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.