Gold Winger

" My daughter has a friend whose dad is a pilot "

This is Captain Bob, the flight attendants are passing out order forms for my daughter's fundraiser. If you wish to ever see your luggage again, put your claim check number on the order form next to your name.

There are organizations out there that may let you use their facilities for free. There are two churches in town that let us use their facilities for free for committee meetings, BORs, dinners. The committee insists on using the CO's facility for troop meetings even though it is not well suited to them and they continually give the troop grief about our use of the hall. Which is really their use of the hall.

Aren't all positions "made up"?

Of course, by "right to choose" we mean "right to slaughter unborn children because having a child would be inconvenient."

"This is not a state, county, town, district, or school-by-school decision. This is national law. However keep in mind that most school principals (and some superintendents) are not that current on national law and may need direction."

Point me to this law. One would think that a school system with a nearly $2 billion budget would have lawyers who know the law.

I know that the Boy Scouts must be allowed to use the facilities. However, we're talking about what literature may be distributed and after a battle which involved lawyers stomping their feet at each other, the school board came up with their short list of approved organizations. School related organizations, tenents of the schools, county departments, and sports. Sports was included because they "contribute to the health and welfare of the youth."

I want to know how many "funny guys" have been caught because of the credit checks that BSA is doing.

"Speaking of Bias - have you seen the website of the NRA lately?"

The NRA is a single issue organization, okay maybe two issues: guns and hunting. That's all they care about. Abortion. Taxes. The conflict in Iraq. All non-issues to the NRA.

What's a "credit card pocket"?

Our schools did that. They banned all handouts except those from sports leagues, county agencies and day care centers that rented from the schools. In short, groups that brought in the big bucks. The PTA was also exempted which left a big loophole. Organizations, such as BSA, would ask the PTA to distribute their literature and they'd include it in their newsletter. After a month of that, the school board figured out what was going on and shut that down.

The whole mess started because a flier at one school went home advertising an after school bible study club. So much for freedom of thought and the ability to have free access. Islam is okay for an after school activity but christianity wasn't.

Cub Scouts took a big hit that year.

A JASM should be used as any other ASM would be used. As a mentor, guide and source of knowledge.

"registration of trademarks is not required, though it helps,"

According to the US PTO, registration is required to bring action in a Federal court regarding the mark.

"Special consideration toward our own kids should be a concern for all of us as leaders. It's a tightrope between giving our own kid more or less consideration than that of other scouts."

There's a reason that most official's organizations won't let someone officiate a game in which their child is playing or even their child's school except in emergencies. In the officiating world, the tendency is to be harder on your own child or child's school's team so that no one can cry favoritism.

In my son's troop this was the case, the SM didn't brook any misbehavior from his sons. In other troops that I've been around, the SM's son got away with murder.

If you are the SM and you son gets out of line, you need to respond in the same manner as if it were anyone else's son. The problem is that if you wait for the ride home, everyone thinks that your son is getting away with murder. Remember, perception is reality.

"Guess you don't watch Hannity much, do you? Perhaps he is the one in ten."

Who?

"Doesn't seem much different from behavior at a sports rally, eh? Perhaps a little more polite . Da home team marches in, people cheer, da opposition shows up, people boo. A few are rude. Nature of crowds."

I find sports fans to be generally obnoxious and rude and . . . stupid. Stupid? Yes. Why get all heated up over an athletic contest between professionals that have little connection to your community. It's not like they're your neighbors or that if they lose you'll be put into slavery. I especially like the idiots who say, "We beat the heck out of the Smoos on Sunday!" We? Were you on the field? Do you work for the team?

At least politics has some impact on your real life.

"You should have been in the adult area on the campout with me this past weekend. Our open-minded, tolerant and inclusive conservatives were in rare form."

Did they allow the other side to speak?

I guess much depends on how you define "hurt." Is not letting someone else speak without interruption, "hurting"?

One way might be to talk to the SM about a nameless Scout who is exhibiting bad behavior and ask him what he should do about it. Then when he says X, Y, or Z, tell him that the Scout is his son. Of course, at this point he'll get defensive about his son.

The other tack is that since he works for you, is that you tell him that if he doesn't do something about his son's behavior that you'll be forced to bring the COR into the picture and take steps to replace him.

Finishing at the bottom of the class at the Naval Academy still puts him ahead of many who finish in the top 20% of a regular college.

Something that I've observed for years about liberals is that they are often rude but cry out for politeness. Ever watch a talk show with a liberal and a conservative? The conservative will (9 out of ten times) sit quietly while the liberal makes his point but when he starts to speak, 9 out of ten times, the liberal keeps butting in. The whole time the moderater sits and smiles.

I used to have a liberal friend who delighted in sending me jokes about gun owners and conservatives. I returned the favor and sent him a couple jokes about liberals. I was treated to a tirade about how offensive and stupid I was. Gee, I thought that we were friends.

I have a liberal co-worker who if you disagree with him on any topic, motorcycles, cars, politics . . . he just says "that's horse pukey" and walks away. Very open minded.

Liberals have infected our educational institutions as well. I learned early on that the only way to survive was to parrot what the instructor said during lecture. If you dared to hold a different view point he'd crucify you.

Liberals really do not welcome open and free exchange of ideas.

Did our parents have this much trouble controlling us back in the early 60s?

Talk to the Committee Chair about your concerns.

I think that Scout accounts sprang up because of the unequal selling efforts of many Scouts. For example, for boys sold over 75% of the popcorn in my my son's pack. Many sold zero. The same was true in my daughter's GS troop, two girls sold the lion's share of the cookies. which also caused some consternation.

If everyone was out there working to the same degree, regardless of achievement level, that would be one thing but when a unit is being funded almost entirely by four boys, something is out of whack.

"My tartan isn't a very pretty pattern, but I'd wear that over any generic attempts of the BSA to designate which family pattern would be appropriate for generic BSA."

If you're a wood badger, you can join the MacLaren society and thus be allowed to wear the MacLaren tartan. That would be my only motivation for going to wood badge.

There already is a Scottish Scout tartan, I'm sure that BSA could register their own.

However, if you lot start wearing kilts with your uniforms, I'll start wearing a big fur hat and crossed cartridge belts with mine.

"The danger of a dry-fired bow is exactly why we are taught not to do that."

Is that the string burn or the danger of breaking the limbs which is what I was told many, many, many . . . many years ago. Never tried it so I don't know what will happen.

Drawing on his experiences as a Scout and years as a wilderness guide and trail crew foreman working with young people in parks and forests in many parts of the world, he has helped keep the Handbook on the cutting edge of group leadership and modern adventures while celebrating outdoor skills and caring for the land.

Cutting edge. Uh . . . yeah ... that's the ticket.

Ask him why he messed with a good book to create the current mess.

To show how you support diversity, greet the gate guard with a meaningful, "Allah akhbar!" You will be immediately offered the opportunity to kneel and bow towards Mecca, no matter the time of day. Isn't diversity wonderful.