Rumsfeld the 'Eagle' pledges support for Boy Scouts

[Pah]

Rumsfeld the 'Eagle' pledges support for Boy Scouts
By Philip Sherwell
(Filed: 12/12/2004)
Complete article

Donald Rumsfeld, the American Secretary of Defence, has taken time out from running the war in Iraq to defend his beloved scouting movement from assault by a liberal civil rights group.


The Pentagon chief and Eagle Scout, a lifetime honorific rank, took the unusual step of distancing himself from his department's lawyers after they reached a deal with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to end the "sponsorship" of boy scout troops by some military bases.

Pentagon lawyers recently reached a partial settlement with the ACLU, agreeing that although scouts could carry on meeting on military bases, they could no longer be directly sponsored by units from the armed forces

.

In a letter to senators, Mr Rumsfeld effectively rejected the settlement and said that he backed their resolutions.

"The Department of Defence takes great pride in its longstanding and rich tradition of support to the Boy Scouts of America," he wrote. "I am concerned with the impression left by the ACLU that the department is changing its relationship with the boy scouts."

The last, being typical "double-speak"

Bob

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Oddly enough, Rumsfeld has also achieved my personal lifetime honorific rank of 'jerk.'

 

[Pah]

Oddly enough, Rumsfeld has also achieved my personal lifetime honorific rank of 'jerk.'

Those are the strongest words I can remember you saying. That, folks, is a Feather's equivalent of "damn him to hell".

Bob

 

[Sunstone]

After mismanaging the Iraqi war, Rumsfeld thinks he's an authority on the proper legal relationship of the boy scouts to the military? Next thing you know, he'll want to be president.

 

[desi]

Rumsfeld won the quickest war in history with minnimal casualties and its not enough for you people. The Boy Scouts have gotten a rotten deal handed down to them. Rumsfeld was just doing his part to offer tolken help, shrouded in the ambiguity necessitated by those who would destroy the Boy Scouts.

 

[Sunstone]

Rumsfeld won the quickest war in history with minnimal casualties and its not enough for you people.

Do you follow the news? The war in Iraq is not over. By some people's estimates, including Rumsfeld's latest estimates, the war in Iraq has only just begun. It will be a long time before the insurgency is defeated and that country has a stable government.

 

[desi]

Do you follow the news? The war in Iraq is not over. By some people's estimates, including Rumsfeld's latest estimates, the war in Iraq has only just begun. It will be a long time before the insurgency is defeated and that country has a stable government.

The war was won aganst Saddam. The guerilla war against terrorist infiltrators from surrounding countries is another matter...

 

[Scuba Pete]

While I support the Boy Scouts almost vehemently (see my www.ScoutBoard.com ), Rumsfeld has not won the war.

The Scouts are the only group actually chartered by Congress though and I think that we are being way too PC in our handling of them.

 

[Sunstone]

The war was won aganst Saddam. The guerilla war against terrorist infiltrators from surrounding countries is another matter...

Well, if the war against Saddam was so starkly a separate thing than the war against the insurgency, then why didn't we declare victory after we beat Saddam and bring our troops home? It seems the truth is that the "two" wars are so interwoven that you can't tell where the one stops and the other begins.

 

[Pah]

...The Boy Scouts have gotten a rotten deal handed down to them. Rumsfeld was just doing his part to offer tolken help, shrouded in the ambiguity necessitated by those who would destroy the Boy Scouts.

The Boy Scouts made their bed and now they have to lie in it.

There is no ambiuity in the Government not supporting a Christian private organization.

Bob

 

[Scuba Pete]

Its not Christian... not by any stretch. All faiths are welcome, though they do insist on a belief in some sort of God.

 

[Sunstone]

Its not Christian... not by any stretch. All faiths are welcome, thought they do insist on a belief in some sort of God.

Would they bar a buddhist?

 

[Scuba Pete]

Nope... there is a unit that is sponsored by a local temple.

 

[Pah]

http://www.scouting.org/forms/28-209.pdf

BOY SCOUT APPLICATION
28-209W BOY SCOUT APPLICATION 650M604

I want to be a Scout. I have read the Scout Oath or
Promise and the Scout Law. As a Boy Scout, I will
meet the obligations of living by the Scout Oath or
Promise and will regularly attend all meetings and
activities of my Scout troop.

SCOUT OATH OR PROMISE
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.

Excerpt from the

Declaration of Religious Principle
The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best
kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God...

The highlighted portions excludes Atheists and is unconstitutional for a government to sponser. It really is very simple.

Bob

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Rumsfeld won the quickest war in history with minnimal casualties and its not enough for you people. The Boy Scouts have gotten a rotten deal handed down to them. Rumsfeld was just doing his part to offer tolken help, shrouded in the ambiguity necessitated by those who would destroy the Boy Scouts.

Actually, the shortest war in history was the Anglo-Zanzibar War, which lasted 45 minutes. Our boy scouts get along fine without military or government sponsorship...I'm pretty sure there's no insistence that the members follow a god to gain admission, either.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Its not Christian... not by any stretch. All faiths are welcome, though they do insist on a belief in some sort of God.

My only issue with the Boy Scouts is the exclusion of gays. The only other thing is, if I remember correctly, they have a kind of badge that they award for scouts in different denominations (Christian, Judaism, etc). While it seems that most of the other major religions are represented, the badge that the pagan community tried to propose has been shot down time and again.

My dad and uncle were both Eagle scouts, and my father went on to volunteer for the group later in his life. He's stopped volunteering, though I don't know if that's due to time constraints or to his beliefs.

 

[Scuba Pete]

I have mixed issues when it comes to Gays and Scouts. The only ones asked to "leave" were those with an agenda to mix the two for political reasons. The Boy Scouts have had a LONG tradition of being neutral when it comes to politics and avoiding the issue of sex entirely. When sex (straight or gay) becomes an issue, the Scouters involved are asked to leave the orginization. Sexual preference is not an issue, UNLESS the Scouter makes it one.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Would they bar a buddhist?

Nope, just atheists.

NetDoc-- It's my understanding that if a Scouter is openly gay, he will be kicked out. Am I wrong here?

 

[retrorich]

I will never support the Boy Scouts of America in any way as long as they discriminate against atheists and agnostics.

And then there's the gay issue. Perhaps the Scouts should change their motto to:

"Be prepared to go STRAIGHT to heaven!"

 

[Scuba Pete]

We have at least two Gay Scouters that I know of, but they aren't trying to push an agenda. No one really cares. The last Scouter in our district that was asked to leave was using Scouts in a political commercial (religious right), which is a HUGE no-no. The Scouts just DON'T want to be a political football, and they will prune with a shovel to achieve that.

The level of PC has gotten so HIGH, that we can't sing many of our fun songs like "God Bless my Underwear" or ANY song that is sung to a reigious tune. You can't use nicknames or labels and every thing has to squeaky, squeaky clean. We can't even sing songs about farts or belches or other body anomalities. I'm sorry, but the boys LOVE gross. One of my all time favorites "Granny's in the Cellar" has been deemed inappropriate:

Granny's in the cellar
Lordy can't you smell her?
Baking biscuits in that
durned ol' dirty stove!
In her eye there is a matter
That keeps drippin' in the batter
And whe whistles
While the (make LARGE sniffling noise) runs down her nose!
Down her nose!
Down her nose!
In her eye there is a matter
That keeps drippin' in the batter
And whe whistles
While the (make LARGE sniffling noise) runs down her nose!

As an covert act of rebellion I still teach this subversive ditty to Cub Scouts.