Fat Old Guy

"How many times have you all be on a hike when a Scout shows up with sneakers??-->" Before the Army adopted the combat boot, soldiers walked miles and miles in low quarter oxfords and leggings. My hiking shoes aren't very far from being sneakers, they just have a knobby sole. I can understand the reluctance of many parents when it comes to buying hiking shoes. Shoes aren't cheap. Even cheap shoes aren't cheap. When a kid might wear his hiking shoes only six or seven times before he outgrows them, there is great dis-incentive to buy the hiking shoes.

New Jersey Dude said, " I personally think that the current Boy Scout Handbook . . . " Fat Old Guy completed the statement with, "is possibly the best written Boy Scout Handbook ever with more useful information than any other version. NOT!"

Bob, shouldn't we be delivering the program as written and not using old handbooks as reference? Look at http://www.usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/arrowoflight.html for up to date information.

"men and women are equal not the same; but equal" Alas, like Orwell's pigs, women think that they are more equal than others.

"If the boy's BOR advancement shet was turned in and recorded at council he's first class offically nothing you can do about it." Sure you can, I've called our registration office and had awards removed from records.

" I didnt take Baden-Powell to have been an aristocrat" Maybe not an aristocrat but he was a member of the gentry.

" We are still protected by the Constitution." Sorta, kinda. The Constitution doesn't really come into play until the Supreme Court gets into the game. Lower courts can make rulings but those can be overturned on appeal and only effect the area covered by that court. It can take decades for an issue to reach the Supremes.

"Maybe, but in this situation, this is like the question I hear from those who fear letting scouts learn from their experiences." Huh?

"If you take the time to review advancement policy, a signed off requirement is a completed requirement." Under normal circumstances but nothing that I've read in the advancement manual or the scoumaster's handbook or any BSA literature discusses outright fraud. If you allow the award to stand, you are rewarding and even encouraging bad behavior.

Stapler Guy, so what you are saying is that even though you and the Scout know that the award is fraudlent, you'd let him keep it? The New Jersey Dude might have something to say but what I remember from my business shark baiting law class is that a contract that is entered into fraudelently is not enforceable. This Scout knew that he hadn't met the requiements. I'm sure that his parents knew as well. This doesn't sound like a matter of simply forgetting to say grace before dinner (a requirement for 1st class). Gotta nip things like this in the bud.

Yep, what they said. I'm sure that some parents will say, "You're leaving my child out. You'll hurt his feelings" and that may be true but "dem's da berries."

The field hat (the official BSA name for the "overseas cap") may look nice but has nearly no value as a hat. It provides no shade, mimimal protection from the rain and little in the way of warmth.

In my area, there doesn't seem to be any decline in public support of BSA. In fact, I've had many, many adults come up to me and say things like, "Good for you guys, standing up to public opinion takes guts."

"How do you keep them flat? or protected from rain without wearing the rain cover. any ideas?" Get one of those brim flattener do-hickies. There's a troop that advertises them on the internet. They make them for thin brim hats and thick brim hats. Protect it from the rain with a liberal application of Scotchguard.

"I keep telling you (and you keep refusing to learn) that they need PLAINTIFFS WITH STANDING to file lawsuits." Thank you for that legal lesson. Where were the plaintiffs with standing when the small towns get attacked by the ACLU for having a Christmas scene in a city park? None of the town residents cared. It seems that there are two sets of rules. One for the atheist/homosexual crowd and one for decent folks.

Ed, Would you object if the police started pulling over cars to search the trunk? How about if they knocked on your door and rummaged through your wife's underwear drawer?

"it wouldn't bother me if the usage records (as far as checkout goes) were open to the public." Considering that I cannot see my child's library records, I don't see why the government should be allowed to see mine.

"Is Canada a terrorist target? Do people in other countries hate Canadians? I wonder why not? ." Because Canada is like Swaziland, most people don't even know that it exists.

" I can buy 30 shirts for boys and have them all be able to participate or maybe 4-6 complete uniforms. Id rather have 30 boys partially uniformed than only six in complete uniform." What does this have to do with putting patches on in the right places? In any event, I think that very few of us are concerned with the kids who can barely afford the dues or even are members on a "Scoutership." I haven't bought any uniforms at full retail but I do scour rummange sales and thrift shops for uniform parts (best buy yet: cap, shirt and pants for $5 total) to give to the few financially disadvantaged kids in my troop. The problem is two-fold, first that many parents or Scouts don't care enough to find out where patches go. The second problem is the well heeled parents who'll buy $150 sneakers, a $175 NFL jacket, and $60 pants at the GAP but won't spring for the uniform pants or a shirt that fits because, "it's expensive and, after all, it's only Scouts."

" which is the price we pay for meddling in the affairs of other countries." The people of other countries have hated us for much longer than we have been meddling. They don't like us because we have more freedoms, more money, and more stuff.

" If that's the biggest governmental bogey man you can come up with" Baby steps, it starts with baby steps.

"There is something you need to be concerned about. The same people who use throwaway cell phones to mask their activities use library computers to communicate with each other, again in an attempt to mask their activities. Right out of the AQ tactics manual." Sounds like the excuses that are always used by despots.

Try ebay. http://listings.ebay.com/pool1/listings/list/all/category13885/index.html?from=R11 Will take you to the right category. Just search on what you want to find. BTW, are you having problems posting?

I bumped into a police officer buddy of mine at the grocery and was telling him about this discussion. He pointed out that if I had a carry permit for a pistol, I could take my pistol into the school but the knife would still be contraband because the permit doesn't cover knives. Imagine the headline, "Man with a gun arrested for carrying a knife."

$5 for a regular CSP. That is a bit steep. Our regular CSP is $3. We have an annual commemorative that runs $5.