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Just who is a "young adult"? Common sense says it starts with legal adulthood at age 18. But elements of our society have unofficially declared that the onset of adulthood matches the onset of puberty at the very grown-up age of 12. Which is one of the reasons why parents often seem uncertain about how to parent during the critical teen years. I've come to believe that the term was designed to diminish parental influence during the years when our growing children need the most direction. It's a subtle way of telling us that we should relinquish our influence in...

Christian Side Hug is YouTube hit as celibate rappers warn of 'sinful' hugging A celibacy-advocating rap group has been advocating “Christian side-hugs” in a hit YouTube song, because frontal hugs are “sinful”, reports Tom Chivers. Gimme Dat Christian Side Hug, by a band of rappers apparently linked to a Californian ministry called The Father’s House, advocates standing side-by-side when hugging, to avoid the uncontrollable temptation that hugging face-to-face – and therefore crotch-to-crotch – would lead to. “This ain’t no front hug zone,” proclaims one of the rappers, who goes on to warn listeners that front hugs should only be permitted...

A 13-year-old schoolgirl was gang-raped at knifepoint by three teenage boys who filmed the attack on a mobile phone, a jury heard today. The girl, who had walked out of school after being bullied, was led to the eighth floor of a block of flats for the ordeal which was filmed by her 14 and 15-year-old attackers, it is claimed. The alleged attack on an estate in Peckham, South-East London, on February 24 this year, was interrupted by teachers who came to the scene after a friend raised the alarm at school, Inner London Crown Court heard. The four-minute video...

In a detailed study released yesterday, Aaron Yelowitz, associate professor of economics at the University of Kentucky, proves what we have been saying all along - that Obamacare will seriously hurt young people. Professor Yelowitz writes: One of the most interesting questions about the health care overhaul now moving through Congress is how it would affect young adults. That legislation would force most or all Americans to purchase health insurance (an “individual mandate”) and would impose price controls on health insurance (“community rating”) that would limit insurers’ ability to offer lower premiums to low-risk enrollees. ------------> Continue reading at ATR.org...

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Nov. 12, 2009 – Task Force Lethal civil affairs soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, and members of the U.S. Agency for International Development conducted a meeting Nov. 5 to discuss youth-related issues in the province’s Nangalam, Dari Khar, Manogai and Watapur districts. Members of the youth group in the Dari Khar district of eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province stand together at a development and support meeting, Nov. 5, 2009. The meeting targeted boys at risk of insurgents’ influence to give them alternatives to violence. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Beth Raney  (Click photo...

A Glimpse into the Future By Norma Zager “Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parent, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers” Socrates(470-399 B.C.) Despite the constant egregious flow of rhetoric from our obnoxious politicians, the voice of reason occasionally emerges like a small flower through the weeds in surprising places. Last evening in my university classroom, I was taken by the fresh bloom emerging through the dense grass of our all-too-common uncivil social discourse. Although narcissistic politicians would have us all believe the American people condone their vision for future generations, I was quite hopeful to hear the...

Girding for an uphill battle for recruitsObesity, poor education make many younger people unfit for military By Christian Davenport and Emma Brown Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, November 5, 2009 It's tough enough selling military service to teenagers who might not be so keen on getting their heads shaved or buy the whole "we do more by 9 a.m." line. And the fact that enlisting today could very well mean a visit to the front lines doesn't help, either. But according to a new report, there are other factors that make recruiters' jobs even more difficult: the country's poor education...

RICHMOND, Va. - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said. Many of the young,...

More than one-third of Americans ages 17-24 are unqualified for military service because of physical and medical issues, U.S. military officials said. Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon's director of accessions, said the United States has "an obesity crisis." "There's no question about it," Gilroy told the Navy Times. "Kids are just not able to do push-ups, and they can't do pull-ups. And they can't run." The Pentagon figures -- 35 percent of the roughly 31.2 million Americans ages 17-24 are ineligible for military service -- are drawn from data from the Centers for Disease Control. In a study scheduled to be...

Decades ago, the parents in Indiana would take an unruly child out behind the proverbial woodshed and give them an attitude adjustment. Many, were the children of ages past that learned discipline from a switch or the hand. Then came the progressive attitude. The attitude that placed.....

LOS ANGELES—More than a quarter of English learners don't make it into mainstream classes by the eighth grade in Los Angeles and most of those who don't were born in the United States, according to a study released Wednesday. The study by Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California showed 29 percent of English learners in the Los Angeles Unified School District were still in these classes in the eighth grade. More than half of these students were born in the United States and were in classes for English learners for more than eight years. "They're staying...

Obama we adore you. Your being is supreme. We know you stand for change, but what precisely does that mean? You have a massive fan base flaunting T-shirts of your face, And schools of intellectuals are focused on your race. “What progress” loudly preach your proud promoters with delight. “His policy is lacking, but at least he isn’t white.” And really this is perfect, for now we clearly see: Opponents of your politics are racist SOBs. But this can’t be the change we need, for it is no new news, The liberals have always pulled the race card when they...

"After his death, at least 50 youths took to the streets and started to break windows at the entrance of Gabelle, an outskirt of the city. The youths also burned garbage, tires, a motorcycle and five vehicles in a shipyard, said the police. When the Police and the fire-fighters arrived on the scène, protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails against them. Then, the police retaliate by firing tear gas but it was unable to enter into Gabelle." Think about that last sentence for a minute. "France/Civil unrest: clashes erupted in Fréjus after a young man killed himself," from ESISC, October...

Do you remember that song “The Greatest Love of All” sung by Whitney Houston? It started out with the lyrics, “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” That song was released in April of 1986, and if there was ever a time to apply that to the youth of that day, that was the time. In his farewell address to the nation, President Ronald Reagan made this statement. "Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who...

A Gift by Ari Bussel Writing is a gift, bestowed by heaven. After several weeks of not writing, the urge, the tingling in the fingers, the feeling from within drove the body to do what it resisted. A single flame started burning, gaining strength, feeding and expanding. Soon it would be unstoppable. I often use the metaphor of the child shouting “but the King is naked.” Let me recount a modern day tale of a visitor who came for Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles). When the Temple existed, Israelites would go three times a year to Jerusalem, during Passover, the...

A baby-faced, 15-year-old burglar with more than a dozen busts already under his belt is being eyed as an Oliver Twist-like thief who ransacked up to 25 more apartments, mostly in the West Village, The Post has learned. Juan Gonzalez was arrested Friday night in Queens -- toting along his 13-year-old brother, authorities said. They were caught red-handed in Richmond Hill, a police source said. The 150-pound, 5-foot-7 Gonzalez was nailed for that robbery and 11 others in the same precinct, the source said. Add that to two previous busts, and he's up to 14 arrests.

Bright, eager—and unwanted. While unemployment is ravaging just about every part of the global workforce, the most enduring harm is being done to young people who can't grab onto the first rung of the career ladder. Affected are a range of young people, from high school dropouts, to college grads, newly minted lawyers and MBAs across the developed world from Britain to Japan. One indication: In the U.S., the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds climbed to more than 18%, from 13% a year ago. For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep, long-lasting, potentially creating a...

Rumors abound that President Obama may pull us out of Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 38 American troops murdered there last month. He should not, because the security of our people is at stake. But if lives lost are to determine engagement levels, I have to wonder: Given that 47 American school children have been murdered in his hometown Chicago since he became president, will Obama abandon the Windy City too? Of course he should not, because the security of our children is at stake. So why hasn’t our president, whose verbal incontinence has produced public commentaries on everything...

Good tidings from Virginia that may extend all the way across the nation. The coalition of voters that propelled Barack Obama to the White House is fragmenting and falling away, losing interest in Obama and unlikely to support other Democrats in future elections- at least if the Virginia gubernatorial election holds clues to the rest of the electorate. The anti-GOP wave has crested. From the Washington Post regarding a poll of Virginians focus on potentially critical shifts among Obama's coalition:

ObamaCare is bleeding support; Rasmussen shows approval at its lowest level to date. Because senior citizens are the age group paying closest attention, they are the age group showing greatest intensity of opposition to health care reform. Guess which age group is paying the least attention and yet shows strongest support for ObamaCare? If you clicked on the links you already know the answer, 18-29 year olds. Unfortunately for young adults, they are also the group most likely to bear the greatest costs of Obama's health care reform and obstensively Obamanomics in general.

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent -- a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. -- meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time. And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults -- aged 16 to 24, excluding students -- getting a job and moving...

SNIPPET: "Speaking in College Park to the University of Maryland, the President saw some of the same passion for change that consumed much of the country for the years leading up to his election. Make no mistake, health insurance reform is something every young person should care about for themselves. As HealthReform.gov detailed in a new report this morning, young people entering the workforce are more and more getting the short end of the health insurance stick. We also launched a Facebook version of our "What’s In Reform for You?" quiz, which is guaranteed to surprise you no matter how...

The message from President Obama to young people is clear: thank you for voting for me. Now PAY UP!!!!!The Washington Post today reported on how young people will be forced to pay a disproportionally high amount in health coverage if Obamacare is passed, stating that they could "wind up paying disproportionately hefty premiums -- effectively subsidizing coverage for their parents".As one commentator translated: "In other words, we’re going to require young people to get health insurance not so much because they need it, but because we need their money."Cato's Dan Griswold has detected a pattern: "Those same young workers will be forced to pay...

I’d like to take a few minutes and write directly to younger readers, specifically teens and young adults. When you’ve questioned authority – for whatever reason – and were told, “Because I said so,” what was your immediate response? What is your general knee-jerk reaction to being told that “you’re too young to understand”? (Do not confuse this with being disrespectful to authority.) Questions can – and should – be asked, but in a respectful way. This is the principle upon which our Constitution’s First Amendment is based: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting...

I’d like to take a few minutes and write directly to younger readers, specifically teens and young adults. When you’ve questioned authority – for whatever reason – and were told, “Because I said so,” what was your immediate response? What is your general knee-jerk reaction to being told that “you’re too young to understand”? (Do not confuse this with being disrespectful to authority.) Questions can – and should – be asked, but in a respectful way. This is the principle upon which our Constitution’s First Amendment is based: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting...

It is easy for me, now 25, to imagine what a twenty-something forty years ago must have been feeling. Concern over a war raging abroad, dire economic conditions at home, and the role of government in a young person’s life always lingering. The U.S. was undergoing a societal, political, and cultural transformation during which the baby boomers, the young generation of the day, were at ground zero. Unhappy with the "establishment" and "the man" to whom they held responsible for their woes, they started a movement. With so many parallels to choose from in the problems facing our generation, we...

The Araby Youth Center formally opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Aug. 30. The center is a result of the efforts of the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, and its partnership with the local Iraqi government. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo. BAGHDAD — The conflict in Iraq has had a dramatic effect on many Iraqi children, but the children of Shaab now have a fun, safe place to play with the recent opening of the Araby Youth Center here.The center is a result of the efforts of the Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of...

It was the middle of the night. I was asleep. My mom came in and started punching me. She said I didn't fold my clothes right. I threw her off of me. She was real drunk. She started on me again. The police came. She said: 'What? I'm just kicking my son's ass.' Just another night. -- Carlos, 17 :: The little school in South Los Angeles is the end of the road, reserved for those who have bombed out of the rest of the system. The mildest cases were merely kicked out of their last school. The toughest are...

China: Youth Camp Raided print story On July 23, a Christian youth camp was raided by Public Security Bureau (PSB) and Religious Affairs Bureau (RAF) officials in Nanyang city, Henan province. PSB and RAF officers took away more than 20 students attending the summer camp. The students, each under age 18, were released to their families that afternoon. Two instructors, 40 year-old Cheng Ping, and 30 year-old Miao Miao, were arrested and sent to the Yongan Lu Detention Center in Nanyang city. They were reportedly sentenced to administrative detention. The lengths of their sentences are unknown as church leaders who...

Howdy all, I'm a long-time lurker, occasional poster here on FR. I’ve always enjoyed the good articles, lively debate and excellent resources for conservatives here, so I’m taking the liberty of bringing a slight “issue” to y’all to see what you think. Recently (around the start of summer, about two months ago) my younger sister (aged 22) started talking about a young man she’d met in one of her Communications classes. She said he was very nice, handsome, smart, and it was obvious that she was starting to take an interest in him. About a month ago, they went out...

Not long ago, Lorena Dominguez looked forward to the future. She had a well-paid job at the Citroën automobile factory in Vigo, the town in northern Spain where she had grown up. She had recently moved in with her boyfriend Oscar, and had put her own apartment on the market. The two spent their weekends hanging out with friends in Vigo's lively waterfront cafés and were planning to travel this summer. It wasn't a bad life for the 23-year-old daughter of a longshoreman and a housewife. Then came la crisis. Domínguez first began to feel the effects of the recession...

A 15-year-old Los Angeles girl who navigated a single-engine Cessna through thunderstorms in Texas and took in breathtaking aerial views of Arizona's sunsets landed her plane to cheering crowds at Compton Woodley Airport on Saturday. She is believed to be the youngest African American female pilot to fly solo across the country. Kimberly Anyadike took off from Compton 13 days ago with an adult safety pilot and Levi Thornhill, an 87-year-old who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. They flew to Newport News, Va., making about a dozen stops along the way. Anyadike learned to fly a...

In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of “a nuclear free world.” He railed against discussions of “first- versus second-strike capabilities” that “suit the military-industrial interests” with their “billion-dollar erector sets,” and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads.

The Bible calls the Church "the Body of Christ." Today, that body is bleeding profusely, says a Christian author and sought-out speaker. "The next generation of believers is draining from the churches, and it causes me great personal and professional concern," said Ken Ham, founder and president of Answers in Genesis and a Young Earth creationist. Hoping to shed light on what he believes is a monumental problem, Ham enlisted the services of America's Research Group to study why young people were leaving. The results, published in Already Gone, will shake many churches to their very core, Ham states in...

DIYALA — Joint Combat Outpost Blackfoot here in the city of Khalis was transferred from U.S. control to the Iraqi Ministry of Youth Activities, June 15. This transfer was one of six currently scheduled to occur over the next two weeks throughout the province. The COP was occupied by both Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces prior to the transfer. The newly acquired space will serve as an administrative headquarters for the Youth Ministry in the region and will also house a school for local children. “This event represents another bold step forward for the region and people of the province,”...

A student girls’ choir sings during the grand opening of the Tway Primary School for Boys and Girls in Ramadi, April 28. Photo by Master Sgt. Keith Milks, II Marine Expeditionary Force. RAMADI — Dozens of Iraqi schoolchildren, waving brightly colored flowers and chanting patriotic songs, lined the entrance to the Tway Primary School recently during the school's grand opening here. Among the scores of people attending the grand opening were family members, several key Iraqi tribal, governmental, business and military leaders, and representatives from Multi National Force - West, the unit which oversees Coalition efforts in Iraq's Anbar province.Dr....

Homosexual Youth Pride Day: State-sponsored homosexual & transgender activities for children PART I: "Celebration" in downtown Boston. With lots of strange adults everywhere. You can't make this stuff up. The MC of the day's event was a man dressed as a woman. This is what your politicians think of you and your children.

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release June 1, 2009 LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Police Chief Val Demings unveiled Tuesday a new initiative aimed at curbing juvenile crime. The city spent $30,000 in forfeiture funds, [seized drug money] to make 5,000 posters and bracelets that say, "Choose peace." Officers say 63 percent of all murders in Orlando last year were committed by people under the age of 25. A giant bill board was unveiled with a message the City of Orlando hopes to get across to young people. They're targeting Orlando's youth because of the statistics from last year's homicides. Officers will say they will...

My daughter is finishing up her 9th grade school year and just got an invitation to go to the National Young Leaders State Conference, put on by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council. The invitation contains lots of marketing information about the conference and the creative looks very expensive, with metallic colored seals and inserts. The conference is in Vienna VA for 4 days and costs about $1400. It names the HS teacher that nominated her for this "honor" and looks personalized. Because of the fee, my first instinct is to dismiss this as a money making scam, with a conference...

Trials to select the 12-member USA team will be held May 28-31 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Following trials, the Women's Developmental Committee will select the 12-member roster, and the team will remain in Colorado Springs through the morning of Thursday, June 4 for training camp. The USA squad will reassemble prior to the start of the FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Players eligible for the U16 National Team must be U.S. citizens born on or after Jan. 1, 1993.

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- On his first day in Jerusalem, Pope Benedict XVI received a double lesson in the politics of interreligious dialogue. At the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial May 11, his graceful and at times poetic speech left some Jewish leaders dissatisfied because it failed to talk about the Nazi perpetrators and the church's own failings during World War II. Addressing interfaith dialogue experts shortly afterward, the pope listened as a Muslim cleric took the microphone and denounced Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, prompting some Jewish participants to walk out and cutting the program short. The pope's "pilgrimage of peace"...

Obama's Ungodly Youth Corpby OneVikeWhat is it about socialists, that makes them despise religion? It seems that whenever a Socialists wins an election that gives them the ultimate power in a country, the first thing they try to do is remove religion as a force in that society. Oh it's not done in a way that the people realize it is happening. No, it's more covert and insidious in the way it is brought about. Usually it's done right under the noses of the very people who claim their ruler would never do such a thing. In America, religious persecution...

Check out the tennis top 100 ratings in men's and women's singles. America is no longer producing competitive players in numbers equivalent to our population. On the men's side there are only four Americans in the top 50. France alone has nine. In the women's game there are only three Americans in the top 50. The Czech Republic alone has three. Slovakia has another three. So the old unified Czechoslovakia has twice the number of pro tennis players in the WTA top 50 as all of America.

“Somalis, FBI in other U.S. cities on alert for terrorist recruiting” “While Minneapolis is the core of an investigation, leaders elsewhere want to keep youth from being drawn to violence.” COLUMBUS, OHIO - SNIPPET: “”No one has disappeared,” said Ahmed Hosh, who works with Somali youths in Columbus. “But if those who did the recruiting were individuals talking to someone alone, the scary thing is it could happen here.” The Twin Cities area has been at the center of the federal investigation ever since a 27-year-old from Minneapolis blew himself up in a suicide attack in Somalia last fall. But...

A non-denominational Mississauga church known for its liberal religious practices has taken the unusual step of hiring an outspoken Muslim woman to run its youth programs. The Unitarian Congregation announced yesterday it has appointed Farzana Hassan as director of spiritual exploration. Hassan is a well-known author and poet and an outspoken activist who has butted heads with orthodox imams on issues such as hijab, polygamy and terrorism. The Mississauga resident is also a past president of the Muslim Canadian Congress. Hassan will be responsible for introducing and running children and youth programs for the church. This is not the first...

Sacramento County probation officials have proposed shutting down their two main youth jails for convicted juvenile offenders, a budget move that carries potentially drastic implications for public safety. The Probation Department's proposal to close the Sacramento County Boys Ranch and the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center is part of a $37.4 million cost-saving measure that also includes a proposal to eliminate 247 jobs. The proposals still have to be sent through the county executive's office and be approved by the Board of Supervisors. Laid out in response to the county's projected $187 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year,...

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...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 – Students participating in the U.S. Senate Youth Program recently toured government buildings including the Pentagon, met their elected representatives and learned about the foundations of democracy. Air Force Capt. Ladonna Singleton, a communications officer with the 254th Combat Communications Group in Garland, Texas, was the only Air National Guard member who participated as a mentor in the 2009 U.S. Senate Youth Program. The week-long program brought young people together from across the country to learn about the political process. Photo courtesy of Erin Lubin  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. They also became personally...

Ooopsie. Looks like the public school teacher that is responsible for turning a group of young black teens into an Obama Nazi Youth Corps has been suspended pending an investigation for posting the video of his mind numbed paramilitary Obama youth drill team’s little soiree.