Trevorum

We can try to quantify the value of our unpaid labor, but let me flip the question: What is the value of your son's (or daughter's) experience in Scouting? Can you quantify THAT?

the only thing better than salt & grease is CRISPY salty grease.

I remember seeing a cladogram of field games. Baseball and cricket were most closely related and derived from a common ancestor (akin to chimps and humans). Soccer and football, basketball and hockey were related but more distantly. Like humans watching chimps, we baseball players recognize cricket behaviors (hitting the ball, base running), but we don't understand at all why they do those things when they do them.

So, how do you chaps choose your next monarch?

Thanks, skeptic. That's a great quote. That is one of the chief reasons I'm an archeologist.

I feel that our government - bless it for our freedoms - has nonetheless always been overly intrusive into peoples private lives, especially when it comes to matters of sex. We of course are responsible for our government and as a collective people, we are downright prudish. The government has no right to tell me who I may or may not sleep with, or marry, or show pictures of my nakedness to - as long as it's also OK with that other person (or persons). .... (I suppose on some issues I do support the Libertarian Dr. Paul after all. :0)

Yes, I saw your winky-smiley, but for the benefit of others I'd like to emphasize that atheism is NOT a religion in any sense of the word. I'll let the lawyers talk to legal definition of religion, but from a sociological standpoint, atheism can not be classified as a religion because it 1) does not include a system of belief in supernatural beings, forces, or states of being, and 2) does not include a system of ritualized behaviors designed to enhance group identity and solidarity. My 2c.

I'd further suggest that the chartering partners should be given additional flexibility to model the program acording to their particular needs. That's local option. So for example, if a Unitarian congregation is willng to accept an non-theist family into Scouting, that should be their choice. Or, if a Presbyterian congregation wants to appoint a lesbian woman as the Pack Committee Chair, that would be OK too. Why should the Catholic troop down the road or the LDS Team across town care one way or another?

Shoveling manure is no one's idea of adventure. I would not recommend that. However, several Scout camps have excellent equestrian programs. Buffalo Trails come to mind, as does Philmont. I'm sure there are many more. Our troop has done this several times and the fellows always have a terrific exerience. These programs generally fill up quickly - 12 to 18 months in advance.

and thank you for your service

OGE, that's terrific, thank you. The verified date is 3 years old (I know that my council has moved since then), but I'm guessing perhaps 90% accuracy.

Thanks, shortridge, I did see that but it only lists websites and not snailmail addresses.

Does anyone have - or know of a link to - a directory of all 300+ councils nationwide including mailing addresses? I can not find such a directory on the BSA.org site and my googling has not helped. Many thanks!

Hi Rooster! We've missed you. Hope all is well and that you're still Scouting.

Well, I was hoping for more than bumper stickers and post-apocalyptic drama. Pack, I didn't realize you were such a dismalist. But Acco has a good point, one I hadn't thought about before. Maybe Dr. Paul could be suited for a state Governor's office, if not president. I won't volunteer Texas, though.

This moniker, used by BS-87 in a self deprecating, tongue-in-cheek way, cracks me up. I haven't heard this before but it seems sort of apt. I mean no offense to the followers of Dr. Paul, but can someone explain to me the attraction of this candidate?? I don't seem to know any supporters among my family, friends or colleagues, and so no one has tried to explain this to me. Can anyone really think that the jumble of radical policies proposed would not result in swift catastrophe? His ideas are such a hodgepodge, that it is hard to take him seriously. Completely eliminate income tax? Return

500 years from now, we'll look back on all this and laugh. (Remember the Armada and The Inquisition? What a riot!)

I too am curious about BSA's relationship with American Heritage Girls. I wonder where this is going? AHG is explicitly exclusive.

I'm no fan of Newt, but his comment about a permanent colony on the moon is not crazy, it's just about 100-200 years ahead of time. There is absolutely no doubt at all that we will permanently colonize the moon and other planets but that is like Queen Isabella talking about building a ski resort in the Rocky Mountains. It'll happen, but just one step at a time.

Barry, LOL, we have more in common than we thought. As a youth in the 60s, I too wore a 1940s uniform shirt. I was very proud of that shirt.

A friend and I were recently discussing the several candidates experience in Scouting (Perry is an Eagle) and he forwarded to me this quote directly from Gov. Romney's website: Romney ... added that he personally believed "all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation." http://whyromney.com/#boyscouts I find that fascinating.

sorry - just what it sounds like: their own body.

Pack, the problem of course is that our society is vastly pluralistic and does not have a single way to define - or practice - the concept of "religion." To me, religious belief is a circumscribed and fairly private matter; others wear their religion on their shirtsleeves and see an *obligation* to articulate it with others as much as possible. So, I would say one's religious belief stops at the limits of their soma. Others, (possibly Rooster, for example) would say their ARE no limits to the influence of their religion and that it SHOULD trump all else. And we'll never get the two

... hmm ... I don't know if I've been insulted, or not ...

Simply put: gay people deserve the same personal respect and social privileges as we afford to redheads, autistics, lefties, and other folks whom biology and fate have cast as minorities. Anything less diminishes us.