Kahuna

Iran: They want either world Islamic domination or the Islamic equivalent of the End Times/Book of Revelation. 12th Imam stuff. China: We owe them our souls. What else can we do? Greece and Euro: Just hang on. We're going to end up just like those guys.

Good advice Beavah!

My first "experienced" Cub uniform in 1951 had those buttons on it, but my Boy Scout uniform, bought new in 1954 had regular buttons on it. I have a couple of old uniforms from the Thirties and a set of buttons from a wool uniform from ca. the Twenties that have the wire loops. Those are not metal and made of something designed to look like bone. Given that washing machine ringers were not universal prior to the Forties, but that cleaning on a washboard was, I would guess that was the reason. It would be much easier to run the shirts up and down those things without the buttons and wou

>>I think it's more accurate to say they have to have a certain level of arrogance to believe government knows better than the layman how the layman should live his own life.

Beavah opines: Governor Romney is a fellow who will say whatever he thinks the person he's with at the time wants to hear, or the group he needs to please wants to hear. I figure the only thing that gives yeh a real sense of the man is when he commits his occasional slips while fielding a question he wasn't prepared for. And, Ron Paul aside, that is not true of what politician in presidential politics? SR540 Beaver: Liberals do not necessarily have short memories. They have selective memories, which is necessary to believe what they believe.

Continuously registered since 1951.

I'm Buddhist, but was not one when I was a kid and haven't had a boy in Scouts. However, I like Kudu's explanation and think I would talk to my son and anybody else who needed to know along those lines. In the final analysis, a lot of Buddhists do believe in a supreme being, as I do, but it would not be an entity as such. More the universal consciousness.

Beavah or some other lawyers may have a different view, but I don't see a Congressional charter as having the force of law. OTOH, it does define the powers and duties of the organization it created and could threaten the organization with dissolution if it fails to comply. IMHO, the BSA long ago gave up the stated goals as its objective.

I frankly don't believe the results of that "study." In the first place, they studied 612 people all in one state? There is an incredible amount of bias against Fox in other media and certainly in the higher education ranks. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Fortunately, Merlyn, you don't live or vote in Florida. I don't really see that this concerns you. By the way, I love it when you get all excited and rattled like that.

There will be conspiracy theories about that day until the end of history. I have been on both sides at various times in my life. Vince Bugliosi's book on the subject closed the issue for me, along with the fact that, after almost 50 years, no conspiracy could remain completely unknown (IMHO).

I was a college junior and having coffee in the cafeteria with some friends (this was at Ole Miss - JFK was booed in newsreels), when a yahoo came in and loudly said, "Guess what, gang, our leader's been shot." We quickly found out what he was talking about and went up to the dorm to listen to the radio. Only a couple of TVs on campus. It was still known only that JFK had been shot. The announcement came from Parkland Hospital and we all just went white with shock. I was tearing up and went out to the upper lobby that faced the student union building. A crowd was out there and there were

To those who wonder why go to a jamboree: The fun is in the association with all those other Scouts. You find others interested in the same things you are and learn about new things. At the 2010 jambo, there were plenty of adventures for the Scouts to get into. We have Philmont. We have the Northern Tier. We have Seabase. We now have the Summit. It just seems to me that we don't need to make the jamborees into high adventure activities. Lots of Scouts go just to trade patches or earn merit badges. That may or may not seem like a great idea to everyone, but I think attendance in fut

I've been following info on the jamboree list and other sites, including the official ones and don't really like what I'm seeing. I've been to only 2 jamborees: leader in 1969 and staff in 2010. Those and all the others to date have been held in places that are readily accessible to the public and have had the attributes of a display of scouting abilities, as well as fun activities for boys. It appears that everything at The Summit will be designed for high adventure and a high degree of physical fitness. The public will be able to access only a special area of the jamboree and with so

Although West certainly was responsible for making Scouting more business and less movement than in Britain, it was really Alden Barber & Co. who created the mess we have today. As has been mentioned, the 1970's mark a sharp line in the direction the BSA has taken. It has never been the same since and the men who run it today are those who started their professional careers under Barber.

Yep, my first Philmont trek was in 1962. Wooden pack frames, work boots bought from a place that supplied farmers. Carried all that stuff with an old canvas BSA pack strapped to the wooden frame. BTW, Philmont started in the late thirties and expanded during the forties.

Another BSA rule that has its roots in James E. West. He felt that professionals would be tempted to undermine their SE if they thought they could succeed to his job. Probably some truth to that in the early days. Today, I think it's more what Beavah says about the National system.

The problem lurks in your friendly local council office, among other places, where Sea Scouting is regarded as very nice and all that, but not much of a contribution to membership or money. Professionals, sadly, don't get enthused. It's difficult to recruit kids in the age group and involves a lot more work than school nights. There is no particular problem that I'm aware of, other than the cost of the program at the unit level. All financial problems can be solved, but takes work and skill on the part of the adults as well as the youth.

No independent can win the next election. Maybe sometime down the road. And, no, the Republicans WILL put the Democrats out of the White House.

Mr Boyce: With all possible respect . . . Wait, I don't have any for that remark. It's patently offensive, uncalled for and snarky.

I recall that a lot of disasters occurred when Jimmah Carter was running for reelection (Mt. St. Helens). Probably there will be a pestilence of frogs before BHO goes down in defeat.

Packsaddle writes: . Evidently we came up with this independently...convergent evolution? Possibly.

I have no problem with reducing future social security benefits for people under about 55. Means testing would be okay. To reduce benefits for people whose only income is SS would be grossly unfair. "Die quickly" Have you been mentored by Alan Grayson?(This message has been edited by kahuna)

>>The 'accounts' we see on those idiotic SS statements merely show they're keeping tabs on what we paid in. There's no promise of paying it back to us and we sure don't deserve any such promise. Those programs are nothing more than a glorified form of welfare and they should suffer the same fate that welfare programs suffer: cuts, means tests, elimination.

Whew! I'm so relieved to know that the president and the Democrats had no responsibility in this for not fixing it when they had control. And those durn Tea Partiers have no business at all doing what they pledged to do when they were elected. It's just un-congressional.