dallashistory

USA Today:
An American cardinal on Sunday issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at a Washington church service that included Vice President Biden, six Supreme Court Justices and hundreds in the legal community.

And if that isn't scary enough there are 161 Catholics in Congress.

Yeah! Could be significant.

Quote:
The Supreme Court this week will hear a case that might further erode the church-state barrier

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/10/ ... down-.html

Quote:
In a series of 5-4 decisions, the Supreme Court appears determined to turn Jefferson's wall of separation between church and state into a picket fence.

First, it was taxpayer-funded vouchers for private religious schools. Though considered by many to be a violation of the First Amendment's no establishment clause, the Supreme Court upheld vouchers in 2002.

Next came a permanent display of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol that the justices decided was just fine. And though the court — in a separate ruling issued the same day — struck down the posting of the Commandments inside two Kentucky courthouses, consider that decision a blip rather than a trend. The replacement of the more moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor by ultraconservative Samuel Alito likely drains the decision of its precedential effect.

Two years ago, the court pulled one more brick out of the wall by holding that taxpayers did not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of President Bush's so-called faith-based initiative. The executive branch now appears free to flout the First Amendment, and we taxpayers are powerless to stop it.

And this fall, the court is poised to further limit our ability to hold elected officials accountable to this most basic provision of our Constitution. On Wednesday, the justices will hear arguments in Salazar v. Buono, a California case involving the erection of an 8-foot, free-standing Christian cross on what was previously federal park land in the Mojave National Preserve. I say "previously" because after the display was successfully challenged in court, our sly U.S. Congress simply deeded the small parcel of affected land to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who apparently share Congress' sentiment about such public displays of religiosity. Now, the nation's high court will decide whether Congress can get away with such shenanigans.
End quote.

On Wednesday, the justices will hear arguments in Salazar v. Buono, a California case involving the erection of an 8-foot, free-standing Christian cross on what was previously federal park land in the Mojave National Preserve. I say "previously" because after the display was successfully challenged in court, our sly U.S. Congress simply deeded the small parcel of affected land to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who apparently share Congress' sentiment about such public displays of religiosity. Now, the nation's high court will decide whether Congress can get away with such shenanigans.

It would help if the idiot writing this blog got his facts straight; including the story of the cross.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars erected a cross in 1934 in memory of those who fought and died in World War I. A plaque explaining the cross's purpose was placed at the foot of the structure, but the sign disappeared long ago.

When it was originally erected, it was on private land. The parcel of land was later included in land that was purchased by the U.S. Government in the recent takeover of much public land, and named the Mojave National Preserve.

The ACLU then sued to have the cross demolished on the grounds of seperation of church and state. The caretakers of the cross, in an effort to appease them, traded a much larger parcel of land they owned for the small parcel of land that the cross stood on, thereby returning it to private ownership. The government agreed to the transfer.

But 8th circuit judge was not happy with his court order being circumvented, so he ordered the cross demolished anyway. The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court.

The full story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26255-2004Jun8.html

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june032009/desert_cross_6-1-09.php#

Finally, this "Christian Cross" is the same cross that is above the graves of our war dead both here and abroad. Are we supposed to demolish those as well? How long will be it before they go after them? They are

Thanks for setting the record straight James.
There used to be a photo of the in a VFW hall in Garland. Very pretty in the desert sun.
Someone at my American Legion hall brought up the subject a few weeks back (it was cool because I knew what they were talking about for a change). Seems the Legion is supporting the VFW cross and it's right to be where it is.