SwiftVets.com Forum Index SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Mojave Desert Cross Case

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    SwiftVets.com Forum Index -> Geedunk & Scuttlebutt
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Leeman
PO3


Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 265
Location: Connecticut

PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:11 pm    Post subject: Mojave Desert Cross Case Reply with quote

http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-supreme-court-hears-mojave-desert-cross-case

Boy O boy I wonder what our veterans memorials will be like in years to come or even if any will be around.??
_________________
Leeman

"We are all Ghost now"
"But once we were men"

from an unsigned diary recovered from Cabanatuan Camp
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TEWSPilot
Admiral


Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)

PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe the atheists could get someone from the Hemlock Society to commit suicide and then get a psychic to hold a seance and ask the deceased what it was like after death, if there were any signs of God. For added effect, the deceased could even try to interview deceased veterans and ask how they felt about allowing the Cross to stand. They could play the whole episode on "Coast to Coast AM" overnight, and whatever they found out, they could present with their brief before SCOTUS....meanwhile, just let the land swap proceed and the problem goes away.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LewWaters
Admin


Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State

PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 5:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This case is a pure travesty. The retired Civil Servant bringing the suit through the ACLU says it was due to a Buddhist Stupa being denied built nearby.

A Stupa is not a Memorial but a domed building holding Buddhist artifacts.

When Frank Buno, the one claiming "injury" retired from the National Preserve, he headed straight to the ACLU who demanded removal of the Memorial. In spite of any claims to the contrary, no requests or suits were ever filed to allow other "religious" symbols in Honor of War Dead be erected, just the total destruction of this Memorial, 11 miles off of the main road.

Congress ceded 1 acre of land the Memorial sits on to the VFW in exchange for 5 acres to satisfy the cry of a "religious" symbol on public land.

Buno and the ACLU took it back to court to have the transfer ruled unconstitutional, which shows their only intent is destroying a 75 year-old Memorial.

I've been fortunate to have befriended a former ACLU attorney who argued in Federal Court on behalf of the Mt. Soledad War Memorial in San Diego, saving it from the fate they intend on this one.

Of the cross used he says,
Quote:
"Symbols have meaning in collective life. People die for them. For instance, the Flag. The Cross manifestly has a religious aspect. But, equally manifestly, it conveys a secular meaning -- the meaning of selfless service and sacrifice for others, and is so understood. Universally. Beyond language barriers. In fact, there is not other symbol so universally recognized as representing selfless service and sacrifice for others, including the ultimate sacrifice of one's life. That is how it is understood at veterans memorials, and why it is the symbol so often chosen to honor the war dead.

When I argued the the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial Case in the 4th District Court of Appeal in California, I challenged the justices to identify any other symbol universally recognized as representing selfless service and sacrifice for others, saying we would withdraw our opposition to destruction of the Cross if they, or anyone, could name any other symbol other than the Cross. They could not. No one has."


and
Quote:
"The Cross, too, has acquired a secular meaning--the meaning of goodness, of self-sacrifice for others. Tear down the Cross and you are left with the absence of any symbol adequate to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans."


I don't think I need quote his over all opinion of many of his fellow attorneys, especially those from the ACLU. Wink
_________________
Clark County Conservative
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TEWSPilot
Admiral


Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)

PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From Sweet Spirits of Amonia blog
Quote:
"One of the great myths of the 20th – and now 21st – century is the belief that the American Civil Liberties Union was an organization that had a noble beginning, but somehow strayed off course.

That myth is untrue. The ACLU set a course to destroy America – her freedom and her values – right from the start."

Read the truth about Roger Baldwin and Crystal Eastman, the founders. Learn more about the relationship to Earl Browder, Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger.

What is the conclusion?

"Instead of being an organization that simply took a 'wrong turn,' the ACLU has devoted itself from the very beginning to the devastation of America's most cherished traditions, values, and laws."

And, when you are done with that, visit Stop the ACLU and find out what you can do to help fight subversion in America. Remember, our traditions, values and freedoms are at stake.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Schadow
Vice Admiral


Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 936
Location: Huntsville, Alabama

PostPosted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The entire transcript of the oral arguments before SCOTUS is found at:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/08-472.pdf

I slogged through the whole thing and, surprisingly, came away optimistic about the eventual ruling. Most of the questions dealt with the transfer to the VFW of the acre on which the cross stands. There was little if any typical ACLU blather about the offensiveness of the cross to atheists or anyone else.

Out on a limb, I'm predicting a win for the cross and the VFW by 5 to 4 or possibly 6 to 3.



Schadow
_________________
Capt, 8th U.S. Army, Korea '53 - '54
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    SwiftVets.com Forum Index -> Geedunk & Scuttlebutt All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group