TheologyWeb Campus - Civics 101

Rip BSA

Bill the Cat — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:29:06 GMT

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...gay-youth?lite

Boy Scouts vote to lift ban on gay youth

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The Boy Scouts of America voted on Thursday to end its controversial policy banning gay kids and teens from joining one of the nation's most popular youth organizations, ditching membership guidelines that had roiled the group in recent years.

Over 60 percent of The National Council of 1,400 delegates from Scouting across the country voted to lift the ban, BSA officials said. The ban on gay leaders was not voted on, and will remain in place.

"Today, following this review, the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting's history the approximate 1,400 voting members of the Boy Scouts of America's National Council approved a resolution to remove the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone," the BSA said in a statement following the vote.

I am writing my council to see if we can ignore the national decision. If not, they will be receiving my son's Scout uniform and memorabilia with his resignation letter. The Boy Scouts of America has a logo that bears the phrase "Timeless Values", yet today, they showed that their "values" are now governed by changing tides of polls, politics and public opinion.

John Stemberger, Founder of OnMyHonor.Net has released the following statement (I'm only citing a small portion):

OnMyHonor.Net

[The BSA] leadership has turned its back on 103 years of abiding by a mission to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices. Instead, it is embarking on a pathway of social experimentation that we believe will place at risk the very youth the organization is entrusted to serve, while rendering as hollow the tenets of the Scout Oath.

I am pleased to announce that OnMyHonor.Net along with other likeminded organizations, parents and BSA members, are announcing a coalition meeting that will take place next month in Louisville, Kentucky. There we will discuss the creation of a new character development organization for boys.

The BSA is teaching our kids that when your values become unpopular, just change them. The BSA is teaching our kids that when your convictions are challenged, just cave to peer pressure.The BSA is teaching our kids that public opinion polls are more important than principles. Today, the BSA is teaching our kids that you should not stand up for what is right instead you should stand up for what is popular. The BSA is teaching our kids that bullies will always win.

Brutal cleaver assault on British Soldier

Bill the Cat — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:56:09 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/22/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

Brutal cleaver assault on man in London street is suspected terror attack

A man thought to be a serving British soldier was killed by two armed men in a frenzied attack on a London street Wednesday, in what the government is treating as a suspected act of terrorism.

Witnesses told of a gruesome scene in which the man was hit by a car, then hacked with cleavers and his body dumped in the middle of the road in Woolwich, southeast London.

The two suspects in the killing were injured in a confrontation with police and have been taken to two hospitals, where they are being treated.

Harvard students denounce academic freedom

Epoetker — Sat, 18 May 2013 23:34:03 GMT

I think we can safely say that any lingering respect this particular organization had is gone. Treat the students from this high-class diploma mill as you would the students from Penn State who demonstrated in support of Joe Paterno:

Quote:

Harvard students, outraged over a doctoral dissertation arguing that Hispanic immigrants lack �raw cognitive ability or intelligence,� this week urged the university to investigate how the thesis came to be approved and to ban future research on racial superiority.

The students presented 1,200 signatures to president Drew Faust and the dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, David Ellwood.

�Academic freedom and a reasoned debate are essential to our academic community,�� the petition said. �However, the Harvard Kennedy School cannot ethically stand behind academic work advocating a national policy of exclusion and advancing an agenda of discrimination.�

Change the school motto from Veritas to Vanitas. Harvard has simply failed to live up to its stated purpose as a place for young people to receive a disinterested, dispassionate, and comprehensive education on whatever fields of study they wish to pursue.

(I find it rather interesting, though, that if you consider the universities as merely the media and government-approved institutions that make political decisions for the country, then these protests make perfect sense. In either case, Harvard might be a good place to go for building social networks, but don't expect to get anything like an unbiased or comprehensive education therein.)

Hmmmm....Right Reason for Asylum?

DesertBerean — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:26:16 GMT

German homeschoolers denied asylum once granted them on grounds of religious persecution. The details of this story are making me go hmmm. Over the years I've read stories of Germany's laws and felt that they really are overcompensation for their past. But this one doesn't sound like one of them. Doesn't help that one supporter can't remember where he read in a textbook that God won't help you but the devil will. Even that sound like it might be out of context.

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=19183947

Obama secretly seized AP phone records

Darth Executor — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:35:45 GMT

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/govt-...-records-probe

Quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) � The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.

The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. It was not clear if the records also included incoming calls or the duration of calls.

In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices where phone records were targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.

Looks like the Unicorn Prince is turning out to be more of a Horseman of the Apocalypse.

NYC Mayoral Candidates Weigh in on Metzitzah B'peh

Whag — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:07:54 GMT

We must live in an age of sufficient religious tolerance if mayoral candidates must tiptoe around the practice of child molestation rites.

http://matzav.com/nyc-mayoral-candid...metzitzah-bpeh

IRS targeted conservative groups for harassment

Darth Executor — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:49:07 GMT

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/1...ups-last-year/

Quote:

The Internal Revenue Service is apologizing for inappropriately flagging conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status.

Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words �tea party� or �patriot� in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews.

Lerner said the practice, initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati, was wrong and she apologized while speaking at a conference in Washington.

Looks like some JimLs decided to take matters into their own hands.

Legislating and Taxing Well Water

Cow Poke — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:51:43 GMT

The Texas Legislature only meets for 140 days every other year. During that short legislative session, however, there is a wild flurry of activity trying to get two years worth of legislation wrapped up.

(Recently (last week) the Texas Legislature killed the Texas Lottery, only to reestablish it the same day after lunch)

ANYWAY, there has been lots of talk about legislating and taxing well water. I have several wells on my property, and a number of "tanks" (man-made lakes). (Officially, Lake Caddo is the only Natural Lake in Texas)

The discussion involves taxing the water that we pull from the ground, used to irrigate crops and to water livestock. There's further discussion (though I know of nothing "official") concerning taxing the amount surface water we maintain.

A "tank" is basically a large pond or small lake dug with a bulldozer, then lined with clay to retain water. (Or by building an earthen damn at a collection point)

The theory is that a meter would be placed on our well pumps, and the State or County would tax us on the number of gallons we pumped from the ground. I'm not sure what metric would be used to calculate the amount of surface water we maintain. A few years ago, in a severe drought, all but one of my tanks went completely dry, killing all the fish. The remaining one was just a muddy pit, and drew coyotes from miles around.

Water, naturally, can be quite a scarce resource, and many "range wars" have been fought over its control.

Do you support a tax on Farm and Ranch well water?

Obama: Ignore voices warning of tyrannical government

seanD — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:54:55 GMT

Uh... I think those "voices" were called the founding fathers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOF5R-7rx8

Thou dost protest too much me thinks.

Three Women Found

DesertBerean — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:22:51 GMT

Three women found imprisoned in a Cleveland house.

http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2140359

I've not really understood how this kind of situation could go on undetected for long, but there it is. What concerns me is the repeated reports by the hospital that the women were in "fair" condition. I don't even know what that means in cases like this.

Waiting to hear what (mis) information the media gives out in the next few days. I'm sure it will all be 100 percent accurate.

The plan to ban genuine Christianity in the U.S. Army

37818 — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:26:40 GMT

Google search

This is not good.

Flag Burning

foudroyant — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:48:55 GMT

Texas v. Johnson (1989)
The SCOTUS ruled 5 to 4 that the law forbidding desecration of the American flag is unconstitutional.
Most Americans were upset and Congress voted on whether or not there ought to be a flag desecration amendment. This measure ultimately failed.

My question for those who support such an amendment is:
What is I had a cake with an American flag and cut the flag on the cake is that desecrating the flag?

Dumbocracy in Iraq going about as well as you expect

Darth Executor — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:49:38 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/wo...raq.html?_r=1&

Quote:

The Sunni uprising, having now turned violent, represents a significant challenge to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose consolidation of power over the security forces and the judiciary, and his targeting of high-level Sunni leaders for arrest, has raised alarms among world powers. Mr. Maliki has presided over an unwieldy power-sharing government, which nominally gives prominent roles to Sunnis but in reality has resulted in political stasis, and he has signaled in recent months that he would prefer to move to a majority government, dominated almost solely by Shiites. On Tuesday, two Sunni ministers quit to protest the raid in Hawija, and the largest bloc of Sunni lawmakers suspended participation in Parliament.

What a shock, telling a minority they should accept a majority making decision for them just because it was done democratically doesn't quite sit well with them. The opposite is true too, the majority has no problem acting in a manner indistinguishable from the totalitarians when checks and balances get in the way (see Democratic Party for more details) because hey, why should they be restrained when they're the majority?

It Was Torture.

Ansgar Seraph — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 05:51:53 GMT

Until the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on changes to detainee treatment in the CIA's detention and interrogation program after September 2001 is declassified, The Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment report serves as the most comprehensive assessment publicly available.

The conclusions are damning: not only were detainees during the Bush administration subject to methods historically and currently considered torture � including waterboarding, beating, confinement boxes and long-term stress positions � these practices were cleared by high-ranking officials in the administration, including then-President Bush and then-Vice President Cheney. Other officials, including Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, authorized these and other interrogation methods at specific sites, such as the detention center in Guant�namo.

I have read the "Findings and Recommendations" portion of the report, as well as the Appendices supporting Findings #1 and #2, which state:

Report of the Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment, The. Hutchinson A, Jones JR, D'Alemberte T, Gushee DP, al-Hibri AY, Irvine DR, Kennedy C, Pickering TR, Sessions WS, Thomson GE (2013). Constitution Project: Washington, DC, ix, 560 pages.

Finding #1

U.S. forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an even larger number of interrogations that involved �cruel, inhuman, or degrading� treatment. Both categories of actions violate U.S. laws and international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of the Constitution and our nation.

. . .

Finding #2

The nation�s most senior officials, through some of their actions and failures to act in the months and years immediately following the September 11 attacks, bear ultimate responsibility for allowing and contributing to the spread of illegal and improper interrogation techniques used by some U.S. personnel on detainees in several theaters. Responsibility also falls on other government officials and certain military leaders.

Appendix #1 deals primarily with the legal definitions of torture and how the Bush administration redefined such concepts as "severe pain and suffering" in order to categorize as legal interrogation methods that the United States and other governmental agencies had previously determined to constitute torture.

Appendix #2 deals primarily with the historical events surrounding the torture program, beginning with the Bush administration's repeal of Geneva protections for "high-level" detainees and describing in detail how this and subsequent decisions regarding torture created an environment where torture was inflicted on detainees � some of them not "high-level" and some of them to the point of death. The catalyst for all subsequent abuses occurred in February of 2002:

Ibid.

On February 7, 2002, President George W. Bush issued an order formally finding that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the United States� conflict with Al Qaeda, and that �Taliban detainees are unlawful combatants� not entitled to the Conventions� protection. The order states:

As a matter of policy, the United States Armed Forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva.⁵

This confirmed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld�s earlier order overriding the military�s initial decision to apply Geneva in Afghanistan. General Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, had ordered the military to apply the Conventions� requirements on October 17, 2001.⁶ But on January 19, 2002, a little over a week after the first prisoners arrived at Guant�namo, Rumsfeld rescinded Franks�s order,⁷ in reliance on legal advice from the OLC that Geneva did not apply. Rumsfeld made his decision without consulting the military services� judge advocates general (JAGs), who would later oppose the decision not to apply Geneva.⁸

Given these findings, which are reportedly similar to the findings of the Senate Intelligence Committee, there can be no question about our recent history: the United States, as an official policy, revoked the protections of the Geneva Convention and inflicted torture on scores of prisoners under its direct control. At least two prisoners died from injuries received during torture. Neither the interrogators who perpetrated these crimes nor the military and civilian officials who instituted the programs and policies have been charged with torture. The subsequent Obama administration and subsequent Congresses have not brought these facts into the public sphere, nor have they moved to hold those responsible to account. Some high-ranking members of the CIA during the Bush administration are still serving for the Obama administration, including John Brennan, who was recently made head of that department.

Both Senator McCain and Vice President Biden have recently supporting declassifying at least significant portions of the Senate Intelligence Committee's extensive review of the CIA detention and interrogation program. It is almost certain that the report will largely coincide with The Constitution Project's report. If so, it will be clear that members of the CIA, the military, and high-ranking members of the Bush administration will be publicly known to have committed war crimes. It will be publicly known that the Obama administration refused to charge and prosecute many of them and that Congress prevented even its feeble attempts at transparency.

In 2002, the Bush administration determined that the legal protections of human life and dignity in the Geneva Convention did not apply to certain prisoners. In 2013, Americans might have to decide if the legal consequences of defying those protections still apply to their elected officials.

�Sam

Your "Slippery Slope" is a LOGICAL FALLACY, people!

Epoetker — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:55:42 GMT

Who would ever argue for polygamy just because of same-sex oh yeah, Slate's women's blog:

Quote:

Originally posted by Jillian Keenan

It�s hardly a new prediction�we�ve been hearing it for years. Gay marriage is a slippery slope! A gateway drug! If we legalize it, then what�s next? Legalized polygamy?

We can only hope.

Yes, really. While the Supreme Court and the rest of us are all focused on the human right of marriage equality, let�s not forget that the fight doesn�t end with same-sex marriage. We need to legalize polygamy, too. Legalized polygamy in the United States is the constitutional, feminist, and sex-positive choice. More importantly, it would actually help protect, empower, and strengthen women, children, and families. [Men? Husbands? Functional households? Bueller? -ed]

Must say, that really didn't take too long. Looking forward to the next Slate article on how pedophiles are misunderstood, just like You and Me.