Posted on 10/02/2003 6:24:25 AM PDT by madprof98
Go to www.nega-bsa-events.com . This was organized and run by the Northeast Georgia Council. I contacted the reporter directly and he told me that the Council's professional staff was there in uniform and ran the event. Tickets were $40 in advance, $45 at the door, and $100 bucks if you wanted to hang out afterwards and get to meet and talk to the speakers and entertainers directly. This was a BSA event and having political and partisan speakers was a violation of National policy.Now, if you think that the BSA should change it's policy (and I don't), then fine. That's worthy of debate. But until National does change it's policy, it's Councils are obligated to observe it.
How does this have to do with letting gay leaders into the BSA? Because whether or not the BSA allowed gay leaders, this is against National's youth protection policy. You can't have a 22 year old straight leader taking a 15 year old Scout into the woods alone, either. And a good thing, too, for multiple reasons.
Perhaps you should reread the article, reread my posts, and check out the site I referenced. Only this time, try it slowly, for comprehension. The Council organized the event. The Council publicized the event. The Council ran the event. Ann Coulter was invited to the event by the BSA. Her view were presented publicly under the auspices of the BSA. Political views were presented to the public by the BSA. This is a violation of BSA National's policy.
What happen when national policy is violated? do they get arrested???
Volunteers can get their BSA registration revoked and can be blacklisted (actually, it's called the "Red list") so that their registration is rejected every time someone tries to enter it into National's computers again. Professionals can get fired, and can be blacklisted so that they can no longer be hired by any Council again. At the very least, they can have a severe crimp put into their career with regards to promotions, pay raises, etc.
Seems funny that ... the BSA cant have a guest speaker without liberal-socialists getting their panties in a wad. . .
Having a liberal-socialist present political views at a BSA function is equally as objectionable and is equally a violation of BSA policy.
Which would quite neatly justify the Minuteman Council (Boston) deciding to admit gays as leaders. After all, the BSA can do as it darn well pleases, including violating it's own policies.
This article reads like it's OK to attack the BSA with politics, but the BSA better keep it's political opinion to itself - so much for freedom of speech when it's the BSA I guess. . .
O.K. Let me now submit that you miss the point. The BSA doesn't have to keep it's political opinions to itself because it doesn't have any political opinions. The BSA is not a conservative organization. The BSA is not a liberal organization. The BSA is not a political organization and does not have political opinions. It does not lobby. It does not sponsor legislation. It does not support legislation or candidates. It does not issue political statements. That's National policy. And while it's members often do have political opinions, they are to keep those opinions to themselves while representing the BSA (e.g., while in uniform or while at a BSA function).
And the quote I've given above from National's web site quite neatly expresses why this is so.
Let me give you a brief rundown on BSA structure. National Council is a not-for-profit corporation (NFP) that possesses a Charter from the Federal government giving it the rights to operate the BSA program. National then grants two kinds of charters itself. One type is issued to local Councils. A local Council is an NFP made up of local businessmen and community leaders who are charged with operating the BSA programs in their area. In return for the right to hold the charter, which is renewable annually, the NFP signs a contract with National that it will abide by any and all National policies. Northeast Georgia Council has broken this contract.
When the Cradle of Liberty Council threatened to break their contract by admitting avowed homosexuals, National told them that their response would be to refuse to renew their charter and instead find a different NFP (or have the current NFP completely turn over the membership of it's Board of Directors) to grant the charter to. The CoL's response was to back down.
So now the question is, what will National's response be to this? Local Councils have lost some funding in some areas because of National's policies regarding barring avowed homosexuals as leaders. National's response has been that their principles and policies are not for sale. Now that Northeast Georgia Council has violated National policy to make more money at a fund raiser, the question becomes:
Is it just some of National's policies and principles that are not for sale, or all of them?
Who would the speakers be? Eleanor Cift and Howard Dean? Maybe Hillary and Al Gore? Or even Pat Schroeder and Ted Kennedy, all great supporters of Scouting.
Having these people show up at an event like this and give the politically liberal version of the kind of speech that Ann Coulter did would be just as much of a violation of National policy, and just as objectionable.
And what about the funraiser? Can you imagine getting a bunch of Piss Ant, Bedwetters up off of their wallets to raise over $20,000.00 for a good, clean, moral cause like the BSA?
So NEGA is justified in selling out National policy because they got $20,000? Minuteman Council or Chicago Area Council and a bunch of the other urban councils could get a lot more than that for selling out.
What I can imagine is getting a bunch of conservatives to kick in $20,000 to the BSA on the basis of the great work that the BSA does, instead of having to kiss their political asses first.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.