walk in the woods

I watched and enjoyed the broadcast. You don't have to be LDS to enjoy listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir .

Not so sure Merlin, seems to me like Liberals talk out of both sides of their mouths on most issues. Three weeks ago a small group of house conservatives, representing their constituents, were excoriated on this site because a small minority of the government were holding the budget hostage. In this case liberals are excoriating the majority (70+%) for being the majority. the fact that there hasn't been an atheist monument says nothing about the country, other than athiests didn't get up off their asses to do it until now. KDD, if the pastafarians want a monument then they should get up of

I'm just a simple IT guy but to Stosh's point, there are a couple of ways to deal with religious elements in the public space. The first and easier is to remove them, the second and harder is to welcome all comers. My understanding is either will pass muster in the public square. When the choice always seems to fall to the former, rather than the latter, the implication is we are becoming god-less or at least icon-less.

From lds.org: We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostlesâ€â€that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son. (http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/testimonies-of-him/articles/the-living-christ-the-testimony-of-the-apostles-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints). My understand

As a member of a UCC church I can confirm that for the folks in Cleveland UCC does indeed stand for Unitarians Considering Christ....

Wasn't the Summit a coal mine prior to being a Scout camp?

Leverage os part of negotiating. Ever ask yourself why teachers never strike in June? Because the union only has leverage when they can hold children hostage in September.

As far as JTE goes they only need to meet 11 of the 13 requirements (IIRC) so they are not bad and are more than free to make the growth metric one they skip.

I'm going to have to go dig through my closet for my soon to be retirement gold mine . Maybe I can find a gold peace sign necklace to hang down as well.

I always grab my Buck knife and Leatherman. After that it depends on the trip.

Seems we've come full circle when an African-American commentator is worried that people are too stupid to vote properly..........

Maybe if the leftist liberal elite didn't act like this, http://chicagomaroon.com/2013/10/04/university-clarifies-controversial-elevator-policy/, they'd engender more respect.

I didn't know the uniform method showed up in 1982. That said, as a scout in the 70s, uniforms weren't cool, neckers weren't cool, groovy 70s guys walking around in shirts with no collars wasn't cool . I can't really speak to uniforms before that, and I think we had this discussion in some other thread, but I wonder if the protests against Viet Nam in the 60s/70s didn't have more to do with the demise of uniforming than anything else.

The sandwiches sound good and maybe even done as a drive-thru kind of thing. Our church youth group does Super Bowl pizzas. We get the ingredients and assemble the pizzas folks order, the folks then pick them up on SAturday afternoon or Sunday after church the day of the game. Not a huge fundraiser but we're not a big congregation either.

Yeah, understood. I have mixed emotions about Venturing in the OA only because I still believe there is a need for boy-only programs. That said, I wasn't trying to make a separate-but-equal argument so much as a pursue-what-you-are-interested-in argument. Why wait for the OA? If you are interested in Native American Dancing form a crew and make the Pow Wow circuits. Maybe if the girls took their sewing skills to their own Crew and the OA Lodge watched their members follow it would drive their point home. I don't know.

Yeah, I've had boys sign a clipboard but when mom and dad show up it's a different story. Most of the time it's "If you want to join scouting you have to drop 4H." Scouting rarely wins. Now, I'm more than willing to admit it could be my presentation but I think there's some fear from parents as well. I also think outdoor adventure isn't as relevant for rural kids as the program 4H/FFA puts on. I lose to them most often. FWIW, my schools would never let me bring in a tent, canoe, pine scented fake fire and the like. Like BD I'm lucky to get a folding table near the restroom.

BD, we don't always agree but vent on brother. My situation isn't inner city but rural town. Getting access to the big stores in the surrounding communities has been tough. That said, we did get access to a Wal-Mart and Jewel one year and the sales were terrible. We do better at the little gas station in our community than we ever did at the big store. Best part is we get some suburbanite tourist money when they head through town to spend the weekend in the country but need to stop for gas and beer.

I wonder if places are setting low group size limits because of scouts? When we were in the BWCA last year the maximum group size was 9 which is what we took. I would think hard before I'd go with a group that big again, 8 or maybe 6 max because we were too big for the size of the campsites we were on with 9 participants. I'd agree with Q that different itineraries are the key. But to me different itineraries doesn't mean getting to the same place in the wilderness from different directions then camping together in adjoining sites.

JP, if the girls have regalia and are chomping at the bit then start a Native American Dance and Drumming Crew. They don't need the OA to do that and I certainly wouldn't make them wait for the OA membership as an adult to participate. While I have mixed emotions about the OA in Venturing debate, the OA doesn't have a monopoly on Native American Culture in scouting.

idk guys. If the answer is adventure, why doesn't venturing have 2MM members alone and climbing? I mean wasn't that part of the promise of Venturing? Not trying to be critical of the Venturing program at all here, but, it seems like the answer to increasing membership has to be larger than just adventure and bigger than just 300'. I personally think our society has urbanized (and suburbanized) to the point that anything outdoors is considered extreme and the pool of potential members is simply drying up.

Folks are hinting at it below but I suppose the question is would those young guns have been there at all if the 50+ year olds hadn't agreed to go on the trek? Is it better to deny opportunity than to hold back a little? I'm not smart enough to know the answer.

Yeah, it's been almost 5 years. Time for the Dems to stop blaming the previous administration.

If mainstream Republicans are going along with them, then by definition they are not a minority, at least in the House of Representatives. There are probably very few Democrats who are completely unwilling to compromise on ACA - are they, too, "extremist ideologues"? But it's not outside the legal process. All spending bills originate in the House. That is not merely a Congressional rule -- it is a Constitutional one. Again, that the ACA is the law of the land, for now, does not at all imply that it can't be debated, defunded, revoked, etc. It wasn't that long ag

When the debate is lost, resort to ad hominem attacks........

Hmmm, those sound a lot like powers specifically enumerated to the Federal Government and not otherwise left to the states.............