Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): Well...there ya go. Rules is rules.

SiliconWolf

They own quite a bit of land and equipment. The free cash is usually hard come, easy go. I won't dispute the numbers you quote because I didn't read the source, but most of the local councils are constantly scrounging for pennies anywhere they can find them. A lot of the work is done by volunteers, with only a few full-time employees. And that's not counting the troop leaders. I know, however, that there are a few well-to-do troops and councils, but in my 12+ years with the organization, I had very little contact with them.

Buffman

Tony

Thank you for the very experienced, clear and accurate comparison. The basic drive behind each organization (USSR or USA), whether the masses realize it or not, is exactly as you noted....conformist gunfodder for the state/nation/government.

Many of my older posts in the Sec Web forums dealt with the issue of mind conditioning (misnamed "Brainwashing"). The zealous Christian right in this country has always been the most ardent of the anti-communist groups for just one basic reason...the "Godless" communists. They haven't the foggiest idea about the other factors associated with a "true" communist system of government...which the USSR never had. All that mattered to them is that it is "atheistic" and therefore the ultimate "evil." These people were truly terrified by the communist take-overs in country after country. How could that possibly be their God's will?

What isn't as apparent to most U.S. citizens is that in those decades of fighting communism, the far right learned all the tricks that were being employed by the communists to takeover a group/organization/union/community/state/country with only a handful of truly dedicated advocates/zealots. (Please correct me if this figure is way off base, but I doubt that the loyal membership of the Communist Party of the USSR ever exceeded 17% of the total population.) That fact was not lost on the religious fundamentalists of this country. Everything that I have been observing, since the take-over of the Southern Baptist Convention in the late 1970's, indicates they these people are using the identical take-over methods employed by the USSR...only with more money and modern, slick, Madison Avenue sociometric and neuro-linguistic programming techniques.

http://www.socio.com/about.htm

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...ternetinfidels

We have had a goodly number of past discussions in the C-SS forum about the BSA and how it came to be the bigoted organization it is today. If you can gain control of the BSA hierarchy, you control the whole structure. So, just as the religious radicals gained control of the SBC and all its educational institutions and professorial appointments, so too have they gained control of the BSA and all its practical operations and educational facilities...with a full charter from Congress still in effect because it is serving the ends of those who are currently in control of Congress.

Rather off subject, but in my opinion tied to a great many of the issues we discuss here, is the timing of the Soviet nuclear and thermo-nuclear device tests...especially when it appeared that the USSR had closed the atomic weapons technology gap with the USA. Just examine the dates of the tests with those where the appeal to a supernatural God was thrust into the public square by "Ike" and a terrified Congress. (This also spurred increased monitoring and the U-2 overflights to help determine exactly how far nuclear weapons and delivery technology had advanced. Hadn't God given this new power only to the righteous and moral believers? How could a loving and just God give it to those "evil, godless and immoral" communists? Satan must have done it.)

http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew...ovwpnprog.html

{edited by Toto for Amazon line}

penumbra

posted by SiliconWolf Yeah, our local always seems to be broke. That's why I wondered about the national council. There's a good web site that can give you some financial data at: http://www.guidestar.org/search/

I've never taken the time to try to chart out the BSA's whole structure to see what it entails and "follow the money" so to speak, since my two boys weren't interested in joining. Just kinda stumbled on national council info a while back, but never looked any deeper into it.

Ronin

That's exactly right...and it is also why I'll use this interaction to get the Biloxi School System to refrain from allowing the BSA to actively recruit during school hours ~ girls go to the library while all boys go to the auditorium for play time where they are given BSA schpiel and an invitation to an evening meetup.

Here is my response to Mr. Hofmann, btw:

Dear Mr. Hofmann,

Thank you for clarifying the policy of the Boy Scouts of America regarding the rejection of prospective members based solely on the non-belief in gods.

Despite my own personal disappointment in this superstitious policy, I respect your organization's right to discriminate against good and moral people in such a manner without option.

Ryan and I will look elsewhere for better ethical tenets.

Thanks again for your time and consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Steven T. Schlicht

Buffman

Superb response.:notworthy

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): Ah...but that would put them in flagrant violation of the Helms Amendment--and result in the loss of federal funding.

(from the article): "Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn., sought to strip federal funding if meeting space were denied the Scouts, any group affiliated with the Scouts, or other youth groups listed in Title 36 of the U.S. Code as a patriotic society."

Of course the BSA already has access to public schools...but it's the thought that counts.

That was a nice reply, though...good luck.

Ronin

Thanks for the info and link, Fr. Andrew...apparently I have my job cut out for me.

Well, if anything, those that know Ryan and I personally will be given a new perspective on the issue.

Where that leads is anyone's guess...and it's better than letting it go unchecked.

ohwilleke

As an Eagle Scout, I think that BSA is getting what it deserves for abandoning the commitment to tolerance that he had through the 1970s and early 1980s.

Buffman

At one point in American history, Baptists were some of the most zealous and outspoken supporters of C-SS. Then the Jesus cult gained control of the hierarchy of the denomination and it is now one of the most vocal and zealously anti-separationist. The same pattern has occurred within the BSA.

Until 20 or so years ago, the BSA was a tolerant, primarily Christian, boy's and young men's organization that exemplified the most positive aspects of the Christian philosophies and principles. Then the Jesus cultists began to assert their intolerant influence over the heirarchy of the national leadership. Today, a young man must pass a supernaturalist loyalty oath to prove worthiness rather than practice the principles and philosophies of the Christianian faith in order to be a Scout. Is that any different than having to say "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance in order to be considered a worthy and patriotic American?

If non-Christian America, and non-Jesus cultist Christians, don't wake up to the fact that this minority group of radical Christians have, and continue, to pervert the foundations of Christianity to reflect their own vested interest bigoted goals, then the entire world may well be covered by a new era of superstitious darkness and ignorance from which it may never recover.

For those who continue to believe that that could never happen in the modern world, especially in America, all I can say is, "What group of cultists do you think is in charge of the American government today? It isn't the tolerant Christians." (I say this as a former Eagle Scout, Order of the Arrow, Den Chief and Ass't. Scoutmaster....among other dinosaur credentials.)