L.A. County caves in...

Hugh Hewitt reports that Los Angeles County has caved in to the strong-arm tactics of the ACLU, and will remove the teeny-weeny cross that has sat on its seal for fifty years. Check his post for an excerpt of his interview with county supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Yvonne Burke. Ed over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars actually agrees that the ACLU went overboard on this one, but he considers the reaction from the demagogues of the religious right to be just as overboard. I have to disagree with him there, and for the simple reason that the lawyers at the ACLU are showing their true colors here. They're gunning for the big boys on a matter that everyone and their uncle knows is beyond trivial. If they're willing to pull such a bold move, specifically directed at Christianity, then don't for a minute think that I'll trust them with the time of day. As Hugh, Ed, and others have noted, there are other religious connotations on the County's seal. Hugh Hewitt had a pagan caller call in to his radio show and complain that the County and the ACLU have shown disdain for his religion by leaving the goddess Pomona on the seal. How about the cow so prominently displayed on the seal? The Egyptians worshipped Hathor, who would take the form of a cow. Fish were also worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, so let's remove the tuna from the County's seal. Let's also not forget any astrological reference the stars on the seal may have. In fact, since the word Angeles means "angels," why don't we just junk the entire seal altogether? How about it Zev? In it's place you can use something along the lines of the following for the Official Seal of the County of Los Angeles, California