Because it’s the end of the week and because the answer to the question, “What on earth is wrong with wingnuts?” is always basically the same, I’m just going to simply say “they’re weird,” and move on.

Ousted former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce went On the Record With Greta Van Susteren last night to discuss his getting booted from office — and piss and moan about Jerry Lewis, the man who beat him in Tuesday’s historic recall election.

Van Susteren asked Pearce whether he and Lewis are friends. He responded by launching into a tirade about recall elections, boy scouts, and homosexuals.

“That’s a stretch. We’re not enemies, but that’s a stretch. It’s just not true. He opposes SB-1070, he supports the Dream Act. He supports gays in Boy Scouts. He’s endorsed by the Democrats. We are at opposite ends of this issue. So that’s a stretch,” Pearce says.

Jerry Lewis, of course, is also a Republican. Russell Pearce is a wingnut who is a sore loser, but I repeat myself.

Andy has the video, which apparently does not wish to be embedded over here, which is just as well because it’s from Fox News.

He can make popcorn for the kids though. Presumably you can’t taint popcorn with The Gayness:

A University Park father learned this week that he will not be able to serve as a leader in his 9-year-old’s Cub Scout pack because he’s gay.

For the last two years Jon Langbert has organized a popcorn fundraiser for Pack 70 at University Park Elementary. Then at a September Scout meeting, someone complained about his homosexuality, Langbert said.

He said he was told this week that he can’t wear the Scout leader shirt he was given last year and that he cannot serve in a leadership position because of his sexual orientation.

“What message does that send to my son? It says I’m a second-class citizen,” Langbert said.

Robert McTaggart, the Cubmaster for Pack 70, said Langbert will be allowed to continue as a popcorn fundraiser. That position is not considered a leadership role and can be held by a volunteer.

How big of them.

A couple of things about this: The Boy Scouts are, obviously, working within their rights as current law stands, thanks to a 2000 Supreme Court Decision which allowed them to keep discriminating. The father in the article does bring up the sticky fact that the Highland Park public schools grant use of their facilities for the Scouts to meet, and says that he’s contacted attorneys about it. He should. The Boy Scouts of America, as a private organization, can be as discriminatory as they want, but that doesn’t mean that we should share our public facilities with discriminatory organizations.

Max Simon at Queerty points out the positive ramifications of Langbert taking his son out of the Scouts:

On the plus side, if he pulls his son out of the Scouts now, there’s a great chance he won’t be molested in a few years.

Ouch.

A few years ago, the Supreme Court decided that the Boy Scouts of America had the right to discriminate against LGBT kids.

Congratulations, Boy Scouts!!

The result, however, has been disastrous, as the organization celebrates its 100th birthday. In the wake of the ruling, it has lost membership and clout. An article in today’s New York Times by Katherine Seelye says it all:

The organization, long an icon of wholesomeness in a simpler America, has seen its membership plunge by 42 percent since its peak year of 1973, when there were 4.8 million scouts. In the last decade alone, membership has dropped by more than 16 percent, to 2.8 million.

The declines reflect the difficulties of keeping up with changing times and shifting demographics, as well as of battling a perception that the organization is exclusionary because it bars gay people and atheists, not to mention girls under 13.

And, of course, when you ban women, gays and religious diversity, you also create a flashing neon sign that reads, “PERVERTS PLEASE APPLY”:

An even bigger challenge emerged this year as a jury ordered the Scouts to pay $18.5 million in damages to a man who had been abused by a scout leader as a boy. The trial focused renewed attention on the secret files that the Scouts’ national office in Texas has kept for more than 70 years of claims of sexual abuse by troop leaders and volunteers.

Here is a typical story from July 22:

If the office voice mail recording is any indication, damage control was in full swing this week at the Gerber Boy Scout Camp near Muskegon, Mich., where the director is behind bars, charged with possessing and distributing child pornography — including locker-room videotapes of boys at the YMCA where he worked as a pool safety instructor.

So, the Boy Scouts can discriminate and humiliate young gay kids who only want to tie knots and roast marshmallows. Good for them.

It can belittle young girls and exclude atheists. Isn’t that nice?

However, by making these bigoted and backward choices, the Boy Scouts of America looks a lot like the Roman Catholic Church. The Boy Scouts are now considered uncool, they have a rapidly declining membership, and attracts psychologically unhealthy and emotionally dysfunctional people with severe sexual hangups.

As the Boy Scouts celebrate their 100th birthday, they should consider living in the current century. For the sake of its survival, it is time the Boy Scouts adjust to modern times and reality. The 1950′s ended quite some time ago. Apparently, they never got the memo.