Free Republic

"A Scout is trustworthy … loyal … helpful … friendly … courteous … kind …" I'm watching my 12-year-old son Joshua and two dozen other Boy Scouts together recite the Scout Law at their weekly troop meeting. It's a refreshingly hopeful and manly vignette in an era of wall-to-wall teen confusion. As I stand in rapt attention – my eyes exploring the boys' uniforms, searching out all the badges, patches, insignias and other colorful signs of their allegiance to Scouting's high ideals – my mind wanders back a few years to a time when my son wanted to wear a...

There was a time when voting was cool. A time when a presidential candidate stumped for support by playing his sax; when MTV, Madonna and R.E.M. were adding to the political discourse and candidates were addressing the concerns of young adults. A time - a decade ago now - when Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan organization that registers young people to vote, was creating a buzz. Now its leaders say it's their time again, and as the 2004 election nears, they are making plans to elbow back onto the political and pop cultural stage. Founded in 1990 by record company...

Voter apathy being what it is in America, voter registration drives are often lauded for their altruistic goal of engaging more people in the democratic process. Among such efforts are those of Rock the Vote, which aims to get more young people involved in voting and politics. Promoted heavily on the rock music video cable channel MTV, Rock the Vote's very first introductory line is simple and straight forward: "Rock the Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1990." Given this up front pronouncement of being non-partisan, people who know absolutely anything at all about the American political landscape...

AS marketing schemes go, the hip-hop music star Nelly risks sending a lot of mixed signals with the name of the new energy drink he's marketing. It's called "Pimp Juice." I could be wrong, but "Pimp Juice" does not sound to me like something that you want to put in your mouth. Either way, you won't get a chance to find out, if certain leaders of black community organizations have their way. In Los Angeles, three organizations called Project Islamic HOPE, the National Alliance for Positive Action, and the National Black Anti-Defamation League staged a press conference last Tuesday (Sept....

MTV show to feature Dallas gay school Struggling Walt Whitman hopes film brings students, funds04/17/2003 By KENT FISCHER / The Dallas Morning News In the six years since its founding, the Walt Whitman Community School has struggled with low enrollment, strapped budgets and a perplexing problem. How, school organizers wonder, do you expand a private school for gay and lesbian teens when the students you serve are, essentially, in hiding? One possible answer: Get yourself on MTV. Whitman, one of the country's few schools established specifically to educate gay and lesbian teens, will get a national megaphone Thursday night when...