Kahuna

I guess I don't quite get your point. There was always something about Ted that almost everyone not on the relatively far left didn't like. He had a lot to answer for. Apparently the accusation is true and was a pretty abysmal political act. Why not bring it up? I might also mention that by posting this, you pretty much guarantee there will be a lot verbal outpouring, pro and con, about the late Senator.(This message has been edited by kahuna)

" This has nothing to do with religion, Hal! It has everything to do with morality" But, without a religious reference, how does one determine morality? It all comes back to some kind of religious viewpoint. I agree with Hal on this one.

Dan Kroh, That's the assertion I was referring to. She's clearly connecting the demonstrators with Nazis or skinheads. They aren't. Of course, there are some wingnuts out there, but I think the majority of demonstrators are far from "astroturf."

DanKroh, The swastika is clearly in a circle with a slash through it, meaning essentially, "no fascism." I assume the SS runes have the same connotation, although they aren't in a circle like that (and the slogan can't be read in the photo). I think the implication is clear that they represent what the demonstrators think of public health care. Pelosi's assertion was just the opposite: that the demonstrators were skinheads, or fascists. It just isn't so.

Pelosi said she had seen demonstrators at health care townhalls carrying swastikas, which, as far as I can determine, is misinformation, if not a lie. I'm not a Limbaugh follower, but when I went to his site, it appeared that he was bringing out the hypocrisy of Pelosi. Maybe the graphic is offensive, maybe not, but Pelosi deserves a rebuke. http://tinyurl.com/ns44zx

Our staff on Merit Badge Midway will have a T shirt to wear with the rest of of our uniform. We will be wearing it on duty.

I still prefer the knee high socks we used to wear. The ODLR ones, not the ones with garters and tabs to hole them up. Only problem with those was when you got sun tanned, you had what we used to call "National knees." I have no idea where that came from but it was used all over. It referred to the fact that when you wore civvies with shorts, your tan ended a few inches below the knee.

I remember Up With People. I also remember astronaut Frank Borman showed some film of the first steps on the moon at an arena show. There was a TV in the visitors area and I went over there to see if I could watch the moon walk, but it was taking forever and, as I recall, it was during our dinner period, so I had to get back to camp to eat.

Nick, there's good advice here and I think you have the right idea. As an old Philmont staffer I'd say definitely wear the belt and the patch.

They used to let Scouts stay at Fort Belvoir, which is outside the beltway. There was a time when Scouts could stay at Bolling Air Force Base, which is just across the Potomac. It would be worthwhile to check both of those. There also are some motels around the area that cater to youth groups, a Google search would probably turn up something. I would suggest a phone call to the National Capital Area Council office, just in case they have any information. Our troop went about 3 times in 15 years and had a great experience each visit.

There are no more like him. I wish he had stuck with the Republicans, but nobody is perfect, I guess.

Trevorum, I just have always had a problem with dust. Another tidbit of history from that Jambo was that boys and leaders were sent to the hospital with what they called "dustmonia," and inflammation of the respiratory system. Fortunately, one of the boys in my troop had brought a nasal spray and that saved me from a lot of misery. I am going to brave the humidity of Virginia, although being from Florida, I'm probably more used to it. I'll be staffing Stamp Collecting on the MB midway. So, not too much physical work in the heat.

I don't think I knew that. I do remember that he had been a Boy Scout, but didn't realize he found his calling in a Boys' Life piece.

Thank you desertrat77. There's not much incentive to post stuff like this when you get one response in a thread. If I had posted under Uniform that we should have a military dress uniform with a sword and leather cross belt, there would be 200 posts on it by now.

I've been to two around here. The first summer camping in our council took place in 1924 at Lake Silver in Seminole County. It's now a county park and Scouts do camp there. Our troop used to go there all the time to camp and swim. It's very small today because of building encroachments, but 80 years ago it would have been a kids paradise. There were no fixed facilities, except some kind of latrine and they borrowed tents and cooking gear from the National Guard. Camp WeWa was the first council camp here. It's now "in town" and the Scouts moved much further out in 1948. The camp is still in operation by the YMCA and, I believe, contains some of the original buildings. WeWa is also pretty small today. The "Y" doesn't do real camping, so it's fine for them.

With all the hype about 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing and the upcoming 100th anniversary Jamboree, I keep being reminded of things that happened at the Jambo 40 years ago. The most significant thing, of course, was the landing on the moon. It occurred at mid day in Idaho. There were 35,000 or so Scouts and others on the site and nothing could be heard for half an hour except the sound of small radios listening to the narration of the landing. When Aldrin said, "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed" there was the biggest cheer I've ever heard, from all over the site. Every attendee had been given a small American flag and the were waving all over the place. I also recall that an airliner, a 4 engine prop plane from one of the major airlines buzzed the lake, lifted up to the Jamboree camping site and flew over at an altitude of several hundred feet at most. That was also the dustiest place I've ever been. All those feet wore away whatever grass may have been there in a day or two and the inch or two of soil over the rocks was in everybody's eyes and noses. If the 2010 Jamboree is half as memorable, I'll be forever grateful.

Took our troop to Blackhawk (dining hall) at Owasippe in the late 80's. We had a great experience. Long time ago, but they had the best staff I think I've ever found in a Scout camp.

"I never realized that when Kudu talks disparagingly about Wood Badgers and the Wood Badge Culture he was including all the Wood Badge Curriculums ever since 1972" Well, I had no trouble understanding that. I would guess anyone who went to WB before 1972 would agree with Kudu. You could see an immediate difference in the quality of WB people after they changed the course. It was even commented on by people who had not been to WB.

"I have to ask one more time - why does uniforming work in Dunwoody, but not in other areas?" In spite of what others have said to the contrary, Brent, it's leadership. That's all. Just leadership.

The CO can determine that it will be a male only or female only unit. Or two units, if that's what they want. As mentioned above, the DE will be much happier with two.

>>There's no better bilge pump than a frightened man with a bucket!

Only a little OT, a family vacation turned into tragedy when they were water sliding on a river. The father who died saving his son was a scouter among other things. http://tinyurl.com/n5965u

The way these guys handled both the problem and the aftermath provides a valuable lesson for us all. It's worth noting that they got on the news as soon as they got ashore and put their best foot forward using really good PR skills. http://www.foxreno.com/news/19911632/detail.html

Won't make much difference in the end what they teach the kids. People tend to go through different stages in their spirituality as they age. You can't turn a kid into an atheist at summer camp. Probably better for them than the camp portrayed in the movie Jesus Camp.

Interesting discussion. Maybe it's not "the uniform" but this uniform? I haven't found problems in getting Sea Scouts to wear that uniform. There is, however, an ongoing problem with getting adults to get over themselves about wearing it. Just a thought.