chapter of the American Legion. The largest veterans organization in the country will announce Thursday a line-in-the-sand campaign to protect veterans memorials from the shameful ACLU assault. Legal muscle is being provided by the Alliance Defense Fund. See the American Legion announcement: THE AMERICAN LEGION DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA TO LAUNCH STATEWIDE DEFENSE OF VETERANS MEMORIALS AT MT. SOLEDAD,...

federal judge on Wednesday ordered the removal of the Mount Soledad cross from property owned by the city of San Diego within 90 days or he will fine the city $5,000 a day. “It is now time, and perhaps long overdue, for this court to enforce its initial permanent injunction forbidding the presence of the Mount Soledad cross on city property,” said U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson. Thompson first found the presence of the cross on city property unconstitutional in 1991 because it violated the separation of church and state. Since then, his order, and the issue of the cross,...

Mt. Soledad cross and veterans memorial above San Diego (soledadmemorial.com) Ruling on a 15-year-old ACLU case, a federal judge today ordered the city of San Diego to remove a mountain-top cross within 90 days or face a fine of $5,000 a day. U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson said, "It is now time, and perhaps long overdue, for this court to enforce its initial permanent injunction forbidding the presence of the Mount Soledad cross on city property," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Thompson ruled in 1991 the Mount Soledad cross violates the so-called "separation of church and state" but the...

A lawyer who wants the Mount Soledad cross off public land in La Jolla filed a lawsuit yesterday to try to invalidate the July 26 election in which San Diego voters will weigh in on the contentious issue. Attorney James McElroy wants a Superior Court judge to intervene as soon as possible. His lawsuit won't affect the mayoral election set for the same day. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the election on Proposition A should proceed, and a lawyer working to keep the cross in place as a war memorial called McElroy's challenge "frivolous." Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett, who...

A twist in the Mount Soledad cross saga pits the lawyer fighting to move the towering symbol against a fresh foe: Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman. Coleman wants to sign the ballot argument in support of keeping the cross on its La Jolla hilltop. But attorney Jim McElroy has asked a Superior Court judge to rewrite the argument, which McElroy claims is misleading, and exclude Coleman's signature because he missed a filing deadline by one week. The argument is the latest in a 16-year court battle. On July 26, San Diegans will vote on a successor to Mayor Dick Murphy, who...

Sources say that the Cable News Network has offered Soledad O'Brian of NBC's Weekend Today the spot now occupied by Paula Zahn on 'Amercian Morning' opposite Bill Hemmer.Zahn's CNN countract is up next month