Can you clarify for me what the Consitutional issue is? The USSC restated the obvious for everyone: The Boy Scouts are a private organization, and as such, they can discriminate against whoever they want -- gays, women, Christians, Jews, Viatnam Vets, Republicans, Communists, Arabs, people with blue eyes, etc. etc. Now you want a law forcing government agencies to provide the group with resources? What's the constitutional basis for that? Would the same argument apply to any private group that discriminates, say against Christians, or Jews or Catholics, etc? Thanks.
I post these email notes just as received; buyer beware!!
Reply-to: "Chuck Muth"
From: charmuth@incor.com
Subject: Warning: Possible Boy Scout Scam
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 08:59:51 -0700
******************************* Possible Scam Alert
A lot of readers have received an e-mail solicitation (“Urgent! Help Defend The Scouts and Our Constitutional Rights!”) this weekend ostensibly from former Attorney General Ed Meese on behalf of something called the “Vote for Scouts” project being allegedly sponsored by something Called the Scouting Legal Defense Fund.
Information on the web site, however, says “funds contributed to the Scouting Legal Defense Fund do not go to the Boy Scouts” (in very, very hard-to-read, faint print). So who, exactly, IS getting your money then?
I don’t know if this is a legitimate effort or not. After all, the Boy Scouts had their own crack legal team fighting for them at the Supreme Court, so why would it be necessary to fund a separate effort outside the official organization?
Unfortunately, opportunists and scam artists abound all around this country, and it’s not beneath them to take advantage of a fine organization like the Boy Scouts or use honorable men like Ed Meese to enrich themselves.
While the web site looks somewhat professional (even though the links and pop-ups didn’t work very well when we visited), we all know how looks can be deceiving and that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. So if you really want to help the Scouts, we suggest you stick with the official organization.
For more information, go to:
http://www.scouting.org/nav/signup.html.
Then click on “Support Scouting,” followed by “Give 2 BSA.” From there, just type in your zip code and you’ll be directed to your local Boy Scouts council web site where you can make a secure contribution to help fund all of the organization’s worthwhile projects. Why give to a questionable effort when you can give to the real thing? - Chuck Muth, editor, GOP News & Views
=================
Reply-to:"Chuck Muth"
From:charmuth@incor.com
Subject: Update on the Possible Scout Scam
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 15:50:48 -0700
*******************************
Mystery Solved; Mea Culpa
We knew there was something fishy about that e-mail solicitation for the “Scouting Legal Defense Fund” you received earlier today. Although the identity of the folks behind it was carefully hidden from the general public, a few of our more techno-savvy readers unmasked the company who sent out the e-mail: C-Four Communications.
Now it all makes sense.
For those who don’t remember, C-Four Communications is the Internet company started and operated by Rep. Chris Cannon of Utah that stiffed me out of some $30,000+ in consulting work earlier this year, tried to publish a “fake” GOP News & Views last March and is apparently now using our subscriber database without permission in an attempt to raise money for a cause that is likely to then pay them handsomely for the “service.”
It’s certainly not much of a stretch to believe that a significant portion of any money you might give to the Scouting Legal Defense Fund will end up in C-Four’s pockets, not the Scouts.
This is the same company that developed a website for GOP News & Views earlier this year (which never did work properly) and now refuses to relinquish the opnewsandviews.com domain name back to me. Which is why there no longer IS a GOP News & Views web page and why our daily publications are posted on the Republican Liberty Caucus web site instead.
This company is so unprofessional and so undependable that it’s no surprise its managers readily admit the company’s on the brink of bankruptcy. It’s also no surprise that over the last three months the only payment toward the money they owe me - a check for a lousy $120 - bounced a couple of weeks ago.
What IS a surprise is that they’ve forced me to turn this entire mess over to an attorney, as well as go public with it. I guess they gambled that I wouldn’t have the “stones” to take on a wealthy, powerful sitting U.S. Congressman.
Well, they just rolled snake-eyes. A little scared? Hell, yes. But not to the point of letting him get away with this. Screwing me is one thing; but trying to screw my readers? That’s another thing altogether.
It had always been my intention to avoid a public airing of Rep. Cannon’s actions and my dispute with him and C-Four Communications. Frankly, I’m embarrassed that I was naïve enough to think a Member of Congress from my own party would conduct his business in such a dishonorable way. Dummy me, I actually thought the man’s word was good and his handshake sufficient. It’s not pleasant to admit you’ve been so gullible. I was.
But perhaps by finally admitting this in public, others on this list who may find themselves in a position of doing business with Mr. Cannon will think twice - or better yet, run, don’t walk, if you see him coming down the hall. As one of his colleagues once described him to me, Chris Cannon is a first-rate “huckster.” You just can’t believe or trust anything he says.
In any event, I am sincerely sorry that you, my readers, are being dragged into this mess by the unauthorized use of our subscriber database by C-Four Communications. I wish I could give you the name and e-mail address or phone number of the company’s management to voice your protest, but past experience has taught me your appeals would just fall on deaf ears.
Fact is, whether he has a financial interest in the company any longer or not, Chris Cannon still pulls the strings there and he’s the only guy who can get the company to stop spamming and scamming you.
Unfortunately, the only numbers I have on the guy are his congressional office in Washington (202-225-7751) and his cell phone number (801-362-8300). I’ve bent over backwards for the past eight months trying to work things out with this company and Mr. Cannon, to no avail.
Maybe you all will have more luck. Again, you have my sincere apology for this harassment and inconvenience.
- Chuck Muth, editor, GOP News & Views
