_______________ SCOUTS' DISHONOR BY ANDREW O'HEHIR (03/25/98)
	Andrew O'Hehir may be right to predict Scouting's impending demise, but if so, he is right for the wrong reasons. To talk about Scouting's "official fantasy of 1950s-style boyhood" is to overgeneralize: There are still healthy, forward-thinking Scout troops out there that understand the shape and nature of modern adolescence and provide programs tailored to the needs of today's young men. I was active in the Scouting program for more than a decade in the '80s and early '90s and attained the rank of Eagle; along the way, I learned leadership and interpersonal skills that today serve me well in the business world. For instance, each time a Scout attempts to advance in rank, he must go through a two-step interview process that mimics the job interviews he will face later in life. Scouting, when done right, is totally in-step with "the real world." The national organization, however, is out of touch with America at the close of the century. The Eagle badge is fast becoming an emblem of bigotry and close-mindedness, due at least in part to the efforts of Christian fundamentalists and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which wields great power at Boy Scout Headquarters in Irving, Texas. The influence of the Christian Right in Scouting is so strong that in some districts there are Scouters who feel it is no longer necessary to ensure that prayers at large Scout functions remain non-denominational. Some things will always be a part of Scouting: outdoor adventure, brotherhood, character-building and such. Intolerance, sadly, is a new item in the Scouting curriculum. If it is not stamped out, the organization will die. But I would rather see Scouting disappear than watch it be transformed into yet another divisive organization in our increasingly fractured and compartmentalized society. -- Matthew E. Newton
_______________ BEHIND THE CLINTON COCAINE SMEAR BY MURRAY WAAS (03/26/98)
	Your stories on the funding of anti-Clinton efforts are often groundbreaking and enlightening, but Murray Waas errs badly in asserting that allegations about Clinton and Mena originated on the right. I well remember coverage in the 1980s on the Pacifica program "Contragate" that made allegations that Clinton interceded in investigations of drug smuggling through Mena because the proceeds were ostensibly part of the contra funding operation. (This coverage came well before Clinton was a national household name.) That Pacifica program, co-hosted by occasional Salon author Dennis Bernstein, was largely inspired by investigations by the Christic Institute, many of whose allegations subsequently proved baseless. After Clinton became president, the right picked up the Mena story, spun it and ran with it for its own purposes. But the story originated as part of the largely forgotten contra-cocaine coverage of the 1980s carried forward by journalists on the left and their sources. I have no opinion either way on whether the Mena allegations have any substance, although their dismissal by the CIA inspector general carries no weight with me, and I'm surprised that it does for Waas. -- Ralph Bonheim SALON | March 27, 1998