For Los Angeles County striking a deal with the ACLU may lead to even crazier lawsuits. From the L.A. Daily News:
A strong legal argument can be made that the name of the city of Los Angeles — even worse its formal name, “The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of the Little Portion” — violates the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state.
Some constitutional law experts say the American Civil Liberties Union’s campaign to remove a small cross from the Los Angeles County seal and similar efforts elsewhere in the country help build a foundation for challenges against communities like San Francisco, San Diego or Santa Barbara.
“That’s absolutely right,” said Joerg Knipprath, a professor of constitutional law at the Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles.
“The cross is a minor symbol on the county seal whereas Los Angeles is the ‘City of Angels.’ San Clemente, Santa Monica, Sacramento, San Francisco, etc., are all religious references.
“It’s far-fetched at this point. I don’t think it’s going to happen in the next 10 years. But if somebody said 10 or 20 years ago that we were going to challenge the Pledge of Allegiance or this tiny little cross on the county seal, the argument would have been that was far-fetched too.”Obviously the ACLU are not terrorist (as you and I know the term); they’re more akin to green-mailers (without the green). Those who find themselves in the cross hairs of the ACLU (and similar groups) would be wise to remember the lessons learned from dealing with terrorist organizations – never negotiate with terrorists.
Los Angeles County probably thought that a quick agreement on the seal issue would take them off the ACLU radar screen. Nothing could be further from the truth. What they really did was indicate that they would go wobbly-legged the next time the ACLU came for another pound of flesh. Now that they’ve proved their lack of intestinal fortitude why wouldn’t the ACLU try to score a few more points at their expense?
People often make the dangerous mistake of ignoring the ACLU because they so often go after seemingly insignificant issues–people have a hard time getting worked up about a tiny segment of the county seal of an area they already associate with lunacy. In the long run, however, this sort of cumulative chipping away has a huge impact, especially when it comes to the establishment of legal precident.
You can’t use the term cross-hairs anymore. It’s crescent-hairs.
This issue has been blogged to death but-from the article-
“if somebody said 10 or 20 years ago that we were going to challenge the Pledge of Allegiance”
they would be no different from those who changed the original wording of the pledge 60 years ago.
Just sayin’………
I knew this was coming. Can you imagine how many names of cities, in California alone, would have to be changed?
I find it ironic that the LA County Board of Supervisors sits at the Kenneth Hahn building at 500 West Temple St.
“People often make the dangerous mistake of ignoring the ACLU because they so often go after seemingly insignificant issues–people have a hard time getting worked up about a tiny segment of the county seal of an area they already associate with lunacy.”
I agree Beck.