Policy 424: Religion in the Las Cruces Public Schools

One of the most recent, yet baffling responses to the quest to simply add an 's' to the word 'religion' in the previous article about the Policy 424: (Which reads in part) "but [the school district] does have the responsibility to teach about religion." was revealed after the recent review of the Policy and Procedures 424 by a committee.

One of the School Board members had been asking that an 's' be added per the wishes of members of the community. This same School Board member was also on the review committee.
BUT, the review committee met in secret without informing the School Board member of the meeting.

As long as the word 'religion' remains singular the connotation is Christianity is the favored religion in the Las Cruces, New Mexico, Public Schools. Teachers and staff will read it that way.
Those parents and organizations bent on pressuring the schools to promote Christianity will read it that way. And they all know why the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education and Superintendent will not add the 's.'

It was just a simple question

asked of a 22-year (at the time) education veteran who was then the Acting Superintendent of the Las Cruces Public Schools. Ms. Elizabeth J. Marrufo had been a teacher, a principal, an administrator, and then the Acting Superintendent, who was on the witness stand under oath in the federal civil rights case against the Las Cruces Public Schools for promoting religion.

Defense attorney William Babington had added Marrufo as the surprise witness the morning of the trial to further compound the jumbled courtroom confusion under the leadership of Judge Brack that followed against the pro se plaintiff. Only after the Plaintiff demanded an interview with Marrufo was he allowed to speak to her a few minutes before the trial started. Judge Robert Brack denied the star witness, the only witness, of the Plaintiff because the Defense said they hadn't had time to interview her. This was not true as the federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez had ordered the Plaintiff to submit a new witness list in plenty of time for the Defense to schedule a meeting with the Plaintiff's ready and willing witness. This was just more of the shameless undeniable collusion between the two Judges and the Defense.

Marrufo was agitated from the beginning of the very short 10-minute interview in another room with the lawyer. That agitation was carried to the witness stand. Marrufo was the first witness for the defense as 'she had get back to work' filling in the void left by two fired previous superintendents. The most simple question that could be asked of someone in Marrufo's position and with her extensive experience with the multicultural audience of children in Las Cruces was, "Ms. Marrufo, can you name any non-Christian groups in Las Cruces?" With the steady gaze that would freeze the pounding heart of a wayward child, Ms. Marrufo calmly said, "No, sir."

The stage was set for the rest of the defense witnesses to add their version of the truth to the manure pile encouraged and overseen by Judge Robert Brack. One wonders how someone so devoid of cultural knowledge of the children she is responsible for through the teachers in her position of Director of Elementary Instruction can be effective. Now the local newspaper reports Marrufo has earned her Ph.D. The title of her dissertation is interesting as it carries words like "....District Office....Roles....Relative to Impacting Student Achievement."

Beacons of Christian Hegemony

East view of new Las Cruces City Hall. This is facing the original neighbor of Las Cruces for all to see when the sun rises.

South view of new City Hall of Las Cruces. Note only the crosses are on this side as one travels one-way north on Church Steet. A real glaring in-your-face view. Anyone driving through this area gets a real eyeful.

The west view main entrance of the new Las Cruces City Hall.

There is no symbol on the north side as dictates the religious superstitution that abounds in the area. The only public library in Las Cruces is on the north side of this complex and does have its own Latin crosses symbol. Across from the public library is the fire and police departments who promote their own Latin crosses symbols. All are references to the Gospel of John. The chapters depend upon the number of sunburst points and the verses relate to the department.

The Right to Write a Letter

Citizens' Awake! You have a right to write letters to whomever you wish.
Some citizens are not too aware of the extent of their civil liberties guaranteed by the laws of the United States beginning with our U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Even in the seemingly lawless confines of New Mexico the state Constitution states: "The U. S. Constitution is the law of the land."

It appears that some citizens find life easier if they just keep their heads down and pull their anchor-like burden. Politicians, judges, lawyers, and all others pigging out at the overfilled trough of tax dollars love these citizens since they cause no problems. "Take it like a man!" is heard over the guffaws at the trough.

One of the rights citizens have that those at the trough thoroughly detest is the citizens' right to write a letter to them. Those at the trough seem to believe they are above the law. One group of those at the trough are some judges, elected or appointed, city, county, state, and/or federal jurisdictions. This country was founded by protesters and writing a letter is a way to illuminate any wrongs the citizen experiences.

Many judges take their responsibilities very seriously, to their oath, to the law, to our country, and to the people. Their personal honor is readily apparent and you will never see them at the trough. The title of MacArthur's famous speech of "Duty, Honor, Country." applies to these judges. They honestly earn their pay.

Then we have judges that knowingly cross their fingers when they raise their right hand and take the oath of allegiance to "protect and defend" the Constitution.

When judges do the wink-and-nod dance with attorneys, politicians, and/or religious leaders or their representatives, to prevent citizens from enjoying the same civil liberties the aforementioned ilk enjoy, our laws and courts have been contaminated. If not, why would a judge or two show their fear of a citizen telling the truth? Then use their 'judge's discretion' to send U. S. Marshals to the citizen's home in an attempt to intimidate the citizen. Just an extension of fruitless judicial harassment that failed in the courtrooms.

Correcting Public Perceptions

Paul F. Weinbaum
11025 Black Hills Road
Las Cruces, NM 88011-9365
29 October 2009


Judge Lourdes Martinez
U.S. Federal Magistrate
Federal Courthouse
200 East Griggs St.
Las Cruces, NM 88001

Subject: Your failed service to the federal judicial system; My Constitutional rights.

Dear Judge Martinez:

Ever since the truth of how you and Defense Attorney William Babington coordinated the disappearance of over two years of the Pretrial Order in the Chavez/Weinbaum v. Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education (CIV 03-1043), later changed to Weinbaum v. Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education (CIV 03-1043), one can only wonder why you are still on the bench?

Your personal bias toward the pro se Plaintiffs was apparent from the outset of the above case. Your selection as the federal magistrate for Weinbaum/Boyd v. City of Las Cruces, etc. (CIV 05-996) only compounded your obvious prejudice toward the Plaintiffs in both cases.

For a judge who had all the authority of this nation’s laws to govern your decisions, you stooped to a low baseness to harangue and discredit the Plaintiffs in your court and in your decisions, a pronounced effort to force them to quit their rightful demands for Justice. An example of your harassment was the order for me to write a report comparing the Decalogue cases in Texas and Kentucky. Remember the time I asked, as was my right, for your assistance to serve a deposition summons on a state employee in Albuquerque? And you so eloquently said, “I’m not helping you do anything!” Your actions continue to bring discredit not only to your continued presence on the bench, but to the courts of the United States.

Contrary to the normal good order of a court as directed in the Federal Civil Judicial Procedures and Rules (FCJPR) that governed both these civil cases, you allowed the Defense Attorney Frank Weissbarth to assail me about some picayune, juvenile problem he had with my e-mails to him. To refresh your memory in my effort to calm his attack, I attempted to apologize to him and you said, “Your apology is not good enough!”

Attorney Weissbarth was Governor Richardson’s defense attorney for the City of Las Cruces case. It is my belief that from your body language when Governor Richardson’s name was invoked by me that he was involved in your federal appointment. Perhaps that is why Attorney Weissbarth appeared to have special privileges in his attacks on me.
You do remember don’t you, the time I asked you for the rules reference you were citing and you told me to “Read further!” Motivated by the rudeness of your admonishment I did. I read the whole book in the previous paragraph, along with several other legal tomes. There I found the names, paragraphs, and chapters of the abuses you covered with your ‘judge’s discretion’ and your misplaced employment as a federal magistrate.

Remember when the Plaintiffs attempted to question the Court’s ‘expert’ witness, history professor (“He’s one of ours.”) Jon Hunner, for a deposition? You and Defense Attorney Frank Weissbarth, who drove 300 miles from Santa Fe with his assistant, Ms. Lord, coordinated the disruption of the deposition, along with the Defense Attorneys William Babington and Matthew Holt. When I demanded these officers-of-the-court show me the rule in the FCJPR book where they were allowed to disrupt the deposition, Defense Attorney Matthew Holt reluctantly said, “They aren’t written down.”

Remember the two telephone calls to you from Attorney Weissbarth that morning, with the second one resulting in a cell-phone discussion with you by all parties. The cell-phone placed in the center of the table was certainly an unusual technique since your office was across the street. Of course, had we appeared in your court to resolve the conflict between the written rules I had to follow and those you continued to make up, there would be a record. You could not afford to have a record of your illegal tryst with the defense attorneys to prevent justice from being served.

Your religious prejudice toward the guaranteed rights outlined in the Bill of Rights and your oath of office was exposed all by yourself. Your blatant avoidance of the truth as a federal judge should have embarrassed you while holding and looking at an example of the basis of the two cases, the three crosses of the City of Las Cruces symbol, when you said, “I just don’t see that third cross you are complaining about, Mr. Weinbaum.” As the sitting federal magistrate deciding the Constitutional illegalities of the City of Las Cruces it was no time to expose your personal religious defense of “mental reservation.”

With that said, you should have recused yourself, as I had asked, as it was obvious you were using your judgeship in collusion with Judge Robert Brack to represent and protect, not the oath you took, not the U. S. Constitution nor the Bill of Rights, not the sanctity of the court, but interests represented by your personal beliefs.

Local Rules allow attorneys to take computers and cell-phones into the courtrooms, and both have silent transmission capabilities to outside the building. While the federal magistrate court does provide CD recordings for purchase, the speed of availability depends upon the purchaser. The local newspaper, the Las Cruces Sun-News, could get the CD within an hour. To your chagrin and that of others my withdrawal from the cases request never materialized, so the CD’s I purchased were delayed several times for several weeks. The pathetic courtroom acoustics, my military service hearing problem, and the delayed CD’s prompted my honest request for a noiseless recorder per the Local Rules. You didn’t find my request valid, so as usual you denied that request for that particular case as the rules dictate.

In the FJCPR I understood it to say that a ruling only applied to that particular case. When I did take a digital recorder into the courtroom in a different case, you claimed that I had disregarded your order, it coming from another case. Then you used me at the hearing you scheduled to harangue several attorneys, who were waiting for their cases to come up, on your obvious expectations of their servility since I wasn’t remorseful enough. “He hasn’t even apologized to me!”

You fined me $500 dollars in front of those attorneys as an obvious warning to them and you didn’t really want to hear what I had to say. You laughed at my hearing-test report I provided the court for consideration.

Then your after-action of levying large fines against the totally innocent security guards following my bringing the non-metallic recorder into the building can only be viewed as bizarre behavior for a judge. A judge with absolutely no idea about justice and fairness. A review panel of honest individuals would find you needing to look for a job elsewhere away from a court bench.

The civil rights damage you have done, the civil rights damage you participated in with Judge Robert Brack, the civil rights damage you supported by favoring one religion over others, the civil rights damage you helped levy on the religious and non-religious minority citizens of Las Cruces and its surrounds, has your black mark, Judge Martinez, for generations.

Every time you and Judge Brack see the symbol of Las Cruces crosses you will know what you both have done. The shadow of disgrace is on you both.


Sincerely,

Signed
_______________
Paul F. Weinbaum


PS: The appearance of the U.S. Marshals at my home was a ‘nice’ touch to the continued harassment.

Oklahoma Shield v. Las Cruces Symbol

" The Oklahoma state flag honors more than 60 groups of Native Americans and their ancestors. The blue field comes from a flag carried by Choctaw soldiers during the civil war. The center shield is the battle shield of an Osage warrior. It is made of buffalo hide and decorated with eagle feathers. Two symbols of peace lie across the shield. One is the calumet, or peace pipe. The other is an olive branch."

The stars, which also represent the cross-stitching of leather strips used in making a shield, are Native American signs which represent high personal ideals.

The mostly white-Christian Oklahoma Legislature ordered that the center mark on the stars be longer to obviously represent a Christian Latin cross.


Las Cruces, New Mexico:

"I just don't see that third cross...." so said federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez.

The secretly adopted and secretly trademarked religious symbol claimed by the City of Las Cruces to represent the city originated in the 1960s, but the City got tangled in its lies and claims the symbol originated in the 1970s. It wasn't until citizens started openingly questioning in 2001 the increasingly in-your-face displays and use of the symbol on public property that City Attorney Rubio secretly contracted with a law firm in Albuquerque that specializes in trademarks to get the symbol trademarked. Using an outside agency was intentional to hide the process as the City Attorney's office could have done it themselves, it being a simple process.

Once the City's secret actions were discovered, protestations by citizens to the U.S. Trademark Office over the government's application for the ownership of the Christian religious symbolism of the Trinity crosses/Calvary events and the 15-points representing the Gospel of John 15, proved fruitless.

Then enters New Mexico State University History Professor Jon ("He's one of ours.") Hunner who presented himself to the Federal Court as an expert in local history. Hunner admitted during testimony that he had not read most of the standard references from a list about local history. The holes in Hunner's 'expert' report to the Court was the only thing 'holy' about his effort and sworn testimony. The religiously-biased federal Judge Robert C. Brack ignored the three lengthy, yet scholarly rebuttals that destroyed Hunner's sophomoric effort. One of Hunner's most outlandish claims was the Native American symbolism on the Oklahoma state flag justified the City of Las Cruces using Christian crosses as the City symbol. The Plaintiffs had to pay Hunner $2,500 for his "court expert" effort and lawyer-guided report, while this payment does not count for any other payments he received from the slush fund the City maintained from fearful citizens' donations.

The City Manager Terrence Moore had previously been quoted in the local Las Cruces Sun-News as saying the City was accepting donations for the Defense-of-the-City (slush) fund. The City refused to provide an accounting of the amount of money in the slush fund and the distribution.

Using Public School Crossing Guards to Lead the Little Children

The latest means by the City of Las Cruces to use employees to proselytize the little children. What better way than someone wearing Christian crosses leading the children safely across the streets.

This shoulder patch is from the police department. The City was still reeling from the Millennium Scare when the civil rights lawsuit was filed against the City of Las Cruces. It was just too much for the police department to comprehend while wearing the city symbol of three Latin crosses. Apparently not enough protection.

This colorful new design represents the Resurrection as described in the Gospel of John 20. The 20-points of the sun (son) rising over the Organ Mountains with the three Latin crosses represents the story line of Calvary events.

But there is some confusion. The story reports that Jesus told the 'good' thief to come with him. That left the 'bad' thief to fend for himself as he was supposed to go elsewhere. But wait, Judge Brack ruled the crosses weren't religious. What is one to think?

The Trinity/Calvary Crosses that Are Not Religious

Federal Judge Robert C. Brack ruled that these Christian crosses are not religious. Judge Brack also blocked the submission of documented evidence of the illegal, clandestine purchase using public funds and installation on public school property of these crosses.

This seven-foot circle of rusting blood-like steel is mounted on the south wall of the Las Cruces Public Schools football stadium facing Tashiro Drive. The Latin words, Unitas - Fortitudo, Excellentia, as revealed by the 'artist' Ruth Hernandez Bird, in a 'sworn' deposition represent the Greek Olympics. United, fortitude, and excellence are the translations. The code is probably: Excellence and strength from being united in Christ. Bird said the artwork represented "the community." Of course, only Christians can claim an affinity to the crosses. These crosses on a public school district stadium excludes all other non-religious and religious minorities from being a viable part of the community. Is that not the intent?

As one would expect in a Third World Country, this public school football stadium in a bizarre move is nicknamed after the popular baseball movie, 'Field of Dreams.'

The viewer will note that the circle is broken into two parts. Bird said, "Aesthetics." But notice that the upper portion of the circle is 3/12ths of the circle representing the three disciples of the inner circle of Jesus. The lower portion is 9/12ths of the circle and represents the nine disciples of the outer circle of Jesus.

The three crosses are polished stainless steel and the center cross is eight-feet tall. The adaptation of the other two crosses are an artistic means of showing the proposed events on Calvary. Note the 'good thief' is in the favored position to ascend to Heaven with Jesus as recorded in the story and the 'bad thief' is off to the side on his way elsewhere. Note the 'Jesus' cross extends beyond the earth's circle at the top and bottom as to represent the totality of the Christian domain.

On the inside and outside of the lower circle are two omega symbols in opposite positions, one is up and the other is down. If the reader can imagine the circle also representing the earth and as it turns, one of the omega symbols always points up as the turn completes.

'Artist' Bird appeared from the shadows with dubious artist credentials more in tune with farmer's markets displays, and disappeared, after allowing her name and signature to appear on the secret contract provided by the New Mexico Cultural Affairs office, Arts in Public Places. One pure fact is she received $3,500 under the table from the Las Cruces Public Schools Foundation, a 'private' group, signed by disgraced local judge, Larry Ramirez. Bird's belief that she constructed this 800-pound artwork in her garage flew out the window with the pictures of the artwork being constructed in a Tucson, Arizona, foundry.

Bird never did remember the color of her welder. The Richardson-appointee, Cultural Affairs Director Stuart Ashman, refused to act on the illegalities of his department. The New Mexico State Auditor used the previous year's audit to determine nothing was amiss with state money. The New Mexico State Attorney General's office was busy chasing Governor Richardson.

Show your Pride in your Prejudice

This is certainly going to be a best seller in Bigotville (the city formally known as Las Cruces). The support shown for this license plate is an example of how many people take pride in showing their prejudice toward minority religions. All the hype about the city of the crosses is based on fiction and lies from the federal courts. Governor William Richardson approved this license plate - anything for a vote.

"The fix was in, all the way to Santa Fe." (From Moore)

Paul F. Weinbaum
11025 Black Hills Road
Las Cruces, NM 88011-9365
1 October 2009

Judge Robert C. Brack
Federal District Court of Las Cruces
United States Courthouse
200 East Griggs Street
Las Cruces, NM 88001

Subject: Your vacation

Dear Judge Brack:

I have been carefully reviewing the local newspapers for months now, looking for any notice that you are vacating your position. You have had ample time to reflect on what you have done in Las Cruces and the shame you have brought to the bench. While the laws of this nation allow you to remain on the bench for life, one has to believe you knew your appointment to your present position was a sham. The vitae you presented to the U.S. Senate committee for your conformation would not pass muster before a committee truly committed to the welfare of the people they represented. The event was surely a ‘deck-stacker.’

I spelled out the legitimate reasons I requested you to recuse yourself from Weinbaum v. Las Cruces Public Schools (CIV 03-1043) and the subsequent sister case of Weinbaum/Boyd v. City of Las Cruces, etc. (CIV 05-996). You mocked my request with an insulting and denigrating out-of-place retort for a federal jurist to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that communicated the very reason I asked for your recusal. Not totally unexpected, there was some hope that justice would be served, but that religiously biased court ruled in your favor further infecting the quest for justice.

In the deposition conducted on me by the Defense Attorney William Babington, he asked the question I knew he would, that being, “What is your religion?” I knew from the beginning of my quest for Constitutional justice in Las Cruces, the real reason for the organized telephone calls, mailings, newspaper, television, radio show attacks, and stalking of me would surface, even though I never mentioned my religion when filing the cases, as was my right. As you know, my quest was only for civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and you denied my evidence. But you did approve the lies of the defense witnesses and the Court’s own ‘expert’ witness, even after I told you the defense attorney described the ‘expert’ thusly: “You know he’s one of ours.”

To refresh your memory, your retort to my recusal request which was based on your religious proclivities in the courthouse was, “I am a Christian.” You had no right to use that as an excuse, no legal basis. You misused your authority. In doing so you also mocked the purity of the law you represent. Your statement to the 10th Circuit Court was a signal and your official announcement that these cases were a battle between opposing religious beliefs and your values, not the law. Apparently you believed then and probably still do, that your religious beliefs put you above the laws of the United States. Have you replaced your reference material, the New Testament on your bench, with a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

You took an oath of office similar to the one I took as a sailor and soldier, “….protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I never wavered at my duty which is also a lifetime appointment. I earned an Honorable Discharge. But you, Sir, are an embarrassment to the judicial system. Your actions in the above cases show your continued presence in any courthouse is a mockery to your oath and to our Constitutional rights which you denied. Comparing your courtroom actions to the federal military system you would have earned a Dishonorable Discharge.

You interjected your religious beliefs into the federal courtroom I entered as a free citizen seeking justice from an oppressive local and state government bent on promoting religion and proselytizing my family and me. You, Judge Brack, knew what you were doing and it was obvious you knew what your minion and subordinate, federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez, was up to in her senseless, never-ending insulting and harassment of me in court and in her rulings. An outside review will probably determine it was coordinated, it being so obvious.

In Joseph Conrad’s ‘Narcissus’ there is an observation by a sailor about a newly arrived shipmate. It begins, “We all knew him.” (for what he was.) I knew what you are from the beginning of the Schools case. I met you in my home town in Alabama. You were on every Navy ship and military base I ever served on. You were in every town and city I lived in. With all my experience with religious prejudice you caught me off guard though, I never expected you to be a federal judge in a District Court. You knew that I knew what you are. It was in the angst on your face that slipped through every time I stood in your court and challenged your knowledge of your versions of the law with the truth.

You knew I had the law on my side, the truth was clearly there, but you listened to the prejudice in your heart and in your friends’ black hearts. You allowed the harassment by federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez and the Defense. It went way beyond any distaste for a pro se plaintiff. And you read it all in my submissions to the court for the record. You appeared to be afraid of the truth. How many times did you exercise ‘judge’s discretion’ to block me from introducing the truthful evidence in your courtroom? You even denied my lone witness! You knew I never told a lie.

One of the more bizarre standout events during the intentionally delayed years, created by Judge Martinez by her coordinating the loss of the Pretrial Order with Defense Attorney Babington and blaming it on me, was Judge Martinez punishing the courthouse security guards with large fines for ‘allowing’ me to enter with a digital recorder that would not show on the metal detector. You allowed attorneys and others to bring computers and cell phones into the courthouse. I would be surprised if Judge Martinez did not discuss this with you. My fine by her appeared to be in violation of Federal Civil Procedures along with other violations written off as ‘judge’s discretion.’

The new federal courthouse is almost finished. You have contaminated the present U.S. Federal Courthouse. All the federal and state judges in the state of New Mexico know what you have done; all the employees in the courthouse know it; all the judges in the federal judicial system know it; all your pals know it! Surely you are not so pompous as to not know what you have done. Your behavior as a federal judge is obscene and shameless!

You should go home and not contaminate the new courthouse. But before you go home you should think about your gain. There is a well-known historical event I am sure you are familiar with that set the precedence to your type actions. Surely what you have done is heavy on your heart. Only by your hand can you can provide any temporal relief due you. Some relief would come to you by doing whatever it takes to rescind your intentionally divisive ill-will rulings and the pall you cast on this city and its minority citizens. No amount of supplications will provide relief until YOU correct the wrong YOU have done.



Sincerely,

SIGNED
____________________
Paul F. Weinbaum


Cc: Various addressees

The Englih Language uck in La Cruce

One of the truly pathetic lie to protect religiou_ faction_ in La Cruce_ i_ the public _tatement by federal parrot Judge Brack and public _chool official_ that an 's' i_ not nece__ary in word ending_. One can only wonder how thi_ belief affect_ children in their learning to _peak the American Engli_h language.

According to their under oath _tatement it make_ no difference if an 's' i on a word. I own two car_. When I dre__ up I put on my new shoe_. School kid_ _hould take care of their book_. Your pencil_ are no good to eat.

Enough example_? Point made? The first ignored request went to the Superintendent and the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education. The request was about the Policy 424, Religion in the Schools, statement which reads: "Las Cruces Public Schools recognizes the separation of church and state and does not sponsor, promote, or endorse religion but does have the responsibility to teach about religion." (my bold)

Any casual reader can readily see that the word 'any' should be added between 'endorse' and 'religion' to clarify the meaning and read 'endorse any religion' in this policy statement. This second part of the policy statement tells any reader not encumbered with religious fears that it pertains to the teaching of the beliefs of one religion, that being the Christian beliefs.

A statement in the Procedures of Policy 424 reads, "Public schools have the responsibility to teach about religion but shall neither actively sponsor nor interfere with religions." Here again is an exclusionary statement. First it says "teach about religion" then it says "religions." Well, we all know that means they are going to teach about Christianity, but be kind and not compare it to those 'mongrel' religions.

This other statement would do well if the word 'is' is replaced with the word 'are' and an 's' is added to the word 'religion.' The statement "When religion is included in the curriculum......" would then read "When religions are included...."

When judges lie and public school officials lie to enforce their status quo hegemony those acts exclude a variety of citizens and denigrates their cultures and religions. It makes them invisible.
Is that not the point? You don't want children getting new ideas that would help them understand their school chums.

Any history, geography, choir, music, biology, anthropology, etc., teachers cannot properly teach their subjects without introducing cultures and their religions into the various subjects. Ignoring the other half of the world that is not Christian is certainly disrespectful to the students' learning.

Las Cruces Pride: A Symbol of Exclusion and False Pride

Since the use of the Trinity crosses by the government of the City of Las Cruces was challenged as being an illegal imposition on the civil liberties of citizens, those rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the New Mexico Constitution, the City Council and the Dona Ana County Commissioners have been running scared.

The Christian symbol of love has become an in-your-face flaunting of religious superiority representing a government-sponsored disdain for non-believers and non-Christians in the community. Many citizens are afraid to speak up when they know it's wrong.

The points on the sunburst reflect chapters of the Gospel of John, the verse reference depends on the City Department. The police use 12-points on their patrol cars for Chapter 12.34. On the police uniforms is the 20-point sunburst with floating Trinity crosses. The newer adopted 20-points if for John 20 - the Resurrection.

The Dona Ana County Commissioner showed their support for the problem the City got itself in for using government funds to proselytize. The County added a dripping yellow cross to the County seal and now claim it represents the local sunshine.

The City has purposefully instituted a campaign to get the Trinity crosses symbol on every item possible in every Department. A license plate for Las Cruces has been approved by Governor Richardson and his faithful gang in Santa Fe. Only those who live in the neighborly City Limits can buy the plate, although about 60,000 people have an address listed as 'Las Cruces.' The additional $25 cost is supposed to go the Recreational Department which is known for its activities to proselytize the youth of the city.

It's good to have the license plate so citizens and visitors will be forewarned as to the prejudice of the proud owners.

Lost Soul

Some communities have a soul. You can feel it when you drive into the communities. You can see it in the faces. You can see the pride in the way the people carry themselves. You can see it in how the citizens treat one another. How all are included, or excluded.

What kills the soul of a community? Hate. Disdain for the 'others.' Disdain for your neighbors. Exclusivity related to a religion. False pride. Disrespect toward others. Silence in the face of evil. Hate is evil.

All you have to do is read the Las Cruces Sun-News with its daily deaths at the hands of citizens by way of love and jealousy and alcohol, gang rivalries, child-molesters, and the occasional death at the hands of a church-blessed police.

Sunny skies cannot hide the ongoing City Hall-organized disdain for non-Christians, and even the local Christians. All citizens who may want to observe by sitting or those addressing the City Council will do so standing before an Inquisitional dais resplendent with the large Christian crosses of the Trinity on the back wall. The public podium has its own smaller version of the Christian crosses. The City Councilors look at the crosses, not the citizen speaking. Unbelieving readers should check http://www.las-cruces.org/. And the City's own TV channel for the promotion of religion.

The dangling of Christian crosses or symbols made from them on every piece of public property is truly insulting. But those dedicated evangelicals in the City government wear their hate with pride and their concern of others is minuscule.

The City's soul is lost. It will continue to be lost as long as hate and disdain for others is the rule. Some churches believe the human soul belongs to those churches; some people believe their soul belongs to whatever god they ascribe to or to nature; and some people do not believe in a 'soul.'

Whatever the belief about human souls is, it is personal. The soul of a city belongs to no religion or deity as some would want. The soul of a city belongs to the people of that city to make it viable or not. So far, the city of Las Cruces has chosen to selfishly discard the idea of viability.

Fidelity to the Law

"Fidelity to the Law." Faithful loyalty. Isn't that such a quaint idea? Not so in the minds of the ordinary citizen. Yet, foreign to the likes of the religiously pompous Judge Robert J. Brack and his minion, magistrate Judge Lourdes Martinez. Both swore an allegiance to their duties as federal judges. Surely they knew they were lying when they raised their hand and swore to protect the Constitutional rights of the people. Charlatans of the lowest order and they are still on the bench.

Las Cruces: Shameful silence

The leading factions of government-involved promoters of Christian privilege in Las Cruces have reveled in the shameful rulings against the First Amendment civil liberties by Federal District Court of Las Cruces Judge Robert Brack and his minion, federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez.
These two judges would better serve the public in traffic court, or no court, well away from deciding the rights of the people guaranteed by the First Amendment. They lied.

The triad of the City of Las Cruces, the private Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, and the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education, frolic under their blanket of prejudice in their status quo bed. Not to go unrecognized is the infected degreed influence from the various supporting departments of the New Mexico State University that mockingly promote 'multiculturalism' but aid and abet the LCPS and the others. Also, not to be left out are the religious factions that dictate .... . Or those who make decisions based on the 'wink and nod' of what they think their religious leaders want them to do.

The shameful silence of citizens and pulpits is a blight on the city as their silence encourages the promotion of hateful disdain toward others. There is no salvation from hate. The outcome of the lawsuits for justice was set from the beginning by the triad. Their silence proves it. As part of the plan, Judge Lourdes Martinez, in partnership with the defense lawyer, William Babington, 'lost' the Pretrial Order (PTO) for two years and for those two years denied any knowledge of her wrongdoing. Mental reservation? Job security?

Only when Judge Brack's personal Clerk of the Court, Bernadette Howell retired, did the PTO reappear.

One of the unspoken factors that influence the actions of the judges was them obviously putting their religion before their oath of office and thereby mocking the U. S. Constitution they are bound by. When judges lie and illegally promote their religion in the courthouse, chambers and courtrooms, then are relieved of their crimes by outside religious factions, only to return to their ways after penitence, our secular justice is doomed. The federal courthouse is not a church!

When citizens end up in any court for any reason, there should be no doubt that justice will be served. There have been cases where honest judges have seen a conflict between their personal beliefs or their experience and the law and recused themselves. When that happens Justice is served. Justice belongs to the people, not the four-flushers pretending to be judges.

Suffer the little children

As most of you know, but many just don't want to think about it, the Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) Board of Education continues its involvement in introducing the Christian religion into the schools. The 'funny' thing is the summer Church (Bible) Camp theme that has been around for years. It's Summer! It's Church (Bible) Camp time!

Now, after being exposed last summer of sponsoring a NASA program for elementary school children with the New Mexico State University Education Department at an evangelical church, the LCPS is at it again. The NMSU Education Department lied about the location being a church and the use reasoning was that it was 'free.' An LCPS policy is that its programs will be held at public school sites for free.

There is an excellent science program named Mad Science that introduces school children to various aspects of science beginning in the elementary schools. From every thing I can tell, there is no religious involvement in the programs, just science. No 'intelligent design.'

Through an obvious backdoor maneuver LCPS has joined El Paso ISD, Texas, to promote various programs of the Mad Science at exclusionary locations - one country club in El Paso; two at churches. One church is a Baptist church in El Paso, the other church is the evangelical Mesilla Valley Christian School (MVCS) in Las Cruces.

All three of the locations are exclusionary and totally inappropriate for 'public' education of children and for programs supposedly for science. The usual programs at the Baptist church are unknown at this time, but an experienced guess would categorize it as 'evangelical.' The Mesilla Valley Christian School is well-known for its bible-based evangelical programs and is decorated inside with religious themes for proselytizing. A very strange place to hold 'public' school science programs.

It is my understanding that MVCS is a promoter of the 'intelligent design' theme. If so, there is a serious conflict about to happen.

Bombs Away!

The City of Contradictions, Las Cruces, continues to bombard the public with its governmental proselytizing. A look at this week's weekly The Bulletin v. the daily Sun-News reveals the favorite place to advertise large 'public' notices of the City. The private Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce that is allowed to represent the City, actually has a faith-based strangle-hold grip on the cultural development of the City. The Chamber of Commerce has its own section regularly in The Bulletin, partly to tout its group of Conquistadors who attend ribbon-cuttings wearing blazers with a patch showing the Spanish standard bearer of Christianity, Onate, and the three Trinity crosses.

The City continues its seemingly innocuous mailing campaign to promote Christianity. One of the peculiarities is the mailings advertising the Branigan Culture Center museum displays. There are no Trinity crosses on the post cards, but just wait until you get to the museum. The gauntlet of Trinity crosses and the 1949 plaque that started it all greet the unwary visitor. The inside permanent display on the 'history' of Las Cruces reveals the lies of proselytizing.

The Nine's of Las Cruces

The City of Las Cruces has a new edition of the continuing governmental proselytizing program. The City encourages businesses and citizens to promote and display any and all versions of the Latin Trinity crosses produced by the City. The latest effort is a thinly disguised play on the old sign seen on waste baskets in various cities: "Keep your City (Park) clean."

Throughout the world over the centuries religions and cultures have used codes in writings, pictures, and signs, mainly to keep their secrets just for themselves. Las Cruces is rife with government signs with double meanings displayed by the signage seen on the streets. The Nine's I reference is the number of letters of the words that give an accurate portrayal of the true spirit of Las Cruces: lascruces, christian, prejudice, sectarian, beautiful, exclusion, etc.

The new signage reads "Keep Las Cruces Beautiful" with its ubiquitous Latin crosses where the sun should be over the mountains. Here the crosses' presentation represents 'son' as in 'son of God.' At the public Camino Real Middle School you see the above sign. The Las Cruces Public Schools winks at using the crosses and allowing them on School District properties. An insurance company on a main street is using the emblem on their median upkeep sign. The Knights of Columbus have stepped forward with an unusually large median upkeep sign advertising themselves with the emblem. The City is busy placing the signs on poles around the city, mainly near schools and other high traffic areas.

A visit to Las Cruces will show any observant visitor that the signs are a joke. The City Council and and the County Commissioners have allowed the degradation of the area by having no plan for the protection from over-building. To cover their tracks, the workers scurry about putting up more crosses.

Character does Count, but......

One of the peculiarities in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is the promotion of a commerical program called "Character Counts" aimed at the public school children. More later.

Sign of the Cross(es)

While the federal courts in Las Cruces and Denver placated the rampant fears in Las Cruces when they ruled that Trinity crosses are not religious, the primordial fears of the citizens of "outsiders," non-Christians, and non-believers, continue to reign.

Besides all the city vehicles, and now the Dona Ana County vehicles with their dripping yellow Latin cross, every government document has its crosses. From the Trinity crosses of the City to the new County cross. Thousands! scattered throughout the city and county. Many of these documents intentionally wind up in the public schools. Every business license has one hanging up. Every City newspaper ad is prefaced with the Trinity crosses. Gee whiz, it can't be proselytizing can it?

The religious Knights of Columbus have a new, large sign on Telshor Drive promoting "Keep Las Cruces Beautiful." by including the City's Trinity crosses. Also along Telshor Drive is an insurance company, the same as the mayor's company, using the same City's Trinity crosses with the "Keep Las Cruces Beautiful." logo. The City encourages the use of the City symbol by citizens to show their pride. Pride in being prejudice?

The "Keep Las Cruces Beautiful" logo has put the City's Trinity crosses in the Sun's position over the mountains to the east. So insulting.

Is it a coincidence that Las Cruces, Christian, beautiful, prejudice, and sectarian, all have nine letters?

Ordained Outcome

The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the county of Dona Ana are rife with contradictions. The smiley side of the Janus face is, oh, so sweet and covers for the wormy prejudice that makes the frowning side what it is.

There are a lot of good people in the area. Their worth and sense of fairness is suppressed by a hardcore faith-based evangelical group 'embedded' in the city and county governments, formally secular fraternal organizations, civic groups, and the private Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce. The editors of the daily Sun-News newspaper and the weekly newspaper, The Bulletin, joined in. Involved churches will remain unlisted.

Working in collusion these groups forced citizens to file two federal civil rights lawsuits to remove exclusively Christian symbols from government property. One lawsuit filed in 2003 was against the Las Cruces Public Schools. The other lawsuit filed in 2005 was against the City of Las Cruces and the governor of New Mexico, William Richardson, who aided and abetted those above.

The outcome of both lawsuits was obviously preordained. While the citizens who filed the lawsuits were only seeking justice and equality, the organizations listed above mounted an attack on the plaintiffs in the newspapers, television stations in El Paso, and the city channel on local cable. Two radio stations handed out large window stickers promoting "Keep the Crosses" and "Save the Crosses." Fears clouded every rational thought.

While the plaintiffs sought their rights guaranteed by the Constitution, these above groups made it a religious battle. The lawyer for the School District, William Babington, made sure of that by his need to know what the religion of the plaintiffs was.

All those groups could have saved themselves a lot of public angst. They all knew the two judges, Robert J. Brack and Lourdes Martinez, would not let them down. Newscasts regularly show or report about courtrooms being packed when something is important to a community because the outcome is unknown. Not here! Not in Las Cruces Federal District Court! While Judge Brack had fun jerking the pro se plaintiff around during the day-long 'trial' with his superior courtroom techniques, ONE person showed up. During all the hearings before that federal Magistrate Lourdes Martinez ONE person showed up.

Judge Brack must have had a relapse and thought he was back in Backwater traffic court dealing with goat herders and vagrants and not representing the Constitution of the United States. His trois singes pals at 10th Circuit Court in Denver covered for him. They have to protect their own.

Moral Mystery

One might suppose that telling a lie could be equated to the old tree falling in the forest question in various ways. That is: If no one knows or finds out you told a lie, did it really happen? But, what if you are a federal judge like Judge Robert J. Brack and Judge Lourdes Martinez and you told lies in court and in your rulings? AND your fellow judges (and citizens) KNOW you told lies in your courtroom and in your rulings because you sided with the Status Quo defendants? Doesn't this make you a 'rapist and predator' of the peoples' rights you swore to protect?

The moral mystery is how does a federal judge justify the lies they know their fellow judges know about? Is there no shame? Obviously not. Judges Brack and Martinez are proof of shameless judges - outlaw judges. All the judges present a face of honesty and duty to the Constitutional laws of this country. They all swore an oath of allegiance "to protect and defend the Constitution." When they turn their backs on their duty they accept the immoral actions of corrupt judges. Where is their outrage that brothers and sisters of the robe dare lie and deceive and infect the federal court with their lawlessness?

When citizens and others appear in federal court for whatever reason, they expect the judge to be impartial and adjudicate justice according to the Constitution and laws of the United States.
Not playing some game while reading their bible or practicing mental reservation. Or holding courtroom conversations with the defendants about the plaintiffs.

These two should commit judges' 'hara-kiri' - resign! They are an insult to the community which, in their federal positions, extends to the borders of the whole United States.

Las Cruces Public Schools

There are a lot of good people in Las Cruces who are good public school teachers. They do the best they can in the dichotomous environment in the School District. The School District is proud of its official Janus-faced appearance of legitimacy toward the equity of all students. But in reality, the School District encourages, promotes, and allows the promotion of the Status Quo's proselytizing in the public schools of Las Cruces.

The School District knows what it's doing and the blessing of ignorance is no excuse. The distractions from the truth is amazing. The current logo of the School District is a version of the Trinity Zia symbol, like that seen on a local automobile dealership, the NMSU campus Road Runner Pizza Shop, and several businesses which have a right to their designs. Supposedly, the one displayed by the School District is the result of a contest won by a student of yore.

I have asked the School District in several requests under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act for public documents concerning the proselytizing of students. I will probably get struck by a meteor before I can get a straight, honest answer from the School District. One question was about using a church operated by the evangelical owner of the local IHOP for a NASA elementary school-age program. The worthwhile program is run by the NMSU Education Dept. in collaboration with the School District. The location was a violation of the School District policy. The retort from NMSU was that the church is a "community center" and was "offered."

The other still-pending, months-old, unanswered question is where is the District Policy and Procedures to protect public school students from proselytizing at field trip locations. Well, in a panicked response, the School District sicced their over-paid, equally culturally deficient Santa Fe lawyer on me as a obvious ploy to 'delay and discourage.' The response proves the School District KNOWS they are in the proselytizing business and has to answer to no one. Of course the superiority of Status Quo in the School District discounts asking the real experts how to resolve the problem generated and continue to support by the School District.

Immorality Reigns

Here it is 30 April 2009, a Thursday. Many Americans and many citizens in other countries are unexpectedly unemployed, retirement funds have disappeared, and they are destitute due to the greed of bankers and other business people. Those who orchestrated the money problems in America knew what they were doing; they were in instant contact with their world-wide fellow orchestrators for their collaboration.

Here in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the federal District Court are two judges who should resign: Federal District Court Judge Robert J. Brack and federal Magistrate Judge Lourdes Martinez.
Both know they are guilty in their immoral actions against the demands of Justice spelled out in the Constitution and to the United States. They are an embarrassment to those things that make the United States a good place to live. Since both are still on the bench contaminating Justice is proof of their judicial immorality.

Judges Brack and Martinez openly mock their sworn duties to the citizens. The public records and this eye-witness can testify to the perfidy's these two carry out together in the courtrooms.

Closets and Other Places to Hide

Amy Goodman was in town yesterday, the village of Mesilla, to be exact. Galoop galay. For the Border Book Festival. Ms. Goodman's appearance was in no way connected to the 15th anniversary of the Festival and the 15th anniversary of her Democracy Now! Ms. Goodman is on a nation-wide book tour. She admitted her staff had looked for book festivals to schedule her 'whistle-stops.'

Ms. Goodman made some interesting anecdotal points about democracy and some known and lesser-known historical events that have had an effect on our lives. She didn't know it, but once there were two sailors in uniform riding a Greyhound bus through Virginia and North Carolina at night. One sat in the front of the bus while his brother-in-arms had to sit in the back. The driver was obviously Klan-sympathetic for at one point he made a black woman move further back or he wouldn't move the bus. It was lamp-black dark on those old two-lane highways back then. I was scared of the night-riding Klan and did not speak.

I won't use the 'L' word, since the Republicans have twisted it and perverted it, to describe the crowd of about 200 people packed into the small room at the Community Center. I will use 'Closet Bugs.' It was an obvious older crowd whom I suspect would mistakenly considered themselves as 'more open and intellectual' than the average Wal-Mart shopper.

They came out of their usual cloister and closets to cheer and hoot with glee at Ms. Goodman's appearance and words. An obvious welcomed interruption to their flaccid lives of Christian privilege on a sunny Sunday morning. The Closet Bugs are the usual gray-haired older white crowd who never publicly speak up about things they know are wrong. Their life in the Status Quo is just too comfortable. There was the usual 'intellectual crowd' from the local NM State University who usually remain silent. The minorities of color were pathetically underrepresented in the audience. As was the under-21 age group from the university or high schools.

Before the show a Closet Bug made it a point to harange me about my separation of religion and government shirt, but did say she liked my wife's shirt: "Well-behaved women seldom make history." The Closet Bug's point escaped us.

Christian Symbolism in Las Cruces

The study of Christian symbolism in Las Cruces is entertaining. Not that in the churches which have a Constitutional right to do so, but that in the public forum supported by government offices and officials using tax funds to promote their religion. Then lie about it when the subject comes up.

Like the proverbial thieves in the night the symbols magically appear on public property. God is no help when trying to track down exactly who did it and/or who approved it. City Hall replaced the admirable code of silence of the hobo jungle with its own morally corrupt code of silence to protect the wrongdoers they support. It can only mean they see your questions as an attack on their church. You can only be an evil non-believer if you dare question.

Controlling News in New Mexico

One of the inherited peculiarities of the electronic world is the lack of a television station in the second-largest city in New Mexico. The local news comes from El Paso, Texas, and it is mostly about El Paso and Texas. That reception is an extra charge on the satellite billing. We get the 4-5 Mexican stations for free. I do not understand it and I will not try to explain it. The city of Las Cruces is a peculiar bastion of controlling factions that revolve around the making of money and the saving of souls.

Here you have the usual city limits that people usually understand. Then there is the more recent, from the 1980's, five-miles or so, extension of the city limits that is a no-man's land of thousands of citizens who have a Las Cruces address and pay taxes to the county. This was approved by the NM State Legislature on closing day after a visit by a committee of developers and realtors the night before. That must have been expensive, but, oh, the rewards!

Cable television is only in the city limits and the deal was made with Comcast. The City has its own channel which it broadcasts City Council meetings repeatedly from the historical Inquisitional room with its crosses of the Trinity as part of the ongoing proselytizing by the city government. If a citizen has something to say to the City Council they have to stand before the large Latin crosses to address the Council while they look at the crosses on the podium. These Christian crosses are the same ones that federal Judge Robert Brack ruled were not religious and this was parroted by the trois singes federal panel in Denver. That must have been really expensive.

The major newspapers, Santa Fe New Mexican, Albuquerque Journal, and the Las Cruces Sun-News reflect the 'intellect' of New Mexico of the number of letters they publish. The New Mexican and the Journal publish many daily Letters to the Editor. The Sun-News restricts the letters to two per day and then on Sunday there may be a whole page of letters - maybe ten. With the Sun-News you are allowed one letter submission every two weeks. Your letter may be a response to something the City is about, but you never know if or when your letter will be published. If your letter is published and someone makes a reply, and in all fairness you wish to or need to respond to that letter it may be weeks in between. By then all is forgotten except by those fair-minded citizens who make threatening phone calls.

In this electronic age the Albuquerque Journal daily paper edition is almost impossible to have delivered to the hinterland and their electronic edition is too expensive. Plus the news is like Ivory soap - 99.99% northern New Mexico. The New Mexican and the Sun-News have limited editions you can access for free. You can even make comments using your real name or an anonymous name to letters and news reports - sometimes. The rules of posting a comment are arbitrary and your comment will be excised if too controversial like - the truth.

While the above is about the daily newspapers, we have a weekly, The Las Cruces Bulletin, that the Sun-News is allowing to produce and control the majority of local news. You can read the Bulletin on its web page, but you can't make comments. The letters are restricted to two-three a week. Religious activities rceive a wide coverage which includes a lot of ads from the City with its crosses symbol on each ad and the dripping cross in the County ads are in color mostly.

The more recent decision by the City was to stop the bookmobile service in the county. A serious breach of citizens' rights to stop the flow of information and knowledge. They don't want people reading books that aren't on the approved list.

You can see how all this interacts to control the news in southern New Mexico that is more historically attuned to letting religious agencies decide what one needs to know about the world.

Las Cruces Public School District

One of the contradictions in the city of Las Cruces is the public school district. The district promotes Christianity, pure and simple. The school district denies it. The long time school board member, Charles (Chuck) Davis, representing the school district in a deposition, explained away the school district using the crosses of the Trinity as a logo thusly: "We do it because the city (Las Cruces) does it."

A blatant contradiction of the school district at that time was the dual logo symbols used by the school district. One was the crosses of the Trinity used on the maintenance vehicles that could be seen on the grounds of every public school, at businesses, and driving about the city. The other is a peculiar sight, not only on the front of the Administration Building, it constructed in tile allegedly from a drawing in a 'contest' won by a 'student.' The year and the student's name disappeared over time. The artwork is very similar to that produced by an elementary school's art teacher.

The crosses of the Trinity vehicles' logo disappeared soon after the local federal Judge Robert ("I am a Christian.") Brack ruled that the crosses were not religious and this idea was parroted by the trois singes federal court in Denver. If the crosses are not religious, what's the point of keeping them on the vehicles for proselytizing? With these actions the school district totally adopted the modified State of New Mexico symbol, the appropriated Zia Pueblo symbol, now representing the Trinity and possibly the twelve disciples - three times four is twelve - on all school district property, including name tags and shirt patches of hourly employees. Total immersion. Especially when the City police go on campuses and into the schools wearing their bright Resurrection patches.

In early times of the new millennium the school district was questioned by several First Amendment-minded citizens about the lack of equal religious rights in the district, about using the public schools to proselytize. The school district refused to talk to the citizens as they scrambled to get a policy and procedures printed up. At the time all they had was a policy, but no procedures. The policy was a one-sentence which in part said: "....we reserve the right to teach about religion." The school district has adamantly refused to add an 's' to the word 'religion.' All witnesses from the school district, including the two judges previously mentioned, said they could not see a difference by adding an 's.' Anyway, by 2003, a Policy and Procedures 424, Religion in the Schools, was published by the school district and back-dated!!! As of this date the school district has not held any classes for teachers, administrators, and school board members on the importance of keeping the public schools religion/non-religion neutral.

The belligerence of the school district toward minorities is readily viewed on the annual school district calendar. All the Christian holidays are there. But what about the Others? The school district is so culturally ignorant that a letter had to go out to the schools to not penalize Jewish children for missing school on Yom Kippur last year.

A citizen wrote the superintendent and asked a simple question: What policy and procedure protects the students from proselytizing by organizations when they go on school district-sanctioned field trips or visits off campus? Too complicated for the school district administration for sure! Their problem was forwarded to the district law firm in Santa Fe for them to respond to the curious citizen. The contradiction is that the lawyer was equally, or more so, culturally deficient as the staff at the district office as he fumbled in his attempt to scare the citizen.

Federal Court Corruption

I would venture that most people are incensed when they understand that the two Pennsylvania State Judges were selling thousands of children, juveniles, to a private prison for minor infractions and the judges received kick-back payments.

Here in New Mexico, we have state government corruption from Governor Richardson and his loyal appointees, on down to the lowest state employee; if there is a county government void of corruption they are silent about it; if there is a city, town, village, or settlement not rife with corruption they are silent about it.

When most people hear about corruption they think of events concerning government money(our tax money), businesses, and employees and their families stealing taxpayer money. But the corruption I bring to your attention is corruption of the government and federal and state courts by evangelism and proselytizing of religion.

When Governor Richardson lies, and he has a history of lying, it trickles down to the bottom of the employee list, even to those leaning on their shovels. Governor Richardson has lied about his involvement with the evangelizing groups in New Mexico that have a grip on the government. Richardson has appointed individuals as department heads that cannot separate their duties to the people from their duties to their church, synagogue, temple, or mosque. Names on request.

Here in the Federal District Court of Las Cruces, New Mexico, we have at least two federal judges, Judge Robert Brack and Magistrate Lourdes Martinez, who have knowingly and actively engaged in using their religion to corrupt the justice they dispense in the federal court. Judge Brack waved away his courtroom religious corruption activities with his comment, "I am a Christian." That is scary. Both judges repeatedly lied before this author in their courtrooms. Its all recorded in the court records belonging to the people.

The questions unanswered are: Where are the complaints about the corruption these two individuals have sprung on the federal justice system in New Mexico? Why has not the FBI investigated these two judges? Why have these two judges not resigned for corrupting the court? Is New Mexico so pathetic that it is business-as-usual for evangelicals to decide what justice is according to their own religious beliefs?

Truth and Honesty Reign Supreme

How is it possible for a pro se non-lawyer, retired Army Infantry Captain (O-3) defeat a retired Navy JAG Corp Captain (O-6) who is still in private practice and two federal judges over the Constitutional issue of Right and Wrong? Impossible, one may conclude before reading the facts.

If one limits themselves to read only what the bought federal judges wrote to reach a stilted conclusion, then join the crowd of the ill-informed. One must read what was submitted to the court by the plaintiff in the form of motions, rebuttals, evidence, and memorandums-of-record that recorded the collusive misdeeds of the defense and the judges.

The selection and appointments of federal Judges Robert Brack and Lourdes Martinez is a prime example of the corruptness of the Bush Administration's appointing of federal judges to Federal District Courts. As the lawyers say, let their courtroom records speak for them.

One question that needs an answer is, why would a federal judge with all the authority of the bench, write a personal, camouflaged threatening letter to the plaintiff in a case before his court, about the judge's continued relationship with a former law clerk who had quit his job? Did the judge's "weekly calls" to the former law clerk reveal that the plaintiff had written the now-lawyer an informative letter, or was it the possibility of the plaintiff's mail being read?

Hex Signs in the Desert

In New Mexico a rampant fear has spread across the state. The fear of late was generated by the challenge in federal court of several citizens to the use of the Latin crosses of the Trinity by the City of Las Cruces to represent all citizens. The latest use of the hex sign to protect Las Cruces is the now approved license plate. So.......

Congratulations, Las Cruces. You have sat back and allowed a secretive group of evangelicals lie to you so long that you believe whatever they say. Federal judges have used their courtrooms to promote their religious beliefs, contrary to laws of the United States, and New Mexico, that they have sworn to uphold. When judges lie and abuse their positions they should resign. These two judges’ actions apparently belie a belief that their religion puts them above the law.

The result now is that the proud Las Cruces has a license plate that promotes Christianity over all other religions and non-religions. Totally in-your-face prejudice that seems to escape the evangelicals on the city council. No other city in the United States promotes one group or one religion above the other citizens and their beliefs, or lack of, like Las Cruces. Total pride in prejudice.

To the glee of the evangelicals this prejudice has permeated the public schools. Representatives of the Las Cruces Public School District have lied, repeatedly, and in federal court, about the religious intent of the actions of the District. One just has to look at the secret purchase of the stadium crosses on Tashiro Drive, in violation of several New Mexico laws, to understand what is going on. The Court accepted the District lies about the crosses on the wall in Booker T. Washington Elementary School.

And now Las Cruces you have a license plate that we all know what it represents. It’s good, actually, for now we will all know who supports the City Council’s standard for prejudice. And as I have said many times before, Las Cruces and the Chamber of Commerce use evangelical Christianity as a commodity and export; more so now as these ‘believers’ drive around the country showing their pride in religious prejudice.

A Book of Enlightenment

A new 2009 book from Sense Publishing is out for any citizen desiring Enlightenment. The book's subject is taboo in some church and civic circles and is long overdue as it exposes what is whispered in 'polite' Christian society. The title of the book is: Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States and is edited by Warren J. Blumenfeld, Khyati Y. Joshi, and Ellen E. Fairchild. The knowledge of just how deep the faith-based legal system of New Mexico, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States, stoops to force Christianity on the unsuspecting people will scare the 'bejesus' out of you. Christians who 'testify' with the old wink-'n-nod in public of their religious beliefs, and thereby, knowingly extract privileges are not happy with this exposure. It's like federal Judge Robert Brack justifying his illegal behavior and rulings in his court and chambers by testifying, "I am a Christian.", to explain away his actions that benefit him.

Another, "What the f...! Las Cruces, New Mexico!"

The First Amendment is probably the most important amendment in our Bill of Rights. The foundation of our existance as a republic are those rights listed in this amendment. None dare say I do not believe in nor support the First Amendment. The right of a newspaper to be open to unlimited ideas and public discourse is essential to a free state. But, there should be some civic responsibility involved. Especially when a potential problem is known by the editor and spelled out to the editor.

Recently at the Las Cruces Public Schools District Spelling Bee, the only local daily newspaper, the Las Cruces Sun-News sent its photographer, Norm Dettlaff, to take photos of the event held at the local Onate Public High School. In New Mexico, the newspapers do not have to ask parents permission to take pictures of minor children and publish them. Newspapers in New Mexico do not have to honor parents requests to not publish the photos of their children.

The New Mexico state law allows the Editor to decide and if he is an asshole (in this case it was a 'he' - Jim Lawitz) he will publish the pictures. The pictures in question were not published in the newspaper, but were put on the 'Buy Photos' section of the Sun-News website. The photographer took dozens of pictures and only six, yes, 6, photos of the whole event were posted on the 'Buy Photos.' The one Editor Lawitz was asked to not publish is there for some reason only known to him. Now, no family member will buy the photo, so that leaves the photo purchase available for perverts and others up to no good.

The photographer was up to tricks as he took a special interest in pointing his camera at my family and me. Dettlaff knew better than to talk to me, but a parent reported that Dettlaff was asking questions about my minor child after the event. For business, or pleasure?

Of course the school district has no policies or procedures to protect the children from belligerent photographers acting on their bosses behalf.

Bush Departure Fallout - Or Keeping the Abnormal the Normal in Las Cruces

One of the curious things the LCPS Superintendent said the other night was: (and I believe it is a direct quote.) 'I would like the City to annex the new (high school) site, but I won't go into that now.' But..... Is this part of the religious plan to plaster crosses in and on the new school as fallout from that shameful, illegal ruling by local federal Judge Robert Brack that the crosses are not Christian-religious and the trois singes 10th Circuit Court of Appeals support. Factions in the city and county have been trying for years to get their religion back in the public schools. Preaching at home just isn't enough, they want born-again teachers to do it as a total immersion program to make the boys into 'men' and the girls into obedient things.

As an aside, Judge Brack's name (along with Judge Lourdes Martinez) should come up in that investigation of the United States Attorney General's office concerning judgeship appointments by the Bush Administration.

Read it here first. Bush, the de facto shining star of the evangelical mob is leaving a gap with his departure. The coincidence of Bush leaving and the local Focus on the Family branch, the Las Cruces Prayer Network, announcing the opening of an office is an attention-getter. AN OFFICE! on the west side of Las Cruces very near the Dona Ana County Administration Building, one block from an elementary school, several blocks from the crosses-laden public schools stadium, and in the vicinity of the public Mayfield High School, is scary. The purpose of the location in the depressed west side industrial/residential zone is not lost on many observers.

New (No Name) High School

Las Cruces needs a new high school, so we have been told. At a not-too-well-attended public meeting on 12 January 2009 the Superintendent reported the price as $100 million. I know I heard it clearly, as I wrote it down. It seems that not too long ago the price was in the upper $20s millions. The reported crowd of 160 was mostly older gray-haired white people whose concerns were more about traffic, bike lanes, juvenile delinquents, and plants, than the education process that may go on in this proposed 2,000 student public school. There were a lot of words about 'turf' and how the local university was involved.

The Superintendent was asked what was the name of the school. Las Cruces has three public high schools. One school is named the ubiquitous "Las Cruces High School," while the second one is named "Mayfield High School" after the district athletic director of yore; or maybe a coach of yore. Ah, the third one! There was an old junior high school in Las Cruces named "Onate," after the religiously revered Spanish explorer who never did anything in this area, because there was nothing here. When the new third public high school was built, it inherited the church-blessed name of that hated Spaniard, detested by Native Americans. The banners of belligerence and prejudice, the Dona Ana County seal, which now has a dripping yellow cross, shows Onate on his horse and the ribbon-cutting group's blue blazers in the Chamber of Commerce sport a patch with three Latin crosses and a profile bust of the venerated Onate.

The question to the Superintendent caused some foot shuffling and the response that a name has not been discussed, but any discussing would come later in the process. Well, this huge, new school is scheduled to open in 2011.

City of Contradictions

Some inquiries have asked for clarification of my term for Las Cruces: "City of Contradictions." Las Cruces has earned some less flattering terms, but I will stick to this one and none of the following comments are in event order.

The strangest, yet confusing contradiction one will find, be they native, visitor, or newcomer, is the on-going silent battle between the Las Cruces Convention/Visitors Bureau (CVB) and the City Hall culturally deviate (CD) gang. The CVB promotes Las Cruces as "The Crossroads." The City Hall CD gang steadfastly maintains Las Cruces is the "City of the Crosses," a name invented by the local private Chamber of Commerce with help from the private El Paso Chamber of Commerce in 1949. No historical records have been produced to substantiate the fakelore promoted by the City Hall CD gang and their pals. Several generations have now succumbed to the tall tales.

1. The NMSU history professor, Jon Hunner, who was selected to be the court 'expert,' admitted on the witness stand that he had not read any of the standard, legitimate history books of this area. Now, he is unabashedly on the state-panel representing this area for the 2012 statehood centennial. After Hunner's display of ignorance of the local history in court, his pal Judge Brack let him keep his 'expert witness' title which Hunner now plays up for the glory and gain.

2. In the City's Branigan Culture Center (BCC) is a nice, but spoiled, historical display of local history. To get inside the BCC one has to pass a gauntlet of banners displaying the crosses representing the shame of a city. Over the door to the display room is the sign, "Las Cruces: The Crossroads," which referrers to the various trails, roads, and highways that crisscross the area, and the river that flows south through through the city. Once inside over the displays in twenty-six locations, the visitor will see the perverted time-line that instead of saying 'Las Cruces' at the 1850 mark, it says "City of the Crosses." This fictitious accounting of various stories is the debrained-'child' of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce to promote Christianity for Profit since there is nothing else in Las Cruces. Guess who was the historical director of the exhibit? Expert professor Jon Hunner, no less. How much was he paid for this?

3. The two local, appointed federal judges, Robert Brack and Lourdes Martinez, who represent the national laws of the land, but put their religion above those laws, are still on the bench they disgraced when they joined the defense to harass the plaintiffs at every opportunity. The tandem harassment was orchestrated to force the plaintiffs to quit their First Amendment cases against the public school district and the city for the promotion of religion.

The courtroom antics, especially the dismissing of the plaintiffs' evidence, by these two judges are recorded in the public record. Their misbehavior is excused by the catch-phrase "judge's discretion."

4. In Las Cruces Protestant and Catholic groups have installed three Latin crosses in various locations over the years and then claim the crosses are not religious. To cover themselves 'massacre' stories were made up - fakelore. Apaches killing first Spaniards and later Euro-Americans has been a Hollywoodesque addition to popular stories with voluminous numbers.

Of course, all the dead were good Christians as every grave got a cross except those carried away by vermin and relatives. There are no records of course, nor markers. Just stories for tourist and obedient citizens.

An example of how repetition spoils a good story is when one thinks of crosses over graves a vision of nice, white boards being used. There was no lumber! Especially to waste over graves when a stick would do. Susan Magoffin's "a rude cross" is an example.

5. Now, how can faithful Christians, whose beliefs are represented by the display of Latin crosses, claim the crosses are not religious? Like in the trois singes ruling from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that appears to have been written by an outside evangelical group, claim that three Latin crosses are not religious. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled several times that the Latin cross, and everyone knows this, is a Christian religious symbol recognized throughout the world as a Christian symbol. But here and in Denver the crosses are not religious when used by the city and public school district, but those the local Bishop wears are, obviously. If it wasn't a payoff involved, what would be the answer?

6. In Las Cruces there is the old Highway 70 (North Main Street) that runs basically east and west, connecting Alamogordo to the city. It appears that Protestants claim it is the entrance to Las Cruces from the east. The Catholics have been traveling north and south for several centuries from the time when the Spaniards came. At the junction of North Main and Solano Drive are three large black steel crosses representing Calvary (Protestants installed them.). The Trinity if Catholics had done it. Now the crosses are lighted at night with red-white-blue Christmas lights.

Since these are the national colors, are only Christians the real Americans? Since the court ruled that the crosses aren't religious is this still an insult directed to non-believers and non-Christians? When you drive by for the first time and see the lights on the crosses, it's a 'What the f...!' moment. Those moments are almost a daily occurrence in Las Cruces.

7. With the laughable title of "Las Cruces International Airport" on the west side of the city, the airport has a large water tank - the bulbous type - like a Tootsie Pop. The well-traveled I-10 Interstate passes by this landmark. It is New Mexico Yellow with a large red Zia symbol on the southside that faces the interstate. But! on the northside is the shameful city symbol of crosses. The highway traveler cannot see it, but those arriving at the airport and departing the airport by vehicle or aircraft can see it. The visitor is greeted at the terminal with a large symbol of the ubiquitous crosses over the entrance. Apparently, St. Christopher has been fired by the City Council.

8. A major contradiction that is totally observable outside and inside City Hall, but undeniably a point that escapes the abilities of the Mayor and the City Council due to cultural deficiencies.
There are two large lions resting in front of the building, a donation by a Jewish family several years ago. The front of the building had three Latin crosses, but that was changed after several citizens complained about the appropriateness of Christian symbols on a government building. Well, the City took them down! But, in all the belligerence of ignorance the crosses were replaced with the Gothic symbol now used. The City steadfastly maintains the crosses represent the fictitious graves from fictitious 'massacres' by "heathens."

Inside the City Hall is a serious "What the f...!" moment to greet the visitor. Dutiful citizens are in line to pay their city bills that carry the crosses marker. A picture of God is on one wall. A miracle plaque on another - "Here they saw a cross for which Las Cruces was named."
The crosses markers are all over the building. On everything! A righteous plague.

Then the public meeting room of the City Council is overpowered by a large crosses emblem on the wall behind the raised Inquisitional-like dais where the council sits. The two podiums have smaller versions of the crosses emblem on the front. One next to the dais is used by presenters and the citizens can see and hear the influence of the holy. The other podium for citizens faces the council so they can be influenced by the crosses when they should be listening to the citizen.
A bizarre situation unrecognized by the faithful.

9. The "a cross" mentioned above, recorded on the plaque inside City Hall, has an interesting history. The only true recorded early history of this area is found in the American citizen Susan Magoffin's 1846-1847 diary, "Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico." As Susan Magoffin and her family passed through she recorded seeing the ten-year-old graves of fourteen Mexican soldiers killed in a battle with the Apache. Ms. Magoffin wrote on page 202, "the graves of whom, marked with a rude cross, are now seen...." The location of those graves is unknown.

In the federal trial against the Las Cruces Public Schools, Judge Robert Brack interrupted the pro se plaintiff when he was attempting to question the Court's 'expert' historian, professor Jon Hunner. Previously, the judge ruled that Hunner would be the 'expert' in this trial and the City of Las Cruces trial. The pro se plaintiff managed to get Hunner to admit that 'a' meant 'one' before being cutoff by the judge with his, "That question doesn't make sense.", because Hunner had written that Ms. Magoffin had not recorded the number of crosses over the graves. Ms. Magoffin never, ever wrote: 'crosses' which would mean one on every grave.

10. The Las Cruces Public Schools has a rewritten and backdated Policy and Procedures 424, Religion in the Schools. The District adamantly has refused to change some irregularities in the syntax of some sentences. In the Policy portion of 424 it states: "....but does have the responsibility to teach about religion."

The use of the word 'religion' in its singular form in this policy denotes a favoritism toward Christianity. Public schools have the responsibility to teach about the various religions in an open manner so as not to be derogatory. The insistence by those degreed authorities in the School District, and the 'bought' federal judges mentioned above, that there is no difference between the words 'religion' and 'religions' have lied. Pure and simple. In federal court under oath on the witness stand the witnesses for the defense lied about the words. Of course, Judge Brack said he didn't see any difference.

11. Piety of the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education and the Superintendent. The site was formally a Catholic school until the outgoing Bishop sold it and the 'dilapidated' church to a banker and retired to El Paso. The site became a shopping center, then a office complex. Now, the north end anchor is a bank with a large, perfectly proportioned, New Mexico Zia symbol on the front. Separated from the bank by the entrance to other offices is the Las Cruces Public Schools Administration Offices. Over the words 'Administration Offices' at the entrance is a child-like drawing that includes a modified Zia symbol changed to represent the Trinity of the Catholic religion. The now retired spokesman for the Las Cruces Public Schools, John Schutz, claimed an unnamed student in an unnamed contest at some distant past drew the picture that is in tile. Schutz proved in federal court that his testimony is unreliable at best. This picture is now the school district logo after the crosses logo was removed from the vehicles. This picture appears to have been drawn by the art teacher at the Hillrise Elementary School.

12. The City of Las Cruces has steadfastly maintained that the Christian Latin crosses used on the City seal and City symbol are not religious, even though they represent The Trinity, and these [Christian] crosses represent "the community." Can anyone say that when they see the Nazi swastika they don't know what it represents? The 'bought' federal judges ruled with the city story. Now we have a new, obvious Christian symbol promoted by Mayor Kenneth Miyagishima on plaques he hands out. The larger white center cross emanates rays of light indicating, as any non-Christian knows, a representation of the divine of the cross. In the
5 February 2009 Las Cruces Sun-News, the only daily newspaper, is yet another picture of the mayor awarding one of his plaques. This time to a New Mexico National Guard Sergeant Major for the unit's role in some operation (not explained).

13. The city government of Las Cruces, led by the nose by the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, continues to promote itself as a Christian city and at the same time denies it. The City Council still holds court in the Inquisitional setting of the Catholic Church, which the local Christians enjoy, and for those who cannot go to the meetings, there is the City-owned Comcast Channel 20 for viewing in the privacy of the home. Only those citizens with cable television can get the broadcast.

14. The City of Las Cruces publishes a quarterly, 8-page, bi-lingual newspaper it mails to thousands of residents. Recipients can only wonder why and what is the purpose until they look at the pictures of those who have their hands in the taxpayers' pockets. Citizens living outside the city limits, but inside the ETZ cannot participate in city government affairs.
The example for the month of February is the Sun-News City ad prefaced with the ubiquitous
Christian crosses and "Public Notice." The ad is titled "Members Sought for Ratepayer Advisory Committee." "To qualify for appointment......a resident must be.....a Las Cruces utilities customer." This prevents thousands of residents from even thinking about membership on the committee. Many residents have wells and propane tanks, so they can't be a "utilities customer."

15. The City has published its 2009 edition of the City of Las Cruces Reference Guide which does contains some important services information if it is read. The City continues to use public funds to promote the Christian religion with the ubiquitous crosses dispersed throughout the document. Readers are encouraged to go to the City website for further information, but be prepared to get an additional of the crosses. The crosses of the fire department are shown on p.12, but the police crosses are missing. And the museum section doesn't bother to mention that the permanent display of the history of the City in the Branigan Cultural Center is promoting Christianity.

Of course, the local federal judges, Robert Brack (Dominici hack.) and Lourdes Martinez (Gov. Richardson's hack.), who said the Latin crosses are not religious, are still on the bench despensing 'justice' according to the Gospel.