Death Threats for Goblin Valley Rock Tumblers: an OP ED (ok, yes, it's a rant, sheesh)

By this point we've all pretty much seen the video. If you haven't, here it is, one more time, so you can see the raw footage of these self described "heroes" as they attempt to dislodge a rock formation, known as a hoodoo, that's been sitting there since the Jurassic period so it wouldn't "fall over and hit some little kid." Let's all be  honest, here. If they were really that concerned that a hoodoo was going to randomly fall and kill some random kid, they would have gone on a hoodoo toppling spree all over the park.

I won't even get into the "wiggle it just a little bit" sing-song voice the guy holding the camera had going on while filming this. Nor will I go into the little dance the guy on the other rock was doing after "muscles" pushed the rock over. Believe it or not, I'm not going to go into the "modified Goblin Valley" comment the videographer made while filming this.

All of these things, the reactions, the big fun atmosphere of the situation, speak for themselves. These things are self evident and in my mind show full and well the intent behind toppling the boulder from it's perch.

For those of you unfamiliar with Goblin Valley, it was discovered in modern times in the 1920's, proposed to be established as a park in the 1950's in order to protect the area from vandalism, was established as such in the 1960's, and survived the Jurassic era on up through the millennia to naturally erode into some of the breathtaking and incredible natural scenery that exists today when visitors come to hike and camp in the park. Survival, in it's natural state, until three knuckleheads come along to one of the hoodoos and decide to "wiggle it...just a little bit."

Granted, this incident does, clearly, indicate willful and deliberate vandalism on the part of these guys involved in the video footage. No matter how they justify it or defend their actions, the footage speaks for itself.

That being said.

The consequences of their actions should be left up to the legal system, not to a gaggle of lynch happy environmentalist nutcases sending in cards, letters, text messages, telegrams, carrier pigeon messages, airmail, email, sea mail, snail mail, and chain mail (um, yeah, scratch that last one) threatening their lives for disturbing the landscape because they consider it to be "very, very sacred." Death threats are not the answer here, but to some, this sort of knee-jerk reaction is a common sort of thing in response to the "harming of mother Earth."

Please.

"Mother Earth" is more than capable of handling herself, and would be much better off without the interference of humankind in other, far more destructive to the environment practices, such as the dredging of wetlands in order to make dwellings and shopping malls, oil spills in the oceans, clear cutting instead of select cutting, relocation of animal species from their native environments and introducing predatory species into regions where they have never been or have naturally migrated from through the years in order to "control" other populations rather than letting those species be hunted (such as introducing rattlesnakes into regions in North America in order to keep wild turkey populations down by the snakes eating the turkey eggs), and other such large scale changes to the face of the planet. The toppling over of one rock in one state park is not even a grain of sand in comparison to some of the things done, commercially, around the world on any given day, but these things are ignored.

It literally pales in comparison, and the event does not warrant death threats to be made against these individuals. First off, let the legal system work, and let them be charged. It seems a no brainer that the charge should be vandalism. Secondly, as these individuals were out on this rock toppling outing, let their community ostracize them in their own way, as I'm sure it is already doing. Who would want to be, at this point, the guy who pushed the rock over, coming home to face his wife and family? Not to mention his coworkers and the people in his neighborhood. Thirdly, let the Boy Scouts of America deal with them as well, as they were out for an official Boy Scout outing while they were visiting the park. While I have my own issues with the Boy Scouts of America over some of their more recent controversial decisions, this is a matter that they need to deal with and address, as well as take a look at what other recent policy decisions that they have made, as a body, which would leave them open to such scrutiny as this, as well as other scrutiny.

The bottom line is this: no people or animals were injured during the filming of this idiotic stunt. There is no monetary loss that has resulted from it. The stars have not misaligned, the polar caps have not reversed, there were no earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, whirlpools, tornadoes, landslides, mudslides, nor death by chocolate involved in this stunt. It was simply that, a stupid stunt.

To all of you people out there getting your collective panties in a wad over something that really, in the end, is a trivial local matter to be handled by park officials in Utah, GET OVER YOURSELVES. STOP MAKING DEATH THREATS. The making of a death threat is something that should be done with careful consideration over the events leading up to the making of such a threat. Death threats are to be made only as a retribution for such dire events as rape, homicides, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and, occasionally, by certain female members of the species toward their male household members for leaving the toilet seat up. When we, as individuals, do such things as make death threats for something like these bone heads have done, we show ourselves to be mindless little reactionaries who give no thought. Yes, I meant to leave the sentence on that. If you get so upset over the toppling of a rock by some moron that you stoop to making death threats over it then you are a non thinking individual and perhaps, in the final analysis,  you are the one who should be considered for termination yourself.

Something to think about.

Unfortunately, thought seems to have left the building on this one.

Sic vis pacem parabellum.

MT

No Brotherly Love for the Boy Scouts

[UPDATE] Link for Scouting Legal Defense Fund

Update on a story we brought you back in October.

I've never been one to advocate boycotts on business. I do understand, however, the power of the boycott and how that they can be an effective tool in changing things. I'm advocating, for the first time, the boycott of an entire city. I call for this in an effort to affect this city's tourism dollar. I do this because I find this city to be in contempt of the United States Constitution.

I do this because I was a Boy Scout.

It's time to send Philadelphia a clear and strong message that they are out of line in making demands of a private organization to change their policies.

Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight

By IAN URBINA
Published: December 6, 2007

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 4 — For three years the Philadelphia council of the Boy Scouts of America held its ground. It resisted the city’s request to change its discriminatory policy toward gay people despite threats that if it did not do so, the city would evict the group from a municipal building where the Scouts have resided practically rent free since 1928.

Hailed as the birthplace of the Boy Scouts, the Beaux Arts building is the seat of the seventh-largest chapter of the organization and the first of the more than 300 council service centers built by the Scouts around the country over the past century.

But over the years the fight between the city and the Scouts was about more than this grandiose structure in Center City.

Municipal officials said the clash stemmed from a duty to defend civil rights and an obligation to abide by a local law that bars taxpayer support for any group that discriminates. Boy Scout officials said it was about preserving their culture, protecting the right of private organizations to remain exclusive and defending traditions like requiring members to swear an oath of duty to God and prohibiting membership by anyone who is openly homosexual.

This week the Boy Scouts made their last stand and lost.

“At the end of the day, you can not be in a city-owned facility being subsidized by the taxpayers and not have language in your lease that talks about nondiscrimination,” said City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who represents the district where the building is located. “Negotiations are over.”

Mr. Clarke said talks ended this week when the deadline passed for the local chapter to change its policy; on June 1 the group will be evicted.

“Since we were founded, we believe that open homosexuality would be inconsistent with the values that we want to communicate with our leaders,” said Gregg Shields, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts. “A belief in God is also mentioned in the Scout oath. We believe that those values are important. Tradition is important. Our mission is to instill those values in scouts and help them make good choices over their lifetimes.”

In 2000, the Supreme Court decided a case — Boy Scouts of America v. Dale — involving an openly gay scout from New Jersey who was barred from serving as troop leader. The court ruled in a 5-to-4 decision that, as a private organization, the group had a First Amendment right to set its membership rules.

The City of Philadelphia is in clear and direct violation of the civil rights of the Boy Scouts of America.

John F. Street, Mayor
City of Philadelphia
Room 215 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Primary Phone: 215-686-2181
Fax: 215-686-2180
E-Mail: John F. Street, City of Philadelphia

This isn't over. Not while I draw breath.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


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Philadelphia Punishes Boy Scouts of America

I was a Boy Scout. When my son entered Cub Scouts, I took on the mantle of Cub master, and later held other positions with Scouting while he was involved with the organization. According to the Supreme Court of the United States, Scouting, as a private organization, is protected by the Constitution of the United States to screen it's membership, i.e. leadership, and bar membership to whomever they see the need to bar.

Obviously, the "City of Brotherly Love" has taken on a new meaning in Philadelphia, where the city has taken punitive action against Scouting for their stand on not allowing homosexuals into their ranks. Hat tip to Miss Beth's Victory Dance for this one:

Boy Scouts' Rent Skyrockets in Philadelphia to $200K Over Gay Ban

Friday, October 19, 2007

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

The Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy is turning out to be a pricey proposition for its Philadelphia chapter — one that will cost about $200,000 a year, to be exact.

The city has ordered the organization to pay a fair-market rent of $200,000 — $199,999 more than its current $1 annual rate — to maintain its longtime offices in a landmark Philadelphia building because of its refusal to allow openly gay Scouts and Scout leaders.

City Solicitor says Romulo L. Diaz Jr. contends that Mayor John Street, City Council and the Fairmount Park Commission (which oversees historic properties) have been asking the Scouts for the past year to submit a clear-cut anti-discrimination policy, and they haven't done so. In order to comply with Philadelphia laws, he said, he has given the Scouts a choice: agree definitively in writing to stop discriminating, or pay a new rent at market value.

"They had been put on notice over the last year by the mayor, the City Council and the Fairmount Park Commission that they had a choice to make," Diaz said in a phone interview. "They need to provide evidence that they would not engage in discriminatory practices against gays as either Scout masters or Boy Scouts. .... They have either not responded or essentially played the victim."

The Boy Scouts' Philadelphia branch, called the Cradle of Liberty Council, argues that its hands are tied because of the national chapter's refusal to reverse its anti-gay policy — even though, it says, it tried to fight it a few years ago.

The city Scouts say they agreed on a compromise with the prior solicitor — which involved the adoption of a promise not to engage in "unlawful discrimination" similar to one the New York chapter has — and claims the current solicitor has an ulterior motive because he himself is openly gay.

"We adopted a non-discrimination policy in 2005 with the city's help, which is ironic now," said Cradle of Liberty spokesman Jeff Jubelirer. "Since that time, there's been no one challenging the policy, no reports of discrimination. Nothing has come to the public's attention. And yet the current solicitor thinks this language is not clear enough.

"It's been reported that the solicitor is openly homosexual — and who cares — but I wonder if it's something that he and members of the activist gay community want: to kick the Boy Scouts out of their building."

Diaz declined to answer questions about his sexual orientation, but said it was irrelevant because his job was to enforce what the city has voted and agreed on.

"I'm doing my job," he said. "I'm taking it on because I was directed by the mayor, City Council and the Fairmount Park Commission..."

Methinks some people take great pleasure in doing their jobs. I doubt very seriously Mr. Diaz ever uttered THESE words that I will now post because I know them so well by heart, having learned them long ago: "On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the scout law; to help other people at all times, and to keep my self physically straight, mentally awake, and morally straight." For those of you unfamiliar with that oath, that's the Scout's oath. Those who know me best will tell you I'm still a Boy Scout to this day. I don't take that as an insult, nor do I find that oath in conflict with the oath I took when I became a soldier.

Run over to Miss Beth's site and click on the link to contact the City of Philadelphia.

Boy Scouts of America

Girl Scouts of America

Support Scouting. It's an organization that really IS for the children.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


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