Long Overdue

In 1991, a judge issued an injunction to the city of San Deigo, California that forbid the use of city land for the cross in a hilltop park in La Jolla.

The cross was not removed, and the city spent the next 17 years and millions of dollars in taxpayer money in an attempt to subvert the law and make a mockery out of the Constitution.

That all came to a crashing end yesterday when a U.S. District judge ordered the city to comply with the 1991 injunction and removed the cross.

More below the flip...

[link] Judge Orders San Diego to Remove Cross
SAN DIEGO - After a 17-year legal battle between the city and a self-described atheist, a judge has ordered San Diego officials to remove a giant cross from a hilltop park or start paying $5,000 a day in fines.

Defying the order is something cash-strapped San Diego can ill afford. Its pension fund is more than $1 billion in debt, the federal government is investigating, and there's been talk of bankruptcy.

Still, Mayor Jerry Sanders said he would ask the city attorney to appeal.

U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. on Wednesday gave the city 90 days to comply with a 1991 injunction forbidding the cross on public property.

"It is now time, and perhaps long overdue," the judge wrote.

It amuses me how the writer of this article calls Phillip Paulson a "self described" atheist, as if the word atheist was some sort of nasty slur. Heh. I can see her now, wringing her hands with worry, wondering if she just opened herself up for a lawsuit. "But your Honor, I only called him the a-word because that's what he calls himself!" Heheh...

Congratulations to Phillip Paulson for being a real American and seeing this thing through to the end. Now we'll have to see if San Deigo will continue in their lawless, unconstitutional, sneaky, underhanded, discriminatory ways - or whether they do the right thing and remove the cross.

My bet is on San Deigo not removing the cross.

[link] City Attorney Mike Aguirre acknowledged Wednesday that continuing the court battle would likely be futile, but Mayor Jerry Sanders said he would the city attorney to aggressively pursue a stay of the injunction.

Ready to be raped to the tune of $5000.00 a day in fines, tax-paying citizens of San Deigo? You're about to because your Mayor, Jerry Sanders, is a religious wacko who would rather spend your money on his own, personal religious crusades, than comply with the law and the constitution.

Aren't you proud?