Fat Old Guy

"I find it preposterous that we live in a society where tobacco is legal but marijuana is illegal. Tobacco is much more harmful." I guess that really depends on how you define "much more harmful." I really wouldn't mind an airline pilot smoking a Lucky Strike while flying but I would be very upset and concerned if I discovered that my pilot was smoking pot.

First "Webolos" always has the "s" on the end. One Webelos, two webeloses . . . webeloi Webelos. Second, youth don't have the option of combining their years under one color of circle like adults do. Serivce stars are a unit award, so it is up to the unit to decide when they are given and for what length of time. We always gave stars in the spring, so "one year" for a new guy was from September to June, for everyone else, the star represented the preceding June to this June. Graduating Webelos would get their last "gold backed" year at Graduation. They then wouldn't get a new star for the three or four months until the end of the Boy Scout program year. I can't do the math on my fingers right now, but it sounds like your son was a Tiger Cub under the old system. That would mean that he should be wearing a "1" with an orange back and a "4" with a gold back. Of course, BSA immediately discontinued the orange circles as if those people who were in the program for nearly 20 years would never want another orange circle (I was smart and bought three strips or orange circles that I'm going to sell on ebaY for $1,000 each :-)

"And the scenario ends like this in today's litigious climate...He sued her and won a ridiculous claim which put her family in bankruptcy court." Maybe if she'd been a man, instead she claimed PMS, post-partum depression and a host of other female ailments and it became the man's fault for just being alive.

"Oh, and BTW, the patrols with the most active parents(Scouters and parents who drive to events have the most success) Patrols with parents who are not active seldom have a patrol event even when the adults volunteer to provide transportation, 2 deep, etc." I believe that I've ranted on this subject before but I'll go again. This is a problem in our society in general. Not that the parents aren't involved but that the kids won't do stuff on their own. Generations of children were raised without constant parental invovlement. The parents were around, they set the rules and enforced those rules but they didn't stick their noses into everything. Let's jump into the wayback machine. We got ourselves to Little League practice. We played pick-up games without adults. We organized sports leagues. We put on circuses. We built our own tree forts or clubhouses. We organized our own clubs. For most of us, our primary mission during summer vacation was to get as far from home as possible so our mothers couldn't put us to work. We've done it to them and us by organizing everything to the nth degree. Play dates. Organized sports for all ages. Adult run "clubs". Etc., etc., etc..

We'd have "keggers" at camp! "Ein prosit! Ein prosit!"

"I have dedicated a good portion of my life to preserving the freedoms you enjoy and will not bow to the will of individuals who attempt to take those freedoms away." Oddly, you work for the government to maintain a way of life that is moderately free from government intrusion. However, a Boy Scout event is a private affair put on by a private organization and consequently BSA can impose any rule they wish. If BSA wanted to say, "you must sing I'm a little teapot" before entering the event, they can but attendance might be low. Smoking and drinking are two hot buttons in our society. Unfortunately, too many people who smoke or drink are rude idiots and are unable to show the slightest consideration for others. A friend's wife suffers from asthma and asked a man smoking near her to not smoke because it was aggrevating her condition. He blew smoke in her face. She kicked him in the crotch. In our goofy society, it is far easier to say, "You can't do it" than to say "Please show consideration for others" because too many won't.

"What started the running argument between FOG and BW ?" BW is a pedantic, arrogant, close minded book-thumper who parrots anything that comes out of Irving, TX.

It's in the book Bob, try looking in there :-)

Long ago, before there was "Starbucks" coffee shops, men in small towns across America would gather at the local general store to discuss current events, the weather, crops, the problems with kids, the problems with wives, etc.. They'd also play pinochle, checkers, and other games. One common feature of general stores was the cracker barrel, a barrel full of crackers which evidently is the way that they came before we had modern packaging. The barrel served as an ad hoc table for the games and became a focal point. "Cracker barrel" is so much a part of American lore that there is a chain of popular restaurants with the name.

EJ IM-TA FEY DE-JA I... EJAHDAK-SO-TAS GHOS VA SKRAL BYTEEK EMPA JAJ LAW-MOCH JAJ-PUSH JAJ KAYLESS MOLOR-MIGH HOHK-CHEW KOO.

Nay, not a kilt. I'm for wearing of trews in the BSA tartan with two front pockets and two back pockets. The front pockets should be of the set in variety. I find cargo pockets useless for me, I just don't like stuff banging on my knees. (This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

"may not allow" not just "may not" That phrase means that you are not permitted to permit some one to smoke, in other words, smoking is not permitted or smoking is prohibited.

" But at least I can try on the short sleeve version and then order in the proper size, the long sleeved one from the catalogue - KNOWING that it will fit correctly." Not necessarily true. I have a long sleeved shirt and a short sleeved shirt. The long sleeved shirt fits like a sack and the short sleeved is getting snug. Yeah, I know "Lose weight and both will fit like sacks."

Ed, You must have taken a different set of English classes than I did in the fourth grade. may (m) verb, auxiliary 1. To be allowed or permitted to: May I take a swim? Yes, you may. To say "you may not smoke in my home" doesn't leave the door open for the possibility of smoking, it is simply a more polite way of saying "smoking is prohibited in my home." To say "you cannot smoke in my home" means that you are denied the ability to smoke because I have an automatic fire suppression system that will flood the room with Halon.

I don't like cargo pants or any sort.

Ed, "may" means you are permitted to so something. "may not" means that you are not permitted, which is much the same as prohibited.

Boy Shellinwa, you're lucky. You're getting a gen-u-wine Bob White private message. If he starts with his paranoid ravings, just try to calm him down and call for professional assistance. ;-)

Well Bob White, it is obvious that you not only don't get Monty Python references but that you also don't understand that words have meanings and meanings are important (the scarey thing is that is frightfully close to something that Clinton said. Maybe I'm a closet Democrat.) Sorry Shellinwa (is that a French name :-). I am attempting to es-plain to Bob White that Scouters can do whatever they want, regardless of what the rules say (Bob would say "irregardless"). The problem is that Bob White (motto: I quail at nothing) reflexively attacks whenever Ed Mori or I say anything. I could say that the Scout sign is the first three fingers of the right hand extended and Bob White would retort that it isn't, it is the hand the fingers extended except that the little finger is folded down to the palm wiht the tip of the thumb touching it.(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

Opinion, Bob White (motto: I put the "hippo" in hipocrite)?

"Be careful what you wish for! When I was an SA, the SM put a "seasoned" scout (Star rank, 1 yr of den chief experience, 1.5 as a Boy Scout) in with a group of new (just crossed over Webelos Scouts) boys." That's an obvious pitfall. IMHO, a better system is to have a patrol that has a continuous influx of new members as old member leave. That way the patrol has history and tradition, like a regiment in the Army. That way, the Scouts who have been around longer and have a clue about what's going on are most likely to be elected PL. That way, the new Scouts have role models and mentors and the older Scouts feel needed and adored.

Ah, Bob "English is not my native language" White misses the point. A BOR can do whatever they wish to do. They can ask the Scout to play the fiddle while they do Irish step dancing. They can play craps with the Scout. They can even make the Scout sit in a comfy chair.

Victory. I would say that the victory in Scouting is the same as a victory in raising a child. Trustworth, curteous, kind, friendly, . . . . Out of trouble, off drugs. No tatoos. :-)

"At the BOR,the Scoutmaster asks "How are you coming along with your knot tying? " Danger, Will Robinson! Procedural Violation! The Scoutmaster shouldn't be at the BOR. By the way Bob White, since you're so good at being pedantic, I'll do the same. A BOR can re-test, however, a BOR may not restest.

With few exceptions, the threat of behavior does prevent crime. You may think that it is horribe but, in reality, adultry is pretty severe, except to the modern western world. Think about what an adulterous wife can do. She has the possibility of making her husband raise child that is not his, thereby decreasing the chances of her husbands genes surviving also allowing his property to be inherited by someone not of his loings. There is also the idea of breaking a vow, promises not just to each other but to God. Of course, today we have adultry being sanctioned by the White House and our role models in Hollywood.

Once again, we see that Bob White lives by the motto, "The rules are for you but not for me."