Free Republic

The Obama administration’s safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings, has accused the Baptists, the Boy Scouts and sports fans of anti-gay bias, and he has advocated a special high school for gay teens as well as gay-straight alliance clubs for every high school in America. Jennings, who was a prominent homosexual activist before being named director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, also has called for kindergarteners to be taught to respect all sexual orientations, while insisting that “ex-gay messages” and “Christian values” are ‘misused to isolate or denigrate lesbian, gay, bisexual...

Three stories in the news this week pointed out the lunacy of what has become known as "zero tolerance". In the first case, a 6-year-old boy was suspended and threatened with reform school because he brought a camping utensil to school. Zachary Christie, a first-grader at Downes Elementary School in Newark, Del., was so proud of the spoon-fork-knife combination gift that he wanted to show it off and use it to eat his lunch. He was by all accounts a good student, who sometimes wore suits to school because he took his education seriously. He was also a Cub Scout....

Matthew Whalen, the Egle Scout in upstate New York who was suspended for having a pocket knife in his car received reassuring news from West Point today. Attending the prestigious New York military academy was always a dream for Matthew since the first grade. News 10 Albany reports: The military academy he's wanted to attend since first grade has told Matthew not to worry.

FirstCall/ -- AT&T* announced today a donation of more than $250,000 to the Patriots' Path Council, serving Boy Scouts of America in northern and central New Jersey. The money is a result of the first annual AT&T NJ Golf Classic which was held at Fiddlers Elbow Country Club in Bedminster and featured appearances by former NY Yankees Joe Pepitone and Lee Mazzilli. Proceeds will be used to support Inner City Scouting programs providing camp scholarships for children living in urban areas and will also fund the cost of a full-time bilingual Program Director for Hispanic communities.

Below is audio and a partial transcript of Kevin Jennings', President Obama's safe school czar, thoughts on keeping the Boy Scouts out of the public school system. This is from a 2000 speaking engagement with his former organization the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in Iowa. In the same speech, Mr. Jennings also advocated for mandating a gay friendly curriculum in the public schools from kindergarten onward.

SNIPPET: "For all his public activity, Bray has rarely, if ever, discussed his life story in detail. His own MAS biography offers vague descriptions of his work as "a long time civil and human rights advocate." A charismatic African-American convert to Islam, Bray spent this entire decade working for Islamist organizations. Prior to joining MAS, Bray was political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Those jobs have helped him build a growing public profile and given him access to politicians and policy makers. And that may explain his reluctance to discuss his life before political activism. The Investigative...

New advice published in Scouting, the official in-house magazine, says neither Scouts nor their parents should bring penknives to camp except in "specific" situations. Scouts have traditionally been taught how to use knives correctly, using them on camping trips to cut firewood or carve tools. At one point Scouts were allowed to carry a sheath knife on their belt as part of their uniform although this is no longer the case. In recent years the Scout Association guidance has been that parents should carry knives to camps or meetings. Dave Budd, a knife-maker who runs courses training Scouts about the...

Lucas Wondra has Down syndrome and communicates with a few words, sign language and a PDA with a speaker and voice software. But when it comes to the Boy Scouts, he concedes no disability. On Monday, Lucas, a 16-year-old freshman at Hutchinson High, became an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America and the latest in a collage of medals and merit badges covering his uniform. Scout Master Bill Whitlow said Lucas is the first Scout with Down syndrome from Troop 301 to achieve his Eagle rank. "I feel like it's been a community effort," his...

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Smoke filled the skies over the Los Angeles Basin Wednesday as a quick-moving wildfire expanded to 750 acres in the mountains north of the city, officials said. With high temperatures and dry winds fueling the flames, firefighters said just 10 percent of the fire was contained by morning. The National Weather Service said temperatures were expected to reach triple digits in the valley, the Los Angeles Times reported Campgrounds in the Angeles National Forest were evacuated Tuesday after a brush fire broke out near the Morris Dam north of Azusa in late afternoon. About...

Even though there was a slight hitch in their plan, a group of Boy Scouts who while on their way to a national competition in Indiana found themselves stranded in Atlanta, are now on their way. After exhausting all other options to find a flight that would get them to Indiana before 8 a.m. Sunday, the Scouts were able to rent a charter bus, which Delta will be covering the cost, said Carlos Santos, Delta spokesman. Although they bought their plane tickets in April, the group of 30 Boy Scouts and their eight chaperones were forced to rent the bus...

CONCORD, N.H. —  A Massachusetts teenager who spent three nights alone on Mount Washington in April after he sprained an ankle and veered off marked trails has been fined more than $25,000 for the cost of his rescue.Scott Mason had been praised for utilizing his Eagle Scout skills — sleeping in the crevice of a boulder and jump-starting fires with hand sanitzer gel. But authorities say he wasn't prepared for the conditions he encountered and shouldn't have set out on such an ambitious hike."Yes, he'd been out there in July when you could step across the brooks. And people have been...

Today I read an obscure book which is addequately written. Its subject is not of front-burner importance, all things considered. And yet, it tells a story that entirely too many Americans are unaware of, but should be. The book is “Legacy of Honor, the Values and Influence of America’s Eagle Scouts,” by Alvin Townley. There are now about two million people in the US who hold the rank of Eagle Scout, of the 110 million Americans who have ever been part of the Boy Scouts of America. The Eagles are a small fraction of Scouts, a tiny fraction of the...

Members of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity teach first aid to Iraqi Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts during a recent partnership session. Photo by Lt. Col. Pat Simon, 225th Engineer Brigade. BAGHDAD — "From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." That quote from former tennis great Arthur Ashe is not just a famous saying, it's a way of life for a unique group of Soldiers deployed here.They are members of the college fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, who meet every week at the Pegasus dining facility on Camp Liberty. They are fraternity "brothers...

Post Chaplain Wayne Rudell began the ceremony in honor of Flag Day with a prayer, “ ... Most gracious Lord, you have given to us the symbol of the flag to represent the United States in every nation when it is flown ... This flag has flown in every war and our flag is still flying in the middle of battles as a symbol of freedom for all who see it. Today it is time to retire the service of these flags and give them honor for their duty. We do this by burning each flag to put it in...

MAS' Esam Omeish Seeks Virginia Office Campaign Mum on MAS Ties, Radical Omeish Speeches IPT News May 1, 2009 The last time the public got a good look at Esam Omeish, he was resigning from a Virginia immigration panel, claiming that the posting of videos showing him praising Palestinians who chose "the jihad way" to liberate their land was part of a smear campaign against him. Now Omeish is diving into the deep end of smear campaigns, offering himself as a candidate for a partisan legislative seat in Northern Virginia. Omeish is among four Democrats vying to win their party's...

EC just returned from an adventure in the wild with Pack 21, an overnight adventure that left EC grimy, exhausted, and with a better understanding of WHY our fight to keep America free, and to preserve our liberties is so important. Will our generation be the first in American history to leave a world of LESS opportunity for our children?

My son, Logan, age 15, had his Eagle Scout Board of Review on May 20, 2009 and was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout on that day. Logan’s Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project was to organize and collect cell phones for the organization, “Cell Phones for Soldiers”, which is run by Brittany and Robbie Bergquist of Norwell, Massachusetts. The cell phones that were collected were sold to a company for their parts and the money was then used to purchase phone cards for troops overseas to use to call back home. Logan and I met with the Bergquist Family earlier...

(WCCO) The Boy Scouts of America is sending a message to overweight leaders: shape up or stay home Starting next year, volunteers must undergo annual physicals and meet weight restrictions before they can take part in the most rugged Scout activities. Last summer, Kevin Wright's sons went to the Philmont Scout ranch in the mountains of New Mexico. Wright didn't go make the long trip. The longtime Scout leader didn't meet Philmont's weight restrictions. "I wasn't in bad shape," he said. "But considering what you're going through on that trek, that was a good instance where they need to have...

They have the merit badges in camping and woodcraft, now American Boy Scouts are able to prove their proficiency in anti-terrorism. Thousands of teenagers are participating in a law enforcement programme designed to give them the skills to counter terrorism, illegal immigration and gunmen on university campuses. Around 35,000 "Explorer" scouts aged from 14 to 21 are currently in the "law enforcement exploring" programme across America. Dressed in combat fatigues and armed with air guns firing tiny plastic pellets, they are taught how to assault buses, raid marijuana fields and rescue terrorist hostages from buildings. The project is run by...

US' own Hitler Youth- Daily Kos In todays NYT, there is an article about the boy scouts explorer program which takes scouts (boys and girls) between 14 and 18 and trains them in so called law enforcement activities.This proram now has over 35,000 members and semms to be concentrated in the border areas. My immediate reaction on reading the article was to think of the Hitler Youth movement in Germany of the thirties, and to this end I checked into Wiki and compared the two groups.

... 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. “This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with...

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) joined forces to file a friend of the court brief asking the United States Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals penalizing San Diego Boy Scouts because of their “morally straight” values. At issue in the case are leases from the City of San Diego allowing the San Diego Boy Scouts to build and operate campgrounds and an aquatic center for use by the Scouts and the...

With work ramping up in Washington on a "hate crimes" bill that would create special rights for homosexuals, a case that addresses a related issue – claims by same-sex couples they have the right not to be "offended" by "straight' morality – has been presented to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case involves a series of projects by the Boy Scouts of America in San Diego. The private organization has provided millions of dollars in improvements to public facilities in exchange for their use but faces being banned because homosexuals and lesbians who never even were exposed to the work...

Larry Armstrong has been volunteering with his local Boy Scout branch for years, chaperoning trips, serving on the council committee, even becoming certified in archery instruction for a day camp. But Armstrong, at 6-foot, 2-inches tall and about 370 pounds, may no longer qualify for some scout outings because he's overweight, part of a new push by the national organization to ensure the scouts and their volunteers are healthy. A new mandatory weight requirement by the national Boy Scouts of America that will take effect next January has some longtime volunteers concerned they will be left out of trips they've...

NEW YORK, April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Building a Pinewood Derby car is the opportunity for some good old fashioned father-son bonding time in an all-new episode of "South Park" titled, "Pinewood Derby," premiering on Wednesday, April 15 at 10:00 p.m. on COMEDY CENTRAL. Randy is determined that Stan will win this year's Pinewood Derby. He comes up with a plan that will assure Stan a first place trophy.

Out of Georgia comes a heart warmer about the Boy Scouts for a change. Instead of radical gays attacking this noble organization, instead of extremist left-wing politicians trying to make a name for themselves by attacking one of America's finest youth organizations, we have a story that makes you smile. And you can bet it won't make national news. Rodrigo and Rosa Cano moved to the United States in 1980. A decade or so later Rosa gave birth to David who the proud parents enrolled in a local Boy Scouts troop when he reached his tenth year. They hoped that...

Because of the Boy Scouts of America's policy prohibiting gays from becoming leaders, I vowed as an idealistic new parent a decade ago to never let my children participate in the organization. The discrimination went against all that I planned to teach my sons about equality and social justice. I am now the mom of three scouts and the wife of a den leader. Months after my oldest son transformed into a sullen pre-teenager not interested in soccer and baseball or anything else, he heard some kids talking about camping out with the scouts on a real battleship. He enthusiastically...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, March 26, 2009 – A dedicated group of servicemembers is helping to restore the Scouting movement in Iraq, one child at a time. Five-year-old Mariem looks to Army Maj. Gary Farley for assurance as she assembles the wheelbase for a model plane at Camp Victory, Iraq, March 21, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Ron Burke  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. When Iraq embraced the program in 1921, its Boy Scout and Girl Guide program became a member of the World Organization Scouting Movement. However, due to war and instability, it has been...

This edition features a story on the return of Boy Scouts in Iraq. Play Now

President Obama says he wants to be president of all the people. But some groups are urging him to make an exception for the Boy Scouts of America. Critics of the Scouts who are outraged that the group is allowed to exclude gays and atheists while receiving federal funding are urging Obama to reject the group's honorary presidency, a designation bestowed on every U.S. president since William Howard Taft in 1910. "I'm hoping and praying he turns down the honorary presidency," said Howard Menzer, president of Scouting for All, which advocates for inclusion of gays into the Boy Scouts. "No...

President Obama says he wants to be president of all the people. But some groups are urging him to make an exception for the Boy Scouts of America. Critics of the Scouts who are outraged that the group is allowed to exclude gays and atheists while receiving federal funding are urging Obama to reject the group's honorary presidency, a designation bestowed on every U.S. president since William Howard Taft in 1910.

FORT HUACHUCA — Army soldiers are all volunteers. It is also said that when a soldier marries, the resulting family also volunteers to serve the country. Some soldiers and their families take volunteering a step further by being active in their local community. That can be said of the Dean family on Fort Huachuca. The family of four — Sgt. 1st Class Chad Dean, his wife Charity and their two teenage sons, Brandon, 15, and Bradley, 13 — spend hours in Scouting, youth football and other activities on and off the post. Like many parents who volunteer their services, Chad...

JOHNSTOWN - Television news anchor Chris Matthews is a Boy Scout for life, or rather a Life Boy Scout, and he can prove it. “I was Life, I'll be glad to show you my documentation,” he said, holding up a number of merit badges during the press conference for the 39th Annual Greater Johnstown Partners for Scouting Harry E. Mangle Memorial Dinner. Matthews, widely known as the host of “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC, was in Johnstown Thursday as the dinner's keynote speaker. The fundraising event also honored Concurrent Technologies Corp. President and CEO Edward Sheehan Jr. as the...

If you've seen the yellow bags on your door knob, you probably know this is the day Boy Scouts collect food for the hungry. Their goal - 500,000 items. But behind one door knob, a local Cub Scout troop solicited a pretty special donor, former president George W. Bush. For 10,000 local kids, scouting for food is door to door, and it's neighbor to neighbor. But for the boys of Troop 19, their newest neighbor is guarded by the police and the Secret Service. Getting the former president's canned goods is no simple matter. "You had to do a bit...

Ryan Brenner made a Labyrinth as part of his Eagle Scout project.

BISBEE — There’s something new in the Warren Community Church yard that is the result of a Boy Scout’s Eagle service project. Sunday after church, 17-year-old Michael Donahue of Troop 1 in Bisbee unveiled his Eagle Scout project that took nearly two years to complete. It was the original Scout sign for Troop 401 that used to reside at the former clubhouse of the scouts. Donahue had to raise $400 to pay for the project, which included a new rock base, wood repair and repainting of the sign. “This sign was once in front of the Boy Scout meeting hall...

TATUM — Looking into the eyes of his 18 young Cub Scouts, Pack 549 Cubmaster Glenn Daniels knew breaking the news would not be easy. "I sucked it up and I told them," Daniels said Tuesday. "They were shocked ... absolutely shocked as was I when I learned of the news." Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo (ENLARGE) Glenn Daniels, leader of Cub Scouts Pack 549 in Tatum, stands next to a shelf full of Pinewood Derby cars built by soldiers. Since 2006, members of the Pack have sent cars to soldiers overseas to build. This year's batch was destroyed when a base...

~ Happy 99th Birthday, Boy Scouts!! ~February 8, 2009 Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies militaryand the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. Boy Scout creates fallen soldier's monument Starting with The Cubs Michiganders hit the road to celebrate 100 years of Boy Scouting Please remember that The Canteen is here to support and entertain our troops and veterans and their families, and is family friendly.

For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts have worn a self-adorned badge as campsite conservationists and good stewards of the land. "The Boy Scouts were green before it was cool to be green," said the organization's national spokesman, Deron Smith. But for decades, local Boy Scouts of America administrations across the country have clearcut or otherwise conducted high-impact logging on tens of thousands of acres of forestland, often for the love of a different kind of green: cash. A Hearst Newspapers investigation has found dozens of cases over the past 20 years of local Boy Scout councils logging or selling...

http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/01/26/commentary/editorials/doc4976c02a91af7940488985.txt Boy Scout Troop 358, one of the oldest African-American troops in the county, participated in history as it marched in the Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. as the first African-American became President of the United States. Truly an honor for any Scout troop, however have the leaders of this troop taken a close look at an issue that will directly affect the very existence of Boy Scouting in America? The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide family group, is questioning whether they realize President Barack Obama supports the very policies that are targeting their headquarters...

Boy Scouts in Dundee will be able to pledge allegiance to ‘Allah’ and drop the traditional oath to God and Queen, says the Scout Association in Scotland. The Association has given its backing to starting Dundee’s 45th troop which will specifically target Muslim boys. In the oath Muslim recruits will be able to replace the name ‘God’ with “Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful”, and pledge to honour “the country in which I am now living” instead of the Queen. The Scout Association is already open to all faiths and Muslim boys are currently part of existing troops,...

As it prepares to turn 100, the Boy Scouts of America is honing its survival skills for what might be its biggest test yet: drawing Hispanics into its declining -- and mostly white -- ranks. "We either are going to figure out how to make Scouting the most exciting, dynamic organization for Hispanic kids or we're going to be out of business," said Rick Cronk, former national president of the Boy Scouts and chairman of the World Scout Committee. The venerable Scouts remains the United States' largest youth organization, with 2.8 million children and youths, nearly all of them boys....

NEW YORK — A Long Island teenager has earned all 121 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts of America. It's an accomplishment the local arm of the organization calls "an almost unheard-of feat." Oceanside resident Shawn Goldsmith earned his final badge — for bugling — in time for his 18th birthday in November. He far surpassed the 21 badges required to achieve the elite rank of Eagle Scout.

The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A Long Island teenager has earned all 121 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts of America. It's an accomplishment the local arm of the organization calls "an almost unheard-of feat."

In the basement of Grace Baptist Church of Germantown, amid the singing and the homecooked food, was the joy of unbelievably good news: Boy Scout Troop 358 will participate next month in the historic presidential inaugural parade in Washington. --snip-- "We don't have a record of criminals. We don't have a record of dropouts," said the Rev. G. Daniel Jones, lamenting the stereotypes of young black males while praising the troop's history of educational achievement and community service. "We have dedicated leaders committed to giving these young men a chance."

The Boy Scouts have been nominated for the "Most Inspirational People of the Year" award. The way our Scouts reacted following the tornado at Little Sioux Scout Ranch has touched the lives of thousands of people across the country and around the world. There are 10 nominees for this award, and the Scouts are in second place. To vote for the Boy Scouts as the most inspiring, click here. Please visit our tribute site to learn more about what happened at Little Sioux this summer and what's been going on since. The winner of this award receives a donation to...

Why are there never boy scouts at Obama events. Will he support the scouts when he gets in office?

Trail's End has been able to ship 300 tons of popcorn on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America to Iraq and Afghanistan, to Overseas Military Bases, to Domestic Military Bases and to Military Families. Tomorrow is the last day to order so it gets there in time before the holidays. You can order through the Boy Scouts and send some popcorn to the troops and help the boy scouts at the same time. They have an online order system that tracks the orders to the scouts. They don't get any money for the sales they get scout bucs to...

SIERRA VISTA — Family and friends who want to honor a loved one entombed in the columbaria complex at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery no longer have to struggle to put in flower holders. Thanks to Nate Lacey and fellow Boy Scouts of Troop 447, sponsored by the Living Word Church, the ground where the offerings are left is now much easier place to display flowers. Lacey, 14, a freshman at Buena High School, did the columbaria flower rock project as part of his quest to become an Eagle Scout. On Saturday, he and 30 other Cub and Boy...

Support our Troops and the Boy Scouts at the same time ! It's that time of year to send the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan a gift from home and now you can support the troops and the Cub Scouts at the same time. They have an online order system that tracks the orders to the scouts and they don't get any money for the sales they get scout bucs. The scout troop gets 25% - $50% of the sale amount the Cub Scount gets scout bucs to use towards camp or to buy sleeping bags etc.. If you could...