This is a perfect example of what I call the three toxics stews of Western Society. Diversity, multiculturalism and political correctness. Letting girls into the BSA will not help keep the boys in line. Just my opinion. Now before anyone jumps all over what I have said understand, I support equal opportunity for girls and women in employment, compensation and opportunities. I have never been in favor of extreme feminist views and will never be. Why wreck the BSA when the Girl Scouts should be stepping up to the plate in offering the same opportuities as the Boy scouts get? If you disagree that is what the comment section is for.
Now here is another reason I will no longer support the BSA. Read the following; "An inflatable mosque provides a place for Muslim scouts to worship." I have a big problem with this. Muslims by and large have not assimilated into the culture and society of the United States very well. Islamists and islamic apologists will tell you otherwise. They will spin the truth and use 'taqiyya', lies and deceit to implant islam and sharia law inside the United States. Muslim Boy Scouts? I would find a way to keep them out unless they have proven to honor God, country and the United States Constitution. The world is rife with examples of what happens when muslims are allowed to enter a country and grow their numbers. In England there is a muslim scouting organization and they do not let in any infidels like me or you, or our children. The three toxic stews strike again and it is a shame that our country has come to this. Call me an islamophobe, whatever! It will not be the first time or the last time I have been called that or just about any other name. Article came from our local paper.
There is no peace within islam, and with islam there can never be peace.
By Katharine Q. Seelye
FORT A.P. HILL, Va. — Her crown glinting in the morning sun, Miss America was telling 45,000 Boy Scouts and their leaders the other day how thrilled she was to be here at the National Scout Jamboree, to be among “the most amazing young women ...”
Whoops! The scouts, ever courteous and kind, could nonetheless barely stifle a collective groan. Some covered their faces in embarrassment. Miss America — Caressa Cameron, the former Miss Virginia — quickly recovered, apologized and explained that she usually speaks to groups of young women.
The slip was an inadvertent reminder of a host of issues, including whether to admit girls, that the Boy Scouts of America faces this year as it celebrates its 100th anniversary.
The organization, long an icon of wholesomeness in a simpler America, has seen its membership plunge by 42 percent since its peak year of 1973, when there were 4.8 million scouts. In the past decade alone, membership has dropped by more than 16 percent, to 2.8 million.
The declines reflect the difficulties of keeping up with changing times and demographics, as well as battling a perception that the organization is exclusionary because it bars gay people and atheists, not to mention girls under 13.
An even bigger challenge emerged this year as a jury ordered the Scouts to pay $18.5 million in damages to a man who had been abused by a scout leader as a boy. The trial focused renewed attention on the secret files that the Scouts’ national office in Texas has kept for more than 70 years of claims of sexual abuse by troop leaders and volunteers.
Now, as the organization tries to rebuild its image and its membership, it has been forced to make a priority of addressing that problem, with a plan that it calls “youth protection.”
Under Robert Mazzuca, who took the helm of the Scouts three years ago as chief executive, the group has taken several steps to try to reassure parents that their children are safe. These include hiring a full-time youth protection director, Michael Johnson, a former police detective who is an expert on child abuse investigation and prevention.
The jamboree here is a testament to the many ways in which the Scouts have adapted. Spread across hundreds of acres of this dusty military base, the scout encampment still offers boys the chance to partake in the activities that their fathers and grandfathers enjoyed — fly-fishing, reading a compass, rustling up a meal.
But this is not your father’s jamboree. Among the sprawling areas here is a technology center with robotics and a tent where boys can have their mouths swiped to take a sample of their DNA. Some boys sport lime-green hair to match the T-shirts of their non-dress uniforms, and most wear loose-fitting knee-length shorts, some surfer-dude cool with bright swirls.
Scouts also wear “smart bracelets” that allow them to go cashless as they buy soda and memorabilia. An inflatable mosque provides a place for Muslim scouts to worship. There are stations where scouts can recharge their cell phones as well as those offering free calls and time online. Despite these innovations, there has been less advancement on other fronts. The tens of thousands of scouts here were largely a homogenous group of white boys. A Scout study from a few years ago on “tapping into diverse markets” said that parents of blacks, Hispanics and Asians had “no emotional connection to scouting.”
But the demographic group that seems to have drawn the most attention is young girls. When they turn 13 and have completed eighth grade, they can join the Boy Scouts’ Venturing program, where many of the leaders are women. But many are pushing for access for preteen girls.
Katrell Cooper, a 16-year-old venturer from Utah, who works at the BMX center here, turned up her nose at the Girl Scouts.
“I don’t want to sit around and make quilts and sell cookies,” she said after she expertly glided down a mountain-boarding course on which a few boys had tumbled. “I want to do stuff.”
The debate rages on scout websites over the perceived advantages and disadvantages of allowing younger girls. Would they be too much of a distraction? Or would their presence better prepare boys for the real world?
Several 15-year-old boys here said they would welcome girls into the Boy Scouts.
“It would be more cool with them,” said Shane West from Jupiter, Fla.
Why? “They’re girls.”
Rocky Spiker, from Utah, said girls would “keep us in line.” Ben Rosenbaum, also from Utah, said, “Women deserve the same stuff as men do.”
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