You might have seen this picture of a Boy Scout and his leader (in the rainbow kerchief) distributing pizzas at the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office after Utah’s ban on gay marriage was overturned. Here’s the backstory on the leader, Peter Brownstein and his son Michael, an Eagle Scout:
As leader of Boy Scout Troop 351, he’s long advocated for the Scouts to accept all boys and men into the organization. He was reprimanded last June for participating in full uniform in the Utah pride parade in Salt Lake City.
“We are very disappointed that you used Scouting to advance the gay agenda,” wrote Bry Davis, council president, and Rick Barnes, Scout executive.
The United Jewish Federation of Utah, the sponsor of Troop 351, suspended all its activities in September. Executive Director Alex Shapiro said the federation does not discriminate against any groups. He said the troop was shut down because families of the Scouts felt Brownstein’s focus had shifted away from their children.
“It is true that Troop 351 is no longer active, however, that was a decision that was made solely by the Scout families and did not involve the federation,” Shapiro said.
In a few years when gay marriage is just “marriage”, there’s going to be a reckoning. Rick Barnes and Bry Davis will be on one side of history, and Peter Brownstein will be on the other.
(via OTB)
Corner Stone
I’ve always wondered what the “militant gay agenda” is. Any ideas?
mai naem
I’m wondering if the troop is primarily Jewish or Mormon. I would guess the Mormons pretty much control Boy Scouts in Arizona. I’m guessing they do in Utah too. That’s probably more the issue. And,oh yeah, what the Mormons do to Jews(baptizing them as Mormons after they die?!?!?) is completely offensive.
Ash Can
There’s been a blurb making the intertoobz rounds that shows two photos side by side, one from decades ago of protestors with anti-segregation signs picketing the USSC, and the other a more recent one of anti-gay protestors picketing in the same place. The caption reads, “Think of how stupid you’re going to look 40 years from now.” Yeah, pretty much.
Corner Stone
It *does not help* that in the picture in the article the pizza box the boy is holding shouts, “Hot N Ready!”
Napoleon
@Corner Stone:
Hilarious
gbear
@Corner Stone: It’s making bigotry unacceptable. Some people don’t even realize how willing they are to fight to the death to maintain their right to hate on others.
c u n d gulag
I saw that photo a few days ago, AND SMILED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gbear
@c u n d gulag: Me too. Then I posted it on my facebook page.
Butch
I lost my copy of the gay agenda again. Can I borrow someone’s?
Cassidy
Does the gay agenda involve bringing me some beef ribs? Maybe a little dry rub? I hope so.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
How do we know this isn’t a plain clothes Troop Leader marrying a boy scout?
J R in WV
Pretty sure the militant Gay agenda is peace and freedom to live a normal life as a gay person in love with someone. The only room for hatred there is if you just hate Gay-ness for the sake of hate.
But: Whaqt du I knoe? I bin maried to the same gurl for 42 yearts now, I’m just a hillbily livin up a holler.
Still, pretty sure “Freedom to be Me!” is the militant gay agenda.
Turning 63 later today, can’t believe I made it into my 60s with many faculties intact!
WereBear
I have been reveling in the wonderfulness of The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts.
It’s very well-written and researched… that’s the wonderful part. However, it doesn’t make one feel wonderful, because a lot of the book explores gay life prior to the Stonewall riots. In other words, what happened to Alan Turing was routine, right down to the suicides.
I think the prejudiced are starting to get that they are increasingly in danger of living in a world where prejudice is frowned upon, and they can’t stand it. How are they going to feel good about themselves?
A knotty problem indeed.
ruemara
I’ve always preferred the gay agenda because the styles were far more tasteful with less meetings than the lesbian agenda.
@WereBear: I fully encourage them to make like an angry stepsister and jump off of something.
CarolDuhart2
@J R in WV: Happy Birthday from someone who just turned 57. We are all astonished-at the gray hair and that were are not as bad off as we thought we would be.
Just the whole gay marriage thing seems incredible. From someone who remembered the Mapplethorpe protests, the fact that gay marriage isn’t raising as much fuss is amazing. And that gay life is so open. Indeed, there is a gratification that the would is changing for the better in so many ways-racially, sexual orientation, women.
Cassidy
And a bottle of bourbon. Add that to the agenda. Or a nice Japanese whiskey. I’ve been wanting to try that.
Mustang Bobby
@Corner Stone: According to the manual I got when I went through the training, it’s to sneak into the homes of unsuspecting straight people and redecorate.
Actually, it’s just as the other commenters have said: to live a life without being scrutinized by anyone else for not living up to their expectations other than being a responsible citizen regardless of whom I love if I’m ever fortunate to find someone who will love me back. And as my favorite fictional character says, “Hope is my greatest weakness.”
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: Speaking of forbidden love, I had crab fried rice last night from a local Thai place.
With a little mixed english and some hand gestures they got the heat level just right.
Corner Stone
@J R in WV: Isn’t it a kind of gay to be married to the same person for that many years?
Botsplainer
Sixteen years from now, long after the melding of the Log Cabin Republicans with the teabagger caucus, front running GOP candidate Greenwald will spout him some Bell Curve and Uncle Milty Friedman and progressive activists will lap it up like a dog eating vomit.
The G side of the LGBT continuum bears some watching, I’m afraid. Once they get what they want from the progressosphere, their loyalties are likely to shift.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@Corner Stone: It’s so hard to get the heat level just right.
Botsplainer
@Cassidy:
Four Roses has a specific formulation for export to Japan. I believe it is a lighter mash.
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer:
To me, this oft repeated sentiment just seems like a more accepted way to hate on the gays.
It’s another way of telling them how they are allowed to live their life.
dedc79
The Gay Agenda must be a pamphlet appended to the back of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
RaflW
So when I was a scout and we did fundraising work for charity, had the focus shifted away from the children?
Part of the point of scouting (besides pyromania, running in the woods with sharpened sticks, and general outdoor mayhem) is service. Sometimes that service is for old ladies or poor people.
But, gee, sometimes it can be for other marginalized people. And, frankly, Scouting chose to focus on ostracizing select children, so there is that too.
I should note that my Scouting years involved some pretty awful anti-gay behavior. Pretty much classic middle school “fag” taunts and such, but it was a shitty culture in that respect. And the son of the scoutmaster was the worst.
I do think boy scouts have serious work to do. Girl scouts, I gather, have respect for diversity.
El Caganer
@Cassidy: Somebody told me that Japanese whiskey is similar to scotch, but I don’t have any first-hand knowledge. Be interesting to try, though.
dedc79
@Botsplainer: If the claim is that once their civil rights are secured, we may find that gays become distributed across the political spectrum in the same way heterosexual americans are, that I can buy. The idea that they will all or mostly become republicans strikes me as unfair and I’m curious what makes you think that.
Corner Stone
I’ll take the Fireside Girls over any other Scouting org.
Cassidy
@Botsplainer:
And you just made our front pagers all hot and bothered. Be careful, though, our own little Bobo might not be able to take it. He’ll start seeing starbursts and shit.
The website says it’s only sold in Japan. I can just go pick up a bottle of Japanese Whiskey at my ABC right up the street. Just finishing up that bottle of Bulliet and considering going with Angels Envy or the Collingwood Blended Canadian.
RaflW
@Botsplainer:
That’s a not particularly nice way of noticing that, just like in other aspects of human thought and behavior, some gay people are more conservative, and some are more progressive.
It is also unfair to paint all gay men as suspect in their political loyalty just because some noticeable (but probably smallish) subset of rich white gay men may be Republican jerks who vote Dem out of temporary necessity.
Served
@Corner Stone: One of my favorite gay bars here in Chicago has a Gay Military Agenda Night, I think. At least, they all dress like it is.
Cassidy
@El Caganer: That’s what I’ve read. Apparently, they are making scotch, but its not called scotch because it’s made in Japan. I’m not a scotch drinker, so it’ll be a new experience all around. My problem is I’m always wanting to try something new. I really like Bulliet and Jack Daniels Honey, but it’ll be a while before I try them because there are so many bottles of good reviewed whiskeys to try. I’m still on bourbons and have to force myself to branch out.
Served
@Botsplainer: This sentiment was rampant in another post not too long ago, and I had to refrain from commenting because it was so dizzyingly bizzare.
Please stop with this. I know plenty of gay conservatives now, and I think they’re annoying and there is a self-loathing component to their thinking. It’s also counter-productive for you to point this out. There are liberal and conservative Gays and Lesbians now, and there will be in the future. Setting myself, and other gays as potential enemies is ridiculous and offensive. Trust that it is proven that a people discriminated against do not forget who discriminated against them.
Gin & Tonic
@El Caganer: It is. Many Japanese like Scotch, and some of the expensive Japanese brands (Suntory, for example) are very similar in formulation. But there’s a spectrum of flavors, similar to (but not as wide as) that available with the single-malt Scotches.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@Botsplainer: A few perhaps, but the civil rights movement didn’t exactly re-distribute African-American voters between the parties.
dedc79
@El Caganer: They do tend to be similar to scotch. They can’t be called Scotch mostly because they’re not distilled in Scotland. Have had a bottle of the Yamazaki 12, which is one that has made it over to the US. Thought it was pretty good.
Botsplainer
@Cassidy:
I bought a nice looking bottle of Woodford Double Oaked in a single barrel special edition, which I plan to crack open in about 8 weeks.
In the interim, I’m working on a MacAllen 15 and a bottle of Talisker.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@Served: This.
Served
And most importantly, our ecosystem demands that we have gay conservatives, so that Republicans have staffers to have affairs with.
CarolDuhart2
@Served: Besides, it doesn’t mean that the Republicans will at the same time be all that welcoming of gays either. There is a strong religious subgroup that will be at best, frosty. Only the passage of time will make that go away.
Think of what has happened with other minority groups. Things have changed, but there is a group of Republicans fighting that change even as a rear-guard action. So 50 years after the beginnings of the Southern strategy and after the Civil Rights acts, Democrats are still 90-10 Democratic, with the small number of Republicans mostly ones that are old or by heredity.
Corner Stone
@Served:
Man, I am so confused. There’s a “Gay Agenda” a “Militant Gay Agenda” and also a “Gay Military Agenda” ??
Which one is more of a threat to my sexuality and comfortable suburban lifestyle, moving forward?
Botsplainer
@dedc79:
Easy. Spending habits, wealth, lifestyle patterns and the monochromatic hue of their local events tend to point glibertarian. Combine that with the reluctance to out the so very many closeted participants among wingnut think tanks and wingnut congressional staffs, and the case for my proposition solidifies further.
The L side is with the angels on issues of economics and race.
Cassidy
@RaflW: @Served: I think it’s safe to say that selfish, narcissistic assholes will vote GOP regardless of who they like to get naked with.
Napoleon
@RaflW:
For a comparable example, you have your Ben Carsons, Allen Wests, Herman Cains and that black guy who was waiving a Confederate flag at a rally to keep a school in Florida named after the first Grand Wizard of the KKK among African Americans. I don’t know why you wouldn’t expect something similar with gay people.
J R in WV
@Corner Stone:
Watch it! No bourbon for you if you keep acting out !!!
I’ve got some good Waller I’ve been saving, and a pint of oysters for a stew. Gotta go to town, I blew up a (new) tire on the way home Christmas day when I hit a pothole with sharp edges, may get some more champers for with dinner. I love the bubbly I do.
Nothing like changing a tire for the first time in years in the dark with the temps around 12. At least there was a street light, and it wasn’t freezing rain!
Botsplainer
@Napoleon:
Polling data indicated that as many as 34 percent of self-identified gay men voted GOP in the Teabagger wave year. People of Color don’t tend to follow gadflies and shills like that.
Chyron HR
@Corner Stone:
I would worry most about gay military-industrial agenda, the ones that want to start a war–a nuclear war–at the gay bar.
Botsplainer
@Napoleon:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44743.html
Polling data indicated that as many as 34 percent of self-identified gay voters voted GOP in the Teabagger wave year. Gay men had to really skew that number rightward. .People of Color don’t tend to follow gadflies and shills like that.
CaseyL
They exist. They absolutely exist and I have had to interact with them: people who loathe women, and want nothing to do with them, and strive to remain in happy ignorance about “women’s issues” – which includes family issues, since these fellows don’t want kids, either. The only thing they tend to care about is taxes; i.e., how to keep from paying any.
How “small” a subset they represent…. is a good question. I have no data regarding that. Do you? I think most of them are Log Cabin Republicans anyway, for what that’s worth.
This is American politics we’re talking about, where the motto is “What have you done for me lately?”
Poopyman
@Served: I’m shocked – shocked! – to find that gays are individuals.
Botsplainer
@CaseyL:
According to my link, if 31% of self identified gay voters went GOP in 2008 and 34% of those voters went GOP IN 2010, what were the gender breakdowns?
For the sake of expedience, I’ll ignore the trans community as more apolitical, and will assume that the bi community tends to follow a somewhat more progressive path, while tracking mostly with general voting patterns. If lesbian women are voting monolithic blocks on issues of gender, racial and economic equality, what must the gay male number look like in order to hit that third for the overall cohort? 60%? 70%?
eric
That pic is fabulous.
Fred
@RaflW: You know there are some stupid gay people. Not as high a percentage as in the general population, I think. Being gay in modern Amerika tends to stimulate the thinking muscles, particularly in the survival cortex. But sumpthin tells me that the GOPers won’t let go of HATE THE GAY too easy so at least another half century before they wise up, I’d say. Even dumb gays aren’t that dumb.
Walker
This is why I left scouting. The regional council had an agenda against my scout leader. He eventually stepped down to preserve the troop.
Randy P
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: My daughters have been visiting for Christmas. They each have their own very-heartfelt favorite hot sauces, I got a new flavor as a stocking stuffer (a Chinese one I’ve never tried), and they argued at length the pros and cons of the different choices in the hot-sauce marketplace.
I’m so proud.
Gex
So nice of the many reports I read on this to have glossed over that fact. A lot of “Hey look! The Scouts are being more tolerant” pieces that give the Scouts positive PR for something they haven’t done.
Corner Stone
@Randy P:
Don’t be a Stingy Steve! This is a thread for sharing, mutual love and respect.
So tell us the name of the Chinese hotsauce or you might be visited by some militantly gay members of the Gay Agenda’s Military.
Joey Maloney
@Cassidy: The gay agenda specifically excludes dry rub, due to excessive chafing.
Cassidy
@Joey Maloney: Dammit! Don’t the gays know that the best way to ruin a perfectly good rack of ribs is to slather them in sauce?
eric
@Cassidy: the gays dont do racks
Joey Maloney
@Cassidy: All you need is a little vegetable oil. Flavoring is optional but not necessary.
cmorenc
QUERY: Would you be so approving of the image of scouts & scoutmasters-in-uniform if they were serving pizza instead to an anti-abortion rally or a rally to support mandated equal teaching of creationism along with evolution in public schools? I wholeheartedly support ending discrimination against gays in scouts, but as otherwise solidly progressive as my political/social orientation is, the wearing of the scout uniform in support of marriage equality opens a political pandora’s box that should be left closed, regardless of how worthy the political cause otherwise is. The scouts should be open to all comers, without people needing to worry about reservations about joining thereby entangling them with unwanted political allegiances as well. Although Scout Executives Bry Davis and Rick Barnes probably had homophobic notions in mind when they said: “We are very disappointed that you used Scouting to advance the gay agenda,” nevertheless Alex Shapiro (of the United Jewis Federation, former sponsor of troop 351) had it exactly right when he said: ” the troop was shut down because families of the Scouts felt Brownstein’s focus had shifted away from their children.”, and even Davis and Barnes are correct insofar as alleging that Brownstein was using scouting to push an agenda beyond its proper scope.
I find myself reluctantly agreeing with Davis, Barnes, and Shapiro to that extent. It’s one thing to foster acceptance within scouting that a boy who’s a troop member has a parent in a committed gay relationship, it’s another to begin appearing at politicized events. Again, how would you feel if the dad and son were instead in full scout uniform, handing out pizza at an abortion clinic protest or anti-evolution textbook rally?
Joey Maloney
@cmorenc:
No, but jeepers that false-equivalence gotcha bullshit never gets old.
Corner Stone
@cmorenc: I’m not sure how you equate notions or political ideas that retard society with the concept of equal rights under the law?
cmorenc
@Joey Maloney: What a complete bullshit dodge to claim any analogy inconvenient to your viewpoint is “false equivalence”. What exactly is false about it? It’s notable that I explained with articulate exactness why the analogy should be considered directly relevant, and you replied with nothing more than a cliche.
AdamK
@J R in WV: Happy birthday! I’m hitting 61 next month. Can’t remember where I left my faculties, but they’ve gotta be around here somewhere.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
Cmon, folks, stick to the topic: Thai food.
Villago Delenda Est
@CaseyL:
For an example of this, see Scalia, who 70 years ago would be considered to be a best, an honorary white person. Now he’s part of a mainstream that would join in keeping his own grandparents out of this country.
Roger Moore
@Randy P:
The answer to which hot sauce is easy.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
What the hell is this blog’s obsession with white people? We’re here, we’re not near or queer, get used to it!
Villago Delenda Est
@Poopyman:
I thought they were part of a hive mind.
Joey Maloney
@cmorenc:
Only everything. On one side, equal rights under the law. On the other, the opposite, with a side order of none-of-your-business-anyway (at least until a Boy Scout grows a uterus).
And believe me, there’s nothing whatsoever notable in your blizzard of nonsense, or that you think it comprises “articulate exactness”.
Cassidy
@Roger Moore: The link says nothing about datil peppers. Must be a mistake.
Randy P
@Corner Stone: Not at home so it’s not in front of me, but I’m pretty sure it’s this one
@Roger Moore: Oh, no argument there. We all keep a bottle of that stuff in our fridges.
The Sriracha-related sub-discussion was on the merits of putting it on, say, your mac and cheese.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: Speak for yourself, Dudebro!!
maya
@Villago Delenda Est:
Fxd to include Dancin Dave.
cmorenc
@Corner Stone:
My point has NOTHING to do with the worthiness of the cause, and everything to do with entangling everyone who would otherwise consider scouting with your worthy cause. FAR more is going to be gained by people who might still feel reservations about their acceptance of gays having the experience of being in a scout troop which includes a gay family and discovering that they are ok aftrer all, aren’t trying to recruit anyone into some alien lifestyle, and everyone’s moral fabric stays intact just like it did before openly gay families were allowed to join. As much as I support marriage equality, I don’t want all my activities with my own kids to have to get swept up in political movements of any kind, worthy or not.
Corner Stone
@Randy P: Darn. I had hoped it would be something I haven’t tried. But like all variants of sexual deviance, I have already experienced this one.
But, WTS, that is some really good stuff. You’re going to enjoy that.
AdamK
@Corner Stone: But note how them Kneegrows stopped voting Democrat once they got their civil rights.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@cmorenc: You need to go back to the beginning and get a better pseudonym. Then we’ll talk about whatever’s bothering you.
First things first.
Roger Moore
@Randy P:
Being from The 626, I had to put in a plug.
cmorenc
@Joey Maloney: You are so full of your self-righteous bullshit, that you’re repelling far more people than you’re persuading, even people inclined to be on your side of issues. Lots of folks who are on-board with supporting marriage equality can nevertheless see that Brownstein is hijacking the scouts for his own agenda, not that of scouting.
Cassidy
This sounds good.
http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/sriacha-hoisin-pork-ribs/
kc
@Corner Stone:
Oh, you’ll find out when it gets RAMMED DOWN YOUR THROAT!
Corner Stone
@cmorenc: I disagree in that the cause does matter. To me it’s like asking what if they were handing out pizzas at a KKK rally.
The answer is I would not want to support that organization but feel they every right to engage in that activity.
If there are those who do not believe it’s correct to instill values of equality, and/or equal justice under the law to their children then they clearly are free to make the decision.
I understand you’re asking (I think), that why can’t you get some free time to just enjoy life and activities with your child. But I disagree with the way you wanted to set up the argument.
Cassidy
@cmorenc:
Pretty sure you haven’t won anyone over with your argument, least not here anyway. Kind of an “up is down” kind of statement. Just sayin’.
Corner Stone
@AdamK: That’s because we wouldn’t allow them to!
Corner Stone
@kc: Promises, promises.
Botsplainer
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:
That shit hurts. Literally.
Made the mistake of letting a friend order for me once when I stepped away from the table to watch my hands.
He apparently happens to have no functioning taste buds or remaining intestinal lining, because he ordered it “Thai spicy”. Like an idiot, when it arrived at the table, I ate it, sweating the whole time, because I was accustomed to Vietnamese food and thought I could handle it.
I was wrong. I was in searing, cramping agony for about 12 hours that evening.
AdamK
@cmorenc: Here’s what’s false: they aren’t appearing at a protest or a political rally. They’re handing out pizza to people waiting to get married. Getting married isn’t a political rally, and they are not equivalent, and to claim they are is false.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@Botsplainer: You always have to tell them “not quite Thai hot” or they will jack you up.
AdamK
Yall can take your nasty racks of ribs and grease em up with bottles of nasty chinese hot sauce. My militant gay agenda involves sitting here by the fire with a cat on my lap and a glass of Bulleit Rye, next to which other whiskeys, japanese or scotch or whatever, taste like somebody else’s leftover watery dregs.
AdamK
And somebody call the boy scouts. I need a pizza.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: I told the guy last night I wanted “hot” and used a little thumb moving up to indicate more heat. He smiled and said, “Oh! You want it hot?” and had his palm flat out about even with his forehead.
I said, “Yes, but this kind of hot.” And lowered it down to about my neckline.
“Oh, ok! You got it!”
They always seem to get happy when you ask them to light you up.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@Corner Stone: I usually say, “Not Thai hot, make it Whitey hot, then add a little hot but not enough to make it shitfire hot.” Then I gesture at my ass and make upside down jazz hands.
Roger Moore
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:
It depends on the place. I’ve been to a lot of Thai places who won’t believe you want it hot unless you are obviously Thai or have been there enough times for them to know you can handle it. This seems to be part of a general trend, where cultures that eat spicy food believe they like it spicier than anyone else and they have to tone it down for everyone else.
Cassidy
@AdamK: Haven’t had the rye, yet.
Corner Stone
@Roger Moore: There’s one I go to that’s in a rather bad neighborhood. Run by an older Thai gentleman and all his family work there. Evil little old curmudgeon. Runs the place like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.
But when you tell him you want something and he says, “How spicy?” and you say, “Spicy spicy”. He lights up with the biggest, evilest grin and virtually dances away to the kitchen to place the order.
Joey Maloney
@cmorenc:
You took a poll, did you? Of all the hundreds and thousands who hang on my every word as an obscure blog commenter telling another one he’s full of shit? And who form their opinions therefrom? Do tell.
Thing is, whatever all those supposed people I’m supposedly repelling think, you’re still full of shit on this one. False equivalence is false.
Joey Maloney
There used to be a Thai place underneath the Argyle L stop in Chicago, they had one page of their menu not translated into English. If you asked about anything on that page, it was “No, no! American no like!” One time I insisted they bring me something from that page that I picked at random. They were right. American no like. American especially no like the next morning.
I couldn’t tell you what I ate. There were claws, and suckers, and maybe a beak or two. But it hardly mattered because the whole thing was buried under a few hundred thousand Scoville units.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Corner Stone:
I usually just say “thai spicy” and after some raised eyebrows, and maybe a “really?” the food comes out just right.
Jay C
@Corner Stone:
Actually, the “gay agenda” is pretty much what it has always been for a long time: to alter societal attitudes so that gay people are no longer subject to legal or social discrimination due to their sexual orientation. IOW, to be treated as equal ciitizens.
The big difference nowadays is that whereas it used to be that the general attitude that said “gay agenda” was bad, wrong, evil, and worse than Naziism and Communism combined was pretty much universal among (most) straight folks: now, that viewpoint has become that of dwindling minority: which will probably, of course, bottom out (like so much else in this country) at 27%……
AdamK
@Cassidy: One sip, and you’ll seek a second.
Chris
@cmorenc:
The BSA made Scouting political in the first place when they decided that gays (and atheists and agnostics) weren’t allowed to join. If you want them to stay away from the politics of the gay rights issue, fine – they can cut the membership requirements and let anyone in with no questions asked and the topic never brought up and treated as casually as being right handed or left handed. Ditto all other issues. Stick to the happy generic message of “kids should go on camping trips and have fun.”
… not that I really care about the BSA or hold them in high enough regard to care one way or another what happens there. They’re a private organization and if they want to follow in the footsteps of these segregated “Christian” colleges and organizations that lost their tax-exempt status in the seventies, that’s on them. But let’s get real; they are perfectly happy sweeping your kids up in political debate right now, and it’s hardly unfair if someone every now and then rebels against the hive mind and says “excuse me, I think the drum you guys insist on beating should be playing a different tune.”
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@cmorenc:
As several other people have pointed out, you need to direct your complaints to Boy Scouts of America, who jumped on the culture war bandwagon years ago and haven’t jumped off since. Complaining about the counter-protests to the BSA’s actions makes you sound a little petty, I’m afraid. It’s not like the BSA is going to stop being jackasses about atheists and gays if no one complains about it.
Corner Stone
I think the Militant Gay Agenda has infiltrated my abode. I was sitting here with the TV sound off and all of a sudden I could hear the bass line to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines in the rotation of my ceiling fan.
Bump bump bump BUMP…bump…bump..bumpbumpbump
The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion
@Botsplainer: Jesus, God, you’re an asshole. You could set up a booth at the local fair and make a killing. “Step right up and tell me who you fuck, and I’ll tell you how you vote.” You’re a bigot. “Keep an eye on them shifty faggots! Them cocksuckers’ll turn on ya like nobody’s business.”
Corner Stone
@The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion: Book of Botsplainer 2:17
“And by their sexual positions shall ye know them”
NotMax
@Cassidy
Have mentioned it before, but gotta say it again.
The bourbon is splendid, the rye is superb and a revelation.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
OK, I know this thread is dead, but I gotta mention my two favorite bourbons. Buffalo Trace is a good medium expensive whiskey that’s smooth and tasty.
There are two flavors of Weller, W. L. Weller and Old Weller, which is 107 proof, and a little sharp on account of the high proof. W. L. Weller is more like 88 proof (i think) and so a little smoother.
I learned about Weller in an article about families of whiskey, bourbon whiskey to be specific. A famous old bourbon is Pappy van Winkle whiskey, which is really aged old and smooth. It’s also unobtainable, and 99$ a bottle.
Weller is made by the same distiller, and is aged in the same casks, and is just a few years younger than Pappy’s best, and costs like $25 and change. Sweet!
I don’t care for the BSA, never have. They’re a religious organization, and a conservative political organization, and they do hateful management things to people they decide might be different. Not to mention the things they do to people who admit they’re different.
I learned that I didn’t like them when I was about 12, when I realized I couldn’t join the local troop, because I wasn’t a member of the Baptist Church down the hill. Even though they invited me to a service, and I still didn’t get saved!1!!!!
Silly me, I thought it was all about teaching youngsters how to camp out and be comfortable in the woods in all kinds of conditions. Nope!
But bourbon, that will help you be comfortable in the woods under severe conditions.
Gex
@Chris: It’s funny how the status quo in favor of the anti-gay folks is so easily considered to be “neutral” by people who aren’t personally affected. So much joy was had over the last decade watching gay “allies” like this arguing in favor of the shit we are trying to get past.
Yes, it was SO much better when the entire organization was systematically anti-gay than it is now when some of them come out and support gay people. If the agitation is working for something that doesn’t personally affect me, then it is just annoying and it should stop.
“Stop politicizing this” is often politicizing this, just in favor of the other side without endorsing that side.
Ruckus
@El Caganer:
Them’s swear words, they are.
The Japanese whiskey that I have had is lighter and maybe a little smother than ours but still tastes like whiskey.
Chris
@Gex:
Even before you get to that point, I just love the naivete of people who think “politics” are an ugly cesspool that’s Over There but that we normal folk don’t want to expose the children to (think of the children!) –
Regular people “politicize” things every day, even and especially when kids are involved. Do you teach your kids that they shouldn’t judge people based on the color of their skin? Then you’re making a political statement – that was the defining argument of our politics fifty years ago, and it’s remained there barely beneath the surface ever since. Do you send your kids to the Boy Scouts because they have a “service to the community” component and you think it’s good that they learn that? Then you’re trying to imbue them with certain political values – entire manifestos have been written about how “service” and “community” are just bilge invented by the weak and unworthy to hold back the Galtian supermen. Do you take your kids to church? Politics again, all over the place – what kind depends on what church you go to, but very few churches stay quiet on the issues of the day. School? Politics, politics, politics – from the Pledge of Allegiance to what they do and don’t leave out of the history books to all the science that half the country doesn’t “believe” in.
“Don’t judge people because of their skin color or their religion” is a political statement. “Serve your community” is a political statement. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is a political statement. People from Rush Limbaugh to Margaret Thatcher to Ayn Rand would’ve metaphorically crucified you for saying them like you meant them, and it’s some of the earliest stuff we try to beat into our kids’ heads almost from the moment they can walk.