You'd think that someone fabricating an alien abduction tale would at least get the basics right.

[sigh...] And you would accomplish this magic of increasing competition, in a marketplace that is by it's very nature a monopoly..., how? Exactly?
I'll save you some time. You can't do it without regulation. Expensive, complicated, and inefficient regulation. Yes, all of those, which you'd know if you'd ever once read transcripts from public utility commission hearings on things like rate increases for regulated service (think dial tone).
What you can do, and without the burden of enforcing regulation like that, is socialize the operation of the infrastructure (that portion of the whole thing that defines the monopoly) and then open up that infrastructure to all qualified comers.

Man, you must live in some upscale neighborhood. Around here (Houston) the coffee and pastry sold at gas stations is more of the Kwik-E-Mart class than Starbucks or Cinnabon.

You need to charge the insurance company at least five to six times the full retail price or it's not a "real" medical device.

Yes, the jokes will continue.
Yes, the RCC has no one but themselves to blame for the PR mess they find themselves in, so they and all their apologists can STFU, as far as I am concerned.
I'd be happy to explain why my religion has a higher level of sexual abuse, if it had one. That's one of the nicest things about my religion. The "clergy" aren't semi-cloistered males whose normal libido's have been repressed to the point that they must turn to victimizing innocent children because that seems to be the safest outlet for their now twisted urges. It also does not have a "church" hierarchy that could attempt to systematically hide such crimes from it's "congregation" and worse, expose ever more children to the abuses perpetrated by it's priests.

Boy, are you a rube, or what? Lobbyists, by definition, buy influence. With enough money (or other "currency") one can buy anything at all in Washington.

You are the one who invoked Divine "intent", pal. Defend your position or change it.

"Intended"? By whom?
Oh, right - God. That's your set of beliefs. You are welcome to them, of course, but you are not welcome to compel others to adopt them. When, oh when, will otherwise bright and reasonable people grasp this important point?

Where? By saying that an adult male is unfit to be a leader purely because of his sexual orientation? WTF has one got to do with the other? Unless, of course, you're stupid and afraid.

No. I am saying that homosexuality has nothing to do with morality. The whole "homosexuality is wrong - it says so in the Bible" argument is what is behind all this. If the BSA wants to sack up and admit that they're the youth wing of the Christian Dominionist movement and adopt Biblical law as their "code", that's fine with me. Really. But they're not about to do that. They desperately want to believe that their still the ideal "All-American" youth organization when they are clearly not. Bigotry is not something the BSA will admit to, but it is very clearly a part of their "values", and what the values they hold are taught to the boys, and that is a problem in this case.