Cross in Middleboro, MA since 1959 now offends an unnamed lawyer

There have been a number of issues from people who are       " offended " because of a cross being displayed in a public area. The protesters claim it offends them and that by allowing it, the country is sanctioning one faith over another.

Bullshite.

This country is a predominantly Christian-Judeo nation. We were founded on the freedom of religion, not non-religion. I am sorry that as an atheist, sun worshiper or member of some other belief, you feel that you are " offended " by anything that doesn't please you personally. I have three words for you -

Get Over Yourself.

This is a prime example of a case of "Tyranny of the Minority" plain and simple. Kudos to the Middleboro Selectmen for having the common sense needed to respond positively to  crappola from someone who got all worked up about a cross that has stood by the side of the road since 1959 in Middleboro, MA.

My final words to the unnamed Boston lawyer who made a stink about the cross in Middleboro

- Get a life.

Cross erected in 1959 draws controversy

By JANE LOPES - Middleboro Gazette Editor


MIDDLEBORO — It's 12 feet high by 7 feet wide, but it's likely that few people who drive by pay much attention.


The brick cross was erected in 1959 by the Kiwanis Club on a small triangle of land where one takes a right turn to head toward Middleboro center near the Trucchi's shopping center. The triangle and the cross have benefited from the ministrations of club members and other local organizations over the years, but the cross — which exhorts passersby to "worship" any way they choose, according to current Kiwanis President Robert Kinney — is in a fairly bedraggled state. Recently, someone stole the "worship" message from one side, presumably to obtain the copper backing.


Meanwhile, a Boston attorney passing through town around Christmas time last year noticed the cross and protested to the state Department of Transportation on the grounds that the cross violates the "separation of church and state" guarantee in the Constitution. MassDOT investigated and determined that all but three feet of one arm of the cross sits on town land. The attorney who complained to the state has been in touch with Kiwanis officials, but has taken no legal action to date.


Mr. Kinney appeared before the selectmen Monday night looking for support, which he received, for a plan to beautify the traffic triangle and preserve the cross.


"It's sitting there and looking pretty bad," Mr. Kinney said of the cross, which is believed to be one of a kind in terms of its design and construction. "The triangle it's on is really shabby."


In recent years, Mr. Kinney said he has tried to spruce up the area by fertilizing the grass and with plantings. But the salt spread during the winter on the nearby state highway, Rte. 28, damages the vegetation.


Mr. Kinney said he has some ideas about long-term preservation of what is, in his view and that of others, an historic landmark. He said the state has an "adopt a visibility" program where it assists local groups and businesses to preserve such landmarks. The care and maintenance of the triangle and the cross could be an Eagle Scout project, he said, or a project for all the town's service clubs.


Chairman of Selectmen Al Rullo wondered whether it makes sense to invest a significant amount of time and money in the project given the potential legal issues.


"This is going to be some legal issue," he said. "It's like a tree hanging over a property line. If the state decides they can't have that on state property ... I assume it can't be moved."


Mr. Kinney said he believes that is unlikely. He said pending resolution of the legal issues, he would at least like to "put some plants around short term and see what happens."


Selectman Stephen Spataro made a motion for the selectmen to support whatever efforts the Kiwanis Club or other groups undertake, and to offer guidance from the town's DPW.


"That's a landmark, for sure," he said.


His colleagues voted in favor of the motion.

Brits deal with Free Speech issue like here in USA - Offensive Muslim Extremists act out in a similar manner to Westboro Baptist idiots....

The Tyranny of the Minority is in full effect both here & abroad. We have the thick skulled idiots of the Westboro Baptist Church spewing their filth at soldier's funerals, and the Brits have Muslim extremists degrading a Remembrance Day Memorial by burning poppies to offend those in attendance.

The significant difference is the Westboro Baptists aren't looking to institute a religious law into our society. The fools over in England are trying to institute Sharia law as they want to control all of England....The idiot involved in the case in England says so directly, " We want Sharia law in this country"

This is the type of threat that needs to be addressed head on....I find this type of protest offensive but it is the price we pay for Freedom of Speech. I am not thrilled with this perversion of the law but understand why it has to be allowed.

On the other hand, the " Tyranny of the Minority" is something that can be and should be stamped out. This stupid fool who mocks the War Dead and preaches overthrow of the British Government should be expelled back to his native country. His actions are defiant and his mocking of the authority should be handled with a charge of contempt of the courts...His attitude will only incite others to act out and while protest is allowed by free speech, inciting violence and civil unrest is not.

The English people need to rise up against these fools and show that they are behind their soldiers and against the vile filth that this idiot puts forward. He'll get his just punishment one day along with the stupid fools from the Westboro Baptist Church. These people are the dregs of society...bottom feeding scumbags and will always be regarded as such.


£50 insult to Britain's war dead: Veteran's fury as poppy burner enjoying a life on benefits gets paltry fine and mocks soldiers
By Emily Andrews - UK Mail

Last updated at 7:56 AM on 8th March 2011

Despite saying he would pay more for a parking fine, Choudhury said he would not pay up

As a British citizen, Emdadur Choudhury enjoys benefits including a free council flat and almost £800 a month state handouts.

Yesterday he laughed at justice as he was handed a paltry £50 fine for setting light to poppies on Remembrance Day and yelling ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.

After hearing his penalty, which outraged war veterans, the 26-year-old father of two declared: ‘I don’t have any respect for British soldiers, and if they lose a limb or two in Afghanistan then they deserve it. You expect me to feel sorry for them? Of course I don’t.’

Emdadur Choudhury, who didn't bother to attend the hearing yesterday, claimed the charge levelled against him was 'ridiculous'

Choudhury, from Bethnal Green, East London, was found guilty of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour by District Judge Howard Riddle, following a one-day trial last month.

The maximum fine possible was £1,000, plus legal costs, and Judge Riddle said he had no doubt Choudhury had set out to shock and offend. Yet he fined him only £50, plus a £15 victim surcharge.

Although Choudhury sneered that he would have been fined more than £50 for a parking offence, he is refusing to pay. However the bill will be picked up by his ‘good friend’ Anjem Choudary, the notorious firebrand preacher.

Choudhury could also have been charged under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which is racially or religiously aggravated public order offence. This offence also carries a maximum sentence of six months, but the level of fine can reach £2,500.

The defendant could also have faced charges of an incitement or racial hatred under the Public Order Act.

This offence relates to deliberately provoking hatred of a racial group. Among the offences listed as arrestable are making inflammatory public speeches and inciting inflammatory rumours about an individual or an ethnic group.

Choudhury, whose parents are Bangladeshi immigrants who came to Britain for a better life, was a leading member of a demonstration by the so-called Muslims Against Crusaders on November 11
.
During the two-minute silence he was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies and dousing them in petrol before setting them alight.

The protesters, who had gathered near the Royal Albert Hall close to the finish of a charity walk to commemorate service personnel, also repeatedly yelled ‘Burn British soldiers, burn in hell’.

Choudhury and his co-accused Mohammed Haque, 30, who was cleared of the same charge for lack of evidence, could not even be bothered to attend Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court for the verdict.

The court heard that Choudhury works part time as a satellite engineer and earns £480 a month. He also receives a monthly total of £792 in state benefits, comprising £240 working tax credit; £432 child tax credit and £120 a month child benefit.

Judge Riddle said: ‘Shocking and offending people is sometimes a necessary part of effective protest. Here, an obvious consequence of this process was to show disrespect for dead soldiers.

‘The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance, was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them. If the memory of dead soldiers is publicly insulted at a time and place where there is likely to be gathered people who have expressly attended to honour those soldiers, then the threat to public order is obvious.

‘Here it is hard to imagine that a public order disturbance was not intended.’

Choudary was caught on camera unfurling several large plastic poppies on the ground before burning them at the end of the two-minute silence to honour the war dead

Later, in a park near his home, a defiant Choudhury said: ‘The poppy disgusts me – it’s not to do with World War One or World War Two veterans, it’s all about raising money for soldiers injured in the wars now.

‘I’m not being disrespectful for burning it, I’m being honourable. It’s all about shock and awe, to get these soldiers out of Muslim lands.’

Asked if he would do it again, he replied laughing: ‘You’ll have to find out next time, won’t you? The only reason I even got a fine is cos it’s politically motivated. I would have got a bigger fine for a parking ticket than this.

District Judge Howard Riddle made the decision to impose the fine on Choudhury, something that left Shaun Rusling and fellow veterans 'disgusted'

‘It’s my freedom of speech and I’m exercising that. I’m being persecuted for it. This fine, I will wear it as a badge on my shoulder. I did it for Allah. I did it to raise awareness that these so-called soldiers are the criminals. They are the ones who should be tried for war crimes.’

Sinisterly he promised that he had ‘2,000 youths who will follow me and do whatever I tell them – you don’t want another Afghanistan here do you? We want Sharia law in this country, and Inshallah [God willing] we will get it’.

Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf War Veterans and Families Association, said: ‘I think the British people would be disgusted with the sentence handed out.

Remembrance Day is very special for those in the Armed Forces, when we remember those who have lost their lives for freedom and fighting for their country.

Mohammad Haque (left) and Emdadur Choudhury (right) pictured yesterday. Choudhury was convicted of a public order offence after he burned a poppy on Armistice Day and fined £50. Fellow defendant Haque was found not guilty of the same offence

‘It is a personal insult to all of them. I am personally insulted, any veteran would be personally insulted by them burning a poppy. I don’t think it is an acceptable sentence at all.’

A spokesman for the Royal British Legion said: ‘The poppy is the symbol of sacrifice and valour. It offers everyone an opportunity to reflect on the human cost of conflicts past and present.

‘The two-minute silence is a time for such reflection, and not for political protests or public disorder. We are confident that this is understood and supported by most people.

SO WHY WAS HE JUST CHARGED WITH A PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCE?

Emdadur Choudhury was charged with an offence under Section 5 of Public Order Act 1986. Under the act, a person is guilty of an offence if they use either, threatening abusive or insulting words, disorderly behaviour, or display any writing, sign or visible representation that he threatening or insulting.

The maximum sentence for this offence is six months, while the highest fine imposable by a court is £1,000. The judge could also have imposed a community sentence such as unpaid work. However because the defendant is understood to have no prior criminal convictions, the judge would not have considered a custodial sentence.

Tyranny of the Minority

Let's break down a complicated issue into a simple equation. This can bring to focus the heart of the issue.

According to news reports, there are 300,000 public sector employees in Wisconsin.

According to the US census, the population of Wisconsin is 5,654,774.

If we do the math, that means that the public sector employees make up 5.3% of the total population.

That means at present, a little more than 5% of the total citizens in Wisconsin think they can set the tone for the rest of the State of Wisconsin and that have the right to tell the rest of the citizens (i.e. taxpayers, who the public sector employees work for) what they will or will not do, not show up for work and lie about why they refused to come to work when they should have worked or been fired.

If this is not a clear cut case of " Tyranny of the Minority", I don't know what else is.....

The Public sector Employees work for the taxpayers and should be grateful to have a job as many others would like to have their jobs. Enough of the BS already. Get back to work, and that includes the cowardly Legislators who ran across the border and abandoned their responsibility to serve the public's interests, and instead chose to serve their own shallow interests.

The Tyranny of the Minority - ENOUGH is ENOUGH

The TYRANNY of the MINORITY has been a subject that has not been brought to the attention of the general public enough. Part of that is that is runs counter to the "Diversity First" crowd who are the prime extollers of the POLITICALLY CONNECTEDNESS that is the off shoot of the left-over hippie view point that "everybody wins, we don't want to keep score, all are special, blah, blah blah". This is the opposite of what makes America great. The idea that competitiveness is good and we reward excellence is how it should be, not the Politically Connectedness of these idiots -

They want to "dumb down" the world so that all are the same when obviously, all are NOT the same and we should reward the best. The Olympics is a great example as the competitors come from around the world, strive to be the best and no one gives points for being PC. They reward the best and 2nd place can be a matter of hundredths of a second but still, there is the GOLD Medal for the BEST, and silver & bronze for those who come in 2nd & third.

Basically, the ideas/concepts/point-of-view these feckless idiots constantly spout via the media is grossly out of touch with what the MAJORITY of our citizenry see as right/just/proper, etc. Unfortunately, they have the media as their cheerleaders - Just like POTUS did in 2008....that gives them a powerful platform to grind out their tripe each & every day....UGH!!

The news story that a California boy was made to take an American Flag off his bicycle after two months of riding to school that way was due to a local school administrator inflicting her PC view that the FLAG (OUR FLAG) was a symbol that could anger local Hispanics to violence. That is was insensitive to others to display the US Flag.....WTF?? Are you freakin' kidding me ???

How out of whack do things have to get before we finally say enough is enough?

The majority are losing freedom after freedom and tradition after tradition to a wimpy, nameless, minority that hides behind groups like the ACLU and dumps shame on its opposition through words like ‘diversity’ and ‘fairness.’ But there is nothing diverse about a politically correct landscape, and the methods used to try to create one are clearly anything but fair.

I was born as a 2nd generation Irish American Male...My grandparents came to America from the Old Sod and did not demand "equality" as they knew that to become AMERICAN was to adapt themselves to AMERICA not visa-versa...These fools who spout this stupidity think that AMERICA must adapt to THEM....Take a look at FRANCE and other countries in Europe - see how well that is working out for them....RIOTS driven by an emboldened group of immigrants and others in France shut down their country for a few weeks....British Troops endured protests by a MUSLIM minority upon returning home to parade....Are you REALLY interested in seeing this kind of CRAP here at home???

Enclosed is an article by A.W.R Hawkins, a guy who puts the debate into proper perspective. I was born as a White Male and I should not suffer from the Tyranny of the Minority just because others were not. Our Country has many people, and we are diverse BUT the minority have no superior standing on anything regardless of any issues that occurred in our past. You cannot correct a wrong with another wrongs as all learned, " Two wrongs don't make a right". Too bad the PC Crowd and their cheerleaders in the media missed that fundamental lesson.

The Tyranny of the Minority
by A.W.R. Hawkins - Humanevents.com
Posted 11/02/2010 ET

When the Founding Fathers created this nation, they designated it a republic rather than a democracy. They did so because a republic is fixed and tends toward stability over time, whereas a democracy, which is always in flux, is prone to violent dissolution at any moment. In fact, many of them referred to democracy as “mob rule,” and wanted to avoid it like the plague for fear that it could provide a faction the opportunity to access to the levers of political power and change the course of the nation for the worse in a relatively short period of time.

Although we have all but abolished the Constitution the Founders left us and moved closer to a democracy with each passing generation, we have still managed to remain a republic foundationally. Yet somewhere along the way, between 1776 and now, we opened the door to a rabid political correctness that has actually nurtured the very faction-like atmosphere which tends to undo a republic.

But it’s not the kind of faction our Founders feared: not one where a majority of voters unite for a cause and force their will upon the citizenry as a whole. Instead, it’s a perverted use of the court system and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that allow a person to claim that he’s been offended and then to levy the charge against those who gave offense in order to control their actions.

In other words, we’re not dealing with the tyranny of the majority, but the tyranny of the minority.

We have lost nativity scenes in cities across America because one citizen of one city doesn’t like Christmas. We have lost freedom of religious expression in our public school system because a student here or there is bothered when people pray. We have lost crosses on many of our war memorials because atheists want to shield their children from religious exposure. And we are poised to lose even more freedoms if we don’t stop this scourge before it sweeps across our land and our intellectual landscape completely.

As I am writing this, citizens in King, North Carolina are protesting the removal of a Christian flag from a war memorial in that city: a flag that was removed by order of the King City Council after one veteran who saw duty in Afghanistan filed a complaint with the ACLU.

In today’s usual cryptic fashion, the name of the offended party has not been released to the public, a withholding that reflects a degree of secrecy that could lead some to believe that the offended soldier is a Muslim, an atheist, or a figment of the ACLU’s imagination. Whatever the case may be, the complaint from this ghostlike citizen in King has proven sufficient to have a flag removed that had been proudly flying over the memorial for more than six years.

And in Oxford, Mississippi, where the Ole Miss Rebels have enjoyed the rich tradition of having a mascot named “Colonel Reb” roaming the football sidelines since 1979, politically correct tendencies led them to do away with the southern icon this season and to replace him with a black bear. That’s right: the new mascot is a black bear in a southern gentlemen’s suit, and his name is the “Rebel Black Bear.”

How out of whack do things have to get before we finally say enough is enough?

The majority are losing freedom after freedom and tradition after tradition to a wimpy, nameless, minority that hides behind groups like the ACLU and dumps shame on its opposition through words like ‘diversity’ and ‘fairness.’ But there is nothing diverse about a politically correct landscape, and the methods used to try to create one are clearly anything but fair.

Our Founders were wise enough to know that a tendency toward unchecked factions would devastate the country they sought to leave to posterity. Surely we must be brave enough to take their fears into account and fight against the one person here or the two people there who are actively using the court system to rip us away from our moorings.

The tyranny of the minority is tyrannical indeed.


HUMAN EVENTS columnist A.W.R. Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in U.S. Military History from Texas Tech University. He will be a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal during the summer of 2010.