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Source: http://www.stargazette.com/article/20130214/BUSINESS/302140110/1109/
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IRVING, Texas (AP) ? Faced with intense pressure from two flanks, the Boy Scouts of America said Wednesday it needed more time for consultations before deciding whether to move away from its divisive policy of excluding gays as scouts or adult leaders.
Possible changes in the policy ? such as a proposal to allow sponsors of local troops to decide for themselves on gay membership ? will not be voted on until the organization's annual meeting in May, the national executive board said at the conclusion of closed-door deliberations.
As the board met over three days at a hotel in Irving, near Dallas, it became clear that the proposed change would be unacceptable to large numbers of Scouting families and advocacy groups on the left and right. Gay-rights supporters said no Scout units should be allowed to exclude gays, while some conservatives, including religious leaders whose churches sponsor troops, warned of mass defections if the ban were eased.
"In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public," said the BSA's national spokesman, Deron Smith. "It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization."
Smith said the executive board "concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy." The board will prepare a resolution to be voted on by the 1,400 voting members of the national council at a meeting in Grapevine, Texas, he said.
The BSA announced last week it was considering allowing scout troops to decide whether to allow gay membership. That news placed a spotlight on the executive board meeting that began Monday in Irving, where the BSA headquarters is located, but the deliberations were closed to the news media and the public.
Early reaction to the delay from gay-rights supporters was harshly critical of the BSA.
"A Scout is supposed to be brave, and the Boy Scouts failed to be brave today," said Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio mother ousted from her post as a Cub Scout volunteer because she's a lesbian. "The Boy Scouts had the chance to help countless young people and devoted parents, but they've failed us yet again."
Brad Hankins, campaign director of Scouts for Equality, said the delay would have a direct impact on young men already in the scouting movement.
"By postponing this decision, thousands of currently active Scouts still remain uncertain about their future in the program and are shamed into silence. We understand that this change is a huge paradigm shift for some, but this isn't a religious issue. It's simply one of human morality, and that is something common to all faiths."
About 70 percent of all Scout units are sponsored by religious denominations, including many by conservative faiths that have supported the ban, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mormons' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Michael Purdy, a Mormon church spokesman, said the BSA "acted wisely in delaying its decision until all voices can be heard on this important moral issue."
The National Catholic Committee on Scouting said it would join in the BSA's consultations over the coming months. Whatever the outcome, the committee said, "Catholic chartered units will continue to provide leaders who promote and live Catholic values."
Meanwhile, hundreds of conservative supporters of the ban held a rally and prayer vigil at the BSA headquarters, carrying signs that read, "Don't Invite Sin Into the Camp" and "BSA please resist Satan's test. Uphold the ban."
Scoutmaster Darrel Russell, of Weatherford, took his wife and five of their seven children to the rally. Russell said having gays in the scouting movement would be like mixing boys and girls.
"The whole idea is to protect our boys at all costs," Russell said, warning that if the ban is lifted "we're shutting down our troop."
President Barack Obama, an opponent of the policy, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an Eagle Scout who supports it, both have weighed in.
"My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does in every institution and walk of life," Obama said Sunday in an interview with CBS. As U.S. president, he is the honorary president of the BSA.
Perry, author of the book "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For," said in a speech Saturday that "to have popular culture impact 100 years of their standards is inappropriate."
The board faces several choices, none of which is likely to quell the controversy. Standing pat would go against the public wishes of two high-profile board members ? Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson ? who run companies with nondiscrimination policies and have said they would work from within to change the Scouts' policy.
Conservatives have warned of mass defections if Scouting allows gay membership to be determined by troops. Local and regional leaders, as well as the leadership of churches that sponsor troops, would be forced to consider their own policies. And policy opponents who delivered four boxes of signatures to BSA headquarters Monday said they wouldn't be satisfied by only a partial acceptance of gay scouts and leaders.
"We don't want to see Scouting gerrymandered into blue and red districts," said Brad Hankins, campaign director of Scouts for Equality.
Nancy Deveau, of Mansfield, accompanied her 10-year-old son, wearing his scout's uniform, to the rally at scouting HQ. She said she doesn't want Scout leaders to drop the ban.
"We wanted to pray for our Boy Scout leaders to keep our values," she said.
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Crary reported from New York City.
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Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Irving, Texas, and Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boy-scouts-delay-decision-admitting-gays-153238089.html
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Wednesday will nominate business executive Sally Jewell to lead the Interior Department, an administration official said.
Jewell is the president and chief executive officer at the outdoors company Recreational Equipment, Inc., known as REI, which sells clothing and gear for outdoor adventures with more than 100 stores across the country. Before joining REI in 2000, Jewell worked in commercial banking and as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp. She took the top post at REI in 2005.
If confirmed, Jewell would replace current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who held the post throughout Obama's first term. Salazar announced last month that he would step down in March.
Jewell is the first woman in Obama's crop of second-term Cabinet nominees. The White House faced criticism that the new Cabinet lacked diversity after Obama tapped a string of white men for top posts, but Obama promised more diverse nominees were in the queue for other jobs.
Jewell's confirmation would also put a prominent representative from the business community in the president's Cabinet. REI is a $2 billion-a-year company and has been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for.
Obama was to announce Jewell's nomination during a ceremony in the White House State Dining Room Wednesday afternoon, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to confirm Jewell's nomination ahead of the president.
Jewell has earned national recognition for her management skills and support for outdoor recreation and habitat conservation
In 2011 she introduced Obama at a White House conference on the "America's Great Outdoors" initiative, noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry supports 6.5 million jobs.
Under Salazar, the Interior Department pushed renewable power such as solar and wind and oversaw a moratorium on offshore drilling after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium was lifted in October 2010, although offshore drilling operations did not begin for several more months.
The Interior Department manages millions of acres in national parks and forests, overseeing energy and mining operations on some of the government-owned land.
Jewell's nomination was hailed by conservation and business groups alike.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune called Jewell a champion in the effort to connect children with nature and said she has "a demonstrated commitment to preserving the higher purposes public lands hold for all Americans ? recreation, adventure, and enjoyment.
The Western Energy Alliance, which represents the oil and natural gas industry in the West, also welcomed Jewell's nomination.
"Her experience as a petroleum engineer and business leader will bring a unique perspective to an office that is key to our nation's energy portfolio," said Tim Wigley, the group's president.
Wigley said his group hopes Jewell will work develop oil and gas on non-park, non-wilderness public lands.
Jewell's appointment comes as Democrats and environmental groups are urging Obama to step up efforts to conserve public lands in his second term.
Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Tuesday that Obama should adopt a principle in which every acre of public land that is leased to the oil and gas industry is matched by an acre permanently protected for conservation or recreation.
Over the past four years, more than 6 million acres of public lands have been leased for oil and gas, compared with 2.6 million acres permanently protected, according to U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-outdoor-retail-exec-picked-interior-160413428--politics.html
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''...Hell can't hold me, demons can't stop me, the Gods can't scare me, and love...Ha love can't bind me. I gave up my humanity for what? to be sent back to hell...''
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Omar Samaha, holds a picture of his sister Reema Samaha, who was killed in the Virginia Tech. shootings, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to introduce legislation on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons but the measure faces long odds even after last month's mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The measure being unveiled Thursday is authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who wrote the original assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004 when Congress refused to renew it under pressure from the National Rifle Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he's more concerned about limiting the number of rounds in a gun magazine than about banning assault weapons that account for a small percentage of gun deaths.
Biden argued that the shooter at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., could have been slowed down if he had fewer rounds in each magazine and had to change clips more often. "Maybe if it took longer, maybe one more kid would be alive," Biden said during an online video chat on Google Plus.
The vice president led a White House gun control task force in the wake of the Newtown shooting last month. President Barack Obama said last week after Biden completed the review that he wants Congress to require background checks for all gun sales and ban both military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. The president conceded passage will be difficult, with support for gun ownership rights strong among lawmakers.
Biden says he wants a ban on assault weapons, even though he acknowledges they don't account for a large portion of gun deaths in America. He says a ban would solve part of the gun violence problem, particularly for police who can be outgunned by criminals with assault weapons.
"It is not an answer to all the problems," Biden said. But he said he views an assault-weapons ban as "a rational limitation on what type of weapons should be owned."
Biden's comments came on the same day that a group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, reintroduced legislation to ban assault weapons and magazines over 10 rounds. At a news conference backed by police officials, mayors and crime victims, the lawmakers acknowledged the heavy lift ahead to get the legislation through Congress.
"If anyone asks today 'Can you win this?,' we don't know, it's so uphill," Feinstein said. She said it only would happen if voters got behind the measures and called on their lawmakers to act.
Feinstein authored the original assault-weapons ban in 1994 which expired 10 years later when Congress, under pressure from the National Rifle Association, refused to extend it. There is debate about its effectiveness during the years it was in effect, in part because of loopholes that allowed gun manufacturers to work around it. Feinstein's new version is more comprehensive in defining what kinds of weapons are banned.
The NRA responded that the new bill would infringe on the Constitutional right to bear arms and that instead the focus should be on prosecuting criminals and improving the country's mental health system. "The American people know gun bans do not work, and we are confident Congress will reject Sen. Feinstein's wrong-headed approach," the NRA said in a statement.
At Feinstein's press conference, nearly a dozen different kinds of high-powered weapons were displayed that would be banned by the bill, including the kind of Bushmaster used in the Connecticut shooting.
The assault weapons ban in particular is seen as unlikely to make it through Congress, because of opposition by majority Republicans in the House and concerns from moderate Democrats in the Senate. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has cast doubt on its prospects. Some advocacy groups are focusing their attention instead on expanding background checks, which is seen as more doable politically.
Feinstein said those Democrats with concerns about the legislation needed to ask themselves what their silence would mean.
"Sandy Hook is more eloquent testimony than any of us could possibly give," she said. "If members of this body are so insensitive to what happened to those small bodies from that Bushmaster when it all becomes known, America is hopeless."
Biden is launching the White House's promotional tour on gun control Friday with a trip to Virginia, a state that has experienced its own school shooting tragedy yet maintains an avidly pro-gun tradition. His office said Biden will hold a roundtable discussion in Richmond with experts who worked on gun safety in the wake of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech.
Biden will be accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jim Cole and other administration officials, as well as Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott, both Virginia Democrats.
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Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler
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