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Legion Addresses ACLU Legal Abuse
American Legion ^ | August 24, 2005

Posted on 08/29/2005 2:51:53 PM PDT by F14 Pilot

HONOLULU, August 24, 2005 - Delegates to the nation’s largest wartime veterans organization meeting here during their 87th annual national convention forged their solidarity against legal abuse and secular cleansing of American family values and religious symbols by the ACLU and other organizations.

Four thousand delegates representing 2.7 million members unanimously passed Resolution 139 that calls upon Congress to amend the practice of using taxpayer-funded attorney fees by claims under the Equal Access to Justice.

“The 1976 Civil Rights Attorney’s Fee Awards Act was much needed legislation, but in recent years, certain groups have abused the congressional intent of this public law in ‘Establishment Clause’ lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America, the Ten Commandments, and now veterans’ memorials, ” said Thomas P. Cadmus, National Commander of The American Legion. “And it’s time to fix it!”

“Exorbitant attorney fees awarded by Courts to be paid by American taxpayers has become the newest ‘Sword of Damocles’ strategically employed by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to coerce settlements by cities, counties, states, and large organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and the Department of Defense by suits and threats of lawsuits against any public expression of America’s religious history, heritage, and values,” Cadmus said. “When out-of-court settlements are more cost effective than the judicial process, then the system is clearly broken.”

Cadmus lauded the introduction of HR 2679, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), by Rep. John Hostettler and urged all Americans to strongly support this long overdue legislation.

Long time civil rights attorney Rees Lloyd spoke to the delegation earlier in the day on what he calls the ACLU’s aggressive “secular cleansing of our America heritage through the elimination of our religious symbols and our core values of decency, citizenship and Americanism.”

Lloyd, a past commander of American Legion San Gorgonio Post 448 in Banning, Calif., worked for the ACLU at one time and is very familiar with how the ACLU’s mind-set and litigation strategies work.

“Using taxpayers’ dollars to pay these court-ordered attorney fees, especially when attacking established, traditional American values is absurd,” Lloyd said. “The list of victims continues to grow - Los Angeles County, the cities of San Diego and Redlands in California, the school boards in Chicago, Ill., and Portland, Or. the Village of Castleton, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Defense, Ten Commandments cases in Kentucky, Texas, and Alabama, and even a Veterans’ Memorial in the Mojave Desert. Who will be the next victim?

“When the mere threat of attorney’s fee is so severe that large organizations fear the consequences, then imagine the power and chilling effect it has on local elected officials faced with the threat of court-ordered, taxpayer-paid attorney fees if they do not surrender to ACLU demands to cease sponsorship of Boy Scouts, or to destroy religious symbols like the Ten Commandments,” Lloyd said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Hawaii
KEYWORDS: aclu; america; attorney; civil; commies; fee; freedom; human; leftism; legion; liberty; organization; rights; taxpayers; tencommandment; usa
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1 posted on 08/29/2005 2:51:56 PM PDT by F14 Pilot
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To: F14 Pilot

Bless the legion.


2 posted on 08/29/2005 2:53:54 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: F14 Pilot
Didn't see this coming out of the VFW, now did you?

VFW (Volunteers for Welfare)

3 posted on 08/29/2005 2:54:23 PM PDT by dts32041 (Shinkichi: Massuer, did you see that? Zatôichi: I don't see much)
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To: F14 Pilot

Why stop there? Kick out the whole ACLU!


4 posted on 08/29/2005 2:55:12 PM PDT by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)
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To: ncountylee

ditto. About time the ACLU got a live grenade shoved up its ass.


5 posted on 08/29/2005 2:56:22 PM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: F14 Pilot

Here is one American Legion member who stands four square behind the Legion on this one.

What is needed now is for more large groups to come forward and fight the ACLU.


7 posted on 08/29/2005 2:58:29 PM PDT by sgtbono2002
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To: F14 Pilot

bump


8 posted on 08/29/2005 2:59:05 PM PDT by winner3000
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To: F14 Pilot

Just repeal the Civil Rights Act.


9 posted on 08/29/2005 3:01:23 PM PDT by RATkiller (I'm not communist, socialist, Democrat nor Republican so don't call me names)
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To: F14 Pilot

As one of those 2.7 million members, that pleases me very much. It's a start.


10 posted on 08/29/2005 3:03:07 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes (Some people are too stupid to be ashamed.)
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To: RaceBannon; nuconvert; Mo1; AdmSmith; freedom44; tet68; Calpernia; Cindy

ping


11 posted on 08/29/2005 3:05:01 PM PDT by F14 Pilot (Democracy is a process not a product)
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To: mtbopfuyn

A writer for the local fishwrap suggested suing the ACLU in every state of the union. There's no way they could afford to defend all the suits and pay their court costs. It would bankrupt those communists and put them out of business for good.

I'm suprised the article got past the editors.


12 posted on 08/29/2005 3:08:05 PM PDT by Venerable Bede
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To: F14 Pilot

Oh, yeah... thanks for posting this. My non-FR friends will appreciate this.


13 posted on 08/29/2005 3:09:19 PM PDT by Venerable Bede
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To: F14 Pilot

Here’s how you can support the passage of HR 2679:
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/ACLU/


14 posted on 08/29/2005 3:12:56 PM PDT by Beth528
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To: dts32041

I always thought the VFW were typically more conservative. They endorsed Reagan over Carter, while the Legion remained neutral.


15 posted on 08/29/2005 3:28:33 PM PDT by Meldrim
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To: F14 Pilot
"When the mere threat of attorney's fees is so severe that large organizations fear the consequences, then imagine the power and chilling effect it has on elected officials, faced with the threat of court-ordered, taxpayer-paid, attorney fees if they do not surrender to ACLU demands"

This is just WRONG! The ACLU is being allowed to act as an UN-ELECTED tyranny at TAX-PAYER EXPENSE.

Something needs to be done NOW, to stop this. It's THE issue of our time.

CHECK THIS OUT
( Post 14-it's about a religious symbol and the property it was on, that Thomas Jefferson protected and contains a letter from him-8th paragragh).

16 posted on 08/29/2005 3:34:03 PM PDT by Pajamajan ("Where there's life there's hope"-Terri Schindler's message to the world.- Never Forget.)
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To: Meldrim
Yeah they may have been so at one time but they endorsed the Dead Red Wellstone from MN and the Illinois Convention gave Little Dickie Durbin a standing O after calling their sons and daughters Nazis.

Again VFW (Volunteers for Welfare).

17 posted on 08/29/2005 3:40:21 PM PDT by dts32041 (Shinkichi: Massuer, did you see that? Zatôichi: I don't see much)
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To: F14 Pilot

bttt


18 posted on 08/29/2005 3:42:37 PM PDT by nicmarlo
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To: Meldrim
No. The American Legion wasn't politically active at that time. We learned. Now the VFW boasts a having a couple of gay posts where the AL wouldn't ever consider doing such a thing.
19 posted on 08/29/2005 3:47:05 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult ("Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong." - Ronald Reagan)
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To: F14 Pilot
WHEREAS, the American Civil Liberties Union (the ACLU) has shown itself to be hostile to religious expression by private citizens and the civil rights of people of faith; and WHEREAS, the ACLU has declared war on the Boy Scouts of America, the military of the United States, Christmas displays, public buildings that display the Ten Commandments, and many other American traditions; and WHEREAS, the United States Congress, roughly thirty years ago, passed a provision in United States Code section 1988 that requires taxpayers to pay attorneys in civil rights cases; and WHEREAS, the ACLU has abused that law to make untold millions of dollars simply by suing boy scouts, school children, military academies, cities and towns, with the goal of punishing any who dare to exercise their First Amendment right to religious freedom and expression; and WHEREAS, the vast majority of taxpayers do not want to be forced to pay the ACLU to sue their neighbors and friends in the ACLU's efforts to strip America of all signs of faith; and WHEREAS, the Establisment Clause of the First Amendment was not contemplated when USC section 1988 was passed; THEREFORE, the People of the United States call upon their Congress to amend USC section 1988 so that hostile special interest groups such as the ACLU can no longer be granted taxpayer money to attack Americans and their institutions. We, The People, call upon our elected representatives to amend USC section 1988 so that fees are not awarded to the ACLU or any other plaintiff in Establisment Clause cases. We wish for the Free Expression Clause to implicate at least the same financial incentives as attacks upon faith currently have.

Support the passage of HR 2679. Phone, E-mail, or personally confront your representatives to support this bill. The ACLU is an enemy of America. If your representatives do not support this bill, VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE!

20 posted on 08/29/2005 4:02:01 PM PDT by layman (Card Carrying Infidel)
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