JoeBob

Once spent a nice Christmas on the Buffalo River in Arkansas. Wilderness camping on gravel bars. The spiders would crawl up out of the pebbles to enjoy our warmed tents. I think there is one class 3 riffle on the whole stretch, but who wants water in their face in January?

The attack lawyer won't eat me?

JMHawkins, Sounds like you and I have run into the same trainers/zealots. The very name, 'Leave No Trace', is impossible; unless you stay home. Anyone with much tracking experience knows that there is always trace. (My kind of zealotry) There are many acceptable practices in the LNT principles that do leave a trace, and the zealots like to focus on the unattainable name. I'm not sure what motivates those scouters who insist that catholes are unacceptable trace. The ones I have to put up with claim to want the boys to enjoy the woods. If there are more picky rules for being in the woods than for hanging out at home, boys who want to expand their free range will stay home. How's that for ironic?

BaldenP, I see you've resorted to the 'Ad Hominem' defense, once again. But I can see where you're coming from. I can't type that fast, either.

As a CM, pack campouts are too much work for me to actually enjoy. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of high spots and memories; but I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. I get lots of personal satisfaction from non-scout camping trips, like this one: http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc473/JosephBob/ I volunteer in scouting hoping to instill a love of the outdoors in all my boys. Hopefully they'll want to take their children and friends to the woods when they get older... Also, in personal camping you don't have to hide the wine bottle, and your dog is welcome!

BadenP - Thanks! You've made my point. If you teach an UNREALISTIC, OVERBEARING, (May I say ridiculous?) outdoor ethic, it will be ignored. And then you'll have NO outdoor ethic. The Boy Scouts who got scouting banned from the parks in your area weren't practicing LNT, were they? You can't say that they weren't taught LNT, because it's too deeply embedded in BSA advancement requirements. They just didn't buy into the LNT hyperbole. Why might kids choose not to buy into LNT? There are some parts of LNT that flat out don't make sense in all situations, and once an inquisitive young mind identifies the stupidity of the LNT extremes, they are less receptive to the wilderness basics. Sorta like trying to make eveyone drive 55mph on the interstate. If you keep it simple, to the point where it's easily explained and justified, kids will understand and help you keep the wilderness wild. The BASICS of wilderness etiquette: Leave no man made trash. Try not to damage living plants. Don't disturb the earth in a way that will promote erosion. LNT extremes that turn off kids: I have to crap in a bag? And carry a warm squishy bag of excrement in my pack? Why can't I scratch a cathole with my boot, and cover my deposit? Won't the plants benefit from the fertilizer? (Edit: After I visited the BSA site to verify that the LNT principles that I've been turned off by still applied, I see that catholes are now acceptable - 200 feet from water and 6-8 inches deep. And although there are places where it'll be hard to get 200 feet from water (Okeefenokee Swamp, Chattooga River gorge), and an 8 inch deep hole is cutting major tree roots; at least a modicum of moderation is being applied. - JBC) I can't take home blue-jay feathers, mussel shells, or possum skulls? I just want to help the animals pick up their trash! The kind of souvenirs that kids take home will be seen by more people if they get taken home than if left in the deep woods. We can't burn our trash in the campfire? What's this bag gonna smell like after three days in my pack? What's my pack gonna smell like? If we want kids to enjoy camping, we need to resist letting LNT neuter the experience to the point that it's easier to look at close-up images on the Discovery Channel and NatGeo. What's the fun in going where no man has ever gone before, if you can't go there either unless it's a hard packed surface? (Another edit after reading the actual LNT principles: Burning trash seems to be alright. Leaving UNBURNT trash in the fire pit is a no-no, and I agree with that. Maybe I'm not as opposed to LNT as I thought. Maybe I should be trying to lynch LNT trainers instead? Where DID I leave my pitchfork?) Nevermind.

LNT is the wilderness version of political correctness, delivered with a Woodbadger's EDGE...

Is there anyone on this blog from Australia? How is the education system there? Can you point me to a link outlining the emmigration requirements? New Zealand would actually be my first choice, but I hear they're a bit picky about who they let in. And I stink from work.

Let's boil it down to the most basic level: Is it your money to do with as you want? - or - Is it the Government's money to do with as they want? If it's the government's money, why should I work to earn it?

Beavah, Problems with your position: Beavah: "Concentration of capital means an end of meritocracy." Nope. The opposite is true. Stealing half what a man owns when he dies robs him off any motivation to accumulate capital. Dynasties are not a modern problem: 1. According to a study of Federal Reserve data conducted by NYU professor Edward Wolff, for the nation's richest 1%, inherited wealth accounted for only 9% of their net worth in 2001, down from 23% in 1989. (The 2001 number was the latest available.) 2. According to a study by Prince & Associates, less than 10% of today's multi-millionaires cited "inheritance" as their source of wealth. 3. A study by Spectrem Group found that among today's millionaires, inherited wealth accounted for just 2% of their total sources of wealth. ***** Beavah: "What you're proposing, that they should get a free ride on your labor, just doesn't sit well with my personal values." What doesn't sit well with my personal values is the Democrats using the fed to take away my money to give a free ride to their union constituents. At least I know my kids! (Sorta...) ***** I don't like the principle. Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. Section II titled "Proletarians and Communists." At the end of this section: ten short-term demands revolutionaries wishing to establish a communist state. No. 3. Abolition of all right of inheritance What better way for the political class to effect an abolition of all right of inheritance than to simply seize the property BEFORE it can be inherited! Income re-distribution motivates the un-productive to remain un-productive. Income re-distribution makes the hard-workers feel like fools for even trying. (Credit to Neal Boortz for some wording and research) JoeBob

My thanks for the vocabulary lesson. I'm not too proud to admit that I had to look up 'eponymous'.

Thanks for allowing me to keep 22%.

Gern, That's outrageous, even for you. I've busted my hump for 35 years to build my business. I've paid taxes every year. Lots of taxes. If I'm able to continue successfully for another 15 years, before the eyes go bad, my business may be worth $5 million. Both of my kids like working in the business. (They're too young to be paid or to be serious help. My point is that in 15 years they would probably like to take over for me and ihherit what I've built.) If the Democrats have their way, and put a 45% tax on estates, my kids will have to borrow $2,250,000 to pay the IRS for the priviledge of continuing to work in their daddy's business. (Or, as the feds know will happen, sell the business because no bank will loan young adults that kind of money.) A business, which I must add, has already paid 60 cents in assorted taxes for every dollar I've earned for 35 or more years. 35% Fed 13% FICA that I'll ever see. 8% State 3% Unemployment Ins - so others can veg out for 99 weeks. If you toss in sales taxes and Medicare, most small business owners are well over 60% already. So, after allowing me to keep 40% of what I've earned with my sweat for over 35 years, now you want to take another 45% off the top? 'Luck sperm club' my rump! Gern, is there a maximum that you think the govt should take? Your going to let me keep 22%? Look at it this way: 100% of earnings -60% in taxes every year. = 40% Mine while I live. 45% estate taxe at my death. 22% left (40% x the 55% my heirs get)that I really get to do with what I want. I'm so motivated now! Who wants to buy a business? I don't think it's worth the effort, anymore. In this country.

We're number ONE! Japan just announced a 5% reduction in their corporate income tax rate. They're trying to stimulate the sluggish Japanese economy. That makes the US corporate tax rate the highest in the developed world! YAHOO?! How many businesses are going to race to set-up operations in the US so that they can pay the number one highest tax rate! How many other businesses are going to quietly shift their operations out of the country? How many good-paying jobs are provided by poor men?

Gern, Tissue? (R. Lee Ermey was grand marshall of the Veteran's Day parade our cubs marched in. I like that Geico commercial the best!)

FYI: The Guvenator called the Kalifornia House Democrats "Girly-men". But it is bi-parisan wseeping! Obammer was teary-eyed while answering questions and abdicated the POTUS seal to Slick WIlly: "RealClearPolitics has the video up of Obama having his meltdown after being pressed too hard to answer substantive questions about the economy. Hes teary-eyed, and his pale purple tie looks drabless SEIU than moldy sardines. His ill-fitting and rumpled suit jacket is dingy and his eyes are puffy and sunken, like hed been crying all day, perhaps realizing how inept he is in the role of president the Left and lamestream media (redundancy alert!) swore he would grow into. Girlfriend needs some cookie dough ice cream, a box of merlot, and a Jonas Brothers concert video tonight."

Nobody argues that we shouldn't pay for the freeloaders' health care. Why does everyone accept that premise? Isn't death natural?

Obama's liberal ideals have run smack dab into reality: Close Gitmo? 1- No other country (or state) wants the prisoners. 2- Most of the released prisoners return to the battlefield. Hold terrorist trials in NYC? (The Lawyer employment guarantee policy) 1- Security costs out the wazoo. 2- Biased jury pool. 3- The one trial that was held in the US got ONE conviction out of 286 charges? Withdraw from Afghanistan? That idea has been thouroughly trashed in previous entries in this thread. Tax the rich? 1- The rich are the most mobile - they will leave. 2- Ever get a job from a poor man? You want jobs or petty class warfare victories? Pick one. Socialize healthcare? 1- The numbers don't work. Smoke and mirrors may help you pass a bill through a congress that doesn't read, but neither smoke nor mirrors will pay hospitals. 2- Unconstitutional. 3- Make Doctors work more for less money? They'll retire and not work at all. Make friends with our enemies? We just need to be nice! They're still our enemies, whether you win a Peace Prize or not. Obama has not failed. He has been forced to face reality and admit that many liberal ideas simply don't work.

I trust different news people on different topics. Lou Dobbs was a good source for imigration. Neal Cavuto is good about looking at both sides of economic issues. John Stossel always shoots straight with his investigative pieces. George Will provides a good overview of politics. Charles Krauthammer is a rapier to liberals. Chris Matthews tries to do the same to conservatives. Listen to 'em all, and make your own decisions.

Shermi - Don't be so close minded, ya big lefty! The people at UCLA who study such things find that: Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter. "If viewers spent an equal amount of time watching Fox's 'Special Report' as ABC's 'World News' and NBC's 'Nightly News,' then they would receive a nearly perfectly balanced version of the news," said Milyo, an associate professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Missouri at Columbia. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx

Here's an excerpt: "Some locations are given unique billing. The Nadym gas pipeline junction in western Siberia, for example, is described as "the most critical gas facility in the world". It is a crucial transit point for Russian gas heading for western Europe. In some cases, specific pharmaceutical plants or those making blood products are highlighted for their crucial importance to the global supply chain. The critical question is whether this really is a listing of potential targets that might be of use to a terrorist, our correspondent says." The cable contains a simple listing. In many cases towns are noted as the location but not actual street addresses, although this is unlikely to stop anyone with access to the internet from locating them. There are also no details of security measures at any of the listed sites. What the list might do is to prompt potential attackers to look at a broader range of targets, especially given that the US authorities classify them as being so important. Beavah, my question is: What is the positive reason for Wiki to leak this information?"

Now that WikiLeaks has published a list of critical infrastructure in the US, are they a terrorist; yet?

Palin's Alaska - As a gun-freak and ethical hunting proponent, I was un-impressed with Sarah Palin's caribou hunting display on last night's episode of Palin's Alaska. Her father fell down a slope onto his rifle, which Sarah then used to shoot at a caribou. The badly off-zero scope resulted in 5 misses. Sarah swapped rifles and nailed the critter, first shot. Anyone who travels for hunting should know to check zero in camp. That rifle had been through one truck ride, two small airplanes, and under a falling 180 pound man. I'm really relived that one of the misses didn't result in a wounded animal. I had to say it first. My wife pointed out that Palin is probably losing a ot of liberal recruits with all the footage of meat processing. The wife is always right! JoeBob

JBlake, My favorite clean up assistant is snow. After dinner, you pack your still warm cooking pot with snow, and leave it outside to freeze solid. (Well away from the tent in bear country...) Before breakfast you turn the pot upside down, clank it on something hard to dislodge the ice block and all the burn-on noodles or whatever from last night, and put it on the Optimus stove to cook again.

Aethists pray that there really is no God!