One of the reasons why Boy Scouts don’t camp with Girl Scouts is because scouting is about a safe, fun and time-proven method to build character in scouts outside any presence of sexual tension or possibility of sexual activity.

Are the Girl Scouts necessary for this to happen?

You are wrong. I was a Boy Scout, both of my sons are Boy Scouts and never have I, or they heard that “being gay is immoral”. Nope. Not once. As a matter-of-fact gay sex or the homosexual lifestyle is never discussed. Instead there is a lot of talk about camping, service to the community, respecting elders, leaders, being a person of your word and kooky stuff like that.

One of the reasons why Boy Scouts don’t camp with Girl Scouts is because scouting is about a safe, fun and time-proven method to build character in scouts outside any presence of sexual tension or possibility of sexual activity. Neither parents, leaders or scouts desire a sexless world. It is simply that scouting isn’t the environment for sexual topics, it is an organization for the growth of many aspects of a boy (or girl’s) mind and body, but one of them is not for the teaching of sexual education or sexual politics.

Scouting isn’t about discriminating against gays, it is about discriminating against any sexual activity or tension. They don’t just exclude gays, they exclude co-ed camp-outs and overnight activities. Allowing boys and girls to camp together would then open up scouting events to the possibility of sexual tension and activity, as would the inclusion of gays to boys scouting. The exclusion of co-ed over-nights and campouts allows for a concentration on the purposes of scouting and off of sexual tension and the possibility of sexual activity. The same is true with the exclusion of gays in scouting. It only be natural for homosexual boys to be attracted to other boys and this would introduce the same tension that co-ed scouting would, neither are labled or judged as right or wrong. Both are simply unnecessary and counter–productive to the purposes of scouting. There is no “moral judgment” it is simply the healthy and sensible exclusion of anything that detracts from the purpose of scouting.

The very foundation of the scouting movement and organization today rests on it’s faith in God and adherence to this essential belief for the successful application of the scouting tenets. Asking scouting to remove any reliance or inclusion of God would be the same as asking the American legal system to exclude the law in it’s application of justice. The function of one is dependent on the inclusion of the other. A belief in God is considered fundamental to the growth of a scout’s moral foundation and character. Removing that would be tantamount to removing camping or merit badges, God is simply essential to scouting. There is no desire to discriminate against atheists, it is the fundamental belief that without the inclusion of God and His presence, character building and advancement of a scout to the rank of eagle would be senseless and impossible.

Atheists do not believe that God is essential to the character building of human beings, but theists do… the Boy Scouts do. So, atheists are not excluded out of bigotry or prejudice, but because the basic beliefs of atheists run counter to the fundamental principles, the very foundation of scouting. The two cannot be reconciled. Scouting without God is like riding a bike without wheels, it simply cannot be done and there is no need to even try.

By all means atheists are free and encouraged to create their own organizations for the growth and betterment of atheistic youth, and the Boy Scout organization wholeheartedly desires for the equal treatment of said organization with Scouting, that being any privileges and opportunities afforded to the Boy Scouts by the U.S. government. The same would be true of an organization for the growth and betterment of homosexual youth and leaders. Boy Scout leaders and youth would not insist or litigate for their inclusion in atheistic or homosexual youth organizations.

The next step … is litigation against churches and religious organzation’s tax exemp status. After that it will be litigation to include gays and lesbians in church functions and leadership. What next? The inclusion of atheists in religious leadership positions? I don’t hold with some of the positions or statements of Ricky Santorum, nor do I agree or hold with the positions of Tintin, gays and lesbians and atheists that desire to force the Boy Scouts to destroy their foundational beliefs and policies. It is easy to hold up the rantings of one exaggerating individual to assail an unrelated worthwhile, positively contributing organization such as the Boy Scouts. Mr. Santorum doesn’t represent the Boy Scouts nor do his views or characterizations of Boy Scout policy, and utilizing him to smear the Boy Scouts is both disingenuous and false, not to mention logically unsound and pure sophistry. The exclusion of gays and atheists from Boy Scouts does not injure the community or exclude gays and atheists from engaging in those activities in scouting they wish to pursue. It simply put the onus on gays and atheists to create their own organizations which would more suitably meet their needs. Both gays and atheists have a proud history of creating worthwhile organizations and activities to meet their own specific needs in the community.

Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well;
Don’t write naughty words on walls if you can’t spell.

Be Prepared! To hide that pack of cigarettes.
Don’t make book if you cannot cover bets.

Keep those reefers hidden where you’re sure that they will not be found,
And be sure never to smoke them when the Scoutmaster’s around
For he only will insist that they be shared:
Be Prepared!

Be Prepared! That’s the Boy Scouts’ solemn creed.
Be Prepared! And be clean in word and deed.

Don’t solicit for your sister, that’s not nice;
Unless you get a good percentage of her price.

Be Prepared! And be careful not to do
Your good deed when there’s no one watching you.

If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind
And you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined:
Don’t be nervous, don’t be flustered, don’t be scared!
Be Prepared!

– Tom Lehrer

WF

Also… ““Powerful Teacher’s Unions” is the same kind of delusional paranoia” For your amusement, check this out: http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/07/04/bce-deal.html (nutshell: teachers’ union pension plan buys major telecom company).

Translation: black people.

Anyway, I learned to smoke dope in Boy Scouts. Be Prepared!

“Was it not what you hoped, then? It’d be a pity if he was a schmuck, but then good writing and pleasant personalities don’t necessarily go together (case in point, Harlan Ellison).”

It wasn’t that bad. He was drunk and maudlin and sort of a little cream puff with a goatee–hardly the steely-eyed s.f.-meister of my fantasy. Not at all a schmuck, and quite sweet. Just not the hero I had in my 23-year old mind.

Well, of course. The solution to young men getting jumped into the 18th Sreet Crips is merit badges.

As for the Boy Scouts…who was it that tried to smear them as slightly disreputable because Hitler liked them?

Happily, no, Visigoth. According to Wikipedia:

Baden-Powell was a target of the Nazi regime in the Black Book, which listed individuals which were to be arrested during and after an invasion of Great Britain as part of Operation Sealion. Scouting was regarded as a dangerous spy organization by the Nazis.

Meaning that in this universe, Spock has a beard.

I actually enjoyed Cub Scouts a lot. When I got to the age where you switch from a blue shirt to khaki, I went to a Boy Scouts meeting where they had us sit around for an hour tying knots. I never went back.

Here in Philadelphia, the lethal threat to liberal orthodoxy and our young men is an organization whose aim is – don’t read this aloud to small children – to teach boys to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent and (shudder) to be morally straight. This, of course, deeply offends … the radical gay activists.

lol. Teach boys to cheerful? Tell us how you really feel, Rick.

I’m sort of wondering if he’s trying to make the boyscouts sound so gay no one will join anymore? Or is that really how he thinks the boyscouts are?

Seriously – how come every time I see some GOP head talk about gay people, it’s a bit like a crack- addict not on drugs anymore talking about their pipe? It’s the elliptical code for “smoking”, the “reverent” and indirect references to it’s shape and the general feeling and excitement associated with it (it’s aggressive and awesome – that’s how they remember the feeling they don’t have any more) – but always the anger as well towards the lure of “the pipe”, or the bad crowd that used to make them want to smoke all day.

I mean, I’m just asking the question here – what kind of mind dreams up a glorified battle between boyish bonding fun and family values in the boyscouts – against rampant gay boy assault in the city..?

Badgers? Badgers? We ain’t got no badgers. We don’t need no badgers. I don’t have to show you any stinking badgers!

[T]he first step in addressing the horrific violence in Philadelphia is to understand that it is a symptom of a broader problem: pathologically antisocial young urban males. That’s why I just don’t understand Mayor Nutter’s jihad against the Boy Scouts. Rather than get bogged down in a dispute with the Boy Scouts, the city should be supporting more organizations like this

WTF is he talking about. The solution to pathologically antisocial young urban males is the fucking Boy Scouts of America? Yeah, I totally see that. Teenaged youths sitting around, questioning each other’s sexuality in order to provoke support for trying to knock over the liquor store. Then all of a sudden one of them says “but wait, if we join the scouts, we can earn merit badges!” and then they all do. Sure Rick, scouting – that’s the solution to crime.

But I do agree with him that the city should be supporting more organizations like this. It’s just that I don’t think the Boy Scouts are an organization like this – one that actually addresses the problem of young people, regardless of background, feeling discarded from society. I look forward to Santorum getting all his evangelicals to support urban outreach programs. Ones that provide resources, other than preaching, and provide them to anyone who needs them.

Ahhh, Rick Santorum. It’s so superawesome to hear from him again, sort of like how great it is to hear about what Mr. T or Gary Coleman is doing.

Remember Rick Santorum’s concession speech after he was kicked out of Philly? Oh, that was so great. My favorite part was when someone in the audience cried out “NOOOOOOO!” or when his children started crying. I think I watched that video 20 times on YouTube. Santorum’s ignominious ousting was by far the most emotionally gratifying moment of the entire 2006 election.

As for the Boy Scouts…who was it that tried to smear them as slightly disreputable because Hitler liked them? All Godwinning aside, that’s almost as bad as Jonah Goldberg saying there’s somethig creepy about Vegetarianism because Hitler did it. All the same, there absolutely is a connection between self-repression and violence. See the great Italian movie, THE CONFORMIST.

NNNNNGH!

Fucking asshole bigot’s giving me a headache.

Incidentally I love the construction “first-amendment absolutist”. Asshole, you’re a Congressman. You and every other American should be a first-amendment absolutist because it is the highest damn law of the land. It trumps all others and is in force everywhere.

I mean, I might disagree with the NRA but it would never even occur to me to call them “second-amendment absolutists”. Everybody who believes in the law is a second-amendment absolutist.

(I met him once. Bester. Oy.)

Was it not what you hoped, then? It’d be a pity if he was a schmuck, but then good writing and pleasant personalities don’t necessarily go together (case in point, Harlan Ellison).

Gosh, that’s an awful lot like my tax dollars helping your youth (but not mine).

I’m morally straight. My girlfriend (partner for ten years this Jul 1) is a bit annoyed at it, but it does mean she has a designated driver.

July 5, 2008 at 4:12

Skoptsi? My only exposure to them is via Alfred Bester’s fabulous The Stars My Destination. Is that what you ref?
—
Bester’s Skoptsi got the idea from the real Skoptsi, a Russian sect of the 18th century that practiced castration.