Huzzar

I think that's the correct interpretation, dcsimmons. 19+ Venturers follow the adult rules but can participate as youth. Pretty much what they did at Jambo. Looking at the alacrity with which BSA is showing 18+ gays the door and brooking no dissent from COs my guess is BSA got a worse kick in the pants from donation and membership drop than they anticipated with the youth change. Scouting Magazine had a brief interview with Robert Gates and the issue of gay adults wasn't even mentioned. The proposed program changes for Scouts have indicated that Duty to God will be incorporated

It's not the structure that's the problem, Girl Scouts USA is setup as you suggest and has plenty of issues too.

Point of order :-) It's the Lenni-Lanape not Delaware Lenape. Delaware is an English name, from Lord Delaware, originally De la Warr.

Ok...one thing to understand is that pads-on American Football is a collision sport, not a contact sport. :-) Flag Football or Touch Football is the way to go for a taster and fun. It's a bit more complicated than rugby with a forward pass added. Each "down" is planned by the offense and the defense tries to anticipate what they're going to do. Your club might teach them a few simple "plays" that they practice until they get it right. Having them try to throw a football will be fun on its own. BTW...one particularly enthusiastic American commentator proclaimed one superbowl winn

I agree with the bulk of what you wrote, but B=F still overstates it. :-) For any kid in high school the advice is get the best GPA you can. It keeps open the widest number of college doors and yes, most definitely, is used as a cut-off for scholarships. These days a lot of admissions decisions are made by computer so a GPA of 3.7 will get you considered for scholarships but 3.65 won't. (and "can't you round?" will be answered with a flat "no"). A high school B student will get into a decent college but won't get any financial help outside of loans (and grants if poor).

Nothin'

A degree has become a very expensive high school diploma in America. I work with people that have degrees in Human Resources and similar that are doing work that needs no more than high school education and company training.

It's hyperbole, don't lose sleep over it.

Rubbish re Eagle, at least in my neck of the woods.

The Labour party in the UK is in the middle of a brouhaha about just that AZMike. Now that gay rights has traction in the UK they want to pretend that they were "confused" when they were advocating 10 being the age of consent for homosexual acts.

All well and good until you go to District, Council or National events. The reality is that the old "don't ask, don't tell but you're out if we find out" was the best system.

What BSA doesn't know is if the giant step of allowing gay men to be leaders will set them on the road to recovery or over a cliff to oblivion. Even if BSA does go over the cliff (my interpretation) they still won't recover any of that lost corporate money until they remove Reverent and/or allow atheist adults and youth to join. It's a fools errand for the BSA to try and appease the left on social issues. The left won't be satisfied until BSA is as empty a shell as Girl Scouts.

Is anybody really surprised that companies like Disney continue to withdraw support for Scouting? It didn't matter which side of the gay debate you were on, most of us guessed that the half-assed change BSA came up with would satisfy neither side. So, no army of gay youth waiting to sign up and no increase in corporate donations as a result of the change. Worse yet, membership took another tumble and more big companies are sending their coin elsewhere. Has anybody seen FoS numbers for their council? I'm guessing they've taken a tumble too.

How does b apply in the context of this discussion? We disagree on why Sandusky got a pass, nothing more. I think I've been pretty darn clear it's because of his association with PSU, not that he was beyond suspicion because he was a married man with kids. And once more for the record, the police were called over 15 years ago because he diddled a 10 year old in the shower. PSU chose not to revoke his showering with kiddies privileges back then and Louise Freeh says it was because they were more concerned with PSU Football's reputation than the kid's safety.

If you don't know the meaning of a word then don't use it. ob·tuse adjective \äb-ˈtüs, əb-, -ˈtyüs\ : stupid or unintelligent : not able to think clearly or to understand what is obvious or simple

Don't call me stupid because I don't come to the same conclusion as you! Sandusky wasn't given a pass because the world thought he was a heterosexual family man, he was given a pass because he was high up in the football program at Penn State. That's why the university is paying millions in compensation to victims. The leadership at PSU knew in the mid-nineties, if not earlier, that Sandusky was taking 10 year old boys into the showers with him. NO HETEROSEXUAL FAMILY MAN WOULD DO THAT.

chrisking: the old membership standard matched the Christian school's standard, the new one didn't. Get over it. My guess is that the youth that were in Scouts at a Christian school are now involved in missions and the church's other youth groups. Choice, right?

Yes, heterosexual female leaders have led to inappropriate contact, especially at summer camp. Ask your SE how many women get sent home every year. As a general rule, 16 year old boys aren't interested in suing if they are hit on by an 18 year old female camp staff member.

There were warning signs about Sandusky in 1999, if not earlier. Penn State leadership and local law enforcement glossed over them. Google if you want to see the pissing match about who knew what and when. BSA's guidance about gay youth is to pretend that they have no testosterone, or it is controllable to the extent that a gay kid can switch it off from 5pm Friday until noon Sunday once per month, for a full week every year and for up to 15 days at a time if high adventure is involved. They won't be able to get away with that for leaders. Openly gay leaders will almost certainly lea

Yep, agree with the STEM stuff. Just turns Scouts into weekend school and it's based on the fiction that the USA was deficient in some respect. The reality is that STEM jobs are going to China and India because those people work for peanuts and can be treated like dirt by big business.

It doesn't matter if you can't understand other people's views or you find them funny. The issue for the BSA is do they continue down the path they've taken. The new membership rules clearly haven't led to a stabilization or increase in membership. No surprise to me, there never was an army of gay boys that would join Scouts if only they didn't have to lie about their sexuality. A few of us think Gates has been signed-on to push the same change for adults. Is that still on the cards now we know, or at least strongly suspect, that just changing for youth has caused membership to decline

Your choice. Other parents will make theirs if gay leaders are admitted.

IMO, this is a warning sign to BSA should they decide to admit gay leaders. That's where the rubber hits the road when you ask parents to let their sons to go off into the woods with men that are sexually attracted to males.

How can an organization setting its own rules be "copping out?" If an LDS person can read their statement of faith and sign it they're in, right? If an LDS person reads it and says that's not what we believe, they don't. Trail Life moved on from BSA, why are you so insistent they're doing something wrong?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/12/boy-scouts-shrink-6-percent-after-1-year-of-allowi/