Was this really necessary, libs, or do you not agree with what happened?

Question

Cambridge Officials Put a Stop to Boy Scout Drive to Aid Troops in Iraq

Friday, November 16, 2007

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The city that's home to Harvard and MIT solidified its nickname as "The People's Republic of Cambridge" when it put a stop to a Boy Scout troop's Election Day drive to collect care packages for American soldiers in Iraq, claiming it was "political."

“We just wanted to make a lot of troops happy,” Scout Patrick O’Connor told the Boston Herald.

The big-hearted Scouts from Cambridge Troop 45 had placed donation boxes at the city's 33 polling stations in hopes of collecting toiletries, magazines, candy and other items after one of O'Connor's relatives was injured in an IED explosion while serving in Iraq.

But someone complained to the city, allegedly claiming the boxes were a “political statement,” and the boxes were removed.

*****

Having been a Scout, I suspect that this was Patrick's Eagle project, now ruined. Was it really necessary to do that to him?

Answer 1

You may not like it, but it is inappropriate to place anything of that nature in a polling station, And I am not a LIB.

Answer 2

Since these were all public places, I think we have yet another case of PC-ism to the extreme.  If the person who was so "offended" by the gift boxes had just not made a stink about it, I doubt it would have been an issue.  I saw pictures of those boxes, it looked like quite a few folks had donated to them.

Why is trying to make our troops feel better over the holidays a "political statement"?

Answer 3

I see that many state that the placement of the boxes was in itself a political statement?.!?  In that case, anything could be construed as a political statement.  Precisely how could this be seen as a political statement when it did not support or advocate a political party or for that matter a political policy.  These boxes merely represented and advocated a patriotic AMERICAN action, those are the only politics in this action, the politics of BEING AMERICAN!!!!  The placement of the boxes at a polling statement is further questioned on the grounds that due to low turnout in this nation at voting time the boxes would have better been placed at malls.  Yeah, right, like some little twit at a mall spending money they don't have is gonna stop and give to some soldier half a world away, I DON'T THINK SO!  The polling place is exactly where these boxes belong, as once the word is out that they are there those same people that DO take the time to vote will take the time to bring in the things to give to the soldiers.  This is so obviously a POLITICAL move removing the scouts project, and it is the politics of an un-American COWARD at that.

Answer 4

Well, I am a liberal and an active  member of the VFW (those are the people that actually served their country as opposed to so many with loud mouths that didn't or won't). It is inappropriate for anyone to have anything at a polling place. I'm sure they could have placed their donation boxes elsewhere.

Answer 5

I think it was correct to conclude that the project amounted to a political statement, and that therefore a polling place was an inappropriate location for it.  The election officials who initially approved the project to be located there should be run out of office.

What I DON'T understand is why it was necessary to stop the project altogether.  Surely that was not the only "solution."

There are all sorts of places to which the project could have been relocated.  In fact, if the Scout(s) were looking for a "high-traffic" area, they could not have picked a more anemic location than a polling place, considering how apathetic we are about this civic responsibility.  Indeed, in this respect one has to wonder why polling places - as opposed to much busier places such as shopping centers and grocery stores -  were specifically selected as the locations for the project in the first place, if not for the very purpose of making a political statement.

Whatever the reason for selecting polling places was, though, I think the people who decided to shut this project down rather than find an alternate location did a disservice both to the Scout(s) who worked on it, and to those who would have benefitted from the generosity of donors.  

For the record:  I'm a flaming, unapologetic liberal who thinks our current president is one of the most ignorant human beings on the planet.  I also vigorously oppose the Iraq War and have no particular affinity for the Boy Scouts, despite the fact that I was one when I was a boy.

But what fries me more than anything is human stupidity, and this action to shut down the project was just plain stupid.

EDIT:

Imkevlar...

I made no such assertion.  I simply raised the question because I believe it is a fair question to ask in the context.   I have no idea what the Scoutmaster's motivation was for selecting polling places as the location for this project, and I wouldn't think to presume that I knew.  Only he can answer that question with certainty.

You however seem to have no hesitation in this regard.  You immediately conjured an interpretation of the point I was making that is nowhere substantiated in my reply... rather like the very knee-jerk reaction that neo-cons and other assorted intolerants love to hate about Liberals.

And as for "patriotism"...please.  Spare me!  Patriotism starts with a president who sets an example by showing respect for the Constitution, the laws of this country, and basic human rights.  Unauthorized wiretaps, intercepting Internet communication, detention of prisoners without benefit of counsel or charges being filed, refusal to repudiate water-boarding as torture, usurpation of legislative prerogative, lying to the people who elected you...shall I go on?  Some examples of patriotism these!

Still, a good question overall.  Thanks for asking it.