God has it out for the BSA

[chris]

It can't be denied. The electrocutions and lightning strikes of BSA adults and boys this summer can only mean one thing.

 

The BSA has seriously pissed God off.

 

It may be any one of a dozen reasons, or a combination of several policy decisions made by the BSA in the last decade, such as:

 

1) Denying gay adults membership and leadership roles

2) Denying membership to teenage boys who realize their sexual orientation.

3) Denying membership to teenage boys who cannot swear allegiance to God - for whatever reason.

4) For insisting that youth are better off being continuosly segregated based on their gender.

5) For insisting that as a private organization they can do whatever the f@#$ they want.

6) Then to get pissed when taxpayer-maintained services such as public schools deny them use of their facilities.

7) Or to be pissed again at churches for kicking out the local BSA troop because the church is exercising its right to do whatever the f@#$ it wants as a private organization (see item #5) above.

 

Yep, it looks like God is trying to send a message to the BSA. I don't think He's trying to tell them to "carry on".

[Dave_Schuldt]

They're holding up "traditional values" what's wrong with that?

[Fairweather]

Fuck off, liberal shit-bag. They died because they were hit by lightning and were horribly burned, or their bio-electric was severely, likely painfully, disrupted. Keep your bizarre political analysis away from the death of innocent kids, adults, and an organization that does so much good.

[Off_White]

There is no god: flaming assholes are richly rewarded for unspeakable acts, and innocent people get handed the shit end of the stick every day. Thankfully, mere bigots and hypocrites are not sentenced to death by some deity, otherwise we'd all be dead. The folks killed at that Jamboree represent indvidual tragedies, not some sort of institutional atonement.

 

The slow religious revolution that has taken over the Boy Scouts is pretty disgusting, but that's an entirely different subject than the recent traumatic events.

[chirp]

There is no god: flaming assholes are richly rewarded for unspeakable acts, and innocent people get handed the shit end of the stick every day. Thankfully, mere bigots and hypocrites are not sentenced to death by some deity, otherwise we'd all be dead. The folks killed at that Jamboree represent indvidual tragedies, not some sort of institutional atonement.

 

The slow religious revolution that has taken over the Boy Scouts is pretty disgusting, but that's an entirely different subject than the recent traumatic events.

 

[JoshK]

It was a horrible tradegy. What was particularly disgusting, but not unexpected, was bush's use of the tragedy as a political stunt. Nice touch there.

[klenke]

I didn't hear of that stunt. Enlighten me (but not with lightning, please ).

[JoshK]

Nothing unusual...Bush (well, his brain...err...advisors, I mean) just jumped on the opportunity to go and speak at the event following the deaths. In his speech he also threw in some remarks about the value of military service. Gee, I wonder why they feel that nescessary?

[Off_White]

The worst part is that Bush cancelled an earlier attempt to speak there, but only at the last minute, due to heat. It didn't do any favors for the multitude that waited for hours in that heat to hear him. The appearance was a cheesy stunt, but I imagine most any president would be hard put to pass up such photo/news op so close to home. My beef with Bush is more that I disagree with him, less that he engaged in thread drift.

[cj001f]

Keep your bizarre political analysis away from the death of innocent kids, adults, and an organization that does so much good.

That over a dozen scouts and leaders have died this summer in numerous accidents (electrocutions, lightning strikes, drownings) suggests that the BSA has substantial leadership issues. Perhaps if the leaders were selected on competence, not ideological purity they wouldn't have these issues?

[Dave_Schuldt]

My uncle worked for the BSA for years. He told me one sucsessful lawsuit could send them down the drain. I hope that doesn't happen. Some of those scout trips do serious stuff in the backcountry so normal risks apply. I don't like the mix or religion and patriotic BS, however, they do get kids away from TV and video games.

[Mal_Con]

My experience was that it is extremely dependant upon which troop you get into. The one I was in sucked (master later turned out to be a perve) friends were in other ones and had a great time. In the old days they were great FA of Constance was by scout leaders they used to do Olympus and many CC routes were first done by scouts from Parsons. In the 60's they tried to be "relevant and urban" that sucked. Now it seems the bible thumbers have taken over, that sucks too. In time hopefully, things will go back.

[spicoli11]

I haven't spoke with god yet.........

[Lionel_Hutz]

Tragedy? Perhaps, regarding the kids who've died. Act of God? I don't think so. Those fucktard (((leaders))) who decided that it was a brilliant idea to set up a big ass tent underneath an electrical line really don't deserve too much sympathy.

[Fairweather]

I would love to see the scouts get back to their wilderness exploration roots. They did some incredible stuff in the olympic mountains and throuought the cascades pre 1960's. First ascents, even! The old boy scout camp at Lena Lake reborn...that would be neat.

[selkirk]

A bunch of you fuckers need to quit talking out of your ass. You want to know how leaders are selected? They volunteer their time, yep, that's about it. How many of you ever mentored a group of 20 or so young boys for years on end?

 

To be critical of the organization is fine, but don't tie it to deaths of good people and kids. It's disgusting.

[cj001f]

To be critical of the organization is fine, but don't tie it to deaths of good people and kids. It's disgusting.

 

Whatever. It's time for the BSA to do some soulsearching. They may be "good people", but good leaders don't put up tents under electric lines or go hiking in lightning storms. This an organisation with the individual motto of "Be Prepared" and 300 people get treated for heat exhaustion? And sure anyone can volunteer - as long as you aren't gay, and are willing to swear to god.

[Macson]

The Boyscouts used to be pretty bad ass. My father in law was an Eagle Scout in the 60s. He climbed Olympus with them, and also did a re-creation of the "Press Expedition". Their trip was front page news in the Seattle times....he still has the spread on a poster board someplace. I myself was a Life Scout in the early 80s. We used to go on survival outings in the snowy swamps in Northern Michigan in January. A bunch of 12 year olds building snow shelters and doing navigation problems to find dinner.

 

Now I volunteer for the Cubscouts a little, since my son is that age. I've taken the boys (all 7 to 8 years old) up Mt. Walker and Mt. Ellinor.

 

That said, I'm pretty disgusted with the Chief Seattle Council. Since merging with the Olympus Council they've systematically sold off, logged off or otherwise stripped down all of the properties they could around here. Of course, their kids all go to camps in the Seattle metro area, so it's no skin off their nose if Parsons is logged, or if Gibbs turns into a county park, or if they sell a cabin in Port Townsend donated 75 years ago for $1.4 million under appraised value. Of course, it's not the kids fault, so I continue to help out...and try not to be too bitter (at least in front of the kids!)

[iain]

I learned a lot from the boy scouts. I was in a group that didn't give a damn about the community service stuff or anything else except camping and hiking. I loved it. I learned a ton because we screwed up virtually every time. Spent nights out in Oregon coast range rain storms, in jeans, and then it starts snowing all night. We took tents out that just collapsed under overnight snowfall, waking up suffocating and laughing. I burned myself, cut myself, shot things, almost drowned several times, and overall had a blast. I gained an appreciation for polypro (but never under shorts) and how to insulate myself from the ground after freezing my ass off repeatedly. I learned to shut up and hike instead of bitching about things.

 

In summary, the boy scouts is a great learning experience if you don't die in the process. I'm a better outdoor person for it. It was particularly fun to pick on the other groups who came to the jamborees who were all religious and regimented and stuff. Man those cats had a hard time.

 

I've no idea what it's like today though.

[olyclimber]

I learned ninja skills from the midnight attacks on other troops campsites as the camporees. i learned how to stay up all night and still be functional the next day. I learned how truly violent capture the flag could be, especially when played in the middle of the night in an already dark forest. I learned that there are no limits to cruelty when it comes for a pack of little renegades. In short, I grew up with pack of criminals that rivaled those in Lord of the Flies.

[iain]

how about the random can of wd-40 dropped into the campfire as every dives for cover? always a nice way to end the day.

[olyclimber]

Also nice to have an extremely angry and armed pack of adults chasing you around in the middle of the night through a camp ground. good times.

[cj001f]

how about the random can of wd-40 dropped into the campfire as every dives for cover? always a nice way to end the day.

For my troop that ended 2 acres of forest

 

Peas in water were another fine addition to the fire.

[Recycled]

I remember some late night adventures pissing on other groups' campfires, then running as they were fogged out of their tents.

 

I never had much to do with the regular boy scouts past the cub scout stage, but I had great experiences with the Scout's Explorer program. I was in both Explorer Search & Rescue and the Coast Guard Sea Scouts and both were excellent programs. No bible thumpers in sight and lots of intense times in both programs.

 

Now that my son is 8 years old, I'd like to get him involved in something like the scouts, but the bible thumpers have scared me off. Seems to me that a lot of the people who would make good leaders for teaching wilderness skills and self-reliance are in short supply, particularly in that organization.

[olyclimber]

the troop leaders make the troop. become scout master or a troop leader and take the little criminals on some expeditions.