Prairie_Scouter

In a sense, BSA already has a "fracture" in it. The LDS units are allowed to run a program that is "kinda/sorta" like "regular" BSA units. This was covered in quite some detail in other threads and it's clear that the LDS units are different. The reference to NAMBLA was, of course, ridiculous, and I'm assuming was just a joke. I hope. Now, there's another point of view of what would happen if BSA were to allow gays in their membership. Of the people I know in Scouting, and it's not like I know everybody, but I know a good number, the vast majority have kind of a "so what?" mentality

I'm sorry, but I don't see a 1st Amendment problem here. It doesn't look to me like Berkeley came up with their rules specifically to target the BSA. They created a set of rules for access to free boat berths, and BSA doesn't qualify. That's all there is to it. BSA isn't being "punished", or being prevented from pursuing their policies. They just can't do it for free when it comes to using the Berkeley public facilities. They're just being required to pay the going rate; it's not like Berkeley said the BSA units have to pay more than anyone else. This sounds like another case where BSA p

I dunno, Kahuna, seems like the Repubs are doing their share of ranting as well. Like I said, seems like many of them are spending their time running for re-election. Of course, they don't have to ask any questions, they've already got the votes. I'm wondering why we're wasting our time. Once the Dems say they're not going to filibuster, we might as well just wave the guy thru, because the we know both parties will vote as blocks and the Repubs have the majority. I guess the Dems figure they're just wasting their time asking questions, since Alito isn't really answering anything anyway. He's

What really struck me about the opening remarks is that pretty much ALL of the committee members were making speeches to their voters; it's early re-election season, I guess. I got to hear about 2 hours of the inquisition this afternoon. About what you'd expect. Democrats throwing iceballs and Republicans lobbing in softballs. Except for one Repub who spent most of time pontificating about whether Roe V Wade was a "precedent", a "super-precedent", or a "superduperprecedent". And then, he didn't even ask a question about it! One of the Dems yesterday made a pretty interesting point i

Rantings aside, NAMBLA and the general gay population are not the same thing. To equate the two shows a basic lack of understanding, and basically makes a caricature of the gay lifestyle. Yes, I'm sure that there is some crossover, but my gut tells me that NAMBLA has more straight members than it does gay members. And, I'll bet it has its share of church going members as well.

Well, I used to do catch and release every once in awhile. I'd cut the barbs off the hooks and file them down to try and do the least amount of damage. Then, one day, I wondered about the whole idea and why I was there. If I was going through all this trouble to try and not harm the fish, why not go the next step and just not drop the line in the first place. Mostly, I just like the idea of sitting around and relaxing under a nice shady tree near the water. So, I got myself a little radio control sailboat. I can sit in the the same spot on the lake, relax, and the boat hardly makes a ripple

And the point is..... Girl Scouts might be able to recognize better what are real moral values and what could be seen as contrivances to appease particular religious groups. DanKroh, That's an interesting question. Suppose a project was proposed to do some needed remodeling work at a church that was well known for supporting the gay community. That'd be interesting. I suppose if the Eagle counselor wasn't aware of the connection, the project would go along just fine.

While I wouldn't doubt that there are councils and districts that do things like that because the compensation of the paid professionals is so tied to things like this, I'd still say that the majority of units are getting these awards legitimately. Personally, I still think it's pretty cool to have a unit that's met all of the requirements.

Well, I dunno. I climb, and when I'm done climbing a mountain, it's still there for someone else to climb. If we want to compare hunting to climbing, I suppose I'd have to blow up the mountain after I was done with it

It's unfortunate, I think (and my opinion only), that BSA hasn't found a way to get past its homophobia, while the Girl Scouts have done so in such a wonderful manner.

Hmmm, so how do we know Jesus didn't fish for fun? According to some theories, it might have been a fun thing to do with his kids OGE, no, I don't think that humans are outside the natural world. I used the word "nature" in the context of those things we have been given "dominion" over. I'll stand by my comments that if the Creator were to come down and pay us a visit right now (and who knows, maybe he is), I don't think he'd be too impressed by how we treat nature around us and, for that matter, our own species. But, maybe that fits right in with the "circle of life" idea; we treat ev

We do use the program features as a starting point each month. The PLC will then tailor the feature to fit what resources and time we have available, and to pick and choose what activities they think they'll have some fun with. We've been doing a lot of reorganizing this year, and with the program features as a guide, our meetings have been more "filled" than made up on the fly. Before, a lot of our meetings had plans like "rank advancement" with no details as to what was going to be done. One thing I've been emphasizing this year to the PLC is that they really need to provide the de

Yeah, but Merlyn, they balance off the Bible stories with Koran stories (oh, wait, I guess they don't), and Mormon stories (oh, wait, that's not there, either), and Hindu stories (oops). Well, at least there's a whole collection of....oh, I guess there isn't. I guess I don't really care that much, but don't you think that people of other faiths that are in Scouting might be a bit bothered by not getting equal time? It's almost like some religions are more equal than others in BSA. Nah Seriously, it wouldn't be a bad thing for BL to maybe rotate the stories in order to provide some

Kinda sounds to me like LDS units are "kinda" doing the Scouting program.

Well, I know that there are some football players in Texas right now that are considered higher in the food chain than some others.

Ed, "real life events that really happened"? You're kidding, right? You know, I flip through BL when my boys get it, and I honestly don't remember seeing Bible stories in every issue. Doesn't matter. If BL is showing a preference to one religion over another, than I would think that it's violating the "non-sectarian" nature of Scouting. But, Scoutldr is right, BL, and "Scouting", for that matter, regularly carry ads for things that seem to be frowned upon by BSA. It's been pretty clear for years that the magazines have a Christian leaning to them in a subtle sort of way, but I just ch

Ok, the holidays are over and it's time to dive back in....... Ed, comparing catch and release with hide and seek makes a lot of sense if your kids play hide and seek with a meat hook. We shouldn't make the mistake of painting groups like PETA with too broad a brush. PETA began as a group that brought to light inhumane testing of animals. Things like testing new cosmetics by squirting them into the eyes of rabbits to see how much it took to blind them. In one study, dogs were held under water to see how many times they could be dunked before they drowned. These examples go back pr

Could be, Gern, that ALL of those folks are going to be surprised when they show up at the gates to heaven and all the good people from the other 9,999 sects are there to greet them

Beavah, Some people would consider cutting the corner off a totin' chit to be "hazing". I'd suspect that BSA has a much lower tolerance that what would be needed to qualify as a felony as you've described.

OGE, Oooooh, we could make fun of the Nancy and George show all day, couldn't we? But, it's the holidays. My point with the 700 Club was just that even among those that call themselves "true believers", there are those who would judge those who aren't "in the club". Not many, and I suspect that those on the 700 Club are interested in their TV ratings as much as preaching the Word. So, here's a thought. There are those that would say that, for example, Merlyn could be the best person in the world, helping others, and leading an exceptional life, but when he gets to the pearly g

Well, I guess we should remember that a belief in ID doesn't explicitly require a belief in God, although that's how many read it. It really only requires the intervention of a higher being. That higher being could be "God", or space aliens, or dolphins, for all we know. I had a biology teacher in high school who chuckled one day when someone answered a question on a quiz, "because God made it that way". His response was "this is science class. Religion is 4th period". What I remember about that is that he didn't say the answer was wrong, just that it didn't fit the context of a scienc

I dunno, Rooster, those folks on the 700 Club ("true believers") seem to have quite a bit to say about who's going to hell and who's not. Maybe they've got an extra chapter in their Bible that you didn't get or something

I'd prefer not to think about this in terms of "good guys" or "bad guys". The mistake being made, that the court tried to correct, is the impression that intelligent design is science. It's not, and this is corroborated by the expert testimony of scientists who supported the ID side during the court case. Their testimony was that ID relies, at some point, on intervention by a supernatural power; this can't be proven as science, and therefore can't be a scientific theory. Science deals with things that can be proven or disproven based on observable and verifiable natural events. Supernatura

We've had that happen in our Pack, and we've gone the route of separate ceremonies. The boys who have earned their AOL come up as a separate ceremony, sit down, and then we do our bridging ceremony. People hardly notice that not every one went up to get an AOL.

Venividi, Did you see the news about those morons in the north suburbs who got out on their snowmobiles last week and ran down a couple of dozen Canada geese? If I remember correctly, Canada geese are protected, so at least if they get caught they'll hopefully spend some time in the slammer. Enjoying our Midwest winter?