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The Boy Scouts of America ought to pay this victim his fair share. The national organization has real weaknesses, including its stances on homosexuality and atheism. I think it is incredibly important that the national organization be forced to reform.

However, that should not overshadow the amazing work that the program does on the ground level. Boy Scouts creates amazing leaders out of young boys. From Tiger Cubs through Eagle Scouts, youth are learning every day how to live in nature, be good citizens, and lead those around them. The practice of putting senior youth in charge of troops is irreplaceable experience. No other organization I know of empowers so many young people - not just a few impressive youth in every troop, but ever single troop member.

My own Eagle Award is not simply a line on the resume or a bragging right. With the support of an entire organization full of caring adults, I was one of many young men able to achieve more in our grade school years than some achieve in their whole lives. What we gave to the community and our fellow scouts was very real and simply cannot be undermined by the absolute negligence of those at the local and national level who allowed this travesty to occur.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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Emily's offhand question on whether IPR fired the officer in question goes right to the heart of problem. There is no real outside authority to fire or issue a substantial, meaningful reprimand officers who are out of line.

Neither the bureau or the commissioners can be expected to adequately police the police. That is just politics - you don't have to blame anyone to recognize that. We should have a democratically elected review board that is not hamstrung by union regulations or internal attempts at accountability.

posted 3 years, 2 months ago
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For your Finding Solutions series, I have a number of ideas.

How do we fix our local news media to truthfully explain our economic and political situation? (I think we need more citizen and non-profit media, less for-profit corporate bleck).

How do we fix our seemingly intractable political issues? (I think we need more truth telling from people like Bill Moyers and Terry Gross, seeking the truth from sources, instead of political fireworks, like Meet The Press or Fox News.) Our politics is not so divided. There is just a minority yelling very loudly.

Why is our economy so cyclical? Can we ever imagine an economy that does not harm so many people every few years? Do we really want so much Wall Street Derivative-driven economic "growth", if it means that so many in our society are harmed so badly every half dozen years?

Why does our medical system not work? Why do we pay so much and get treated so poorly by the "system"? We all individually have "good doctors", but we get bad outcomes. Do we need to focus more aggressively on non-pharmaceutical, preventative lifestyles? Do we need to completely change how we insure the health of our bodies?

Just a few thoughts.

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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Of course people don't get a lot of money out of a land trusted house. But that's not the point! They have been living in a house of their own that they can invest in! I just enjoy fixing my own house and outfitting it for heating costs. I only need a slight appreciation in wealth when I sell. I just wanna live in a house I've taken care of.

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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security states imposed on small border towns, using constant camera monitoring? Jim, you should be reporting on this with a website or newspaper.

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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Jim Lynch: why aren't you working in muckracking right now? You clearly think that is the right path for journalism. go work for talkingpointsmemo.com. they are today's muckrackers.

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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