Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 (FREEPERS stop taxpayer funding of ACLU)

Thomas - Legislative Information for the Public ^ | May 26, 2005 | Rep. Hostettler, John N.

[ViLaLuz]

"I can hardly think of an endeavor as important to the future of this country than the defunding of the athiest scumbags of the ACLU. Big, big, BUMP!"

Thanks Lancey Howard. It looks like the silent majority's efforts to stop the communist ACLU is finally coming to a head.

The American Legion appears to have a huge hand in this concerted effort. I find it totally appropriate that Rees Lloyd, one of the AL leaders, was a former ACLU lawyer. I'm so glad he woke up and is taking action. Now it's our turn to wake up.

We need to continue educating the public as to what the ACLU's true goals are--to turn the USA into a communist global state.

[ViLaLuz]

Good thread on the attack on the Boy Scouts:

What's wrong with the Boy Scouts?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1416367/posts

[Brad’s Gramma]

OK!




BTTT!!!

[ViLaLuz]

From CITIZENLINK, June 7, 2005 http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0036787.cfm

No Profit from Establishment Cases
by Aaron Atwood, assistant editor

SUMMARY: Indiana Congressman is sponsoring legislation to take the profit out of suing.

Representative John Hostettler, R-Ind., has teamed with the American Legion to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others like them, from strong arming defendants.

The Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 (PERA) would prohibit attorneys' fees from being collected in cases against the establishment of religion clause.

The ACLU boasts more than 400,000 members and supporters and handles more than 6,000 cases each year. Its 2003 revenue topped $44 million while it claims to have been awarded more than $2 million in settlements.

The legislation comes at a time when the ACLU is challenging the mention of "Jesus" in the Indiana legislature, the cross on the California state seal and prayer at graduation ceremonies across America. Regularly such cases never make it to court because of concern over the cost of attorney fees.

A solitary cross stands on the hillside of a national preserve near the Nevada-California border. Frank Buono, a retired park ranger, sued, claiming that his seeing the cross a couple times every year infringed on his rights. The courts agreed. The ACLU pocketed $63,000 in attorneys' fees.

Currently, when the ACLU wins a case, as it did in Buono v. Norton, the losing party must pay the fees of the successful attorneys. Initially the law was good. Poor minorities were facing discrimination but were unable to afford a lawyer. Now, liberal advocacy groups are using the law as a burden to municipalities faced with potential religious liberties cases.

In light of the situation facing many state and federal agencies, Rees Lloyd, a former ACLU attorney and past commander of American Legion Post 428, took action. Lloyd authored Legion's Resolution 326. The resolution calls the group's 2.7 million members to "expressly preclude the courts from awarding attorney fees… in lawsuits brought to remove or destroy religious symbols."

The Legion had adopted that cross in the middle of the Mojave Desert in 2003. Now the ACLU was treading on sacred ground.

"The ACLU has become fanatical," Lloyd said. "The facts are the facts. They are elitist social engineers."

Then he raised a critical point.

"As a former ACLU attorney, I know that they have no attorney fees," he said. "They are either done by staff attorneys or volunteers."

In fact, in Buono v. Norton, the counsel listed for the plaintiff was "Peter J. Eliasberg and Mark D. Rosenbaum, ACLU Foundation of Southern California, Los Angeles, California." Both attorneys are ACLU staffers.

Hostettler has taken his bill to the House before. In 2003 the bill died in subcommittee. But Lloyd is quick to point out this is a different Congress.

"Now there are 2.7 million people solidly and unanimously supporting this bill," Lloyd noted.

The legislation is currently in its infancy in the 109th Congress but already has 20 co-sponsors.

"We're in pretty good shape," a spokesman for Rep. Hostettler said. "One hundred is a magic number because you can kind of force a bill through with that."

[ViLaLuz]

Another FREEPER thread on the topic:

Congressman Wants to Stop ACLU Profit from First Amendment Cases

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1419723/posts

[ViLaLuz]

Check out this informative interview from Stop the ACLU:

Interview With A Former ACLU Lawyer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1419411/posts

Reese Lloyd is the former ACLU attorney now associated with the American Legion. He is a key player in advancing the Public Expression of Religion Act.

[ViLaLuz]

What's really bad is the district judge, Ginger Berrigan is a member of the ACLU.

http://www.texasisd.com/artman/exec/view.cgi/26/29011

Louisiana: ACLU asks jail for Tangipahoa school officials
By ADAM NOSSITER - AP NOLA.com
May 19, 2005, 07:45


Teachers and administrators in Tangipahoa Parish continue to violate a court-imposed school prayer ban, according to the ACLU, which Wednesday asked a federal judge to send them to jail.

For the fourth time in less than two months, the ACLU has formally notified the judge that school officials are flouting the prayer ban, imposed to settle a lawsuit the civil liberties group filed for a parent in 2003.
This time, the group says, an elementary school teacher in Tangipahoa Parish repeatedly held prayers in her fourth grade class, encouraged students to bring their Bibles to school, held Bible study classes in the cafeteria of D.C. Reeves Elementary School, and admonished students who didn't show up for the class.

In addition, the ACLU cites a prayer it says was recently given at Amite High School, over a loudspeaker, at an awards banquet. The prayer ended with the words "In Jesus' name we pray," violating the ban; the principal of the school sat silently by.

Wednesday's filing is the latest skirmish in a decade-long battle between the ACLU here and school authorities in the rural parish north of Lake Pontchartrain over the place of religion in the classroom. The group contends parish school officials systematically flout the Constitution's Establishment Clause forbidding the mixing of government and religion.

Court decisions have repeatedly favored the civil liberties group, including the two latest ones — a 2004 prayer ban in the schools and a February decision by U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan banning prayer before school board meetings. The school board Tuesday night pressed on with its appeal of that decision, announcing the addition of a national Christian-oriented legal group to its team, the Alliance Defense Fund.

At the same time it warned school employees against flouting the court prayer ban. That warning preceded by hours, however, the ACLU's latest contention that some in Tangipahoa continue to ignore the court's orders.

"The consent judgment is repeatedly violated by these individuals because they do not believe anything will happen to them," the ACLU said in its Wednesday court filing. "Their refusal to comply with the consent decree should and must result in their removal from society."

Under the agreement, no "invocations by students to the student body over the school's public address system, during assemblies or at any school sponsored event" are allowed.

A lawyer for the school board said the latest allegations would be "thoroughly investigated" and "disciplinary actions" would be taken if they hold up. "It's a personnel matter," said A. Kirk Gasperecz. "It's an employee not doing what they are supposed to be doing."

The ACLU, however, suggested that teachers and administrators are willfully defying the prayer ban. It compared the fourth grade teacher to George Wallace, standing in the schoolhouse door to hold off integration in the 1960s.

"I have been teaching for 12 years, and I can do what I want in my own classroom or at school," the teacher, Pam Sullivan, told a student teacher who protested about her predilection for prayer and Bible study in class, according to the ACLU. Repeatedly, she "compelled" a student to recite a prayer in class before lunch, the group said.

In addition, Sullivan expressed her disapproval of mixed-race marriages to the student teacher, who was "confronted" for challenging the frequent classroom praying, and told to "voluntarily withdraw." Once, she "entered the classroom and abruptly ordered the student to cease teaching and the ordered the students to stand and recite a prayer," according to the court filing.

Unsuccessful in the 1990s in imposing an "evolution disclaimer" in classrooms, then on lunch-time prayer sessions, the Tangipahoa board in 2004 agreed to end prayer at school sporting events.

Tuesday the board said in its statement that "anyone acting in violation of the consent judgment is doing so without the Board's authority or consent." But it again suggested students could lawfully hold "private prayers" at schools.

It promised that teachers and administrators would receive "training" so violations due to "misunderstandings" could be avoided.

A hearing on the contempt motions is set for June 1 in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

Wednesday, the ACLU said the violations it was citing were among the most egregious yet.

"The federal court must rein in religious extremists who have taken over the Tangipahoa Parish school system by hijacking Christianity and using it to carry out their agenda of indoctrinating and proselytizing captive students under their control," said Joe Cook, the ACLU head in Louisiana.

[bert]

....Mr. JENKINS......

He listened and he acted.

[ViLaLuz]

The ACLU Is Going Down...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1420356/posts

[ViLaLuz]

Tell me more about Mr. Jenkins... what state? Is he a congressman?

Now it's our turn to take action.

To contact your representatives, look them up here:
http://www3.capwiz.com/fof/dbq/officials/

[bert]

Bill Jenkins is the Congressman from the First Congressional District of Tennessee. A methodical Farmer, former chairman of TVA, and country lawyer, his rural background hides a savy politician. (He's my congressman)

[ViLaLuz]

From Cao's Blog
http://caosblog.com/archives/2005/06/09/aclu-airbrushing-christianity/

The ACLU’s Airbrushing of Christianity

Jay at STOP THE ACLU! reported a revealing interview with Mr. Reese Lloyd, a former ACLU lawyer now affiliated with the largest veterans organization in America, The American Legion. Read the entire interview for an eye-opening look into the inner workings of the ACLU.

Mr. Lloyd spoke to the motives of the ACLU in cases involving the separation of church and state. He was blunt:

“The ACLU is involved in the secular cleansing of our history. This is not just a fight about free exercise, but about the protection of our American history. The ACLU want to deny America the knowledge of their Christian heritage.”

With stunning imagery, Mr. Lloyd likened the ACLU’s goal with Christianity in American history to that of Stalin’s air-brushing Trotsky and others out of photos, and nearly out of Soviet history. Said Mr. Lloyd:

“We are a Christian Nation, and the U.S. Supreme Court said so. The Supreme Court in HOLY TRINITY CHURCH v. U.S. [ruled] that this is a Christian Nation. That is our history. The history the ACLU wants to erase.”

There is now legislation before Congress that should diminish the ACLU’s power to airbrush away our Christian heritage: the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA) of 2005 — House bill HR 2679. If passed and signed by the President, PERA would eliminate the awarding of federal taxpayer funds to the attorneys for plaintiffs in Establishment Clause challenges to the 1st Amendment. These cases are taken by the ACLU (and others) pro bono for the express purpose of gaining these federal funds.

If the ACLU and other organizations are so passionately behind these causes, they should prosecute them on their own dime and not at taxpayer expense. If the awarding of federal funding is removed, the number of these lawsuits which lead to the removal of our public expression freedoms might decrease.

[The link above goes on to post more info on how to contact your congressman, and links to other related blogs including Stop the ACLU]

[ViLaLuz]

This link is for the American Legion, Department of California, and contains a wealth of information about PERA:

http://www.calegion.org/html/resolution-326.html

An excerpt:

"Most Americans are totally unaware that they have been paying millions of dollars in attorney fee “awards” requested by the ACLU and awarded by judges under the Civil Rights Attorney Fee Act in the fanatic litigation to punish the Boy Scouts, wipe out all public expression of America’s religious history and heritage, and now, to remove or destroy religious symbols at veterans memorials.

While pretending to act on principle and pro bono (without fee) in bringing such cases under the Establishment clause, the ACLU in fact has profited by these suits. For example: The ACLU received $940,000 in attorney fees from the City of San Diego when it settled the ACLU’s lawsuit to kick the Boy Scouts out of Balboa Park; the ACLU received $500,000 to the Ten Commandments case involving Alabama Judge Roy Moore; it received $108, 000 from Portland Schools regarding Boy Scout recruiting; It received $90,000 in its lawsuit in Illinois to drive the Boy Scouts out Chicago Public Schools; it has received $63,000 so far in its attack on the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial and all veterans memorials are now subject to attack by the ACLU. "

[ViLaLuz]

Thank you bert. I found a list of the 19 co-sponsors:

Rep. Rodney Alexander [D-LA]
Rep. Spencer Bachus [R-AL]
Rep. James Barrett [R-SC]
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD]
Rep. John Doolittle [R-CA]
Rep. John Duncan [R-TN]
Rep. Bob Inglis [R-SC]
Rep. William Jenkins [R-TN]
Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
Rep. Jack Kingston [R-GA]
Rep. Charles Norwood [R-GA]
Rep. C.L. Otter [R-ID]
Rep. Ronald Paul [R-TX]
Rep. Joseph Pitts [R-PA]
Rep. Ted Poe [R-TX]
Rep. Lamar Smith [R-TX]
Rep. Michael Sodrel [R-IN]
Rep. Zach Wamp [R-TN]
Rep. David Weldon [R-FL]

[EARN4462]

The phrase and the notion of 'SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE is a 'Myth' of garangtun proportion. I have spent about 1,000 man-hours of research that COMPLETELY dispels the very idea. If anyone would like a copy, contact me at EARN4462@aol.com Did you know that the ACLU receives taxpayer funds? Did you know the ACLU is supporting a lawsuit (which they have managed to drag into a fifth year) brought by a member of NAMBLA - short for North American Man-Boy Love Association. NAMBLA teaches child molesters how to seduce young children, how to avoid detection, how to defend against charges, and lists places to find 'easy' targets. TALK ABOUT REPULSIVE! Yet, the ACLU operates with impunity with the tacit approval of the liberals. How disgusting. They were called 'the most evil organization' in the US by someone of character (I forget - may Zell Miller). I wholly agree with that, and would do any volunteer work in an effort to bring them to their knees. David

[ViLaLuz]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44934

ACLU fights school board's prayers
Panel has been invoking God before meetings for 30 years

Posted: June 23, 2005

A school board is battling the ACLU in court for the right to open its meetings with prayers that invoke "God," "Heavenly Father" and "Jesus."

The Tangipahoa Parish School Board in Louisiana is appealing a federal judge's ruling that such prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, which says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

The Thomas More Law Center, a public-interest law firm, has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of the school district.

Richard Thompson, the Law Center's chief counsel, said the case is "just another example of the concerted effort to destroy the religious foundations of our nation."

"Acknowledging beliefs that are widely held among the American people is not a violation of the Constitution," he said.

The school board -- which has opened each of its meetings with a prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, for more than 30 years -- argues the invocations impose no restriction on any religious viewpoint, and any person who wants to lead the prayer may do so regardless of his religious beliefs.

In 2003, however, a parent of two high school students in the district, represented by the ACLU, filed a lawsuit claiming the invocations were unconstitutional.

The trial judge recognized it is constitutional for legislative or deliberative bodies to begin meetings with prayer, but she ruled the principle did not apply to the school board.

The Thomas More Law Center argues that the school board is a deliberative body under Louisiana law; its meetings are held separately from classroom and school-related activities; and students are not required to attend the meetings.

In its brief, the law firm pointed out that sessions of the U. S. House of Representatives begin with prayers making reference to "God," "Heavenly Father" and "Jesus." The prayers also offer thanksgiving and seek wisdom, guidance, forgiveness and protection.

The school board's prayers are not different in any material respect, the brief asserts.

[ViLaLuz]

Bill to take profit out of anti-religion suits
Supporters say measure removes ACLU incentive to challenge faith in public

Posted: May 7, 2005

An Indiana congressman plans to curb the ACLU's appetite for filing suits targeting religion in the public square by introducing a bill that denies plaintiff attorneys the right to collect attorneys fees in such cases.

Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., is expected to file his measure next week to amend the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 1988, to prohibit prevailing parties from being awarded attorneys fee in religious establishment cases, but not in other civil rights filings.

"Every other civil right case, there is some injury to somebody," American Legion attorney Rees Lloyd of Banning, California, told a Thursday rally in front of ACLU's Los Angeles offices. "Somebody lost their job ... somebody got beat up by authorities – they have some physical, mental, economic injury. But in an Establishment Clause case, it is someone who says, 'I take offense,' and the offense is based on religions, politics, philosophy, but there is no injury."

Hostettler introduced a bill with identical language in 2003 to permit only injunctive relief in cases filed under the religious-establishment clause of the Constitution and to deny attorneys fees. Although that bill failed in subcommittee, Lloyd is optimistic that the current offering will pass this session because of the more conservative makeup of the current Congress and escalating calls to curb an activist judiciary, particularly on religious matters.

"The issue is about the absolute fanaticism of the ACLU and the absolute arrogance of a judiciary that says we have to wipe out of history all the evidence of our heritage," Lloyd told the Los Angeles Daily Journal, a legal newspaper.

Lloyd is a former ACLU attorney who has represented Southern California veterans seeking to save the Mojave Desert World War I Veterans Memorial. A federal judge has ruled it's solitary cross an offense to the constitutional separation of church and state and ordered it destroyed.

The American Legion brought its protest to Los Angeles because of the county's decision to remove the cross from its seal. Veterans fear the ACLU will attempt to have religious symbols removed from veterans' monuments and gravestones in military graveyards.

"We're joining forces with the 'save the Los Angeles County seal campaign,'" Lloyd said. "It's the same issue.

Carol Sobel, a National Lawyers Guild attorney, defended the present system of awarding attorneys fees: "What the legislation is saying is, 'If you enforce the Constitution in a way that [Hostettler] does not approve, you should not receive attorney fees for doing so."

Sobel, the ACLU's separation of church and state staff attorney when the position was first funded, continued, "We have defended religious freedom innumerable times, but when a city or a county puts a religious emblem on its city seal, it is violating this country's principles of religious freedom. And, it sends a disquieting message that the government favors one religion."

As reported by WorldNetDaily, various citizen and legal groups are lobbying to limit standing to bring establishment cases as well as deny attorneys fees.

Related stories:

New effort to restore cross to seal

Suit to restore cross on L.A. seal dismissed

Petition: Get ACLU off taxpayer dole

[ViLaLuz]

Pull plug on ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union, the misnamed, extremist persecutors of the Boy Scouts of America, claims to be fighting to end taxpayer support of religious groups.

That was the excuse the ACLU used when it targeted the Boy Scouts use of military bases in a case in which the Pentagon caved into the neo-Talibanists of secular humanism.

But the dirty little secret the ACLU doesn't want you to know is that it, too, received significant funding of its jihad against Judaism, Christianity and the monotheistic roots of Western Civilization from the federal, state and local governments.

And now that we know how easily government capitulates to the threat of lawsuits, it's time for someone to start suing over taxpayer support of this degenerate group of God-hating perverts.

It would be that easy to shut off a major funding source to the ACLU – your hard-earned tax dollars.

There are several ways Congress could do this very easily, with minor changes in the law. Since so many members of Congress – nearly all of them are on record in opposing the Defense Department's appeasement of the ACLU, maybe one of these brave souls should move to change the civil-rights statute that permits the ACLU from collecting attorney fees from governments the organization takes to court.

CourtZero.org, a website dedicated to stemming judicial activism, is petitioning Congress to change 42 U.S.C., Section 1988, of the United States Code that permits judges to award attorney fees to plaintiffs in civil-rights cases brought against local governments, thereby putting the taxpayers on the hook and oftentimes funneling public money to the ACLU. Simply changing the law so the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment would not apply could deprive the ACLU of millions of taxpayer dollars.

For instance, when the ACLU takes a city to court claiming a Christmas display violates the Establishment Clause, if the municipality loses, the city's taxpayers are often forced to pay ACLU attorneys. This law now creates an incentive for the ACLU to file ever more challenges of this kind. Do you want to know why the ACLU lawyers file these ridiculous lawsuits by the dozens? Because they get paid to do it – by you.

Another way to take the financial incentive out of these suits legislatively is by passing a law that cuts back the standing of the ability to bring Establishment Clause claims. Currently, anyone who is offended by what they see, a Ten Commandments display, a manger scene, a Christmas tree or a menorah, can bring suit.

Nowhere else in litigation is it so easy to make a claim. In most other areas of the law, you need to have a personal, direct injury.

The American Legion is calling on Congress to eliminate the financial incentives for the ACLU in Establishment Clause cases. It's about time we get behind this effort.

It's time to shut off the money supply to the ACLU. This is the first step to destroying the evil organization – putting a stake through its heart.

Why should the people of the United States, through their Congress, be giving away millions of dollars to the ACLU so that the twisted legal minds of that organization can subvert our laws and impose their agenda on the rest of us?

We can give this dangerously seditious group no quarter any longer. The ACLU can not be tolerated. It is a hate group that supports the North American Man-Boy Love Association, an organized band of pedophiles and child rapists, while attacking the Boy Scouts.

It's time to demand every member of Congress choose sides – the ACLU or the Boy Scouts.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315995/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1290939/posts

[ViLaLuz]

http://gribbit.21publish.com/mnmus/archive/2005/06/07/13kebqumgou5.htm

ACLU: Counsel to the American Taliban

The current abuse by the ACLU and others of the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fee Awards Act was foreseeable...

Of course, the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade*, their partners in crime, the Mass Media Podpeople's Army** and their enablers among various and sundry congresscritters would never admit that taking money from your pocket and funding groups such as the ACLU in their efforts to undermine and destroy the foundations of Western Civilization was the goal of the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fee Awards Act. But they don't need to admit that, since they won't even admit it is a consequence because they see attacks on whatever is good and just and moral as being progress, hence it's not a consequence, but a benefit in their eyes.

Now, some would say that in order to curb the ACLU, the proper thing to do is to "fix a good law" (the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fee Awards Act) with such measures as HR 2679, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), which would deny federal government payments to lawyers for plaintiffs in Establishment Clause challenges to the 1st Amendment.

OK, let me backtrack a bit. The 1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fee Awards Act was not good law, because there's no reasonable reading of the Constitution justifying taking my money from me and paying some lawyer to supposedly bring benefits to a class of people. But of course, that sort of Constitutional argument could be made about more than half (well more than half) of what the fedgov does today. So, "fixing" a bad law at least to the extent of removing its negative impact on the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion is just about as much as a reasonable person can hope for in today's social/political climate.

All of us who do not live in the imaginary country the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade and the Mass Media Podpeople's Army (consciously or unconsciously) arrogantly think of as "Smartland" know that the ACLU is attacking the foundations of civilization-family, free and uncoerced, unpersecuted religious expression, the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and more-and knowing that, the kettle's been put on to boil. Funding the American Taliban (for that is what the ACLU has become: the law offices of the Taliban of the Loony Left Moonbat Brigade) and its efforts to curtail our freedoms is simply immoral and unjust and must be stopped.

There's an anger building in what Smartland*** dwellers think if as Stupidland (that's you and me). A just and righteous anger. Write or call or email your congresscritter and let them know of your support for HR 2679, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA). It's a drop in the bucket, but it'd be a significant drop, as it would remove the ACLU from at least one public teat.

And consider joining the Stop the ACLU Blogburst. It's a good thing.

[ViLaLuz]

Reese Lloyd appears in annaZ's video:

Watch AnnaZ’s NEW video! "Sealed for Your Protection" [about L.A. seal/cross, ACLU=Taliban/Dracula]