Vet's Memorial Cross defended by Bush and The National Park Service.

Washington Post and Patriot Defenders Network ^ | December 13, 2002 | Rene Sanchez (comments by Dave Jenest)

[comwatch]

The battle heats up... Join Patriotwatch.com in sending a resistance message to the ACLU.

File Photo/ Stephen Medd Press-enterprise Via AP The ACLU contends that this cross in the Mojave National Preserve is primarily a religious symbol.

It's time to draw a line in this sand with the ACLU! Make a difference... call or write your Congressional representative. Call in your support to Rep. Jerry Lewis The cross, a makeshift war memorial in the Mojave desert,   had stood there in obscurity for nearly 70 years. It was looked after only by a small, devoted band of desert residents who treasure its presence on the barren landscape. Now, it has become the focus of new debate over the separation of church and state. The American Civil Liberties Union wants the cross taken down. But some Republicans in Congress, like Mojave rep Jerry Lewis, backed by the Bush administration, are taking legislative steps to keep it propped up in the desert. Earlier this year, the feud over the cross appeared to be over. A federal judge sided with the ACLU and ordered it removed from the Mojave Preserve. The National Park Service, however, has not done so. Instead, it is urging the Justice Department to appeal the court ruling. The difference a Bush Presidency can make in the affairs of State.  God Bless America and our Nation's War Dead!

By Rene Sanchez - Click for more details Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, December 9, 2002; Page A21

Call Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)  Click for website 800-233-1700 (within California) Washington fax: 202-225-6498

[comwatch]

See Previous Free Republic posts on this subject:

Ruling may mean end of Mojave cross "Separation of Church & State again" ^
			Posted by gitmo On 07/26/2002 6:36 PM PDT with 21 comments

National Park Service To Remove Cross From Mojave Park. ^
			Posted by marshmallow On 11/03/2000 7:39 AM PST with 31 comments

[comwatch]

I think you all know how we feel about any messing with memorials to our war dead... looks like we could win this one if the pressure is kept up and a few calls made. Please pass on to anyone you think might go the extra distance. From the prior posts it didn't seem to ignite a lot of passions... with events to come, seems like as good a time as any to draw the line in the sand.

I've had trouble getting through to Rep. Lewis' office the past day or two, will post a better contact when I do.

[comwatch]

First Salute:

I very much enjoyed your take on this issue from an earlier posting on Free Republic. (First link of two) I was particulary struck by your comment below, and would seek permission to include it on our website's front page under the story post.

You wrote: "Our individual Liberty and our individual responsibility, our duty, require us to exert our authority as the people, to bear down upon judges, lawyers, and "legal experts" who mock the sincere efforts of George Washington and our forebears."

As one who constantly uses the vehicles of Public Records Act and Freedom of Information Act, one of my other sites (http://crimewatch.us) expresses "Legislative intent" versus reality:

Preamble to the California Public Records Act:

"The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist they may retain control over the instruments they have created."

Ahhh yes... but my spin...

The California Legislature may have authored these words, lofty by any standard, but in practice, "we the people" have tolerated government's obstructionism, duplicitous denials, prevarication and outright intolerance to the Public's right to know. Where such arrogance thrives, so do does unchecked corruption.

Edmund Burke may have said, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." If we do not convert our words into an action, our voice is lost in the forrest of apathy.

More than a handful of people need to hear your message and act on it. Thank you for the insights.

Gitmo...

I hope you'll stay on this issue and help ignite an action plan.

[farmfriend]

pinging the old Klamath list for support.

[farmfriend]

Most of you are on the Klamath list but some may not be so pinging the usuals list.

[farmfriend]

PInging for ping lists.

[Jen]

Thanks for the ping! Why don't you post this on the Foxhole thread?

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[hedgetrimmer]

Thanks for the ping. Lets defend this memorial and others.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[sasquatch]

If the battle is lost, I'll host the cross on the Klamath
on private property.(Until they take it)

[farmfriend]

Passing the word. What an offer!

[madfly]

Praying Monk

Here is the famous 'Praying Monk' rock outcropping on the north side of Paradise Valley's Camelback Mountain.

Next thing you know, they'll wantto blast this "praying monk" off of Cambelback Mountain in Paradise Valley, Arizona!

[blackie]

Be well - Be armed - Be safe - Molon Labe!

[willyone]

These morons have been after the War Memorial cross on Mt.Soledad in San Diego for awhile. Good to see Pres.Bush step in on this.

[joesnuffy]

I rememember a particularly tough time for me...19yr old combat medic...

Our platoon had been pretty much decimated by a 105mm artillery shell the VC put up in a tree and detonated on a river crossing...followed again a few days later by two more along a trail..

One of my best friends in the platoon had been killed and died while I was giving CPR..

The next night I remember laying out on an ambush patrol...doing a lot of thinking praying talking to God...I dont think I could have hung on without Him...most of the guys found some sort of relationship with God about that time..

To come home to have the commie kids spit on us...and now to have the POS ACLU have the audacity to use the "constitution" to force the relatives to take down their cross in the middle of the desert that they have tended in memory of their dead for years...their children , fathers brothers husbands...who died to have the ACLU use their deaths to opress the living...and
To spit on the lives of their loved ones..is to take away the very meaning of a soldiers life and death..

Sometimes is more than I can bear...I really hate these commie bastards..they are the most traitorous group in America today..imo

[muir_redwoods]

I suggest that those who are offended by the cross go out and confront those who are maintaining the cross directly

I suggest that the offended party get its affairs in order first, however. The folks I know who can live in the desert and prosper are more than a bit tough and tend toward surly when unnecessarily bothered.

[comwatch]

G I Joe....

God bless you sir....

As a sole survivor, I do my best to honor those who served. It will never be enough. To live a lifetime with the memories you wrote of, while watching what you fought for die in our "enlightened culture", must surely be a far greater challenge for you than those who never risked it all.

Where do our fellow citizens draw the line or have our values become do deluted, together with our resolve as Americans, that no line can be drawn today. So soon have the few, forgotten the lessons of 911, yet how loud their voice have grown. Will the rest of us muster the courage to oppose them and regain the lost ground you and so many other heroes fought and many died for?

Wednesday, December 18th marks yet another anniversary of the events that would take my father's life in the South China Sea after the invasion of Mindoro. He was the same age as you when you served in Viet Nam. He died just months before I was born. Thanks to The FReeper Foxhole, SAMWolf and AntiJen we have a cyber place to pay respects for men like you and my dad.

Perhaps some of the answers we seek will come from there. I've often thought the internet would be a vehicle to bring about unity in both words and actions... the tears in our social fabric have become so great as to wonder if it can be reconsituted. The veterans of World War II and Korea are leaving us in greater numbers each day. Their memories, like yours, are the bedrock and steel framework of our way of life. They are being replaced by disposable diapers and plastic credit cards and a consuming passion to gain material wealth over moral substance.

We have also allowed the dumbing down of our youth the last three generations. In many schools today, sixth grade textbooks from our generation are the reading materials for high school students. Jay Leno finds comedy in the average NYC jaywalker who can't answer the very questions we use to ask of immigrants to our county. American History is being replaced by obscure cultural studies and "The Arts".

I was fortunate being educated with a FM22-5 at my side and the U.S. Marine Corps' Core Values of Honor Courage and Commitment as our school motto. Instead of inviting the ALCU into our public schools to demean our values, perhaps it's time bring in our veterans.

In closing Joe... if you're not there already, Drop on in at the FReeper Foxhole! If you would like to be added to this list, please send a FReepmail to AntiJen.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Joesnuffy for your service and for sharing your story.

Thank you, comwatch for your kind words about the Foxhole.

[Jen]

I really hate these commie bastards..they are the most traitorous group in America today..imo

I share that opinion. Thank you so much for your service in Vietnam. You served honorably during an unpopular war. You are a hero to many here. God bless you.