TheScout

Party labels on ballots are simply more information for voters to help them pick canidates. Everyone should be for that.

The Republican Party, it stands for choice. It trusts you to make your own decisions. It has had a long history and state and federal levels of cutting taxes because it believes you can spend your own money better than the government. Many wanted to privatize Social Security allowing Americans to choose for themselves how to invest their retirement savings. It stands for allowing you to choose whether you wish to own a firearm or not to protect your family. It stands for allowing charter schools to allow parents to choose what where they would like there children to get an education. It also stands for equal rights for all Americans as it opposes preferential treatment under the guise of affirmative action. The Republicans appoint judges who believe that the Constitution is not a living document that changes will the will of the Supreme Court. It is not hostile to and instead works with religious leaders to provide service to the American people. It does not cave in to international pressure on the United States. Republicans have fought against the International Criminal Court which would allow American soldiers to be tried by foriegn judges, it opposes the Kyoto Protocal which would require devasting cuts to the American economy while requiring none to developing countries like China and India. "In government, you either have a system where you say 'Would you like to learn how to be rich, would you like to learn how to be successful?' Or you have a system where you say, 'Well, you really ought to feel envy and resentment, so let's see if we can mug them.'" -Newt Gingrich "This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. -Ronald Reagan

I have been recruited to teach a class to junior leaders at a University of Scouting on "Youth to Adult Transition." I am having a little trouble coming up with a syllabus for what to teach. So far I thought of talking about the different adult leadership roles and youth protection guidelines. Does anyone else have any other ideas about what to discuss. Thank You!

The OA is a meritocracy like our society. EVERY scout has a chance to be a member based on his actions.

Seatle Pioneer, I know it is not a requirement for scouts to keep track of their own blue cards, but I do not see any reason why you should not make them.

Scouts learn responsibilty by looking after their own merit badge cards.

Obviously a Scout can not sleep in cabin. Read the requirement. And he must pitch his own tent unless it is for long term camping as noted in the requirment.

I am a conservative. I believe that strict construction is the conservative judical philosophy.

Kahuna, Your argument is extremly poor. No shipowner had a right to a letter of marque. It was a privlege, definatly not a right like that to bear arms.

Ed, Your theory seems to take all power from the Chartering Organization and the Troop Leadership to run a troop. What rules do you think they can make?

Hunt, That is a very faulty line of reasoning. The Constitution was written to protect the rights of citizens to own their own arms; pistols, rifles, and muskets. I do not beleive the framers of the Constituion wrote it to protect the right of an individual to own their own cannon, or frigate, or first rate ship, the WMDs of their day.

The Patriot

It is also quite heinous to say President Bush is responsible for the death of two thousand Americans. Muslim Terrorists are responsible for their unfortunate deaths.

I could have sworn that the joint resolution to authorize the war passed the Senate by a vote of 77-23 and the House by 296-133 meaning that it had great support from the Democratic party as well. Or maybe that isn't true . . .

I thought that the great majority of Democrats voted for the Iraq War Resolution and that President Clinton also stated during his term that Iraq had WMDs . . .

With all do respect, in my opinion the logic that if a Troop Committee requires it is adding a requirement is very poor. If one was to hold to that argument, he could also say: You do not have to own a handbook to be a Scout You do not have to come to meetings to be a Scout You do not have to fundraise to be a Scout You do not have to pay dues to be a Scout The list could go on forever. That theory would take away nearly all power from the Troop Committee. Finally, I would say the Troop does have the authority to add such requirements. The very fact that they have to sign the registration form for each new boy gives them the power to do so. If it was not intended this way, why would unit leaders even have to sign the form? This would also stop units from being able to refuse to let in new scouts when they deem membership grows to large.

Thats nice, but the Constitution does not differentiate between arms used for target shooting and hunting and those designed to kill people it just says arms, and says "the right to bare arms" shall not be infringed. Remember an important reason why the amendment was passed if you look at the motivation of the founders was to allow citizens to protect themselves from government oppression. If the citizenry is relegated to keeping only hunting and target weapons, their ability to preserve their liberty is greatly diminished.

It is up to the SPL and the PLC to take responsibility for the meetings. They then assign responsibility for parts of it likewise.

"the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed" I'm no English major but it doesn't seem to me that it is very hard to screw the meaning of that one up. It must be remembered that the first part of the Second Amendment is a mere preamble to the second. If anyone looks into the circumstances leading the the passage of the amendment they will clearly see that it was written to protect the rights of the citizenry to keep arms to prevent abuse from the government. Can anyone here seriously say that if the people who ratified the Constitution knew that it would allow the federal government to prevent law-abiding citizens from getting arms, disarming them, licenseing them so they may be disarmed at will, that they would have ratified the Constition. Of course not, that is why we fought the War of the Revolution, to stop this kind of tyranny.

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." - George Washington It is tough to protect ourselves from the government if they relegate the citzenry to obsolete weapons.

Yes. We need a strict constructionist to help preserve our rights and those of the States from the Federal government. "The Constitution is not an instrument for government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." -Patrick Henry "In framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself." - James Madison The power, which has the right of passing, without appeal, on the validity of your laws is your sovereign. -John Randolph

1) No 2) Only ethical ones 3) Merit Badge Counselor does not have final authority Scoutmaster must sign the blue card that the merit badge has been completed. I see no reason not to do so. He has no obligation to have a "meeting" to let all the scouts have an opportunity to earn the badge. It is their job to contact the counselor.

"I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do and like it." -Harry S. Truman(This message has been edited by TheScout)

This is the leadership part of the Eagle Scout project. Sometimes leadership is getting people to do things that they do not want to do.

Maybe I am missing something, but why can't the scout just wear a coat over the shirt to and from the meeting since its cold outside. Take the coat of at the meeting, since its warm inside. That way he would not have to worry about wearing anything under his uniform.