Freedom Folks: Mt. Soledad cross case seems settled

A plan to move it gets tentative OK

The Mount Soledad cross would be taken down and moved to a church or other privately owned land under a tentative agreement presented to the San Diego City Council in a closed meeting yesterday. The proposed deal to end a 15-year legal fight has the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, the lawyer for the self-described atheist who filed the federal lawsuit challenging the cross' presence on city-owned land and the Mount Soledad Association, which maintains the 43-foot-tall cross and a veterans memorial around it. Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that the cross violates the California Constitution's "no preference clause," which prohibits religious symbols on public land. *snip*

Jordan Budd, managing attorney for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said relocating the cross and allowing the association to keep the land as a nonsectarian memorial is the least complicated option. The ACLU joined McElroy in handling court appeals of the cross litigation. "We would prefer that the city not destroy the cross but remove it to some other venue, somehow place it in the hands of a private party that would like to display the cross on private land," Budd said. *snip*

Reading this makes me think about growing up in the restaurant business. When I was a kid I worked for mostly single unit restaurants, often working elbow to elbow with the owner. When there was a dispute we worked it out.

As I rose through the ranks I ended up working at some of the fanciest hotels. Now instead of working things out like normal human beings, the lawyers got involved, which is pretty much my definition of inhuman.

Instead of the owner telling me he'd fire my ass if I did something stupid a second time, we were inundated with Sensitivity Trainings. Instead of the owner smacking me upside my thick head when I screwed something up, I had to suffer through all day Total Quality Control meetings that verged on the bizarre.

I have a friend who's a lawyer, he often tells me that we'd be in a world of hurt without lawyers. I think he's full of crap. Here's the problem, lawyers, though not entirely human are people too, with opinions. So now, like a drunken five year old stumbling around with a loaded .45 we have lawyers and lawyer groups attempting to run this nation through force, fraud and intimidation.

And they know that any recourse would most likely break the average American. Nice to have the game fixed up front, very nice.

The shame to me in this situation is that this cross only incidentally references jesus. Yes it's a cross, yes the cross is a Christian symbol, but in this context it takes on another meaning.

William Kellogg, the association's president, said his group would prefer to keep the cross in place, "but that appears to be impossible at this point. "Our goal is to honor veterans, whatever happens," he said, and keeping the site as a memorial would make that possible.

The cross in a graveyard reminds us of our salvation in the face of cruel death. This cross, the Mt. Soledad cross serves a different purpose...

Respect.

Shame some certain atheist asshats have none.

"We would prefer that the city not destroy the cross but remove it to some other venue, somehow place it in the hands of a private party that would like to display the cross on private land," Budd said.