GernBlansten

Ditto Lisa, your experience and attitudes towards BSA mirror mine and most of my fellow unit leaders.

But that doesn't support our runnup to the War Against Christmas (WAC). Which by the way is just around the corner.

Perhaps a 't' would be better than 'X'.

Pack, Also, in tasking them to write the new rules, also have them document the process of sidetracking the appeals that will go to National. Keep emphasising that a scout is prepared. They need to make sure that any resistance to following their new rules has an iron clad stop to keep folk from whining to National and destroying their important work.

I agree. YPT must take precidence. But in my reading at first looked like the scout confided in the scouter and the scouter went running to the CC without the scouter having knowledge of the possible scout on scout contact.

Just ordered a copy for myself. http://www.amazon.com/Bear-Attacks-Causes-Avoidance-revised/dp/158574557X/ref=sr_1_1/103-7524367-8964659?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192572943&sr=8-1

avow Main Entry: avow Pronunciation: \ə-ˈvau̇\ Function: transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French avuer, avouer, from Latin advocare Date: 14th century 1 : to declare assuredly 2 : to declare openly, bluntly, and without shame Is he kicked out if he declares quietly, meekly, and with shame? He would not be avowed. Of course, any sexual activity on camp outs is mega taboo. It should be investigated and pushed up the YPT chain if suspicions are warranted. Let the pros handle it. I''m not sure these kids understand the projection of the MySpace webspaces. I''ve heard several job offers rescinded when potential employers take 5 minutes to search MySpace. A friend of mine who is not very technical, asked me to help her create a MySpace. She had a bunch of pictures from a recent vacation to Italy she wanted uploaded. As I browsed them, I noticed most of the shots were restaurant pix with lots of empty beer bottles on the tables, a jovial clutch of friends crouched around the tables. I said, do you really want these on the internet? She said, sure, she wasn''t drinking, it was her friends. She really doesn''t drink at all. But the association was there. It just didn''t sink in.

A constitutional convention. Didn''t Jefferson think we needed one every 20 years anyways?

That scouter who betrayed his confidence should revisit the scout law. A scout is trustworthy and loyal. My biggest problem with the story so far is that he is probably sexually active. Hetero or Homo, its the sexual part that makes this a problem. If you are a virgin, you are asexual, neither homo or hetero, just non-sexual. Once you become sexually active then the labels fit better because there is little doubt which way he swings. I think that is why BSA wrote such a poorly worded opinion on youth homosexuality. They expect scouts to not engage in sexual activity. Period. At least I hope so. Is sexual behavior automatically disqualifying?

Interesting. You found out about his background because he wanted a letter to his parole officer. Had he submitted an adult application before? If so, are they even checking? My opinion is I would have no problem writing a letter to the probation officer (even offering a glowing review if supported), but I wouldn''t allow him to become a leader nor would I allow him to attend meetings or outtings. Sometimes, choices you make early in life haunt you. A felony conviction should disqualify you from an active role in a youth organization.

Joni, How is he known or avowed? Did he get picked up in a public restroom sting? Did he proclaim for all to hear that he is gay? Did he get outted? Is he sexually active? Is he just swishy and someone''s gaydar went off?

Sounds like yet another example of a poorly written policy that causes more problems than it solves.

OGE, I share your frustration that most of us Americans never get a chance to vote for anyone but the dominant party candidates. That''s not the electoral college, its the two party system and the primary system. Its gonna get even worse this time around for those of us who live in states that still have their primary only a mere 4 months before the election. Of course its designed to get the candidate the party wants, not the one the people want. And with the electoral college, we will never have a viable third party. Whats interesting is I haven''t heard a real compelling argument to keep the EC. I''m not convinced it gives small states anymore power, the senate gives them that.

I thought the vast majority of states use the winner take all method. Although 24 states electors are not bound by state law to vote for the majority candidate, very few deviate from the popular vote. http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html#popular There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their States. Some States, however, require electors to cast their votes according to the popular vote. These pledges fall into two categories -- electors bound by State law and those bound by pledges to political parties. Which States bind electors to popular vote results? Refer to Electors Bound by State Law and Pledges to find out. The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution does not require that electors be completely free to act as they choose and therefore, political parties may extract pledges from electors to vote for the parties'' nominees. Some State laws provide that so-called "faithless electors" may be subject to fines or may be disqualified for casting an invalid vote and be replaced by a substitute elector. The Supreme Court has not specifically ruled on the question of whether pledges and penalties for failure to vote as pledged may be enforced under the Constitution. No elector has ever been prosecuted for failing to vote as pledged. Today, it is rare for electors to disregard the popular vote by casting their electoral vote for someone other than their party''s candidate. Electors generally hold a leadership position in their party or were chosen to recognize years of loyal service to the party. Throughout our history as a nation, more than 99 percent of electors have voted as pledged.

I understand the framers desire to dilute the election from population centers. What has evolved is a few battleground states become the election. The framer''s could not have wanted that. The candidates focus on these key states and ignore the rest. California will always go blue. Texas will always go red. Any state that votes predominately in one color will be ignored. I''m really getting tired of Ohio and Florida deciding who our president is.

While on a wilderness trek in Alaska last year, our guide said, "Run from moose, stand for bear". On our boundary water expedition, our guide said bears are just big raccoons. Don''t corner them, feed them and they will leave you alone. At Philmont, we were told by our ranger the story of a scout who while opening a hot cocoa packet, blew into it spraying cocoa dust on his face. He awoke that night with a bear licking the cocoa from him. I''ve encountered two bears at my house. One in my back yard, one in my garage. Both I approached aggressively, exaggerated movements, looked big, lots of noise. Both decided I wasn''t snacking material and chose to leave, although not as fast as I would have liked.

Gore should get another Nobel prize for creating the internet. I''m not kidding, really. I love this series of tubes!

a voter in RI has almost 3times the voting power of a voter in CA. Is that a good thing?

In the same boat as va-scouter. DARE for public school kids. Home-schooled scout and his parents don''t have a drug avoidance program in his syllabus. We have a deputy sheriff in our unit and we plan on asking him to do something with this scout, heck we should do it for the whole troop too. Don''t home-schooled kids have access to Internet based programs that might cover this?

Retire the electoral college. I thought I knew why it was a good thing, but seeing the shenanigans of the past few elections, I just can''t see any benefit to it. Go with the popular vote. Or better yet, do what many cities do for mayoral elections, a runoff. If a single candidate does not get the majority (50+%) of the vote, a runoff election of the top two is held. This would allow for much more diversity in the field without having spoilers like Perot and Nader swing an election by siphoning off votes in key states.

I just love the last line of this story! Imagine the revised tour permit required to allow that. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071015/ap_on_fe_st/odd_bear_attack WHITE HAVEN, Pa. - A Boy Scout played dead when attacked by a bear during a camping trip, avoiding serious injury. Chris Malasics, 14, curled up in the fetal position in his sleeping bag after the bear ripped down his tent at Hickory Run State Park around 11:30 p.m. Friday. "I was just trying to figure out what to do to not get hurt," he told the Daily Local News of West Chester. As the bear started tossing Malasics around, a Scout leader tried to create a disturbance by banging pots and pans and flashing car headlights. The bear eventually wandered off. Malasics, of Chester Springs, was taken to a hospital for treatment for his cuts and bruises. He was also given a precautionary rabies shot. Malasics said the experience will not deter him from going camping. In the future, though, he intends to make sure he has a pepper spray for bears, and perhaps a gun. "I know how to shoot," he said.

FOUND HIM! http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5723042,00.html To tell you the truth, I really had a bad feeling about this one. We were camping in the same area the same night this guy was out on his own. Not a night I''d like to spend outside my tent in only blue jeans, tennis shoes and a rain jacket. Glad he made it out. Two years ago, a woman got lost decending this mountain, she was never found.

The US Senator who sponsored the bill which allowed for the Internet to be funded can rightfully state that he took the initiative in creating the Internet. Without that legislation, the internets would not be what it is today. He didn''t invent the Internet, he never said he did. And I really don''t care if he can dance.

This past weekend, I took a group of scouts backpacking into this wilderness. We hiked in Saturday afternoon about 3 miles and setup camp at 10,300 ft for a summit attempt on Holy Cross on Sunday morning. While setting up camp, a fellow comes by asking if we had seen his brother. They had summited that morning and he was certain his brother was ahead of him. We hadn''t seen him. That night, it snowed about 8 inches and we aborted our summit attempt and just broke camp and hiked out. On the trail out, we passed three search and rescue fellows. They told us the brother was still missing and asked if we had seen or heard anything. Of course we had not. We asked if we could help, they told us it would be best if there were fewer people up there in the snowstorm and just hike out. They thanked us and told us if we saw him to call 911. We got back to the trailhead packed our stuff and drove home. The boys started taking about the buddy system. I suggested they do a recap at the next meeting for the rest of the troop. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5723042,00.html Rescuers search for missing Missouri climber near Vail By Associated Press October 15, 2007 VAIL The Vail Mountain Rescue group today will resume its search for a 23-year old Missouri man last seen in the Holy Cross wilderness Saturday. His name and hometown haven''t been released. Eagle County sheriff''s officials say the man''s 24-year old brother reported him missing around 7 p.m. Saturday after he failed to report to his campsite that afternoon. The brothers had climbed to the summit of the Mount of Holy Cross together but were separated on their way down at around 13,000 feet. The missing hiker had a fleece, a rain jacket, water and an energy bar, but was not prepared to camp. It snowed heavily overnight.

Perhaps the SCOTUS can step in and remove the Peace Prize from Gore and give it to Bush using the arguement that Gore only talked about global warming, Bush actually contributed to it