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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.

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...

Scouts will soon have to survive without their trusty penknives on camping trips thanks to Britain's growing knife crime culture. Scouts used to be allowed to carry sheath knives on their belts 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 legal world — or at least those who watch movements at the Supreme Court closely — is a bit abuzz this morning with the news that Justice John Paul Stevens has confirmed that he has hired only one clerk so far for next year’s term. Clerk-watching has long been one of the signals as to whether a justice plans to retire, although clearly not foolproof and definitely not official. Justices usually hire three to four clerks by the beginning of the summer, a year or so before the next term when the clerks would start work. For Justice Stevens,...

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...

One adult and three teenagers at a Boy Scout camp are accused of forcing a boy to drink human urine because they were "teaching him a lesson" for supposedly making racial slurs to another Scout, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office reported Monday.Investigators arrested Joseph Wendell Reid, 21, two 16-year-olds, and a 15-year-old, all from Ocala, last week on a charge of kidnapping.Officers allege the four held a 12-year-old boy against his will, first taping his mouth shut and then forcing him to drink urine, according to the Sheriff's Office.The four were attending Camp Shands at Baden Powell Road near Hawthorne,...

Scouts can earn activity badges for skills from skateboarding to global conservation, but the new chief scout could herald the prospect of members tackling some slightly trickier future pursuits – such as eating snakes and climbing Mount Everest. Bear Grylls, 34, the former SAS man and survivalist who, as television viewers will know, long ago earned his stripes for both the above, said he would be encouraging more adults to volunteer so that 33,000 youngsters on waiting lists could join scout groups. Grylls will become the youngest chief scout in the organisation's 102-year history later this year when he replaces...

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 responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.

IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor. The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed. “United States Border Patrol! Put your hands up!” screams one in a voice cracking with...

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...

Note: Photo included. Trio not guilty of helping 7/7 London bombers Jury clears men of conspiring with four bombers over London 2005 explosions that killed 52 Rachel Williams guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 April 2009 17.01 BST Three British Muslims were today cleared of helping the 7 July bombers choose their targets by carrying out a reconnaissance mission in London seven months before the attacks that killed 52 people and injured almost 1,000. A jury at Kingston crown court unanimously found Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, all from Beeston, Leeds, not guilty of conspiring with the four...

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.

Tory Green, the first Eagle Scout from Troop 400 in Huntsville, met President Barack Obama at 2 p.m. this afternoon inside the White House. "It was breathtaking," said the 17-year-old Lee High School senior. "Not only did I get to meet the president, but I got to give Michelle Obama a big ol' hug." Green is in Washington D.C., to present the National State of Scouting address to Congress tomorrow morning. Today Green was scheduled to meet with President Obama, but meeting the president's wife was a coincidence. "We were walking toward the Oval Office, and she walked by, stopped...

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...

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...

Mass Junior Conservation Camp Under Attack The Massachusetts Junior Conservation Camp (MJCC) that Gun Owners’ Action League runs jointly with the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Department of Conservation and Recreation is under attack by the local government in Chesterfield. The MJCC is currently held at the Chesterfield Scout Reservation for two weeks in August. Over the last few years the Scout Reservation has had a neighbor who complained about the shooting taking place during the MJCC program. As a result of this neighbor’s complaints Paul Tacy, the Zoning Enforcement Officer for the Town of Chesterfield, filed a...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2009 – Sixteen million new toys were distributed to 7.6 million children over the Christmas holiday through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Charles Reynolds, an assistant with the Marine Forces Reserve Toys for Tots Program, speaks to Cub Scouts in Mandeville, La., about the program during a Dec. 7, 2008, visit. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Capt. Erin Wiener   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The program’s aim is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to...

It's been 62 years since conservationist Virgil McCroskey gave the Boy Scouts 400 acres of timberland near this village in Idaho's panhandle, with big ideas for a big new camp. But don't expect any pup tents or even the faintest whiff of smoke from Camp McCroskey these days. Rarely used for camping, the land instead has become a moneymaker for the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts. Over the past 35 years, the council has repeatedly logged the property, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some of the money helped pay the mortgage on council headquarters in far-off Spokane, a...

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,...