Boy Scouts Still Under Attack
by Big Dog on Feb 16, 2006 at 18:41 Stop the ACLU
I know it’s beating a dead horse for me to continue to make the same argument, but the Boy Scouts have been an honorable organization since their founding.
In 1908, the Boy Scouts were founded in Great Britain by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. It didn’t take long for Scouting to make its way to the United States when an American was exposed to the helpful nature of the British Scouts.
In 1909 in London, England, An American Visitor, William D. Boyce, lost his way in a dense fog. He stopped under a street lamp and tried to figure out where he was.
A boy approached him and asked if he could be of help.
“You certainly can,” said Boyce. He told the boy that he wanted to find a certain business office in the center of the city.
“I’ll take you there,” said the boy.
When they got to the destination, Mr. Boyce reached into his pocket for a tip.
But, the boy stopped him. “No thank you, sir. I am a Scout. I won’t take anything for helping.”
“A Scout? And what might that be?” asked Boyce.
The boy told the American about himself and about his brother scouts. Boyce became very interested.
After finishing his errand, he had the boy take him to the British Scouting office.
At the office, Boyce met Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the famous British general who had founded the Scouting movement in Great Britain.
Boyce was so impressed with what he learned that he decided to bring Scouting home with him.
On February 8, 1910, Boyce and a group of outstanding leaders founded the Boy Scouts of America. From that day forth, Scouts have celebrated February 8 as the birthday of Scouting in the United States.
All of our lives we have heard of the cliche’ of a Boy Scout helping an old lady to cross the street. This is just one of the principles that Scouting was founded upon. During World War II when the availability of soldiers to conduct military honors at grave sites was depleted, the Boy Scout stepped up and assisted in rendering the heroes of our nation the honors that they so richly deserved. And this tradition has continued to modern day.
Each day, somewhere in this nation, a veteran who has died receives an honor guard provided by the VFW, the American Legion, and the Boy Scouts. A Scout more often then not, sounds Taps over the grave of the fallen hero. This is a service that those of us who have served find comfort in knowing. We know that there is an organization which honors our service. We know, that there is an organization which teaches the ideals that we have fought for. Whether in actual combat, or in my case Cold War Veterans who were part of the massive build up which led to the collapse of our most threatening adversary. We know that the ideals that we’ve committed to protect are still being taught.
But now the most honorable of organizations for boys, who we can all agree are at greatest threat of going astray without the direction taught by Scouting, is in danger of being forced into becoming extinct through court decisions prostituted by the ACLU and other liberal groups who seek to remove some of the most valued principles.
Because Scouting does not admit women or homosexuals, they are a target who wish to make homosexuality main stream. Because Scouting teaches a belief in GOD and reverence to the teachings of faith, the ACLU and other groups have successfully had them labeled a religious organization. And because of this labeling, Scouting is being systematically removed from public lands under the ignorant assumption that if a local government permits a Scout Troop to use public land that constitutes a violation of the Establishment Clause. I’d like to know when Congress became involved in the decision to allow Scouts to camp in a local park.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Here is the latest attack on Scouting:
PASADENA – A three-judge appellate court panel yesterday gave lawyers a rapid-fire grilling over whether parkland leases San Diego granted the Boy Scouts violated the Constitution.
The hour-long session visited a host of issues surrounding a ruling in 2003 by U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones. He found that leases for 18 acres of Balboa Park and a half-acre of Fiesta Island were unconstitutional because they violated the separation of church and state. The Boy Scouts, which require members to take an oath “to do my duty to God,†are a religious organization, Jones ruled.
The Boy Scouts appealed his decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, contending that the Scouts are not religious and that their constitutional rights will be violated if they are evicted. The Scouts’ lawyers have been joined by the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division.
The case began in 2000, when an atheist family and a lesbian couple, each with children, sued the city and the Scouts. They alleged that the deals between the city and the Scouts violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government promotion of religion. The American Civil Liberties Union is handling their case.
The city settled with the ACLU and is no longer involved. The settlement provided that the Scouts could use the properties until the court case was resolved.
The appellate judges did not say when they would issue a ruling. The panel typically announces a decision three to six months after hearing arguments.
During yesterday’s arguments, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld, who acknowledged that he was a Scout, focused largely on whether the Scouts allowed anyone access to Camp Balboa in Balboa Park and the San Diego Youth Aquatic Center on Fiesta Island.
Boy Scouts lawyer George Davidson told the panel that everyone can reserve access to the property on a first-come, first-served basis.
But Judge Martha Berzon said that was unclear and noted some popular weeks in the summer are “blacked out.†She also noted that the park property is gated and wanted to know if people were only granted access if they had a reservation. MORE
Our heritage is slowly being stripped away. Scouting is an embedded institution in this nation. It contributes to society by keeping good boys good and allows them to develop into good men. Why would anyone want to destroy that? Because they don’t like our way of life.
Remember the ACLU was founded by socialists with an agenda to end war, to end poverty, and to make everyone in America the same. In the perfect Utopia envision by Karl Marx. But that is not attainable. It didn’t work in the former Soviet Union, it isn’t working in China, it isn’t working in Cuba, and it definately isn’t working in N. Korea. It is their goal to force the fates of those fail Communist states upon the United States. They, like most Crack addicts, believe that they can handle the addiction of absolute power.
But they have no control. As Lord Acton said:
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The Boy Scouts are a threat to their teachings. The Boy Scouts teach morality and family values which are a threat to the power grab of the leftists. So the left is using the Boy Scouts as a stepping stone to accomplish the goal that they have been striving for 85 years.
Keep in mind what Hitler did. One of the first things that Hitler did was to ban Scouting and formed the Hitler Youth. What would Romero want once Scouting is banned? Probably make membership in NAMBLA manditory for all male children under 18.
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