Posted on 11/18/2004 1:42:45 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - The Pentagon's decision to stop U.S. military bases from sponsoring Boy Scout troops is another example of political correctness, according to the leader of a military watchdog group, and will hurt the Defense Department's recruitment efforts in the long run.
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, told CNSNews.comWednesday that with the Pentagon's new edict to military bases, a condition of settling a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the military is sending the wrong kind of message.
"I don't think the Department of Defense should endorse that mindset (of the ACLU) by making a deal or capitulating prior to litigation or taking a step that really would be, I think, very disturbing to the people who are the primary constituency of the military in terms of recruiting," Donnelly said.
The Boy Scouts are an independent organization that requires its members to take an oath of "duty to God." The Scouts also exclude homosexuals from leadership posts, a policy that was validated by the U.S. Supreme Court several years ago, but which sparked liberal efforts across the country to ban government support of the Scouts, both in terms of funding and access to public buildings for meetings.
The Boy Scouts also have deep historical ties to soldiering. The concept of the Boy Scouts was devised by a British general late in the 19th century as a means of relieving combat troops of the task of having to deliver messages from one fort to another.
However, the Scouting oath violates "the religious liberty of youth who wish to participate but not ... swear a religious oath," and should not be funded by the federal government or "taxpayers' dollars," an ACLU press release from Monday stated.
Donnelly suggested that the Pentagon's decision to settle won't be popular because "people don't support the ACLU" and its attempt to "eliminate ... expressions of religion by independent organizations" such as the Boy Scouts.
A backlash is sure to happen, she said, from "the people who support their sons and daughters in the decision to volunteer for the armed forces. The same type of families ... would be very disturbed to see the Department of Defense cowed by the ACLU," Donnelly said.
"Is the Department of Defense now going to treat the Boy Scouts as some kind of a pariah organization, not worthy of any kind of support?" she asked.
Damaging the link between the Boy Scouts and the military will eventually hurt the Pentagon's recruiting efforts, Donnelly said.
"Being a part of a group, wearing a uniform, accomplishing tasks ... all of these things are conducive to the kind of culture that is endemic in the military," she added. "And for a young man to go from Cub Scout to Boy Scout to Eagle Scout to the armed forces, that's a kind of lifetime progression that ... I suspect is very prevalent."
According to a Washington Times report Tuesday, however, several spokesmen for the Boy Scouts are more optimistic.
Dave McChesney, a Boy Scout executive in the San Fransisco Bay Area, reportedly said that he doubted relations between the Boy Scouts and the U.S. military would be jeopardized. "Our relations with the federal government ... [have] been fantastic. I'm sure they will remain that way," McChesney said.
In the same report, Larry Abbott, a Boy Scout official from Arizona's Grand Canyon region, also suggested that the military would remain an ally of Scouting. "We've had really good support from the military, and we're positive that will continue," Abbott said.
In a Monday press release, Adam Schwartz of the Illinois ACLU said the most important issue surrounding this latest Boy Scout-related controversy involves religious liberty.
"If our Constitution's promise of religious liberty is to be a reality, the government should not be administering religious oaths or discriminating based upon religious beliefs," Schwartz stated.
He also claimed that the American military has sponsored hundreds of Boy Scout units across the country and that the Pentagon had singled out the Boy Scouts of America and the national Boy Scout Jamboree for a $2 million federal expenditure. A settlement on the funding for the Jamboree, which was also addressed in the ACLU lawsuit, is still pending.
Members of the military may still lead Scout troops on their own time, according to the ruling, and the Boy Scouts are still permitted to meet on areas of military bases used by other civilian organizations.
Third-Grader Suspended for Drawing Soldier
Saturday, March 24, 2001
WEST MONROE, Louisiana — A Louisiana third-grader has earned an in-school suspension for drawing an armed soldier.
The principal at Lenwill Elementary School in West Monroe says the picture of a soldier holding a canteen and a knife was upsetting to other students.
The boy also drew a fort listing stocked inventory that included guns, knives and first aid kits.
The principal says the school "can't tolerate anything that has to do with guns or knives."
But the eight-year-old honor student's father says the drawing was a tribute to a relative in the Army. Raleigh Walker says he had to explain to the boy that being in the Army and owning guns "is not bad."
An official with the school district says the drawing "is a violent arrangement" and says in light of recent school violence the punishment "is not that bad."
The ACLU is the enemy as much as al Quaida! I do not know that they can be stopped unless we get the judges who will rule against their idiocy. I get so angry I can hardly think. The ACLU is the source of most of the insanity that grips our society and demands 'political correctness' at the expense of reason. Away with them. Come on W, stick it to them!
The ACLU at war with the boy scouts. My God, and liberals wonder why they lost the election. Please continue ACLU - We could use a Republican in the White House in `08 as well.
The ACLU, Al Quaeda, the Liberal (Socialist) movement in America and the many heads of the Islamo/Fascist Hydra have a common goal - the destruction of the distinct American Culture as we know (and remember) it. Just for fun, click on the link below and see the common thread running through the quotes - then look at who said them.
http://justright.com/liberty/quotesb.htm
The father of this child needs to hire some hells angels to go have a "talk" with the principle so he can tell the difference from a drawing an a real violent arrrangment.Then after the a**hole gets out of the hospital he needs to go to the nearest army base and apologize to each soldier individually for wasting oxygen and goverment money by being in this school when the funds and air could be used by real americans like the soldiers at the base.I am soooooooo f**king tired of reading story after story on FR about principles treating children the same way bush treats the taliban when these kids grow up and get out of school they will have no imigination becasue every time they demonstrate any inckling of imagination by writing or drawing they get arrested and expelled so the other kids dont dare try then they will have absolutly no knowledge of guns so when they join the army they will not have any idea which end to point or what on the gun they need to pull os we wil be defeated in a wa r with freaking canada if it comes down to it wich will be the end of western civilisation as we know it all because this waste of flesh hates the army and soldiers(probably out of jealousy) who he isnt even worthy enough of to lick the bottom of thier boots
post number two might be a good one for your homeschool ping list
I don't smoke, but I still wouldn't waste the cigarette.
It's just a matter of time before the ACLU attacks the commision of Chaplains in the military.
"violates the religious liberty of those who want to participate.."??? That's pretty tortured logic. There is manhood among the grunts in the military but any semblance of manhood in the leadership is gone for decades now. I keep waiting for someone to say "enough, no more!" and it never happens. In another example of PC, watch them hang that Marine, who shot the terrorist engaged in deception, out to dry with none of his immediate officers saying 'boo'.
I saved that site for future reference..Thanks
>>I would have been imprisoned for the things I drew in third grade.
Likewise.
Also, in the third grade, I was in the Cub Scouts. At Fort Rucker, Alabama, where Dad was XO of the Warrant Officer training battalion, just after he had returned from Vietnam. My Mom was my Den Mother. We met in one of those ubiquitous WWII 2-story wooden barracks buildings, that was between our housing area and the parade field.
This really, really stinks.
Does the President take an oath"SO help me God?"..
Watch the ACLU go after Chaplains next.
Head to post #6 and read the link to the end. A real eye opener.
Not the Muslim ons though.
This is why public schools can be open to church functions, IIRC.
:-)
Has the principal blacked out all mention of such items and incidents involving such in the history texts and library books? Has he taken away the lunchroom ladies' knives and banned all plastic knives in the lunchroom too? Ya know, all it'd take is to have a few parents call school board members at home and this will be taken care of in short order.
Weird. I was replying to the Louisiana principal article and even checked the bottom of my reply page that it was Louisiana rather than some liberal California school. How did the reply end up on this thread?
Oh, never mind.... Note to self - don't post until coffee is made.
I'm sure that is on their to do list. Although when we were last in the AF, the chaplains were so eccumenical as to be worthless to the military population at large.
great pic.... i'm copying it.
President Bush should issue an executive order allowing such sponsorships. Executive orders are harder to get a court to quash!
Who in the Pentagon approved such a settlement...Rummy? Lower level officers....who? Bush? This story need more fleshing out!
No one at the executive level of the ACLU has ever been:
1. A member of the U.S. military.
2. A boy Scout.
3. A practicing Christian.
The ACLU has a hidden agenda....a wolf in sheep's clothing if you like... whose ugliness occassionally shows itself.
It is time to use some political capital and carefuly explain to everybody that we really don't have a government that wants courts to impose political correctness. And I don't care who is offended by this statement. They can say and think things that offend me if it helps, but tell the ACLU that the Boy Scout troop charters will stay. (PS, I'm Jewish, Part indian, part Scot, an Eagle Scout, and an American. That should provide enough ammo for a little offense.)
What happened to no gays in the military?
ping
LAst night on O'Reilly, an officer of the American Legion stated the Pentagon was "warned" about this agreement with the ACLU.
Maybe it IS time for Rumsfeld to go.
Open question,
How does the ACLU select its officers? And is it possible for Freepers to join and take them over?
I have been (still am) all three. My point exactly.
"violates the religious liberty of those who want to participate.."??? That's pretty tortured logic.
Pretty tortured logic? I read it 4 times and all I got was a headache.
By the way, I wouldn't consider their agenda "hidden" anymore. As long as we're at it, I also do not contibute one dime (although I like to think I am a generous person) to the United Way, which denies funding to the Boy Scouts, while tacitly supporting (and in some cases overtly funding) Planned Parenthood.
Don't give them any ideas!
Makes you kind of wonder what kind of "religion" they're excercising their liberty on if they cannot express belief in an unspecified God. In case you missed it:
http://justright.com/liberty/quotesb.htm
Go to the 23rd & 24th quotes from the top, both from ACLU officials.
I am long retired but when I worked, it was essential for political survival to give to the United way....I balked at the way it was setup and had to fight to get an adjustment so that people like me could contribute to the United Way (thus survive) but only to those recipients of the United way that we desired.
Two areas I refused were Planned parenthood (even though I am a non-believer) and the Red Cross (I saw their many failures while in the military).
Assuming that by "non-believer" you mean "non-Christian" it is by no means necessary to be Christian for one to see the overt evil of Planned Parenthood. Margaret Sanger, the founder of the organization was an atheist who believed in eugenics and viewed abortion as a means of eliminating the offspring of "inferior" ethnic groups, mainly Blacks.
Many prominent atheists have disavowed the organization, and abortion in general. Even if you're a pure humanist, you can easily see that it's a HUMAN life we're talking about.
The ACLU is just carrying on with the agenda, trying to make sure that those who escape the abortion mills have precious little chance of a formative experience in their youth.
I totally agree on planned parenthood, and the other evils...
Abortion in particular debases the human spirit.....It is the ploy of the socialistic media to link Christians alone to pro-life. Nothing could be more incorrect and misleading. There are many agnostics and others who do not belong to an organized faith yet in turn hate abortion, the abortionists, the business profits of abortion, and the subsequent coarsening of human life.
Now with that bit of "confession" I wish you a nice day.
Greetings Domer. Me too, Class of 70 & 75.
The furnace guy is here but I just sent you a note
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