Thanks Mel.
Posted on 03/10/2005 8:28:04 AM PST by Liz
A 43-foot tall cross that was erected atop Mt. Soledad in San Diego, California 50 years ago to honor our Nation’s veterans faces imminent removal unless we act now. An ACLU-backed atheist has waged a 15-year court battle to force removal of the famous cross, and a federal court has ordered the city of San Diego to remove it. One option remains.
Federal law known as the Antiquities Act authorizes the President to designate landmarks and structures as national monuments and make the property on which the monument stands federal property.
President Clinton used this law to establish numerous new national monuments during his term.
In addition, the Historic Sites Act allows the Secretary of the Interior to designate certain sites national historic landmarks and bring them under the care of the National Park Service.
Just recently, on Veterans' Day, a new plaque was added to the Mt. Soledad Memorial to honor President Reagan, further strengthening its status as a monument worthy of national protection. Thus, it is fitting that the President formally designate Mt. Soledad as a national memorial park for veterans, and save it from destruction at the hands of the ACLU. President Bush can save the historic cross from another ACLU-backed removal by designating Mt. Soledad a national monument.
The Antiquities Act authorizes the President to designate landmarks and structures as national monuments. President Bush must make the Mount Soledad cross a national monument.
EMAIL, FAX or PHONE Gov Arnold, and every Republican California legislator to contact the president today asking GWB to launch this initiative:
CA WEB SITE http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:jMbXBSy2Ie8J:www.standingupforcalifornia.com/action/contact-legislators.html
EMAIL, FAX or PHONE every Republican US Senator and Representative:
US GOV WEB SITE http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact.shtml
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BACKGROUND http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1359968/posts?page=4
City of San Diego Orders 29-Foot Cross Removed from Mountainside
San Diego Union-Tribune | March 9, 2005 | By Matthew T. Hall
The Mount Soledad cross must go, the San Diego City Council said yesterday. The 16-year saga of whether the cross would stay on public land in La Jolla came to an emotional conclusion last night as the council voted 5-3 to reject a last-ditch effort to keep it in place. The vote capped a six-hour public hearing that attracted 350 people, most of them Christians who urged the council to donate the cross and surrounding land to the federal government so it possibly could remain where it has stood since 1954.
But the cross now must be moved to comply with an injunction forbidding its presence on public land. Federal Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. issued the injunction in 1991, when he ruled that the cross violated the state Constitution's guarantee of separation between church and state. Thompson had left it to the city and the lawyers in the case to resolve the matter.
In the latest court decision in the case, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2002 that the constitutional violation still existed when it struck down the city's second attempt to sell the land to a private buyer. "This is definitely the first page of the final chapter, and I don't expect the final chapter to last another five years," lawyer James McElroy said last night. "I think we are at the end of the line here."
McElroy represents Philip Paulson, one of two atheists who filed the original lawsuit against the city in 1989. He said attorneys for the city as well as the group that maintains the cross and Paulson will meet soon to finalize plans for when and where to move the cross, which stands 29 feet tall on top of a 5-foot-high base. McElroy said he would call the City Attorney's Office today, and that the cross could be moved within 90 days.
Thanks Mel.
In Los Angeles in an effort to separate church and state this weekend LA traffic engineers plan to start removing all crosswalks from city streets. Also plans are underway to change the name of San Andreas Fault to George Bush's Fault.
Heh.....nice zingers.
Thanks for the ping! And thanks, Mel!
The Antiquities Act authorizes the President to designate landmarks and structures as national monuments. President Bush can oppose the ACLU and make the Mount Soledad cross a national monument.
EMAIL, FAX or PHONE Gov Arnold, and every Republican California legislator to contact the president today asking GWB to launch this initiative:
CA WEB SITE http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:jMbXBSy2Ie8J:www.standingupforcalifornia.com/action/contact-legislators.html
EMAIL, FAX or PHONE every Republican US Senator and Representative:
US GOV WEB SITE http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact.shtml
E mailed one to the other guy, Bill Nelson, for what that's worth.
Nice going......pass the word.
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