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Telltale seal County supervisors can't escape the emblem they despise
Las Vegas Daily News ^ | 12/22/04

Posted on 12/22/2004 5:25:26 AM PST by Ellesu

IT sounds like something out of Edgar Allan Poe. Six months ago, three county supervisors -- in cahoots with the lawyerly vigilantes at the American Civil Liberties Union -- decided to rid Los Angeles County of its decades-old seal with its minuscule gold cross. The supervisors passed a resolution, and they allocated $700,000 to purge the offending bit of historic religiosity from public view.

But it hasn't worked.

Instead, the seal, which scarcely no one had seen, let alone noticed, is now everywhere. Defiant county employees have affixed the old seal to their new, religiously sanitized uniforms. Defiant supervisors continue to use the old seal in their offices. The ongoing controversy assures the seal a regular spot on the newspapers' front pages, and old decals are selling like hotcakes on eBay.

Not even in the room where the supes voted to ban the cross-laden seal have they been able to make it disappear. Even though county workers covered the old seal that hangs on the wall with a massive decal of its replacement, the cross continues to shine through, refusing to be erased.

A miracle, or just a fitting example of how the censorious supes can't get anything right? You decide, but there's a wonderful irony in the saga of the anti-religionists who tried desperately to make the cross disappear, only to make it grow larger than life.

Back when they began their crusade, they were trying to prevent controversy, just in case someone might someday stumble upon the tiny cross and take offense. Now they have created a massive controversy they can't escape.

On a more serious note, a new report finds that although hate crimes are in decline in the county, their incidence is rising among teenage girls. Even in the nation's safest cities in nearby Ventura County, real examples of intolerance are out there for anyone willing to take a look. In Simi Valley, four racist white teens have been arrested for attacking a black teenager, and in Thousand Oaks, vandals desecrated a menorah.

It seems that these are the sorts of offenses that real civil libertarians should be concerned about, not eradicating a tiny emblem that no one ever minded -- and whose removal has insulted so many.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: backfire; countyseal; cross; losangeles; seal
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1 posted on 12/22/2004 5:25:27 AM PST by Ellesu
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To: Ellesu
Good article -- thanks!

Carolyn

2 posted on 12/22/2004 5:30:55 AM PST by CDHart
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To: Ellesu
Christians should follow the Jewish example and have an aggressive Christian Defense league and an equally aggressive Anti defamation league and form their own ACLU that would protect Christian rights as well as Jewish rights.
3 posted on 12/22/2004 5:34:57 AM PST by squirt-gun
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To: Ellesu

This article has mae my day. Thanks.

I am 2000 miles away from L.A. county, but I might just buy one of those old seals from eBay myself.


4 posted on 12/22/2004 5:37:30 AM PST by Skooz (The "holiday" has a name.)
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To: Ellesu

5 posted on 12/22/2004 5:37:51 AM PST by mewzilla
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To: Ellesu

When this whole thing started, the judge should have thrown it out and fined the ACLU for frivolity.


6 posted on 12/22/2004 5:39:57 AM PST by visualops (It's easier to build a child than repair an adult.)
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To: mewzilla

So what are these kooks proposing to do about the guy in the center of the seal with a halo around his head? Is this a figure of a saint or something?


7 posted on 12/22/2004 5:45:11 AM PST by GadareneDemoniac
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To: GadareneDemoniac

I think that's the Roman goddess, Pomona, isn't it? She's okay, she's pagan.


8 posted on 12/22/2004 5:46:46 AM PST by mewzilla
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To: Ellesu
real examples of intolerance are out there for anyone willing to take a look. In Simi Valley, four racist white teens have been arrested for attacking a black teenager, and in Thousand Oaks, vandals desecrated a menorah

They just had to throw this in there didnt they? And it has to be whites. The biggest problem between teenage boys and girls is blacks and mexicans fighting. Since bussing became the norm nobody messed with black girls but mexican girls are different. They will gang up if they have to to defend theirselves. White boys have always fought but they did not form gangs like the blacks and mexicans have.

Sooner or later this is gonna explode. Mexicans have taken over former black areas of towns and cities. And they are rapidly outgrowing the black population. This is going to be a huge problem in the near future.

9 posted on 12/22/2004 5:47:33 AM PST by winodog (We need to water the liberty tree)
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To: Ellesu
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES OFFICIAL SEAL
March 1, 1957 – September 14, 2004

The Goddess Pomona – the goddess of gardens and fruit trees – is holding in her arms a sheaf of grain, an orange, a lemon, an avocado and a few grapes to represent Los Angeles County’s agriculture.

She stands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.

The engineering instruments – the triangle and the caliper – relate to the industrial construction complex of the County and Los Angeles’ vital contribution to the conquest of space.

The Spanish galleon is the San Salvador, which Cabrillo sailed into San Pedro Harbor on October 8, 1542.

The tuna represents the fishing industry of Los Angeles County, and the championship cow, Pearlette, represents the dairy industry.

The Hollywood Bowl indicates the cultural activities, while the two stars represent the County’s motion picture and television industries.

The cross represents the influence of the church and the missions of California.

Oil derricks are symbolic of the oil fields that were discovered on Signal Hill.

The words “County of Los Angeles California” surround the seal.




COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES OFFICIAL SEAL

The Native American woman represents the early inhabitants of the Los Angeles Basin, including the area we now call Los Angeles County.

She stands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.

The engineering instruments‹the triangle and the caliper‹relate to the industrial construction complex of the County and Los Angeles vital contribution to the conquest of space.

The Spanish galleon is the San Salvador, which Cabrillo sailed into San Pedro Harbor October 8, 1542.

The tuna represents the fishing industry of Los Angeles County, and the championship cow, Pearlette, represents the dairy industry.

The Hollywood Bowl indicates the cultural activities, while the two stars represent the motion picture and television industries.

Mission San Gabriel, the first in Los Angeles County, represents the historic role of the missions in the settlement of the Los Angeles region.

The words “County of Los Angeles, California” surround the seal.


The County seal was designed by former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, drawn by Millard Sheets, and adopted by the Board of Supervisors January 2, 1957 effective March 1, 1957. It was modified by the Board of Supervisors on September 14, 2004


10 posted on 12/22/2004 5:59:25 AM PST by Zacs Mom ("In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." Jefferson)
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To: winodog

"In Simi Valley, four racist white teens have been arrested for attacking a black teenager,..."

I take this with a grain of salt. Truthfully, if the media took the same zeal in reporting black on white crime, they would not have time to report on anything else.


11 posted on 12/22/2004 6:00:09 AM PST by L98Fiero
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To: Zacs Mom

I just noticed they removed the oil derricks as well!


12 posted on 12/22/2004 6:03:30 AM PST by Zacs Mom ("In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." Jefferson)
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To: Zacs Mom; mewzilla

They replaced a pagan goddess with a human!!!!
Quick, somebody call the ACLU!!!


13 posted on 12/22/2004 6:04:32 AM PST by GadareneDemoniac
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To: winodog

There is a problem when people don't assimilate. Unfortunately, and I think largely because of the Left's focus on false diversity and "tolerance", people equate assimilation with loss of culture which is not true. Because they don't assimilate, they do not learn accepted social behavior and the self-segregation tends to reinforce the differences.
The language issue is a biggie. Since businesses are catering to the Spanish-speaking public with more and more signs and labels in Spanish, there is less and less incentive to learn English, which exacerbates the problem.


14 posted on 12/22/2004 6:05:26 AM PST by visualops (It's easier to build a child than repair an adult.)
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To: Ellesu

Great Article.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.


15 posted on 12/22/2004 6:07:01 AM PST by chatham
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To: squirt-gun

That is a very good Idea whose time has come.
The ACLU has become the New "Cross Burners" and they should be stopped.


16 posted on 12/22/2004 6:09:00 AM PST by chatham
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To: Coleus; NYer; maximillian; narses
Not even in the room where the supes voted to ban the cross-laden seal have they been able to make it disappear. Even though county workers covered the old seal that hangs on the wall with a massive decal of its replacement, the cross continues to shine through, refusing to be erased.

A miracle, or just a fitting example of how the censorious supes can't get anything right? You decide, but there's a wonderful irony in the saga of the anti-religionists who tried desperately to make the cross disappear, only to make it grow larger than life.

Worth a ping?

17 posted on 12/22/2004 6:16:16 AM PST by ELS
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To: Ellesu; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; ...


18 posted on 12/22/2004 8:32:07 AM PST by Coleus (Abortion and Euthanasia, Don't Democrats just kill ya! Kill Humans, Save the Bears!!)
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To: Ellesu

More here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1306546/posts


19 posted on 12/22/2004 8:37:31 AM PST by BlessedBeGod (George W. Bush -- The Terror of the Terrorists)
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To: Ellesu

Very politically correct. They got rid of the goddess of plenty and introduced a Native American Woman. And they got rid of the oil derricks, too.


20 posted on 12/22/2004 8:45:50 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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