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Pentagon Agrees to Warn Bases Against Sponsoring Boy Scout Troops
The Pentagon has agreed to warn military bases worldwide not to directly sponsor Boy Scout troops, partially resolving claims that the government has engaged in religious discrimination by supporting a group that requires members to believe in God.
The settlement announced Monday is part of a series of legal challenges in recent years over how closely the government should be aligned with the Boy Scouts of America, a venerable organization that boasts a membership of more than 3.2 million members.

Civil liberties advocates have set their sights on the organization's policies because the group bans openly gay scout leaders and compels members to swear an oath of duty to God. The ACLU believes that direct government sponsorship of such a program amounts to discrimination.

''If our Constitution's promise of religious liberty is to be a reality, the government should not be administering religious oaths or discriminating based on religious beliefs,'' said ACLU attorney Adam Schwartz.

The Pentagon said it has long had a rule against sponsorship of non-federal organizations and denied the rule had been violated. But it agreed to send a message to posts worldwide warning them not to sponsor Boy Scout troops or other such groups.

The rule does not prevent service members from leading Scout troops unofficially on their own time, and Scouts will still be able to hold meetings on areas of military bases where civilian organizations are allowed to hold events.

The settlement does not resolve other ACLU claims involving government spending that benefits the Boy Scouts, such as money used to prepare a Virginia military base for the Boy Scout Jamboree and grants used by state and local governments to benefit the Boy Scouts, Schwartz said.

He said the Pentagon spends $2 million every year to prepare the Virginia base for the jamboree, held once every four years. He said the Defense Department also makes annual allocations of $100,000 to support Boy Scout units on military bases overseas and $100,000 to improve Boy Scout properties, such as summer camps.

Attorney Marcia Berman, who represented the Defense Department, declined to comment on the settlement Monday. But Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the message that will be sent to bases represents ''a clarification of an existing rule that DOD personnel cannot be involved in an official capacity.''

The original ACLU lawsuit named as defendants the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Chicago Board of Education. The schools settled, agreeing not to engage in official sponsorship of scouting activities.


By Pentagon Agrees to Warn Bases Ag
Guess What?

NO ONE GIVES A FRIGG, IDIOT!

By Jacque
American Civil Liberties Union.

The Constitution allows a Rhode Island city to have private religious holiday displays on its front lawn, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

''The ACLU long ago decided it wanted to be Uncle Scrooge and expend its energies saying 'bah humbug' to public Christmas displays, but they are out of touch with the 96 percent of Americans that celebrate Christmas,'' said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.

McCaleb said the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island ''ruled consistently with the law,'' noting that ''time after time the courts have ruled such displays to be perfectly constitutional.''


The ACLU claimed the city of Cranston, R.I., erected religious displays along with secular displays in violation of the so-called ''separation of church and state.''

But the court said the city can continue to open such forums to the public as long as it revises its policy to establish objective criteria for allowing the public to set up the holiday displays.

In his opinion, Judge William Smith wrote that nothing in the city?’s public statements or in its implementation of the policy for its Christmas displays ''reveals or even remotely supports an inference that a religious purpose was behind the creation of the limited public forum,'' as the lawsuit alleged.

The case centered on Cranston's 2003 opening of its city hall front lawn to private ''seasonal and holiday displays,'' which resulted in various citizens making contributions, both religious and secular.

The city clearly posted disclaimers stating, ''The public displays are strictly from private citizens or groups. They in no way represent an official view of the City of Cranston, nor are they endorsed by the city.''

The Alliance Defense Fund has a ''Christmas Project'' featuring more than 700 trained attorneys ''ready to combat continuing efforts to censor Christmas.''



By ACLU Decided On Uncle Scrooge
JACGUE IS THE FROG GRINCH

Merry Christmas, Bon Noel you grouch
must you dampen my moods with your gloom and doom! Cheer up there is much to be thankful of, the right man in the Casa Blanca, mass exodus to Canada
and La Bell France! Why not consider a long trip mon ami, Paris or Montreal which will it be,
either one be sure to pack your snuggys and stay a long while.
TA TA.
BORIS

By gloom and doom
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