Woapalanne

First of all, the article makes no mention of atheists. However, the use of the Star of David was objected to by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. That is a foundation that works primarily with the isssue of separation of church and state (1st Amendment violations).

Uh, actually, the "Freedom from Religion" foundation works from a position of fiction. There is NO "freedom from religion" in the USA. It is freedom OF religion, a completely different and diametrically opposed concept.

For those of us who were not there:

 

Great video.

People have different set points for reference. My reference/set point for bad food came in the mid-80s on an aircraft carrier in the Pursian Gulf. There was no bad food at the Jamboree .

 

Separately, the maps and distances between locales was published months in advance. There was a required video to watch when you registered that talked about the terrain and IIRC specifically talked about the ridge at the staff camps. IMHO, nobody has reason to say they were surprised by the terrain. Worst case, people who cared could get free topo maps from google maps to check out the terrain themselves.

Uh, no, there was pretty much no information on Google maps, which was about a year behind what was really happening.

I was there for the full term. As for "busses for staff", that was only the last couple of days, they didn't give notice, and when word finally leaked out, the busses were high above Echo, so you had to climb up to meet them. Hardly worth the effort. It would be nice to have such service, but hardly a deal-breaker. I lost 2 inches in the waist and gained 2 pounds during the event. Went in overweight - 25.0 BMI, came out even more so. Long walks and great chow - except for lunch, which I can't call "lunch", it was more like a bit of munchies. My venue was well staffed and quite successful. We did have problems with the rain and mud, but we coped. Cold showers were nice on the couple of hot days, but tough the rest. But we handled it. (Solar bags were useless, as the water was cold again by the time we were ready for nighttime showers.) I went through 2-3 shirts a day, as the up and down two-mile hikes to work in the humidity did lead to sweaty attire. Thank goodness for the laundry service! The cot was really comfortable, and the 4-man tent was adequate - better than I expected, but that has a lot to do with great tentmates.

 

Will I do it again? The jury is still out. I'm already in my 70s, so it will depend on my physical fitness in 4 years.

On the other hand, though their methods may have been inappropriate, the IRS may not have been wrong.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/27/some-tea-party-groups-examined-by-the-irs-indeed-crossed-the-line/

 

The IRS was STILL wrong to target those and ignore left-wing similar activities. It does NOT become OK just because it is left of the aisle.

I keep asking "Why is anyone surprised by this?"

The unit number goes against the council patch unless there is a veteran strip. If there is no unit number, you leave a space.

The idea of silver above gold does go back to the armed forces. Captain(two bars of silver) was much less expensive then that of First Lieutenant (one bar of gold).

Thinking about this' date=' I have to wonder...... Gold has always in my mind been more valuable or "above" silver..... so could it be that the military rank insignia are traditionaly brass and silver, instead of gold and silver?[/quote']

 

 

That's exactly what it is. The military does not use gold in ranks. It's brass. Gold is for medals, not ranks.

The idea of silver above gold does go back to the armed forces. Captain(two bars of silver) was much less expensive then that of First Lieutenant (one bar of gold).

 

 

That's exactly what it is.

MomToEli,

I appreciate your honesty and candor and truly respect and, quite frankly, agree with most of your positions, however, we are dealing with two seperate questions that I did not make quite clear enough. You have addressed the second: what would you do with a gay person in your Unit. The question I am asking though is not the hypothetical "if you had a gay leader. . ." question it is why would you leave simply because BSA National no longer bans all gays?

I understand and respect your answers and this could begin to be a serious YP issue, but that is a bridge for another day.

So I restate: why would you leave simply because BSA National no longer bans all gays?

" why would you leave simply because BSA National no longer bans all gays? " Because I believe that the Scout Oath means something. I took that oath many years ago, and I have never seen anything indicating that it had an expiration date. (Same with another one I took a few years later.)

"RE: Someday soon, all families may once again associate Scouting with good character"

 

Really? They are going to do a 180 degree change from the current direction? (Or at least the probable direction as noted in PR releases.)

 

Pardon me but I doubt it.

I was in "Skunk Patrol" as a kid. Even after attaining SPL.

Oh, and by the way. THERE IS NO "GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE". The law applies to gun shows exactly the same as it does anywhere else. Dealers at gun shows have to run exactly the same background checks as they do in their own shop.

The 10 round limit is ridiculous. My self-defense pistol carries 15 in the factory magazine, and nobody makes a clip that will hold less. That is defacto banning a very common sidearm.

The problem, as I see it, is that now we can't "discriminate" for or against people based on their behavior. (Don't compare it to race discrimination: it's not who they are but what they do). I'm sorry, folks, but behavior has consequences. How are we to teach character to our Scouts when we can't require certain standards of behavior? I've first joined Scouting in 1950. I'm seriously rethinking continuation of my involvement if we can't teach "duty to God" and good character (which is inextricably connected to behavior).

"but we already have guys insisting on wearing kilts....."

 

So you have a problem with men wearing extremely macho attire? That women LOVE to see? Really? Hmmmm.... Now there's a problem with men being men.

One of the more effective "assault weapons" is a picker stick fitted with a bicycle grip on the small end. Yes, I have kept one in my car for years. It's perfectly legal. Well, most times.

So. What is the rewrite of the Scout Oath going to look like?

Twocubdad said "the wearing of a Santa hat is a protected religious expression". Which? Protected, or a religious expression??

 

IMO, neither. Santa is undeniably secular.

"Basically, we are choosing security over liberty."

 

Correct. And we even have a national political party that claims that the government owns us. (The scary thing is, they are not completely wrong.)

Crew21: your link is not valid.

After further thought, my apologies for the long, verbose answer above.

 

The correct answer to the question is:

 

"Neither"

 

"JFK was an extreme right-winger compared to today's Republicans! "

 

Gonna have to disagree with that one. Today's Republicans have taken a hard left turn (that's when I left them), but not that far!!

You are correct, Goldwater was right on all points. His book "Conscience of a Conservative" should be required reading for all politicians.

 

On the same point: by today's Democrat standards, JFK was an extreme right-winger!

"Da folks who get excited about Mike Rowe are mostly old folks. "

 

BS. You obviously didn't see the reaction to him among the Scouts at the last Jamboree. They LOVED him!!