Stosh

A boy led program makes the $225 program worthless. They constantly provide the adults with feedback on how things are going. If they aren't doing what they want, they can fix it. I'm thinking that ups the score pretty well. Only adult-led programs need feedback. Usually the boys vote with their feet. It doesn't take a special program to tell me that.

The inspection sheet spells it out clearly. This is what entails a uniform. Anything less than that is a partial. If the boys show up with a BSA hat, and pants and a tan shirt with no patches on it. Is he in uniform? How about if he wears just a tan shirt, with no patches, is he in uniform? The inspection sheet spells out what is and what is not a uniform. If one can't afford a uniform. No problem. Enjoy the program and there's no reason to not show up. However if you are going to wear the uniform, then wear it properly. Such fuzzy logic of partial uniforming is only for those who wish to justify their agenda/practices. Kinda like partial MB's. Either you have completed it or you haven't. Same with the uniform. Either you have a uniform on or you don't. Blue jeans and a camp t-shirt is not a uniform make, not even a "activity" "uniform".

For thousands of years, humanity was totally connected to nature. Direct contact with it was vital for his/her existence. However, technology, the machines of mankind have basically disconnected him. His mental and physical health falters as this disconnect increases. As a matter of fact, technology has allowed humankind to be so disconnected from nature he no longer can function in it unless it is a direct effort for seeking it for "entertainment" and then for only short periods of time. Such disconnect can be seen reflected in the organic movement and farmers' markets vs. the confinement husbandry and agribusiness projects, and other such programs. They say the first major step of technological disconnect was the farm tractor. For the first time ever, a farmer could go about his work and no longer need to touch the ground. Unless it be a "chore" how many people do more than mow the lawn, trim bushes, and other yard work and call it something they enjoy. How many people today get a sense of satisfaction by having gotten their hands dirty "playing" in the garden? How many people can say they have eaten something they grew or hunted in the past year? I just got back from Door County Wisconsin, where I picked cherries from the trees, brought them home, processed them and the Mrs. made the most fantastic cherry pie! Real whipped cream on top. Sure, I could have gone to the store and bought a cherry pie and it would have been the same... Yeah right! In your dreams. Kinda like pancakes off the campfire griddle taste the same as what you get at iHop! Everyone talks about the healing power of nature. Well, there's a reason for it. Once one disconnects, you're on your own. Stosh

Lies? Over all the years I have never been the first one to see the bear in camp. The extra vigilance inspired by such "jokes" has always made the task of keeping scents out of tents, cleanliness around camp, bear bags hung HIGH, etc. along with not having to be the only one that sleeps with one eye open. If the worst case scenario is suggested, then the lesser issues get taken care of at the same time. I've tried it both ways and when the raccoons raid the food sitting out, that can destroy a trek faster than anything else. Mice eating through backpacks, etc. have always taken their toll on the boys. If one instills the concern over bears, the mice and raccoons don't have a chance either. These boys are in an environment that they normally don't experience. This isn't Mom telling the boys to turn off the TV/Computer and go to bed, it's 10:00 pm. If raccoons are going to raid your camp, they will do it within a half hour of everyone going into their tents. If the boys continue to make noise, one will never hear them raiding the pantry.... until it's too late. These critters aren't stupid. They know how it works.

Sometimes the issue of distance/councils doesn't apply. Due to the fact I had a very specialized crew, at one point we had crew members from 4 different councils from 3 different states. There were some that would travel 2-3 hours to get to our monthly meeting.

One just has to go about it in the right manner. A little "evidence" goes a long way. I had two senior scouts (16-17 yr olds) totally convinced here was "something under their tent." It was fun watching them try and convince an irate SM at 1:00 am. A little contrived credibility helps too. Had a large snapping turtle clean off our fishing stringer we left in the water by the canoes. I just happened to see it. I retrieved the stringer and held up a stringer full of fish heads and asked if any of the boys saw the bear that did that? Heck, everyone knows bears eat fish. You just don't tell them that turtles do too. Webelos aged? Heck no! Even the adults swallowed that one.

Or..... tell the boys that after dark, they have to be really quiet or the adults won't be able to hear the bears come into camp until it's too late. Always works for me.

Better yet, use it as a teaching moment for the purchaser to recycle the container properly.

I have hunted my entire life and never owned a gun with a scope. My record of one deer, one shot still holds true after 40+ years. The only time I ever shot a deer with a borrowed scoped rifle, I turned the gun on it's side and sighted down the barrel with no sights and still got my deer, the deer was too close to find in the scope. There's always a ton of problems at camp. A resourceful scout will figure out ways around it. If the mess hall sucks, go to a camp that doesn't have one. If the food is poor, bring your own. Over the years I have had to deal with all these issues and each time the boys made adjustments and things got better and the camp is just as "poor" as when we started. If the MB or NSP programs are poor, skip them and do your own. You paid to be in the woods. Some of my best experiences with summer camp had nothing to do with the camp or their program. We had one boy one year taking astronomy MB. He had to go out and watch the sky for so many hours. So, we took the whole troop, grabbed sleeping bags, the sky was clear and we laid out there counting satellites, INCLUDING finding the international space station and accompanying supply ship that had disconnected a few hours earlier, fly-by in tandem. We found tons of constellations, and did not get one bit of "credit" towards any MB except the one boy doing the class. We overslept in the morning, but the boys got up and patrol cooked in camp before heading out for whatever it was they wanted to do as a patrol for the day. The key being: "Whatever they wanted to do AS A PATROL for the day." Some of the better ideas they had were an orienteering course, set up, and ran on their own, shooting competition amongst the patrol members at the open shoot time, hike to explore the camp the first time they went there, sail boat and canoe races on the lake, fishing contest followed by a fillet and cooking competition, service project for the camp, and yes, the boys figured out how to make a pretty good desert in a fry pan using cobbler ingredients, etc. The best camp site I ever saw was when the boys put the four tents such that with the dining fly, they could go from tent to tent without getting wet in a downpour. We drove the camp staff nuts many times, but they always came through when the boys asked, and the boys had a blast!

In the business world Return on Investment (ROI) is a big issue. If I invest in a new high-efficient furnace, how long will it take to pay for it with the savings? Well apply that to a 1 year diploma in the business trades ROI and the 4-6 year degrees of university/college degrees and the interest rate of student loans, loss of employment during those year, etc. and one will soon realize that people in their 30's are still paying off student loans. I guess it just depends on whether one wishes to pay schools and banks instead of working at a good trade. At age 62, I have 3 degrees and am employed in none of them.

I work for a billion dollar international manufacturing industry. I know for a fact that the enrollment in the local trades college for welders is limited. However, with that being said, both my company and our closest competitor hand out applications to all incoming students in the program. Good welders can in fact dictate terms in their interviews.

Being tolerant does not mean that an observer isn't affected by what they see or hear. If someone wants to put up a memorial to something important, and it "offends" me, being tolerant means let it go and just move on, the memorial isn't something meant as important to me. I see memorials to the war dead all around. Does that mean I support war? If it annoys me enough, I just don't go there anymore. I can always find places that are more comfortable to me. There's always a certain amount of MYOB when it comes to tolerance. If some group wishes to put up something I find offensive next door, and it's on private property, I don't have to contribute to it and I guess I would rather invest in curtains so I don't have to look at it. If someone puts up a huge flashing sign that disrupts MY privacy, well-being, then we have courts that will assumedly rule justly. I don't have a problem with the message, it's just a big annoying light that's the problem. We have become a society of zero-tolerance. If I'm annoyed, I sue. That is a serious breakdown in a civil society. While some battles might be worth fighting, one has to be careful which ditch they wish to die in. One isn't going to win any wars, just a few skirmishes here and there that basically make more enemies than friends over the long run. Heck, we all got crabby neighbors. I pretty much ignore them. Eventually they ignore me too. However, it has become a weapon of the zero-tolerance people to use the government to enforce their wishes. If it's a religious issue and the government gets in the middle of it, the "separation of Church and State" is pretty hard to justify when the government is hip deep in the issue.

Just because a government is tolerant of all religions does not mean it is establishing any religion. As a matter of fact, by being intolerant of all religions, it is in fact establishing atheism (belief there is no god) as the state "religion". Everyone is screaming about everyone needing to be tolerant and then they go and pull these kinds of stunts, proving tolerance is not a characteristic of the US government, or it's people. Equality for all does not mean any one group gets a step up on anyone else. In today's US society, the only thing that counts anymore is whose ox is getting gored, and everything is good if it's not mine. Otherwise, it's time to whine, protest and do all kinds of temper tantrums until I get my way. I'm almost sure that our Founding Fathers didn't mean anything of the sort, and wrote in the Bill of Rights to avoid it. Watering down the Bill of Rights through obscure reinterpretations have basically removed the rights we were meant to have.

Or maybe there are certain groups of people out there that are jealous because they don't have a neatsy cool symbol. The Muslims, Christians, Jews and even Satanists have their symbols. Must be tough. If they don't have one then nobody gets one.

One of the problems with heat is not the lack of water or high heat. It's overconfidence. When I was at the Centennial Jamboree, I wore my reproduction Boy Scout uniform, exact replica right down to the BSA buttons and collar brass. Felt campaign hat to top it off. The pants and tunic were 100% wool and the shirt underneath heavy cotton. Yes, it was hot, very hot, but after 15 years of reenacting in wool uniforms, there are things one can do to survive. I find the people who go down at the events I attend tend to the the younger (seemily invincible) people. I know I'm not invincible and at age 60 can still hold my own in heavy heat and wool uniforms. Not only is my uniform coat wool, but it is quilt lined. We all know that most of the heat loss in winter is through the head. Everyone says wear a hat, your feet will stay warm. Well the opposite is true. While all the boys are running around being "cool" in the baseball hats, one has to remember there is no room for ice in them. They cling tight to the skull and hold in heat. Well, the campaign and expedition hats have room for a bandana and ice. The full brim also keeps one's head in the shade all the time! I can walk around in 100+ degree heat in a wool uniform with a canteen and a hat full of ice. If one gets a bit "dizzy" or "overheated/tired", dump Gatorade into the canteen and wrap a few cubes of ice in bandanas and stuff into your armpits. I never go anywhere on a scout activity in the summer without a soaking wet neckerchief. When I do reenacting, it's a bandana around the neck and if I get a few small ice chips rolled into it, great. Packsaddle's advice on staying wet is vital. The body doesn't have to produce as much sweat because the extra water is doing it already and the body backs off on fluid loss. And if one's going to be wet, it might as well be ice water. While the temptation is to dry out one's clothes, when I'm not wearing my wool coat it is rolled up in the shade to retain as much moisture as possible so when I put it back on, it actually feels cool. There's a lot to be said about allowing the body to produce sweat, but if one is trying to preserve body fluids, using external water/ice is just as effective. Most soda vendors have ice on hand. 25-cents for a cup of ice is all you need to last you for at least an hour. As far as hydration goes? I actually drink less than anyone else out there. I just sip from a canteen throughout the day. The chugging huge amounts because the SM told them to isn't going to be effective. I have had people tell me they knocked off two canteens already and I'm still not finished with my first. I am responsible at reenactments for anywhere from 20-30 people. In the 15 years of reenacting and 40 years of scouting, I have had one young reenactor go down from the heat on my watch. He didn't think my advice worthwhile. He does now.

It's only racist if it applies to "the other guys", ya, know, the guys with the "different colored skin", "those that don't look like us". Racism is a two way street. Traffic travels both ways. Certain racists haven't figured that out and thus they don't think themselves the horrible despicable people they are pointing out. The only true non-racist is the guy who forgets to mention any differences. I have always used the rule-of-thumb, if someone mentions race first, they are most often the racist, kinda like the Godwin's Law.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." I love it when our Constitution gets interpreted and reinterpreted, and the re-re-interpreted once more.

With logic like that, one must conclude that with any public education our nation operates best when education remains at school.

Sometimes it is best to remain silent and thought a fool, instead of opening one's mouth and removing all doubt. That phrase has been around a long time. Some people have learned from it, others haven't.

He is supposed to talk in reference to all the people, just just some. He is supposed to be enforcing gun laws and yet Fast and Furious is on his watch. He is supposed to be focused on citizens' rights, but illegals get the jobs, get the benefits and get the vote. He is supposed to be enforcing laws, yet he, more than any other president legislates with "executive decrees" like a dictator would. As chief executor of the nation's laws, he finds it convenient to ignore enforcement. He is supposed to be governing the federal agencies, yet they are corrupt and riddled with scandals, while at the same time, feels free to interfere in the business of individual states which he is not even executive officer for. That's why we have state governors. They answer to their states, like the president is supposed to be answering the the nation as a whole. I think the president is allowed to talk, lead, encourage, and guide with a clear vision for the nation, the whole nation, not just his party and cronies. Having failed at most of these, maybe not talking might actually improve his legacy.

I guess I wouldn't use the terms conservative/liberal. I would use maybe, Constitutional as written and constitutional as interpreted and modified. If Conservative is being defined by you as Constitutional, then I guess we are in agreement. The would mean the liberals would be considered those who "interpret" something to fit their agenda or philosophy. That to me is the start of re-writing the Constitution to provide for something that simply wasn't in the original document/contract. That is the slippery slope I am pegged paranoid about. Sorry, but there is a ton of evidence that there is more to what people are involved in that simply isn't in the Constitution. Although I am not from the South, I do agree that states rights, adopted in the original Constitution have been for the most part, tossed aside.

Okay, a short story: A friend of mine who grew up in Africa whose parents were missionaries, married a gal from the US. For a honeymoon they went to Africa so she could see where he grew up. One morning, while camping, she got up to do her morning thing and soon he was awakened by her screaming. She was standing on a large rock looking at a pride of lions a few hundred feet away. He told her to stand QUIETLY. The lions just laid there and were not at all interested in her. Finally he said she could get down and come back to camp. The lions hadn't moved one bit. She climbed down and came back to camp and asked why she had to stand there so long and finally came back and the lions didn't do a thing. He said, because the cape buffalo standing behind her finally moved off. He was a greater threat than the lions.

According to the Constitution, the Executive Branch is to carry out the laws, not comment on them. The comments come with the Legislative Branch that are in theory supposed to discuss all sides of an issue and then by vote legislate. If the law is unConstitutional, then the Judicial Branch makes a ruling. It's called checks and balances, something our present day government doesn't seem to either understand or care about.

I don't think anyone, liberal or conservative, would say civil rights are not important. It just falls apart when governments feel the necessity to set up inequalities to "make things right" or to allow one group, any group, including the government which has taken an oath to apply equality to all, to demand more "rights" than the next group. Of course then there's the politics that surround the whole business whereas lobbyists promote one group over another and "get away with it" under the guise of "legal." We as a civilization have agreed to the US Constitution as it states itself, not as some have found it necessary to reinterpret by liberals or conservatives. It's not an issue of liberal/conservative, it's an issue of if we're not following the US Constitution, something we all agreed upon, then what is it we ARE following that only some are in agreement with? If not the US Constitution then what policy are we indeed following? Depends on which way the wind is blowing today? For many, that seems to be the observation.

I ask the specific right, not because in principle it is fair, it's just that most "rights" now seem to be entitlements and the laws that are added to the basic rights of individuals are now riddled with hypocrisy and double standards. It's okay to infringe on the rights of certain groups, but not others. Where's the equal rights under the law in that circumstance? I know exactly what you are driving at packsaddle, but each right you think is being preserved by the "conservative" faction in our nation is not in reality. Let me see.... Let's just for example see how far I would get with the IRS applying for a tax-exempt status for a group named NAAWP. Yeah, where's the equal rights in that? The "crack" you want someone to take just doesn't hold water. We are racially a melting-pot of ethnic diversity here in America were we on a regular basis establish zero-tolerance policies. Now there's an oxymoron for ya. Race? Speech? Gun ownership? Sexuality? Relationship? Religion? You pick a bill off the Bill of Rights and see how much water it really holds in today's society.