Free Republic

The Girl Scouts of the USA has sent threatening letters to at least two small pro-life groups that have been critical of Girl Scout collaborations with Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocacy groups. Since the beginning of the Girl Scout cookie boycott, exclusively announced at Breitbart News late last month, LifeNews has extensively reported on the connection between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts. LifeNews editor Steve Ertelt announced Monday that he had received a letter threatening legal action. In it, Girl Scout executive Brian Crawford complained about “articles that outline alleged ties to Planned Parenthood” and that “GSUSA has...

(CNSNews.com) – The Girl Scouts’ National Leadership Journeys program requires girls to embrace environmental justice, climate change and green energy in order to earn awards. The Journey Awards – “aimed at giving them the benefits of the Girl Scout "Keys to Leadership": Discover, Connect, Take Action” – are described on the Girls Scouts website as being designed for girls from kindergarten through high school. The “It’s Your Planet – Love It” journey page is illustrated with a photograph of a “green roof” at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Calif. “Girls are being exposed to ideas and discussions...

An ex-scoutmaster who admitted to molesting his son’s teenage friends and fellow troop members for years at his Keswick home pleaded guilty to 36 felony sex crimes Wednesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court. David Brian Watkins, now 50, entered into an agreement with prosecutors that shields him from additional local or federal charges and calls for an active term of 30 years and five months in prison. The agreement “provides closure for … very promising young men who can now get on with their lives,” Assistant Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Darby Lowe said after the hearing. “The young men would have...

FULL TITLE: Boy Scouts of America will officially welcome gay members on New Year's Day as they grapple with questions about group showers and tentmates The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting New Year's Day, marking a historic shift that spells major changes to policies on tentmates and showers. Yet despite their be-prepared approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable to another New Year's Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digital-clock chaos to start the new millennium proved unfounded. ‘My hope is there will be the same effect this...

If you are a national reporter writing on the Girl Scouts and you call their national office in New York City, you will talk to a guy named Josh Ackley. If you are a Girl Scout wanting regular advice or information on the Girl Scouts and you turn to the Girl Scout blog, it’s Josh Ackley (pictured, center) you’ll be reading. If you are a Girl Scout mom concerned about the sometimes-troubling drift of the Girl Scouts in recent years, Josh Ackley may be the one you’ll meet with. To many key groups, Josh Ackley is the public face of...

The Boy Scouts of America on Wednesday chose former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA director Robert Gates as its next president, who will face the task of repairing divisions in the organization from a heated debate over accepting gay scouts. As Defense Secretary, Gates supported President Barack Obama's withdrawal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Congress repealed the ban in 2010 and it was lifted in 2011.

In Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park, three men toppled a giant rock formation that’s 170 million years old in just 14 seconds... ...caught on a cell phone camera, and a lot of people are wondering what they were thinking. nbc's miguel almaguer sat down with the men involved and has our report from utah .

The newly announced Trail Life USA expects to become a “premier” Christian organization for boys and young men when it fully launches in the new year. Its goal is to counter the “moral free-fall” of the nation, and “raise a generation of faithful husbands, fathers, citizens and leaders,” organizers told the national inaugural convention in Nashville, Tenn., Friday night. (snip) Trail Life USA’s name, drawn from more than 300 options, was carefully vetted and is intended not to be political or controversial, organizers said. (snip) “Our whole life is about the trail, both in the outdoors and in the journey...

Nashville, TN - More than 1,200 former Scoutmasters, Eagle Scouts, parents, church leaders and former Boy Scout of America (BSA) professionals gathered tonight for the 1st inaugural Leadership Convention of a youth character development organization in Nashville. The convention's theme was "Honoring the Legacy ... Raising the Standard." Forty-four (44) states were represented, including Alaska and Hawaii. The name and visual branding for "Trail Life USA" were unveiled publicly for the 1st time to great applause and excitement by those gathered to launch a Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts of America. Trail Life USA will be an outdoor scouting-like...

A California bill that could strip tax-exempt status from the Boy Scouts of America and other “discriminatory” nonprofit youth-serving groups could come up for a final vote this week. The first-of-its-kind bill, SB 323, passed the California Senate and sailed through Assembly committees to a floor vote, possibly this week. But opponents are taking heart that there might not be enough votes in the state Assembly to pass the bill. The chamber did not consider the bill in its Monday session, but may take it up when it convenes Friday. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Ricardo Lara, names the

(Email received this morning.) Dear Friends, So far, we have released our proposed membership standards and a statement of faith & values that all adult members will be required to sign. We now also submit a Key Differences chart and outline between the new Youth Adventure Program and the Boy Scouts of America. Please forward this email to everyone in your troop and council to understand more about the new (soon to be formally named) organization. Outline of Differences between the Boy Scouts of America and the new Youth Adventure Program: 1) The BSA's new policy requires troops to accept...

"We required a level of fitness in order to come to the Jamboree that we haven't required before," McCarthy said. "And that has motivated an enormous return in terms of both kids and adults getting serious about improving their health."

Known as The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, the 10,600-acre park opens Monday, when 30,000 scouts are expected to visit for the quadrennial National Jamboree. The Summit will have more than 5 miles of zip lines, a whitewater-rafting circuit, a 120-foot tree house and a stadium for 85,000 people.

Bookmark this thread. In past weeks I have gathered links to 112 news articles posted on FreeRepublic concerning the decision of National Council to admit "openly gay" children to the Boy Scouts of America. This post rounds up some additional articles since my last post on June 15. Some of the stories were posted more than once; if the duplicates had more than a few replies, I have included them also. While my past two bibliography threads contained stories only about the "gay" scouts decision, for the time being I will link to any Boy Scout story on FR. The...

On Wednesday, Great Britain’s Girl Guides (their equivalent of U.S. Girl Scouts) and Brownies removed God from their 103-year-old oath. Instead of the passage where they used to promise to “love God,” they will now vow to be true to "myself" and develop "my beliefs." The organization said the move is intended to attract girls from secular families. Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, condemned the move, saying, "These values have their roots in a Christian outlook. Taking ‘God’ out of the promise denies the history and foundations of the movement without offering anything in its place, with the...

Given the friction and financial woes facing the Girl Scouts these days, perhaps it's time for a giant friendship circle. Under that long-standing tradition, a ring of Scouts clasp hands and give a little squeeze, accompanied by a silent wish of good will. Just a year after its centennial celebrations, the Girl Scouts of the USA finds itself in a different sort of squeeze. Its interconnected problems include declining membership and revenues, a dearth of volunteers, rifts between leadership and grassroots members, a pension plan with a $347 million deficit, and an uproar over efforts by many local councils to...

WINNSBORO, SC (WIS) - Logan Robinson is going to need a bigger sash. He's come a long way in 10 years. Back then he was just a 7-year-old Cub Scout who enjoyed carving polar bears out of bars of soap. "For a 7-year old to have a knife and be carving something, it was awesome," said Robinson. "I was hooked right away." Robinson achieved his Eagle Scout rank by the age of 13. Most scouts quit when they hit Eagle. Robinson was just getting started. "If I didn't have something to focus on, I was just going to fizzle out,"...

Ethics and Public Policy Center president Ed Whelan observed that those two BSA proposals shared on basic feature: "While purporting to allow (in the case of the first) or require (in the case of the second) troops to bar openly gay adult leaders, they threaten to fatally undercut the legal basis for maintaining that bar." Consider for a moment the irrationality of the new policy: a 17-year-old lifelong scout who is avowedly gay and also a youth leader, would, on his 18th birthday, be required to cease and desist being a Scout leader. Whether enforced or not, the situation would...

The persecution of the Boy Scouts is just one more example of how pernicious it is to argue that tax exemptions equal governmental endorsement and subsidization. Our civil society is supposed to be diverse and tolerant. If our nonprofits aren’t allowed to hold sharply different points of view, to teach their members different outlooks on life, to disagree about the best ways of life, then our nation has ceased to be free, much less tolerant or diverse. ... Amazing, isn't it, that a gay rights group is attacking the Boy Scouts in a way that the Bull Connors of Alabama...

Do not suppose that your enemies will be placated by your surrender. You will be pressured to accept openly homosexual scoutmasters, then “transgender” girls who say they are boys or the Prince of Wales or male aliens from Alpha Centauri 3, then girls generally for all your programs, as they’ve done in Canada, only to see their membership go the way of the Church of Canada, since no one will stand up for someone who stands for nothing. 
 You have betrayed your friends to assuage your enemies. May they treat you more handsomely than you have treated us.