Meet the newest members of the Global Pasty Jihad:
“A collision course is probably a good description of where things are headed,” Mary Rice Hasson, a visiting fellow in Catholic studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank in Washington, told The Associated Press this week. “The leadership of the Girl Scouts is reflexively liberal. Their board is dominated by people whose views are antithetical to the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
“I know we’re a big part of the culture wars,” the Girl Scouts’ spokeswoman, Michelle Tompkins, told The AP. “For us, there’s an overarching sadness to it. We’re just trying to further girls’ leadership.”
The fact I’m highlighting this is just another example of this former altar boy’s ignorant anti-Catholic bigotry.
DH
I guess this means I will buy 2 boxes of Thin Mints this year instead of one. Not only will I enjoy more cookies, but I will also be telling the Catholic Church Leadership to fuck off. Two pleasures for one. Life can be wonderful.
patrick II
I did not understand until recently that being a liberal was antithetical to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Pope John XXIII would be surprised.
suzanne
I’m pretty proud that my daughter and her Scout troop are going to Savannah this summer to celebrate Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary.
Fuck these assholes. Girl Scouts is the best.
On a side note, I found out yesterday that one of my Brownie friends growing up just made the Olympic team for the second time.
Yutsano
Mon Dieu. They’re coming after the British meat pies too? Will the madness never end?
LosGatosCA
I don’t think every Catholic official is a stupid jackass as a matter of my faith in human nature, it just seems all the ones I’m aware of or read about are.
Bnut
It’s one thing to screw with sexual rights, or the molestation stuff, or a million other things. DON’T FUCK WITH MY THIN MINTS. This is a bipartisan issue if there ever was one.
Jennifer
Since when should the Girl Scouts care fuck-all what the men in beanies think? Girl Scouts is not a Catholic organization and if the bishopricks have their knickers in a twist because they aren’t, then they need to just issue a directive that no Catholic girls are allowed to join Girl Scouts and be done with it, so the Catholics can get on with ignoring that edict, too.
David Koch
why do they hate the girl scouts?
beth
I’m not only going to buy extra GS cookies, I’m going to drop a couple of boxes off for the priest at our local church. Perhaps some Sin Mints and Lez-Be-Dos?
Yutsano
@Bnut: I still have five boxes in my freezer. I’m dying for Mom to find them when she comes over to rescue me. I’m certain one or two will evaporate.
Xenos
In some countries (like where I am living now) the Catholic Church has its own scouting organization — there is Scouts, and there is Catholic Scouts. We see this with other alternative groups that don’t want to integrate into the larger, transnational organization: pagans(Spiral Scouts), Campfire Girls, Navigators (urban scouts), Calvinist Cadet Corps (that sounds like fun!) and so on. Catholics, if they want, can be just one more splinter group.
A relatively new, explicitly Christian and exclusively American one is the American Heritage Girls. It seems to repudiate the international character of Scouting for a political and cultural purity that is really quite creepy.
Jewish Steel
@David Koch: Nowhere in the bible does it say that girls should scout.
karen marie
@DH: Cookies were in March. You missed it. But I bought three boxes. Girl Scouts have been in the wingnut sights for a while, although in a more low key way than PP, but now the shitheads are emboldened with their success at highjacking the discussion with the “religious liberty” nonsense around contraception coverage. I saw this a couple days ago in the Guardian. I’m surprised it took two days for BJ folks to get wind of this latest outbreak of asshattery.
suzanne
@Yutsano: Sarah thanks you. :) They’re very excited for their trip!
Jewish Steel
@Xenos: This made me bark with laughter. I can’t believe it’s real!
What unfortunate phrasing.
Jennifer
It’s way past high time for some organization like Girl Scouts to stand up and say, “so, the Catholic bishops/fundies/wingnuts don’t like us? Tough shit. We have a mission, and while it’s unfortunate that they’ve decided they don’t like it, no one is forcing them to join, so it’s none of their fucking business. They are free to continue being benighted, bigoted jackasses, just as we are free to continue being the fine organization dedicated to building character in girls that we have always been – and will continue to be.”
Wag
@David Koch:
A better question would be “Why do they hate America?”
I think the Bishops hate us for our freedom.
Mnemosyne
@Jennifer:
To be fair, the Girl Scouts have been telling conservatives to go fuck themselves for at least a decade now. I don’t see any likelihood that the bishops are going to succeed where so many others have failed before.
Suffern ACE
@Jennifer: I grew up in one of those churches that did not allow participation in the scouts unless the church had its own troop and membership was closed to kids outside the church. 4-h was allowed because there wasn’t part of the meeting devoted to prayer (we were not allowed to help heathens in their false heresies by praying with them.) I can’t wait for them to bust the 4Hers for their purposeful lack of religious doctrine and rituals.
Jewish Steel
Seriously though, I can imagine the Church doesn’t like to have its brainwashing operation messed with. Any competing viewpoint has the potential to scuttle years of careful indoctrination. I’ve known so many bright Catholics who, despite themselves, believe in magic. Shame.
Xenos
@Jewish Steel: I don’t think there have been that many Presbyterian molestation cases, but I could be missing something. The part that makes me bark with laughter is having a ‘non-denominational’ organization named after John Calvin.
I guess they are open to Presbyterians, Huguenots, AND Dutch Reformed Church members. Quite tolerant, really.
lacp
@patrick II: Yeah, and look where that liberal stuff got him. I mean, he’s, y’know, all dead and shit.
Cacti
And that there’s your problem.
Pope Adolf II doesn’t think those two words should ever be spoken together.
srv
And here I thought the Girl Scouts was just a front organization for cookie manufacturers.
kindness
Of course the Bishops prefer Boy Scouts…..Why would you ask?
Jennifer
The Catholic Church really does seem quite dedicated to committing suicide here in the US. They keep this up and 10 years from now, they’ll be lucky to claim half the members they now have.
LosGatosCA
@David Koch:
Why not?
365 days in a year, 24 hours in day. If they don’t keep adding people, policies, etc. to hate, they will run out of official objects of hate for the petty little pseudo-moralists pretty quickly.
TheMightyTrowel
@Suffern ACE: wait people PRAY in girl scouts?? My catholic school troop never did. Granted my Jewish secular dad was our girl scout troop leader. The north Carolina moms never really knew what to make of that.
daverave
On a somewhat related note, a Catholic high school in Arizona just forfeited the boys’ state championship game to a team with a girl on the roster. Now that’s enlightened thinking…
http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/national/High-school-baseball-team-forfeits-state-championship-instead-of-playing-against-girl
Suffern ACE
@TheMightyTrowel: I wouldn’t know. I couldn’t join a scouting org. For all I know they sacrifice chickens like I was told they did at Freemasons and Lions Clubs meetings. I was impressionable.
gaz
Okay, so at risk of stating the obvious…
Hating girl-scouts is such a cartoon villain thing.
gaz
So in other words, the Girl Scouts are against child rape.
Yet another reason to stock up on thin mints.
karen
This may be a silly question…well two silly questions but:
1. When did the mainstream Catholic Church become Mel Gibson/Rick Santorum Opus Dei?
2. I’ve heard from some of my “Christian” friends that they don’t believe that Catholics are Christians. is that true and if so, when did that change and merge with Evangelists and Dominionists?
gaz's wife
My mom never let me join the Girl Scouts ‘cuz she thought that they made money off of kids, charging for those uniforms and making us sell their cookies.
I’m still bitter over it.
DH
@karen marie:
There is always next year. :)
gaz
@gaz’s wife: I wasn’t allowed to join the girl scouts either =(
(is it bad form to respond to you like this when you are in the next room?)
gaz's wife
@gaz: But you did get to be in the Cub Scouts! When I was little, all of my friends were Cub Scouts and I couldn’t join and have one of them kerchief thingies or light shit on fire in the woods just cuz I was a girl… I settled for Girl Scouts (coookkieess…..) but then my mom wouldn’t even let me join that. My childhood was practically ruined by this and many other first world problems.
Mark S.
@daverave:
Yeah, I saw that earlier today. The high school is run by the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X that broke away from the Church and believe Vatican II was the work of Satan.
Naturally, Benny wants to get those guys back in the fold and wants to kick the Girl Scouts to the curb (along with the nuns). I’d actually be surprised if the Church lasts another century.*
* And yes, it’ll still be there, but in a much diminished state.
Jewish Steel
@ Xenos: “I don’t think there have been that many Presbyterian molestation cases, but I could be missing something.”
No, I haven’t either. Nor Episcopal or Lutheran. Must be something about mainline Protestantism that keeps the pedes at bay. I’d say it was the lack of celebacy if I hadn’t read about those crazy Hasids earlier.
gaz
@gaz’s wife: your mom is messed up in general though (bless her heart)
And I hated the cub scouts
gaz's wife
@gaz: We should go back in time and switch childhoods
Narcissus
Try as they might (and they do try), the bishops just can’t get behind girl scouts. They only have eyes for the boy scout’s (behinds).
gaz
@daverave: Our Lady of Sorrow Catholic School? Seriously?
I don’t even want to begin to unpack that.
Every single one of those kids is going to have some serious emotional baggage to work through. Even if they manage to avoid getting raped.
JoyfulA
When I lived in Philly a couple of decades ago, I remember Cardinal Krol replacing the Girl Scouts with the Campfire Girls, something about a “To Be a Woman” badge that touched on sexuality. I am told that archdiocese has long been archconservative.
Then again, the City of Philadelphia threw the Boy Scouts out of a city-owned property because they discriminated against gay and nontheist boys.
Athena2
Hmmmm…I know the Mormons consider the Boy Scouts their own private club. Do they even allow girl scouts?
Athena2
Hmmmm…I know the Mormons consider the Boy Scouts their own private club. Do they even allow girl scouts?
Back in March I was in Indiana, where the loon who did that Internet research lives, during cookie season. I told the dad overseeing the girls selling cookies that I was buying the cookies in response to the attack on them. His response: not all conservatives are so crazy.
gaz
@efgoldman: As if she isn’t already envious enough… I see extra hugs will be necessary this evening. heh
Mouse Tolliver
@karen marie:
Honestly, whenever I see the word asshat from now on I’m going to think of that big frickin’ hat the pope wears.
gaz's wife
@efgoldman: I know! Later on I heard all these great stories from other people and started reading about all the important stuff that the Girl Scouts does with girls and now I’m even more unhappy about my childhood!
gaz
@efgoldman: she’s on a netbook in the living room. I’m on a desktop in the bedroom.
ETA: I finally managed to convince her to stop lurking. =)
ETA2: It’s a trade. She gets the comfy recliner, and a crap machine. I get a NON-crap machine and an uncomfortable computer chair. =)
Suffern ACE
@gaz’s wife: Tomorrow, I think you should start the healing by learning to light fires with nothing but sticks. Also, you can start charging gaz for cookies.
@gaz: Just wondering, did they teach you how to put out fires in that cub scout thing, or was it all just tying knots and making cars out of blocks of wood?
gaz
@Suffern ACE: It’s been awhile. There’s a good chance they taught us how to put out fires, but I was more interested in starting them.
As far as the knots. The scouts are amateur. I didn’t learn the good knots until I was a curious and sexually active young adult. (In both cases, it was overrated)
gaz's wife
@efgoldman: I am in the living room and gaz is in our bedroom. I say “our” bedroom because ever since the immigrants showed up (not satisfied with taking our jobs, they also take our spare bedroom and our parking spot) we have to share a room. And what’s worse is that our room is small and we are stuck sharing a bed. Yep. Every night while the blog-o-world or whatever it’s called is sleeping I’m stuck in a bed with gaz, trying to defend my half of the diminishing real estate. I don’t dare get up in the night for a drink of water or I’ll return to a drooly pillow and no blankie. Now you know.
MaximusNYC
I’m afraid that folks who think that the Catholic church tightening the screws in various ways is a form of organizational suicide don’t really get the dynamics of religious fundamentalism.
Putting more restrictions on their members will drive some people away, but it will intensify the dedication of many. When you are forbidden from doing various things, that psychological energy gets sublimated into other things — like group solidarity and more fervent personal faith.
Erecting higher walls between the community and the outside world also tends to create tighter in-group bonds.
Total numbers may or may not go down, but the fervor of those who remain on the inside will likely go up. And I think Benedict and crew understand this on a deep, even instinctual level. They are playing a long game — strategizing for the next 1000 years.
gaz
@gaz’s wife: but you snore. and you always fall asleep before I do =(
BethanyAnne
It makes me sad that anyone might not get to be in Scouting. I was in it for 7 years, and loved the program. We got to do such awesome things; every kid should have that chance.
Yutsano
@efgoldman:
Yep.
gaz
@MaximusNYC: I have a solution for that. It involves
Kool-aidflavor-aid though.asiangrrlMN
God I’m sick of this. I wrote about some of this bullshittery over at ABLC back in February.
I haven’t bought GS cookies in years. I bought ten boxes this year. Fuck the Catholic Church and the GOP in their collective ears.
gaz
@efgoldman: No chance of that with my wife. I first met her when she was 15. She ran a BBS.
gaz
@Yutsano: Rule 34?
gaz
@efgoldman: Maybe on a more civilized blog.
asiangrrlMN
@asiangrrlMN: With my rusty pitchfork™, naturally.
Citizen_X
@patrick II:
You’d think they would be more, uh, all-encompassing about it. What’s the word for that? Ecumenical? No, that’s not it. Something with a “c.”
gaz
@efgoldman: I’d only be anyone’s son-in-law in the loosest possible interpretation. =)
* not a pronoun nazi because it’s more trouble than it’s worth (I’m pretty andro), but I’m trans.
gaz's wife
@efgoldman: You all know and love gaz for the witticisms and pithy comments. Lurking beneath that adorable surface is another gaz… a gaz who is no respecter of boundaries. Even clearly defined boundaries such as the middle line down the middle of the bed that CLEARLY demarcates the territory of each spouse. I do believe that there are established international treaties explaining how the parties might meet at the border to request negotiations or what-have-you. I mean, this is a settled matter. Even India and Pakistan understand that you don’t just go crossing the line all willy-nilly sticking your cold feet into another’s carefully fluffed comforter!
Yutsano
@gaz: My brain is not ready for Doctor Who porn. Sexytime in the TARDIS is better left unsaid.
gaz
@Yutsano: oops, I meant a variation of rule 34. IOW: If you can imagine it, you can find it on teh intertubez
ETA: Although you raise an interesting idea… There probably is pr0n for that…
gaz
@gaz’s wife: and with that you just demolished any illusion of witticism on my part. Thanks for raising the bar… meanie..
asiangrrlMN
@gaz: @gaz’s wife: You guy are fabulous. Keep going!
gaz
@asiangrrlMN: dear, until you’ve seen my nails, you do not know fabulous. ;)
opie jeanne
@efgoldman: My son was in the Boy Scouts in HS. They went to camp on Catalina every summer, and the neighborhood Mormon troop joined up with our kids every year; those boys were hungry for anything not related to Mormon badges and the dads seemed eager to be around the guys who were more experienced and really wanted to be there.
One of the Mormon mothers explained to me that the dads running the Mormon troops are assigned to do so whether they have any gift for it or any desire to be involved, and the results are uneven. They are given very little guidance and support in some cases.
There was a canoeing accident that almost became a tragedy, I think partly because of this policy.
Yutsano
@opie jeanne: O HAI!
I’ve been hoping to run into you lately! Last weekend a co-worker said good-bye (he’s moving back to Japan with his wife and ADORABLE kidlet) and we had lunch at a sushi place in Lynnwood. Have you ever eaten at Sushi Land? VERY good and CHEAP!
asiangrrlMN
@gaz: PICTURES!
ETA: Of your nails, I mean.
gaz
@opie jeanne: I’ve always felt that the particularly insular cultist sects of christianity do massive harm to children. Jehova’s Witnesses, Mormons, etc. If you bring a poor kid up in an environment like that, they not only end up with severe emotional issues, but they lack the tools to navigate the complexities and ugliness of the real world.
ETA: I’m not saying all people who are Mormon or JW end up raising their kids this way. In fact, many don’t. But enough do. And it’s sick and depraved to put your religion before your children’s well being.
A rather unpleasant aside: I knew an asshole once who specifically sought out young adult women that were raised Jehova’s witness so he could “turn them out”. He was a nasty piece of work. I’m sure there are plenty of other jerks out there just like that. To me, raising a kid in an environment like this is basically child neglect.
gaz
@asiangrrlMN: I’ll post some soon. As it is I’m about to enter into delicate negotiations with my spousal unit, so that I can secure my portion of the bed. And getting my camera to focus properly + upload to flikr is a bit much for me to undertake at midnight. I haz a sleepiez =)
ETA: Fair warning, I just chopped them off today. I have to do that every couple of weeks or so just because I generally keep them so long people ask me if they are fake. But they do end up getting fatigued and I have to start over…
Still, even short, they’re always nice =)
gaz
@Yutsano: I could swear they had one in lower queen anne (down the hill from Gaylor st).. if so, I have to agree with you. I liked that place. I’m almost certain it’s not there anymore.
I liked Toyoda Sushi in lake city – I’m assuming it’s still there.
Yutsano
@gaz: I only know of the one I ate at in Lynnwood, and on their chopstick wrappers I didn’t see an address in the city proper. It is possible there was one there, but at the prices they offer I doubt it would survive a Seattle rent too long. Unfortunately.
BillinGlendaleCA
While no one will probably see this.
I was not a Morman, however I was in a Morman Boy Scout troop about 40 years ago. So they did allow non believers in then. We did get, about once a week, religious instruction. This concerned my mom a great deal, we being Baptists and all. I always assured her that I viewed it as pure fiction, which I did. BTW, they didn’t have Girl Scouts, they had beehives as their organization for the girls.
Bago
@Yutsano: They have a marine polis sushi land in Lynwood? I always thought the northernmost one was on lower queen Anne.
Bago
The other sushi land is in bellevue, at roughly 107 and third.
MikeJ
Who would have guessed that a group of paedophiles doesn’t like groups that make strong, independent children.
SRW1
“We’re just trying to further girls’ leadership.”
That’s the problem right there, lady. You womenz aren’t supposed to be anywhere near leadership. That’s the job of the menz folk. You womenz are supposed to be submissive.
Kay
@Suffern ACE:
I was wondering about 4-H too.
I wasn’t in 4-H as a kid, but my daughter was and my son is (now) and so I did and do all the parent parts of 4-H.
I have never experienced even the slightest whiff of ideology, wingnutism, or introduction of a (or any) religion at a 4-H meeting here, and this is such a conservative area, if that were part of 4-H, it would be evident here.
Is that because they operate out of a “statist” county extension service, I wonder?
I’ve always sort of admired 4-H as an organization (although I’ve never been an adult leader) because the kids vote ON EVERYTHING, and the kids really do run the meetings and they do their own work. It isn’t as adult-directed as so many of their other “activities” were. I like to see kids get a little room to move independently, and they get that at 4-H.
Uncle Cosmo
@LosGatosCA: To paraphrase Jonathan Swift: All the Church officials sent out from the Vatican are wise, just, and godly–but they are invariably before reaching Fiumicino set upon by stupid, corrupt and depraved brigands who rob them of their passports & cassocks & arrive in your town in their stead.
At least that’s the only explanation that makes any sense. Unless the Church itself is stupid, corrupt, and depraved…
Uncle Cosmo
@JoyfulA:
–& spends its time hiding from the real world holed up in its archbunker…
Barney
Well, Oxfam, DWB and the Sierra Club are clearly the Unholy Trinity – the most evil organisations one can conceive of. I can see why the Catholic bishops would never want to sully their own pure reputation by even an indirect association with such
bigotschild molestershypocritescharities.Barney
@yutsano: Go ahead and laugh – the conservatives really are coming after the pasties.
scottinnj
@Barney:
Well, I think Doctors Without Borders sounds much more Satanic and Soshulist if you call it by its real name “Medecins Sans Frontieres”. Since it’s in French, it’s clearly evil.
Lojasmo
This blog blows my mind…in a good way.
Suffern ACE
@Barney: Why yes. What’s the point of having a charity anyway if it can’t be used to increase your temporal power? I can see why the Bishops are concerned with charities they don’t control.
Ash Can
“Collision course” is right. If these morans really, truly want to go after the Girl Scouts, it’s not going to end well for them. The corporate news media may breathlessly report on their “audacity” and “strong convictions,” but all those real-world parents — you know, the folks who account for the lion’s share of the finances of most parishes, and from whom all clergy ultimately come — will kick them to the curb.
Cluttered Mind
Unfortunately for Michelle Tompkins, attempting to teach young girls how to be independent and have good leadership skills is a surefire way to get caught up in the culture wars. There are going to be plenty of regressive wingers who will oppose the Girl Scouts just based on that.
As for me, the last time I saw a girl scout and her mother out selling cookies on the street, I bought 6 boxes of cookies and gave a donation to the local troop on top of that. Screw the reactionary right, now and forever.
different-church-lady
Leading nominee for most unintentionally hilarious headline of the year award.
Hey, at least they’re finally moving on from alter boys.
quannlace
SO??? So’s a heck of a lot of things in this world. What the fuck does it have to do with the Catholic church? Are they a major sponsor or funder of the GSA? This is ridiculous.
Oh, wait. Weren’t con’s steamed cause one troop welcomed a trans-gendered girl?
************
First they came for the nuns, then the Girl Scouts.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
“[Would you like to] buy some delicious Girl Scout Cookies?”
“Are they made from real Girl Scouts?” (Addams Family)
Go Girl Scouts! I think the church hierarchy once again is on the wrong side of the issue. I hope they someday evolve on the issue of gay rights the way they have on global warming and — I believe — evolution (unlike some churches).
gaz
@West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.): It only took them 600 years to apologize for Galileo. They’ll come around eventually. At least by the time we are all dust.
Peter
@Jewish Steel: I wouldn’t say it ‘keeps them at bay’ so much as it just doesn’t give them as many opportunities. Catholicism and Hasidism are exclusive and authoritative in ways that most protestant denominations aren’t. That’s what gives rise to the widespread child abuse and molestation.
Ruckus
@asiangrrlMN:
As much as I love the rusty pitchfork, it really is a limited discussion tool. Too one on one.
I’m more partial to rusty chainsaws. Nice 6-8 foot blade. Now that will get the attention of your debate opponent. And if it doesn’t? Who needs stinking attention?