[quote][b]fishin4u[/b] - I, as the majority of Americans, do not promote my sexual preference in public. [/quote]

Yes you do! So do I. You hold a woman's hand, walk or sit with your arm around her, dance with her, hug her and even kiss her in public. No one thinks twice about it. But let a guy do that with a guy and all hell breaks loose! Who creates that hell? Not them. It's people like you who despise them, hate them, fear them just because they are different in a way that does not affect you at all. But you and your buddies make a big ugly uproar about it. It's long past time they rose up and fought back against such ignorance and unfairness. You and your buddies are the ones who have caused this movement that would never have been necessary of it weren't for societal hate. Blame yourselves!

[quote][b]RichardEdward[/b] - Homosexuality has no place in the BSA where kids are just trying to fit in and be "normal."[/quote]

Let me correct that for you. Sexuality has no place in the BSA where kids are just trying to fit in and be "normal." Quite right. Why can't homosexual boys be normal scouts and do all the same normal things that scouts do to become better normal adults? You know, adults who continue to adhere to the scout honors and values, who work at jobs, pay taxes, vote responsibly, contribute to the community, volunteer and go home at night the same as anybody else.

[quote][b]RichardEdward[/b] - Was he a homosexual, a bisexual or a pedophile? [/quote]

A pedophile, which is not a homosexual, or didn't you know that? Are you saying that you think children between 8 and 15 can be encouraged to be homosexual instead of heterosexual? Or is it just boys who are susceptible? I would encourage you to get educated; you are totally clueless. Hint: one is born with the sexual orientation that will express itself upon maturity. It cannot be changed. Males have more sexual variation than females. Pedophilia is the only harmful expression of sexuality. Now, go do some homework.

"If I place this situation in the context of my religious beliefs, I'm forced to ask myself, 'Would I turn a homosexual child away from Sunday school? From a church function? Would I forbid my children to be friends with a gay child?' I can't imagine a situation where I would answer 'yes' to any of those questions. So how can I in this one?"

This says it all. This person is the only true Christian I've heard speak the Christian truth. All those who are leaving the scouts are saying that Christians don't accept sinners among them. Really? I thought it was love the sinner, hate the sin. If there are no sinners among Christians that would be astonishing!

[quote][b]Hardscrabble[/b] - They stole the cab and the trailer?
[/quote]

18-wheeler would be the whole thing.

If this is an insurance scam, sure is a big one.

[quote][b]snarkydude[/b] - Must be something in the water that those Democrats drink.[/quote]

Not necessarily Democrats or Republicans. I'm thinking "lawyer" has something to do with such denials and behaviors. Used car salesmen, realtors, financial advisors, lawyers and politicians; all at the bottom of the barrel.

[quote][b]melquiades[/b] - and anybody else that doesn't have a proven improvement[/quote]

Welfare reform would help. I have offered some ideas both here and to my representatives. So far no action.

Again, maybe this horrific insanity is evolution at work. If so, evolution is terribly cruel to little children.

What is needed is an early test for Alzheimer's Disease. Not to mention an effective treatment or even a cure.

Survival of 3-year-olds is getting rather challenging lately.

[quote][b]Shalmaneser[/b] - "own their own face" [/quote]

Nice turn of a phrase. Another way of saying "come into their own". That would be some time during one's thirties. One's thirties and forties are when youth and maturity come together for an awesome human being. But it's one's forties and fifties when one possesses the most power and influence in life. So forty-something is the pinnacle of life. After sixty it's all a gentle slope down, full of wisdom, reflection and peace (and aches, pains, creaks, memory failures, diminishing eyesight, hearing and energy). Too bad we only go 'round once.

UNBELIEVABLE ! ! What a waste of good money! What a colossal lack of planning! Whoever made these decisions should pull the $25,000 or whatever was spent and spent again to put it all back the way it was out of their very own personal pockets to pay for this fiasco. And this is supposed to be an institution of high learning. They can't even do what many un-college-educated people do every day. I know. I'm one of them and I work with others of them to lease office space and get it built out economically and on time; and it works well for the tenants, often better than any office they ever had. The University of Georgia can't even do one office suite right. Jeez!

[quote][b]Shalmaneser[/b] - They might start covering up a bit more as they age,[/quote]

Well, the truth is that the only time you will look as wonderful as you will ever look in your life is that short time as a very young adult. So, if you've got it, I guess you should flaunt it for as long as possible. It won't last. Then you will realize that it's what's inside that counts the most, like that teddy bear in our Joel Kight. Or that intelligence and patience in my significant other.

[quote][b]mpd0.59[/b] - Ten Worst College Majors:[/quote]

Among those, recreation management, $30,000 to $50,000 annually. So why do my taxes go to pay the Madison County recreation director around $140,000 when the superintendant of schools only makes $126,000? Wrong priorities?

Point being that it's what you can finagle out there in the world with what you have learned. Put that greed to work and remember, it's who you know not what you know. Morality is irrelevant in today's world. Go for all you can get, shove people out of the way, trample toes and more, whatever it takes, it doesn't matter. Success at any cost. It's the American way!

@mcdawg: Well said. Overflowing with raw truth!

[quote][b]mpd0.59[/b] - you do need to be smart, motivated, and persistent.[/quote]

Excellent advice! There are no classes in "smart, motivated and persistent", unfortunately, mostly because, like a good attitude, they can't really be taught.

One thing to notice is that careers that are pleasant or hold low levels of responsibility, like art, music, design, archeology and the other mentioned poor choices, don't pay as well simply because of the lack of a high level of responsibility like in accounting, engineering, medicine, CEO and aeronautics. A designer is clearly judged on their work, which may be rejected if not what is being looked for, but there are no repercussions beyond the designer. The lower pay can be very well worth the lack of stress! It's all in what you want for yourself and your life.

[quote][b]avenger[/b] - the troop I was a member of never emphasized a person's gender preference. [/quote]

Were you even aware of possible homosexuality among your group? If so, did it bother you to think you might be "targeted" by some unknown gay boy? Or did you even know about gayness?

[quote][b]davidxto[/b] - Blessed are the creatures who slept out in the forest last night.[/quote]

This has been an unusually beautiful spring, long and cool and lush. I have two does each with two fawns now who travel as a group. I'll remember this when in Colorado where spring comes late and is hardly noticable as the land dries out even more into summer.

[quote][b]GroversMill[/b] - @E.J.:

It's as simple as little boys (and their parents) not feeling comfortable with other boys & adults checking them out in the shower or in the woods. Comprende?
Now the BSA can proceed with becoming one more PC gay bathhouse. My goodness, what an attractive prospect that is. [/quote]

I never liked anyone checking me out in the shower! I resented being forced to take a shower at school; if you weren't sweaty during PE, you sure were after a shower down in that hot, humid, airless locker room! Everyone should have privacy! I suppose men don't feel that way because they are never "targeted" like women are. Perhaps it would be a good exercise for you all to experience that for a change. In which case all people should be allowed privacy. That would be really difficult for the military, but they have managed to accommodate female soldiers so they can accommodate alternatively gendered and oriented people as well.

[quote][b]Ben Had[/b] - I wonder what the comments would be like for this and other articles about the improving economy if Romney had been elected?
[/quote]

I think about that all the time! I often play with the rhetoric that would be spewed forth here. And it would be exactly what the Republicans planned for to juxtapose the Obama administration with the Romney when neither one would have had much control over the economy which will do what it will do pretty much. The truth is that Obama's blocked full efforts were still enough to keep us from full depression. If more stimulus had been allowed we might have been where we are now two years ago. But at least we didn't experience The Great Depression II, although there are a whole lot of people still who don't take much comfort in that.

[quote][b]sweept[/b] - what you skipped are ppl that fall off the rolls and give up looking for work....[/quote]

".... the Georgia Department of Labor uses realistic statistics that do count those people who have exhausted their unemployment compensation."

What "rolls" are you referring to, please? If one gives up looking for work, then one does not need to be employed and should not be counted; evidently they are finding support somewhere, even if it's just odd jobs paid in cash. As to how they determine who might be in that catagory, I don't know, but I suspect they assume that if you were employed, you would want or need to continue employment. Regardless, as long as one is comparing month-over-month figures of change in an apples-to-apples fashion, then the numbers are useful.

[quote][b]Long Sufferer[/b] - Luckily we live here in Athens where nothing like this ever happens.
[/quote]

Perspective is good. For about 7 years before I moved I had section 8 people living in the apartments behind my house which were originally The Guest Qarters when Sandy Springs became the new suburbs from it's exurbs status. Families stayed there until they bought a house and settled. It was no problem. It was sold, renovated and rented as apartments. Then it started. First there was noise disturbance and empty booze bottles and cans thrown into my back yard. Then there were police cars. Then unbelievably gun shots. Then the apartment right behind my house was where the police arrested the couple who invaded the nearby home of a doctor and his wife and teen son, holding them hostage and shooting the son (he survived) as he excaped to call police. They may very well have killed them all if they hadn't took off upon the kid's escape. I called a realtor as soon as I read that in the paper.

[quote][b]Used2baFreeCountry[/b] - Oh, well, look at the bright side.
After you graduate with a degree in English from UGA, you will have plenty of off-time from your job as a waiter/waitress to "investigate the deepest reaches of the outer and the inner universes in which we live."
[/quote]

On the other hand, a major in English is not a major in English literature. You would be poised to make a living as a speech-writer, a script-writer, a copy-writer or a top-level administrative assistant writing polished business letters for your boss or department. My neighbor in the 1980s was such at CocaCola and made $80,000 annually way back then. She was indispensible for her writing as well as her dedication, organizational skills and people skills. The huge advertising industry employs all kinds of writers.

I got a spam from what appeared to be Microsoft until I read the whole thing. The English, while good, wasn't quite as polished and sophisticated as one would expect from a major company. My IT guy came and determined it was maleware and got rid of it, saying how lucky I was that I didn't do what it told me to do. English is not just about grammer and punctuation; it's about effective communication in writing. And it, like the clothes you wear, communicates a great deal about you, in speech as well.

[quote][b]nowheregirl[/b] - If A&F waited for me to buy their clothing, they'd better change their name to Poor & Poorer. Not one penny, have I ever spent, at their locations. [/quote]

That's the thing, though. They don't want your kind anywhere near their store. Nor my kind. Fine with me. I don't need them and they don't need us. Their call. No big deal.

[quote][b]Shalmaneser[/b] -
The dire consequences of shorts? [/quote]

No, the other way around. Except for davidxto's weaving in politics like he and others do here, I have to agree with him. It wasn't President Clinton; it's Madison Avenue's appealing to basic human psychology that is guiding our culture now and most people fall for it like Lemmings right over a cliff. Sex sells. They know it, anyone selling anything knows this. So why would they not use this very effective strategy?

As long as there are no negative consequences of liberalizing sexuality, I see no problem, but there are. If we want this in our culture, we all have to be responsible, including young people. That's a very tall order!