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Today, while on my business trip to San Diego, I visited a monument to
private property. Some of you may have heard about this case; it's kind of
interesting.
Mt. Soledad is, I think, the highest point of land in San Diego. The view
from there is gorgeous; there's a clear and unobstructed vista of most of
the coast and the entire inland area.
In 1953, the city dedicated a monument to the fallen soldiers of World War
II. Being drunk or stupid, they decided to make it a big ol' cross. (It's
an ugly cross, at that - hollow white concrete. Montreal's aluminum number
is much nicer.)
At some point, I think in the mid-'80s, the ACLU noticed that there was
this huge religious symbol on city land, and sued for its removal. The
eventual solution was for the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association, Inc., to
buy the cross and the land right around it, and keep it open to the
public. So now there's this big public park with a hole in the middle
that's privately owned. (-:
The best part is, the MSMA is fixing up the land, with a nice new brick
stairway, and memorial walls with engraved granite plaques for each of the
soldiers.
Next time you're in San Diego, check it out.
~Chris
- --
Bring back Janet Reno! An Attorney General
who kills Texans is looking better every day.
Political gadfly and freelance nerd: <URL: http://crism.maden.org/ >
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And this is a good thing? 
Seems to me that they're actions demonstrate a deliberate religious bias and the ACLU should still have a case.
Cheers,
Steve
OSX freeware and shareware: http://www.dekorte.com/downloads.html
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And this is a good thing? 
Well, it demonstrates rather clearly that private ownership in the first
place would have avoided the whole problem.
Seems to me that they're actions demonstrate a deliberate religious
bias and the ACLU should still have a case.
The ACLU thinks so, too, though I don't remember if it's gone all the way
to the Supreme Court yet or not. There's certainly a good case to be made.
However, I think the best solution would be to let the Memorial Association
buy the rest of the park... and hell, private the rest of the San Diego
parks system while they're at it. (-:
~Chris
- --
Bring back Janet Reno! An Attorney General
who kills Texans is looking better every day.
Political gadfly and freelance nerd: <URL: http://crism.maden.org/ >
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Chris,
A similar situation exists right here in San Francisco with the
cross on top of Mount Davidson. IIRC, the Board of Supervisors (in response
to complaints or a lawsuit) last year voted to sell a tiny piece of land
containing the cross to an Armenian religious organization.
I'm not quite sure how to feel about this sort of thing. While it's
nice to see the state divest itself of property, as a humanist it looks to
me as though government bodies are engineering solutions that favor the
promotion of a particular religion (Christianity).
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
At 8:36 PM -0700 4/20/03, Christopher R. Maden shared: