James Lileks : How to Make Blue Folks See Red: Pick on the Boy Scouts

Newhouse News Service ^ | November 17, 2004 | James Lileks

[quidnunc]

Move over, OBL — our new national threat comes from the BSA. They're a strange, religiously oriented group whose stated purposes ought to make your blood run as cold as chilled mercury. We've had remarkable success in recent years keeping them from undermining American power, thanks to the U.S. military. But now it's official, and what was once a shadowy war is out in the open.

The Pentagon has informed all bases not to sponsor the Boy Scouts of America.

Not that they ever have, mind you. Says the Associated Press: "The Pentagon said it has long had a rule against sponsorship of non-federal organizations and denied the rule had been violated. But it agreed to send a message to posts worldwide warning them not to sponsor Boy Scout troops or other such groups."

So we're still in danger. It's possible that in some distant base in a flat, empty state, some rogue officer might horribly commingle Boy Scouts and his official duties — say, showing up in uniform to teach the Webelos the Pledge of Allegiance.

Why is this bad? Simple: The scouts make you swear an oath that mentions the Big Guy. Here's the marrow-curdling vow in its entirety, brazenly posted on a Web site they use to communicate with other cells. Ready?

"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

Whew. Strong stuff. The God part is bad enough, but the "morally straight" line is the big cherry on the cake. But remember, please: The scouts are a private organization; they have the right to believe what they wish, even if you disagree.

-snip-

[K1avg]

I learned about this last night at our Troop Committee meeting.

It's frankly absurd and I can't express the anger and disgust felt by those of us involved in the great program of Scouting.

[Aetius]

for later

[GeekDejure]

On my honor I will do my best to help myself and cheat the rest !!!

(The PC Boy Scout Oath) .

[Tax-chick]

Very good article!

[95 Bravo]

It's time we declared the ACLU a terrorist organization & start throwing their dirt-bag butts in jail. I spent 2 years as a Cub Scout leader and this just makes my blood boil! Guess who's going to get a donation from me this Christmas? Not the ACLU.

[stevem]

To me this is all quite amusing...well, it wouldn't be bad for the country to have the ACLU absorbed by the earth...in that I bet if any scout troops are meeting on any military bases, some umbrella organization may be established to oversee the group. It could be called something like the Fort Killaclu Friends of Scouting or some such.

I'm amused because my son became an Eagle Scout as part of a troop at this church near my home. Then when the BSA announced it could not abide in pedophiles as scout masters, the church told us we had to leave. I marvel at the thought process of liberals i.e. what is important to them.

[Casloy]

So, do dependents of military families living on military bases have scout meetings on the base?

[RippleFire]

bump

[wisconsinconservative]

Boy Scout Ping!

[huac]

This is not the first time that the organized Left has found the Boy Scouts offensive. The delegates booed a BSA honor guard at the 2000 Democratic Convention:

" Eagle Scouts have earned the highest rank in scouting. When a group of them took the stage at the Democratic National Convention, delegates booed."

( http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/18/81224 )

About the only "boys" group the Left supports is the child molestation organization NAMBLA:

"...Hormel Library, which contains pornographic pictures and stories, as well as material linked to the North-American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). [Source: Family Research Council’s LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE, Friday, March 13, 1998]"

( http://www.e-z.net/wtv/__bw-fed_98Hormel_Ambassadorship_Feb.htm )

Incidentally, NAMBLA has met in the very libraries where the Boy Scouts are outlawed:

“An organization dedicated to helping its members meet children and then
molest them without getting caught holds its regular monthly meetings in
a branch of the San Francisco Public Library. We're talking about children
as young as three years old.”

( http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/NAMBLA/nambla-KRON.transcript )

All together now: Thank you ACLU for defending our rights (against the Boy Scouts of America).

[CDB]

This is so disgusting. When I was a kid in 1964, I was one of the 50,000 Boy Scouts from all over the world who went to Valley Forge for a Jamboree. Then-President Lyndon Johnson addressed us. The left has absolutely no idea when we tell them we think the country's been going in the wrong direction for a long time. The MSM is totally clueless about this VERY basic premise. The BSA is an enemy. Right track wrong track Egads! I really believe Americans are fed up with this BS, and have already started to turn the country in the right direction. The Democrats will go the way of the 19th century Whig party and end up in history's dustbin. The election of 2004 was a major milestone (Pardon my rant)

[Constitution Day]

Lileks Ping!
If you'd like to be added or removed, just drop me a line...

---

How to Make Blue Folks See Red: Pick on the Boy Scouts
by James Lileks

Move over, OBL -- our new national threat comes from the BSA. They're a strange, religiously oriented group whose stated purposes ought to make your blood run as cold as chilled mercury. We've had remarkable success in recent years keeping them from undermining American power, thanks to the U.S. military. But now it's official, and what was once a shadowy war is out in the open.

The Pentagon has informed all bases not to sponsor the Boy Scouts of America.

Not that they ever have, mind you. Says the Associated Press: "The Pentagon said it has long had a rule against sponsorship of non-federal organizations and denied the rule had been violated. But it agreed to send a message to posts worldwide warning them not to sponsor Boy Scout troops or other such groups."

So we're still in danger. It's possible that in some distant base in a flat, empty state, some rogue officer might horribly commingle Boy Scouts and his official duties -- say, showing up in uniform to teach the Webelos the Pledge of Allegiance.

Why is this bad? Simple: The scouts make you swear an oath that mentions the Big Guy. Here's the marrow-curdling vow in its entirety, brazenly posted on a Web site they use to communicate with other cells. Ready?

"On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

Whew. Strong stuff. The God part is bad enough, but the "morally straight" line is the big cherry on the cake. But remember, please: The scouts are a private organization; they have the right to believe what they wish, even if you disagree.

And we're talking about the BOY SCOUTS, for heaven's sake, not some Junior Klan League noted for torchlight parades through Jewish neighborhoods. Who has the time to worry whether the scouts are meeting in the local library? Isn't there some real, actual evil handy you could sue?

Better yet: If you don't like the scouts' oath or rules, how about you drink a nice hot cup of LIVE AND LET LIVE and start your own group? Because we're about 10 years away from someone deciding that the whole Boy Scout/Girl Scout thing smacks of separate but equal. Come 2014, the kid at your door will be selling Non-Gender-Specific Scout Cookies. Oh, progress.

Since the last election we've been told that right-wing theoreticians concoct divisive social issues in secret underground labs and release them into the body politic every election cycle, clouding the minds of red-state sheep. But the Boy Scouts haven't been suing anyone for the right to hold compulsory God and country rallies in schools across the land. The American Civil Liberties Union is forcing the issue.

The people barging into the courts are the ones obsessed that Boy Scouts might be using public school rooms after hours to learn knot tying. And scouts drive on public roads to get there, too. They even breathe air whose quality is mandated by federal regulations that take public money to enforce. Theocratic parasites, that's what they are. What's next? A 900-foot statue of Jesus on the Mall in Washington?

This may be the face of the hard, foamy left, but it's not the view of your average Democrat. Throwing the scouts into an electrified pen that keeps them from contaminating government is not high on the list of your average Democratic concerns.

Ask one. Why are you a Democrat? "Because I believe in good jobs, health care for all, more diplomacy and strong public schools."

And you oppose the Boy Scouts, right? "What? No. My kid's a scout."

But the ACLU has practically declared them a hate group. Got the Pentagon to promise no official connections. "Well, I can't go for that. Mumble, mumble, Jerry Falwell, mumble, both sides have nuts, Ann Coulter, mumble."

But you'll still vote Democratic? "Count on it, friend."

Then one day his kid's Wolf Pack gets denied a permit to hold a party in a public park.

And thus do blue folks see red.

Nov. 17, 2004

[js1138]

I thought it was "On my honor I will do my best, to help the Girl Scouts get undressed."

[aculeus]

Definition of a fool: a Boy Scout parent who votes Democrat.

[GeekDejure]

(Idiot Democrat version)

"On my honor I will do my best, to help myself and cheat the rest."

==========================================================
(Ideal Republican version)

"On my honor I will do my best, to help the Girl Scouts get undressed."

[NeoCaveman]

Lileks ping.

[RedlegCPT]

simply put Yes

[Watery Tart]

BUMP!

ACLU: Asinine Conglomerate of Legal Ulcers

[Constitution Day]

Asinine Conglomerate of Legal Ulcers

Ha! I love it.