Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More

[JonLP24]

Source: NY Times

IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.

The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.

“United States Border Patrol! Put your hands up!” screams one in a voice cracking with adolescent determination as the suspect is subdued.

It is all quite a step up from the square knot.

The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14explorers.html?_r=3&hp

[virgogal]

1. The times they are a changin'.

[bemildred]

2. At last Amurka will be safe from the foreign hordes. nt

[dgibby]

3. True, but who will save us from ourselves?

[Alamuti Lotus]

4. the foreign hordes, perhaps..

it is a vicious cycle indeed (job security?)..

[santamargarita]

5. Hitler Youth...

I thought this was in Texas?

[bertman]

7. Seig Heil!! This is straight out of the Nazi playbook. I am not exaggerating.

When I saw that photo on the front page of the NYT this morning I was furious.

Somebody needs to put a stop to this shit RIGHT NOW!! These kids are very impressionable. And they've got some fascist motherfucker telling them they're true patriotic Americans for rounding up terrorists.

Holy Fuck!!

[tularetom]

6. What could possibly go wrong with a program like this?

Kids that age are not prepared to make on the spot judgments regarding issues like illegal immigration, and narcoterrorism.

Somebody's son or daughter is going to get seriously hurt or even killed by relying on this "training" and then the shit will hit the fan.

[ProudDad]

8. In-fucking-sane!

Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane Insane :grr:

What stupid shit. What kind of mental defectives are we bringing up...

Between this shit, Army video games (be all the KILLER you can be), the war economy, infinite growth on a finite Earth...

In-Fucking-Sane...

[ProudDad]

9. Groan

In a competition in Arizona that he did not oversee, Deputy Lowenthal said, one role-player wore traditional Arab dress. “If we’re looking at 9/11 and what a Middle Eastern terrorist would be like,” he said, “then maybe your role-player would look like that. I don’t know, would you call that politically incorrect?”

It's very hard moving from Barbara Lee territory to Arizona -- the home of right-wing fucks...

[Alameda]

10. This is horrible....

From the slide show....'Dave Holletz, of the Brawley, Calif., police department, entered after the Explorers had killed the last hostage-taker. "Forget the injured, forget the dead," Mr. Holletz advised the Explorers. "Accomplish your mission: terminate the shooter."

[jody]

11. Anyone who objects to youths considering a career in the Border Patrol should write the president

who controls their operations, sets policies, and is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land including those assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol.