CHEERS to justice served. Let us not forget that the Catholic Church isn't the only institution owned and operated by ultra-conservatives that's getting battered with pervert accusations. There's also the Boy Scouts of America, which a jury just tied up in knots:
Jurors on Tuesday found the Boy Scouts of America negligent and awarded $1.4 million to a former Portland man who was abused by an assistant Scoutmaster in the early 1980s, following a three-week trial in which secret Scout "perversion files" were used as evidence. The jury also decided the Irving, Texas-based Scouts organization was liable for punitive damages that will be decided in a separate phase of the trial. That would be in addition to the $1.4 million.
The punitive damages, by the way, could be as high as $24 million. As an Eagle Scout, I'm not so much disgusted (although I am) as disappointed. As so often happens in these kinds of "testosterone clubs," it's more important to protect the illusion of moral superiority than it is to actually act morally (i.e. boot the offenders ASAP and get law enforcement involved) and take the occasional P.R. lumps. You never hear about these kinds of scandals in the Girl Scouts or, for that matter, among nuns. Curious, dat.
You would think a gay male wouldn't use words like "testosterone clubs" as a negative. For context, the AP story in the link explains that these "perversion files" were used to protect the Scouts, according to officials:
Although the existence of "perversion files" kept by the Boy Scouts at its national headquarters has been known for awhile, the Portland case is believed to be only the second time any of the documents have been seen by a jury.
The Boy Scouts has fought to keep those files confidential. But the Oregon Supreme Court in February approved the release of more than 1,000 files the Scouts kept on alleged pedophiles from 1965 to mid-1984 to be used in the Portland trial.
Chuck Smith, the attorney for the Boy Scouts, told the jury the files helped the Scouts keep potential pedophiles out of the organization. He also said the Scouts relied on local Scout leaders and volunteers to take action because they, not the national organization, were supervising the boys.
B.I.P.M. also cheered the spectacle of Obama attending his first state funeral in his column on Wednesday:
CHEERS to the condolence-giver-in-chief. Very nice: Barack Obama will attend his first state funeral as president when he travels to Poland this weekend for the Sunday farewell to President Lech Kaczynski and first lady Maria Kaczynska. The Republicans are gonna be squirming like crazy over this event. It makes the president look presidential, and they can't criticize him without looking like craven a--holes. Takeaway message: "Shut up and mourn."
It doesn't seem to occur to the Kosmonauts that taunting over how the conservatives can't criticize the funeral opens them to charges that they're cravenly loving that the plane crash turned out so well for them.
