DigitalScout

Most crimes by far are property crimes (burglary, larceny, robbery and theft). Police advise people to obey the assailant and not resist to avoid getting hurt. People who get hurt or killed are those that resist. If being robbed, chances are the criminal is high on drugs, has impaired judgement, and heightened senses from adrenaline (e.g., an itchy trigger finger). So provoking them during a robbery will likely result in the victim being shot, stabbed or otherwise injured. If a robber sees or finds a gun on the victim, he will feel threatened and may do harm to the victim. There are ve

Rick - a Univ. of Penn. study showed that "that people with a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun." 4.5 times more likely is 350%. I incorrectly stated 550% in my original post but I've corrected it. Univ. of Penn. study: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/09/gun-possession-safety/

By carrying a gun, you increase your chances of being shot your assailant by 350%. You are better off designing your life to prevent a crime rather than being forced into the position of killing another person or get into a gunfight in your living room where your family can be shot in the crossfire. For example: get a dog (German Shepherd, not chihuahua), exterior flood lights or motion-activated lights, rose bushes below windows, an alarm system, etc.

A clear majority of Americans support the ACA/Obamacare. The repeal of the ACA was one the main Republican planks of the 2012 election. Yet Obama was reelected by a wide margin, the Republicans lost 2 seats in the Senate and 13 seats in the House. Americans aren't digging what the Republicans are selling. Now the Republicans stand a good chance of losing their majority in the House in the 2014 election because of their obstructionism and government shutdown. They are just slipping further into irrelevance.

The fact is that the vast majority of our society is a lot more compassionate and has made a decision collectively to take care of injured workers, children born with birth defects, the elderly, the handicapped, and veterans disabled from fighting our wars. If you want to see what our country would look like without federal assistance for the needy, handicapped, and elderly, just take a walk through Tijuana, Mexico. The streets are teeming with people with missing limbs and a various birth defects, filthy dirty and begging for money. It's quite depressing.

I agree with JoeBob that deficit spending in general is bad if you are a consumer. But nearly all businesses take on debt if they can borrow money to make more money. Same with the government: if you can increase per capita GDP by $1.25 by borrowing $1, that's a wise investment. Investing in healthcare and renewable energy will eventually increase the per capita GDP so those are a good investments. A bad practice is borrowing money for a negative return like the Iraq war which did nothing to protect our security, or allies or our overseas investments (i.e., oil) and added $2.2 trillion

I'm baffled how our constitution allows a minority in Congress to shut down the entire government. These minority Tea Party Republicans are holding our entire country hostage and the mainstream Republicans are going along and allowing them. They are extremist ideologues who, by definition, have promised not to compromise and have vowed to dismantle, not modify or fix, the ACA. The fact is that the ACA is the law of the land, passed by the House and Senate, signed by the president and upheld by the Supreme Court: all three branches of government working as our constitution intended.

There are some extremists who WANT the US to fall into financial ruin. It's their sick way of proving that they are right for hording guns, buying up gold, building underground bunkers and stocking up on 20-year supply of high-energy biscuits. There were a lot of preppers and tea party folk who were very upset that the end of the world didn't come in 2009-11 so they see this as their last shot at it. If the apocalypse never happens, they look like a bunch of fools and who wants to look like a fool. It's like those cults who predict the end of the world and when it doesn't happen they kill

Stosh - Maybe I don't understand your comment but the ACA/Obamacare insurance is priced and delivered by private industry insurance companies. I checked out the ACA/Obamacare website for California and I have to say, for the first time I can actually understand medical insurance plans. They did a really good job showing you exactly what you pay for doctor copay, emergency copay, medicine copay, deductibles, etc.

The NY Time reports ... "56 percent of Americans say they prefer that Congress uphold what has become known as Obamacare and make it work as well as possible. Just 38 percent of the public wants Congress to stop the law by cutting off funding." So about 50% more support Obamacare than are against it.

I think the reason the call themselves "scouts" is because the kids can earn patches for learning certain skills (chemistry, electronic circuits, animation, rocketeering, etc.). It's a bunch of kids learning STEM, not a dedicated outdoor program and I'm not sure who could possibly be confused by the BSA branding.

The Pledge of Allegiance has an interesting history indeed. It was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892 and officially adopted in 1942. The controversial "under God" phrase was officially added in 1954 at the behest of President Eisenhower. The Pledge of Allegiance was accompanied by the "Bellamy Salute" which consisted of an outstretched, straightened right arm with the palm facing the flag. If this sounds like the Nazi salute, you're right. But the Bellamy salute started in 1892; the Nazi's adopted the same salute in the 1930s. The Bellamy salute was dropped in 1942 when Congress amend

^^^^^ Best answer.

Here's the problem involving the council. If the person answering the phone is a kindly, maternal person, she will probably tell you in the spirit of scouting to make whatever accommodations necessary for the boy to feel welcome. One the other hand, if a crusty overzealous patriot type answers the phone, he's going to tell you to give the kid the boot then show up at your next meeting to make sure the kid is not there.

What is their argument for having the pack spend the money for dinner and childcare? If I had to guess, I would say that the pack has a lot of money and they feel that they can afford this luxury. Our pack financial philosophy is to spend as much money on the kids as the budget allows and leave around $1500 in the account by the end of the year as a cushion for the following year (we have about 35 scouts). When you have a large bank balance, that's when trouble occurs: people get tempted to steal or someone decides to go after the deep pockets.

Ham radio was the only communications link in many parts of Colorado immediately after the flooding over the past couple of weeks. The local ham radio emergency services group has been heavily involved in assisting the Red Cross communications and providing the only communications to towns and areas where power and cell towers were offline. http://www.eham.net/articles/30867

This is like watching a train wreck. TLUSA is going to have conversion therapy for gay Trailmen? For a group that wasn't going to be about sex, it seems they are neck-deep in it. From the Orlando Sentinel: And while Trail Life will ban openly gay boys, if a child shows same-sex attraction or "gender confusion," he will be counseled by the church ministry along with his parents. "Twenty-five percent of younger boys experience some sense of gender confusion or sexuality fluidity and we will help guide him in a way that affirms his God-given physical biology ," said Trail Life

DWise1_AOL, you had it. Rebel Alliance - Jedi Order. I'll admit it: a Star Wars geek. http://swfanon.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_Order_(Free-edit)

The TLUSA Statement of Faith, which must be commited to by chartered orgs and all leaders, includes the following: We believe God calls us to lives of purity, service, stewardship and integrity: Purity – God calls us to lives of holiness, being pure of heart, mind, word and deed. We are to reserve sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage, a lifelong commitment before God between a man and a woman. (emphasis added)

Nowadays most of the hacking is done by automated bot. Websites will be hacked so a criminal gang can sell nefarious goods (i.e., pharmaceuticals), run scams, or to host malware for phishing scams. Regardless of it's purpose, all websites need to follow proper security protocols, constantly install the CMS system updates, delete unused user accounts, enforce a complex password policy for system admin and users, implement password retry lockout, etc. Good luck!

Let's see: the TLUSA was started mainly by Southern Baptists and they get to make the rules and decide the leaders. They devised rules such that the CO and unit leaders must believe in the Triune God and belong to "pure" churches. Catholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, Mormons and others are not "pure" since their churches allow gay members and/or clergy; they are welcome to join but are prohibited from leadership positions and decision making. They've set up two classes of membership. Why would anyone join if they are stuck in the lower class? ​Also, the way I read their Statement

Are you making fun of my avatar? I never looked at it sexually but I would have gone with a woman's cleavage.

It's not too surprising that not many want to join. TLUSA sounds like a great program if you are in the aristocracy (Southern Baptist, Pentecost, Church of Christ) but not so good if you are peasant (everyone else).

WAKWIB: Why don't you just repost your topic? Now I'm curious as to what it is. Tthe website is still a bit glitchy and many times my topic fails to appear when I hit the Post button so what I do when I have a long post, I write it in Notepad then cut/paste it into Scouter.com.