Author Archives: Josh Eidelson

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Too often lost in the debate over whether the Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to be an exclusive, discriminatory, intolerant organization is the more salient question of whether the Boy Scouts should be an exclusive, discriminatory, intolerant organization subsidized by the government. Across the country, the Boy Scouts of America cash in on their “Good House Keeping Stamp of Approval” as a wholesome, patriotic outfit to make out like bandits in tax breaks and free or low-cost renting of public facilities (the case that comes to mind for me is the rental of a marina – yes, a marina – from a local government for a few dollars). One of these preferential leases – which amount to your (if you, the reader, pay taxes in one of the localities in question, that is) money subsidizing the Boy Scouts’ exclusion of atheists and homosexuals – is about to end thanks to rebellious lawyering by the ACLU. Say goodbye to the Desert Pacific Boy Scout Council’s preferential lease on Balboa and Fiesta Island Aquatic Parks. As the local ACLU legal director observed:

San Diego has finally taken itself out of the business of endorsing the exclusion of many of its residents from their own city parks,” said Jordan Budd, Legal Director of the local ACLU. “While, it is unfortunate that it has taken an adverse court ruling to get the city on the right side of this issue, the end result is a victory for every San Diegan who cares about tolerance and equality.

And as one of the attorneys put it:

The Boy Scouts cannot have it both ways. Having gone to great lengths to establish that discrimination against gays and non-believers is essential to their mission, and therefore protected by the First Amendment, they cannot now turn around and ask the people of San Diego to foot the bill for that discrimination.

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Incidentally, if you’re checking out the Bush-Cheney site – don’t miss the “Compassion” photo album. See if you can figure out what differentiates the people in those pictures from the ones in the photo albums for “Economy” or “Environment.” Here’s a hint: it’s not the content of their character.

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On a related note, the Weekly Standard is aghast at a campaign whose adherents have the gumption to believe that they’re important parts of a movement – how “Bolshevik” and “creepy” of them. Jonathan V. Last takes much more comfort in the Bush Blog:

Perhaps most telling, however, is the Bush blog’s lack of a comment section. There’s no place for readers to jabber and connect. More importantly, there’s no place for Bushies to cultivate a mob mentality (there are plenty of other right-wing sites where this goes on). The Bush blog says what the Bush blog says, and that’s that. Take it or leave it. You’re a citizen, make up your own mind, and cast your vote.

In other words, Dubya’s followers know how to stay in their place.

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Inside Bush Campaign headquarters:

In contrast to the Dean headquarters in Burlington, Vt., there are no boxes of stale pizza, crumbled Diet Pepsi cans or volunteers in blue jeans on grungy sofas.

Instead, it feels a lot like the West Wing: fresh flowers, security checks, a big he-man photograph of Mr. Bush with day-old stubble at his Texas ranch, an army of well-dressed staff members. “Generally speaking, people conform to a certain sense of decorum,” said Terry Holt, the campaign press secretary, who never wears jeans to the office. “In this campaign, you have a responsibility to represent the president of the United States, and even if it is a campaign, it’s important to look that way.”

This may be a useful indication of what George Bush thinks America looks like.

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Howard Dean gets it right:

From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people…My view of Christianity . . . is that the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind. So I think there was a religious aspect to my decision to support civil unions.

I can’t help wondering however, why Howard Dean’s God stops short of full civil marriage…

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Today’s New York Times carries two related stories – “Health spending at record rate” and “Flu has killed 93 children, but comparisons are difficult.” What’s the connection? Two problems that could be better confronted with a universal single-payer health insurance system. The US spends twice as much per capita on healthcare as Canada, whose single-payer system eliminates the advertising and overhead associated with a system of multiple private insurers. Those convinced that the private sector is more efficient should keep in mind that overhead amounts to half of costs in US private healthcare, as compared to a couple percent of costs in Medicare. Countries with government health insurance also have higher rates of flu innoculation, which is to be expected given that demand for vaccine increases in a system designed to encourage, rather than discourage, visits to the Doctor, and supply increases when the government, which can absorb the costs of purchasing extra vaccine to make sure there’s sufficient supply, is footing the bill.