Phil Paulson comment

I was doing some google searching and came across this chat dialog with Phil Paulson, the man who brought the first suit in 1989 and spearheaded this campaign to preserve the proverbial wall until he died in 2006.  Here's the Link 

Justice Kennedy's Soledad Intervention

Brights, SDARI and Philip

Since my letter last week, "Soledad White Flag?" I have read the responses such
as Philips below, that clearly state why the law at all levels is on our side.
This is exactly why Kennedy's action was so stunning.

After seventeen years of litigation, those flouting our laws now need more time?
Something must be brewing, and I posited a sea change in jurisprudence under the
rubric of return of "the Constitution in exile."

Let me state a few assumptions, some well know, others less so:

The values of the Bill of Rights are loosely held by the American People.
Phrased in certain ways in polls, they do not get majority support.

By definition, in spite of Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone, half of Americans
have I.Q.s in two digits. They relate to Atheists taking away our Cross but draw
a blank on the advantages of a secular government.

Once political leaders lose the inhibition against fomenting religious hatred,
which is picked up by the mass media, and exacerbated by demagogues such as
Hedgecock and O'Reilly, there is a mass movement that takes on dangerous
proportions.

The bedrock resistance has been the courts, which represents the enduring values
that are beyond the understanding of the general public, and too tempting an
issue for those media and political figures who stand to garner fame and fortune
by marching at the head of the angry crowd.

There are two bills working their way in congress that will have a major impact
on the fight against religious encroachment. One will allow Military Chaplains
to Proselytize Christianity even in required assemblages of troops. The other,
more substantive, will remove the reimbursement of legal fees for cases against
unconstitutional encroachment of religion symbols. Had this law been in effect,
the Soledad case would not have been feasible.

The trust of my communication with this group is that we look at the
social,political and legal realities of the moment. My tittle "White Flag" was
ill chosen. The better question is how can we preserve our rights, in what is
looking like a sea change of disturbing proportions.

Al Rodbell


Humanist Phil Osophy wrote:
Carl,

Will the Supreme Court Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy
decide (5 to 4 ruling) to condemn the Mt. Soledad Natural Park with the
pending authority of Congressional "eminent domain" powers in order to save
the "Mt. Soledad Easter Cross?" Three San Diego area Congressmen Hunter,
Bilbray and Issa have an unconstitutional bill pending in the US Congress to
do just that. But Cunningham Memorial Cross will be remembered.

During the late hours of night on the floor of the US House of
Representatives, Congressman Duke Cunningham (Republican-San Diego) slipped
into an Omnibus spending Bill HR4818 an irrelevant Mt. Soledad Park Rider on
the House Report bill, that would make Memorial Status for the Mt. Soledad
Cross and Public Park inserted into this US funding legislation; No
description of the Rider was read aloud and no debate was allowed according
to the railroaded House Rules. Frankly, nobody knew that the Rider was in
the House Report Bill, except Congressmen Duke Cunningham, Duncan Hunter and
Tom DeLay. However, the House Report Bill stipulated that the City of San
Diego would have to transfer (gift or sell) the park over to the US
government.

Please note that religious symbols placed on federally owned parklands
violate the US and California Constitutions [Buono vs. Norton, 2004 WL
1238143 (9th Cir. Jun. 7, 2004)]; Buono vs. Norton court ruling is settled
law and public policy with regard to federal parklands.

By the way, Cunningham is now Inmate 94405-198.

The 1st Amendment (Bill of Rights) to the US Constitution provides for the
"Establishment Clause." Religious establishment is prohibited. "Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ..." and the Mt.
Soledad Easter Cross positioned on a public park in San Diego is the
unmistakable symbol of the Christian religion. The Mt. Soledad Easter Cross
conveys a sectarian message, "Jesus Rules America."

 Philip Paulson