berkshirescouter

...BSA is paying fair market price for use of the facilities... I was thinking, the BSA puts money into the facility too don't they? If the Military's reason to do this is for its training and recruitment, then shouldn't BSA be charging for the use of the scouts? I would also make a comment that if this was at a BSA facility say Pilmont the Military would pay to be involved, for the above reasons.

I have a comment. NJ I agree with you, but especially on the point that the laws are to restrictive. I have a friend who married a women from SE Asia 2 years ago. They are still jumping trough hoops to legally enter the country. If she came in illegally she would be with him now. Either change the law or enforce the law.(This message has been edited by Its Trail Day)(This message has been edited by Its Trail Day)

There is some interesting history on how cities have used this power. As I understand it The area where the World Trade Center stood, was cleared using this power. The building was owned by the Port Authority but leased to a developer. My father-in-law had a business in Rochester NY. The city used this power to buy his building and tear it down for an Industrial Park. He had 20 employees. Too small for the park. They forced him to move buy a new building with a mortgage. His business went under 10 years later, maybe because of the move maybe not, however the Park was never built a

Great news, but here is someting to think about. A news report this morning (6/22/05) stated the boy saw the people looking for him a while ago, but he did not go to them because they were strangers. In our zeal to protect children from preditors we almost lost one to the wilderness.

Now for the $64 question. Have these questions been asked of members of other youth groups? Girl Scouts 4H Scouts Canada? Not to take away from BSAs good works but the comparison to be true, BSA should be compared with other groups not no group. A study of this kind in Europe with scouting and others would also be interisting.

The Federalist Society's Civil Rights Practice Group and its San Diego Lawyer's Chapter present a panel discussion on: "The Constitution and the Boy Scouts: Equal Access to Government Land and the First Amendment" If you have about an hour and a half to listen to this it covers both sides (Balboa Park vs Boy Scouts) very well. The link is below. http://www.vcnetcast.com/fed

I have one more. When I first got involved in Scouting I wanted to know everything about everything. I chose the compass to look into first. Being an Engineer I went to the specifications of all of the producers. I discovered that the Tates Compass Company were the worst. Not repeatable had trouble finding north generally not a good compass. When I wrote the company and asked them why their product was so bad they said it did all their advertising said it did. After-all their slogan is: HE WHO HAS-A-TATES IS LOST

I saw this quote today. It should make a good SM Minute. Most often, the man who becomes leader is not the one that knows the way but the one who behaves as if he does.

I would sign it also. My thought was could you see the list every group would need. The Girl scouts discriminate against boys etc. The law would be a burden to everyone. Paul

http://www.alternet.org/rights/22030/ Comments?

Did you know that all electronics works on the principal of captured smoke. If the device is smoking, you let the smoke out and it will not work again.

And Still more Engineer jokes. YOU MIGHT BE AN ENGINEER IF... ------------------------------ The only jokes you receive are through e-mail At Christmas, it goes without saying that you will be the one to find the burnt-out bulb in the string Buying flowers for your girlfriend or spending the money to upgrade your RAM is a moral dilemma Everyone else on the Alaskan cruise is on deck peering at the scenery, and you are still on a personal tour of the engine room In college you thought Spring Break was a metal fatigue failure Th

Another Engineer joke A Dead Engineer An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St.. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, you're an engineer--you're in the wrong place." So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is a pretty popular guy. One day

Good question. I would make one change. Instead if changing the 12th point from Reverent to Thoughtful. I would make it Reverent 'or' Thoughtful. Either way I wound stay in the program.

Our CE has told me if he finds out a Scouter has asked a boy or an adult if they are gay he will pull that Scouters membership on the spot. In our Council it is don't ask don't tell.

Ed Sorry to disagree but a cross exludes Judism and Islam among others. In this case I would have left the cross there and I'm Jewish. Paul

Hi Welcome to the forums. I too have an interest in astronomy. I use a manual Meade ETX scope, great for campouts. Read the merit badge requirments (see www.meritbadge.com) or the book. Require no more or no less. You can teach as deep as you want to go. Have fun. On cloudy nights get out the computer star software

I have read the news story and it is a major embarrassment for him, his family and BSA. However as we teach in Citizenship of the Nation you are 'Innocent until proven guilty.' Lets temper our comments until the legal system has run its course.

There are exceptions to the non discrimination rule. In New York State a community of ultra Orthodox Jews incorporated a school district in order to get state aid for their disabled kids. It is in the courts but if they win its religious discrimination to other groups if the loose they cannot get proper education for there disabled kids. NJ you may know more about this. I read about this several years ago and don't know where it stands now. My point is separation of Gov and religion cannot be absolute but is still needed in some form for minority protection.

The next step may be that the ACLU will imply that BSA does not represent society. They then will attack the value of the program as not being 'diverse', in an attempt to try to drop BSA member numbers. The counter to this should be for US industry to point out that any boy who is in the program as it is now produces better employees and leaders.

Here is a link to an interesting artical. http://jewishworldreview.com/0305/charen031105.php3

To repeat, the school MUST allow the BSA or the UMYF to meet at the school if it allows other groups to meet there, but it can't sponsor the relgious group. I think the First Amendment is just fine as it is. The problem here is under budget cuts the schools may charge access to all groups not sponsored by them.

OK. Try this. Lets say planned parenthood made a presentation at a public school, they are secular. But a religious group with an opposing point of view could not. Is this viewpoint discrimination? Now add recruitment to the mix. Allow one, allow all or none. If none, is this in the public interest? Now the school sponsors a GLAD group. Secular, yes. Boy Scouts Cub Scouts religious, no. Is that viewpoint discrimination? Is it in the public interest? My point of view is if the topic, group ect is in the public interest the state should sponsor it but be religious neutral. Deal

No thats not what I am asking. One question comes to mind is for the purpose of the 1st amendment what is a religion? By allowing only secular ideas, are you removing non-secular points of view from the public area of discussion. Is that then discrimination? Is it in the public interest?

Do we as a society want/need/should review how this Amendment is interpreted? As it is now, there is zero tolerance of breaches of the separation of church and state. The unintended consequence is good programs are not allowed to participate, other programs with a secular bent are allowed. Some groups view these secular viewpoints as a type of religion and are troubled when only that point of view is allowed in the state controlled area of ideas. What are the thoughts of everyone here?