Trevorum

Don't forget Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

A unit Chaplain may indeed be a member of the clergy but this is NOT required. A Chaplain can be any registered adult.

The Scout, I believe you have mis-understood what packsaddle (and I) were saying. It's not that race doesn't exist. It certainly does but it is a cultural construct only. There is no biological basis for what we call race. Now, GW and others have noted correctly that skin color, hair, etc. are inherited and are thus biological. This is true, of course, but so are many, many other attributes which are not as obvious to the naked eye. Blood type is a good example. These attributes are just as important to human biology but are not visually obvious and so are not included by us whe

Sounds fine to me. Of course, y'all know that the entire Louisana Purchase is off limits, as is Tejas, Nuevo Mexico, and Alto California. Not to mention Oregon and a passel of other unimportant territories... Speaking for my fellow Texians, I recon' our independence is all legal and such and ain't subject to any revocation by Mexico, having been duly granted by General Santa Ana. The scoundrel. We've been fixin' to come up with our own dictionary, anyways ...

Not only was there an actual historical Ark, there is a group in Ethiopia that claims to still have it. see http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/ark-covenant-200712.html and http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/ethiopia/sacred_sites_ethiopia.html Truth is indeed stranger than the movies. Still, ya gotta keep in mind that, as Indy says, "Archeology is not an exact science." (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha - that just cracks me up every time!)

Hal, Charlie! A, vtat a k n campfire!

As pack notes, there is no biological basis for the concept of "race". It is a cultural construct that uses gross visual cues in order to identify group outsiders. This behavior may have been adaptive when we were living in small, territorial bands and competing for scarce resources on the African savannah. Like many other behaviors (such as inter-group agression, male dominance, endogamy, etc.), it is no longer adaptive and actually acts to the detriment of the group. Regardless, all humans employ the race concept. What is interesting is the fact that different cultures construct diffe

I recieved a note from a forum memebr who thought I was being sacreligious in my tongue-in-cheek post above about the Ark of the Covenant. No offense was intended. I was referring to the Ark being made of a type of Acacia wood, which is called (let's see if I can do this without being censored) S-H-I-T'-T-A-M wood. At least that's what I recall.

Another good trade! Thanks, RR! :)

Does the policy prohibit ALL candidates, or just current ones? Could someone wear a W shirt? How about a David Duke button?

I didn't know we had an automatic censor! So, does that mean we can't discuss the construction techniques of the Ark of the Covenant?

GW, Because embryos and fetuses are not human beings .....but I think you knew that.

I always thought of mortal sins as felonies and venial sins more like misdemeanors. I wonder if there is some transgression that is equivalent to traffic tickets.

pack, Central tendency is in the eye of the beholder.

"Religious tolerance is not religious indifference. It is valuing the right of another person to hold beliefs that you know to be wrong."

Real tolerance is far from "bland". It is far more difficult than most people suspect. It's much easier to invoke revealed Truth and traditional protocols.

"Used to be Republicans turned to intellectuals with strong credentials ..." Not this year. McCain finished 894th out of 899 in his class at the Naval Academy. That's not even in the top 99%.

It was this very train of thought that lead to my apostatic epiphany at age 13.

But I did think it was deliciously ironic that this thread (Government Corruption) appeared the same day that Gov. Palin was censured by the Alaska legislature for abuse of authority.

Heh, heh! Nope, Bill pokes at Scientologists, Mormons, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, everybody. He's an equal opportunity offender. The thin skinned should stay away from this movie!

I always enjoy those threads in which we get to learn a little bit about each other, like occupations, favorite authors, etc. Those threads always make our community here on Scouter.com a bit more three-dimensional to me. So, let's find out: What merit badges do you counsel? I'll start - I am counselor for Archeology, Environmental Science, Indian Lore, Scholarship, Reading, Public Speaking, Music, Bugling, and Collections. Oh, and Hiking and Camping.

Haven't seen the movie, but after reading the reviews, I think I'll pass. Last weekend, we did see Religulous by Bill Maher. It certainly won't appeal to Brent or ol' Rooster, but definitely is hilarious. And thoughtful.

A few years ago, one of our patrols would regularly make coffee in the morning. These kids were 14+ years old and would normally drink a caffeine-laden soft drink in the morning, but since the troop didn't allow those on campouts, they made do with coffee. I remember them complaining about the grounds so I showed how to make bear scat coffee.

As I recall, BSA did not own the property, but had some type of joint use agreement. I wonder if that fell apart?

While a unit does need a single numeric designator, I really like the idea of your "Lightening" troop identity. Run with it! As a youth growing up in SoCal, we were the "Constellation" troop. Our patrols were Orion, Hercules, Draco, etc. and we had a very cool custom neckerchief. It was great for esprit de corps!