scoutingagain

Gerrymandering is a practice protected by both major parties. It heavily favors the party in current power as well as incumbents, hence there is little incentive for those in office to do much about it. The only hope might be in those states where citizens can put up ballot initiatives on their own. SA

Yes all elections are run locally. I should have more properly said national office, i.e Presidency. But keep in mind Republicans also lost 9 of 10 Senate races. Even in more conservative states. These losses were much more that just a poor candidate at the head of the ticket. Here are some of my incredibly insightful suggestions for Republican political strategists going forward: 1. Don't have party leaders refer to women that use birth control as sluts. 2. Don't be the party that proposes vaginal sonograms for women that wish to exercise their legal reproductive rights.

Unfortunately I don't think the Republicans lost bad enough to engage in the kind of platform reforms needed to expand the party. Some seem to get it. Read at least two or three comments by Republican stategists that reflected the sentiment that there just aren't enough old rich white people out there to win national elections. But the Tea Party wing seemed to reflect the sentiment expressed earlier that they lost because they nominated a candidate that wasn't conservative enough, so I anticipate an entertaining Republican primary season in 2016. Looking forward to a Palin/Trump ticket wh

Unfortunately I don't think the Republicans lost bad enough to engage in the kind of platform reforms needed to expand the party. Some seem to get it. Read at least two or three comments by Republican stategists that reflected the sentiment that there just aren't enough old rich white people out there to win national elections. But the Tea Party wing seemed to reflect the sentiment expressed earlier that they lost because they nominated a candidate that wasn't conservative enough, so I anticipate an entertaining Republican primary season in 2016. Looking forward to a Palin/Trump ticket wh

On other ballot questions that might have small effect on BSA policies, I understand Colorado and Washington have essentially legalized recreational use of marijuana. Will the GSS be modified to continue to absolutely forbid it's use in these states or will there be wishy washy language ala use of tobacco indicating units "may" forbid or restrict it's use on unit outings or BSA properties. How will units, councils etc. view it's use outside of scouting by adult leadership? The most entertaining piece of election coverage I saw while clicking through the channels was watching Carl Rove

This was the lead story on the late local news here as well. Also heard the NPR piece and it's been in the local papers. Lots of mis-information on what's in the files and the BSA has not done a good job of explaining what they are. Must be trained by Obama's media team. Not matter what, this is not the kind of publicity we need. SA

What NJ said could easily apply to us as well. So far so good, but the perception these cases creates does not help. SA

It's not so much that Fox out and out lies,it is the way they present a mix of news and analysis that its not easy to tell when they are reporting fact versus opinion. Its also the mix of stories they choose to cover. There have been times they've reported complete misinformation, as have other news outlets. Fox just seems to do it a little more often and its always news/information thats pro-Republican/Conservative. For yuks try searching on Fox News on Factcheck.org. Do the same for the other networks. BTW, MSNBC is at least as bad a Fox when it comes to objective reporting. SA

It's not so much that Fox out and out lies,it is the way they present a mix of news and analysis that its not easy to tell when they are reporting fact versus opinion. Its also the mix of stories they choose to cover. There have been times they've reported complete misinformation, as have other news outlets. Fox just seems to do it a little more often and its always news/information thats pro-Republican/Conservative. For yuks try searching on Fox News on Factcheck.org. Do the same for the other networks. BTW, MSNBC is at least as bad a Fox when it comes to objective reporting. SA

No, the banner adds have no influence on my voting decisions. As far as political analysis goes; 1. I don't believe anything adds on television or radio, printed material or other material put out by the campaign's or their surrogate PACs or political parties. 2. The last Presidential debate confirms that one should not believe anything the candidates say either. Not to mention anything put out by FOX or MSNBC. Doesn't leave much to go on, with the possible exception of a handful of written media, but that requires one actually read something and assess the content

"the sponsoring organization is left without cover for not accepting gay leaders." Exactly. If they feel strongly about the leadership qualities of gay individuals they will be free to not accept them. But they will have to do so based on their own convictions and not hide behind a "National" policy. It's currently the same way for women or religion.

I can't think of much that is more pointless than arguing about which of the two main political parties is morally more superiour than the other. SA

I was going to bring up the same point. The whole idea of local option as it's currently practiced with gender and religion, is that the CO can set their own membership standards and I'm not aware of any litigation or legal issues with units that don't allow women in certain leadership roles or units that only accept members of a specific religion. SA

"Why is it that we're only now discovering that the Constitution gives special protections to homosexuals? " There is nothing in the constitution that gives homosexuals special protections or rights. Most court cases have basically said there is nothing in the constituion that DENIES homosexuals the same rights heterosexuals have. That's why the social socialists have had to go back to their legislatures to pass laws to specifically deny homosexuals certain rights and priviledges enjoyed by heterosexuals. The social socialists have used the power of state and federal goverments to deny

The downside to this is that the BSA has become so identified with this issue. If it truely wants to serve a broad spectrum of society it needs to be off the frontlines of the culture wars otherwise it runs the risk of being percieved as a subset of one side and ignoring or offending the values of half the country. It is not a sustainable position for membership growth. There's a reason Chic-fil-et changed it's offical policy on gays. It has nothing to do with the owner's personal position and everything with wanting to be growing business serving a broad customer base. If the

I'm not a big Romney fan, at least not the current version of the man and his party. But I don't totally put much stock in the polls. If Democrats think the race is won they are in big trouble. They need people to believe Obama could lose unless they get out and vote for him. We also have 3 debates to get through. Romney may be down by a touchdown or two in the fourth quarter, but there's plenty of time left to come back. Then there's this. " Its like the super bowl. You just come out rooting for your guy, but you dont change loyalties when the other team wins. " That's the problem

I'm thorougly disgusted with both parties as well and have considered voting for Johnson and may still do so. SA

"Counseling, education, torture " Like I said, allow the principal to beat them with a stick before providing the pill. It apparently works in some school systems for plagerism. SA

"See the Warren vs Brown race in Mass" If Scott Brown were to run as an Independant he'd win easily. His biggest negative in Massachusetts is the scarlet® behind his name. Heck they guy didn't even go to the Republican National Convention because he didn't want to be seen with the national crowd. Mitt Romney was a strong backer of Brown in his initial Senate race. One of the few prominent Republicans to do so. Now Brown barely acknowledges any association with Romney. SA

"Romney has said he would prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions. " Romney has said a lot of things he says he didn't mean or believe. If they guy said the sky is blue I'd have to go check. Full disclosure: I did vote for Romney for Govornor and thought he was a reasonably decent cheif executive. At this point though I can't tell if that's the guy that would show up in the Oval office or not. I'm inclined to go with the devil I know. SA

I may have forgotten the Death Panel. Havn't run into it yet. SA

"Mass. Democrats out number Republicans 3 to 1. Basically it's a one party state." FYI, Registered independants outnumber both Democrats and Republicans. As a resident of MA and having been under Romney care for the last 6 years or so I can say that as one who is employed and has access to health insurance through my employer the biggest impact of Romneycare has been.....um....hmm... can't think of any. The biggest impacts have been to the previously uninsured. The primary goal of health insurance reform more that 6 years ago was to address the issue of those not covered by hea

" I am not enamoured by either candidate but I am much more inclined to vote for the guy that did not double our national debt in three years " FYI, Ronald Reagan is not running in this election. Through the end of fiscal 2011, the National Debt has increased by approx. 38%. Republicans are NOT the party of fiscal conservatism. Not that I believe that Democrats are. There may be good reasons to vote for a Republican candidate but being fiscally conservative is not one of them. As Governor of Massachusetts Romney dramatically increased State revenues through additional fees

"and that homosexuals be executed. " Does that mean homosexuals would be ineligible for leadership positions in some Iranian youth organizations? It would be good to know if we shared some values. SA

Yes, those Northeast liberal elites simply don't know how to control their children. Perhaps if they were more like Texas, children would know their place in school. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/25/texas-school-district-changes-corporal-punishment-policy-after-complaints/ A reasonable compromise would be if a student requested birth control or the morning after pill, they would be beaten by the principal before the request was granted. Personally I would have requested being spanked by my sophmore English teacher but never had a need for the services then. SA (This me