packsaddle

http://www.audiomicro.com/free-three-stooges-sound-clips-nyuk-nyuk-nyuk-download-512626

USMA_Eagle, The Thiel Fellowships are a bold attempt and I hope he succeeds. If he chooses the recipients well it could work well. I'm not sold on uncollege. I guess I'd like to see some evidence that they are effective at what they claim.

Wow, I actually was an employee at that time. I remember it well. At levels beyond custodial or similar tasks, 'The Company' was the whitest I've ever seen and it was almost explicit to everyone that black persons would only be employed at those lower-paying jobs. They had added an IQ test after the Civil Rights Act was passed in order to make sure this situation remained as it always had been. I recoil at the memories of some of the things I heard managers say about this in their hushed, concerned tones. I guess I was among the first wave of new employees who broke some of those barriers because my unit hired who I think were some of the first minorities at levels which required college training. The IQ test went away as a result of that court case. This was not the only case in which Duke Power affected policy and law for the entire country. I can add several more. It was, as the Chinese say, interesting. Are you saying that the practices back then were good, or fair, or just? But thanks for bringing back a rush of incredible memories.

All we have to do is watch monkeys. That was such a great book!

Acco40,.....you do know that was just a movie, right? Just like the moon landing?

Whew, I feel better now. Beavah is right about the oil. The Saudis have played it really well and we have stupidly followed their script. I can imagine that when Sarah says, "Drill, Baby, Drill", the Saudis merely smile and nod, thinking...."oh please, oh please". This is because the quicker we exhaust our domestic supplies, the quicker they will be sitting on the last of a fabulously-expensive resource. And they know it. The only thing I would add to Beavah's description is that we ARE going to change our behaviors. This is inevitable. The only question is whether we are going to do it as the result of a well-reasoned strategy or as a result of circumstances beyond our control. Recent history is no cause for optimism.

Sheesh! How many times do I have to say it? It's Flavor Aid! Jim Jones and his crew drank Flavor Aid, NOT Kool-Aid! What do I have to do to get through to you guys about this?

There are almost a hundred different species, all called 'Tilapia'. Moreover, they are herbivorous and not normally thought of as mud sucking, nor are they normally bottom dwellers unless the pond is very shallow. They tend to stay up where plants grow. Incidentally, there's a pretty good chance that Tilapia were the fish that were caught by Jesus's disciples (clever tie-in to the topic) out of Lake Tiberias (aka Sea of Galilee and today Lake Kinneret). I like Calamari (and therefore tip my hand at not being Kosher) but I also like the gooey, slimy stuff as well as the flavoring for fried batter. Mollusks are quite tasty...well, some of them. But your point is about the application of the term 'god' to pretty much anything someone chooses to worship...I suppose even 'the devil'. OK. I understand that people do that, I guess even mainline Christians...go figure. Aleister Crowley had quite a following at one time. He and his followers held that his excrement was holy. In some rituals it was actually eaten. Would that count for reverent? Me, I'll stick with the Calamari. Incidentally, I have read claims that The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones all "are/were Crowley disciples." H'mmmm, I always suspected..... C'mon, Where does all this end? It ends when we stop trying to control what other people choose to believe or to punish them if they don't believe what we do. As long as we continue to 'examine' beliefs of others...beliefs that we can never fully understand anyway, we are always going to come back to the situation where 'we' are right and 'those others' are wrong, or bad, and should be excluded. None of this is necessary. Edit: Scoutfish, your 3-year-old is right.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

A lot of it is. Check out what Father Reginald Foster, senior Vatican priest has to say about it..."these are all nice stories, you know." Of course I also have to wonder at a claim that Christianity depends on a belief in Satan. Are you sure you want to make that claim?

I apologize for my lack of reverence toward Satan.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

SeattlePioneer, if you're implying that gays can't have children...nonsense! It happens all the time and it requires just about the same biological realities that it does for everyone else. Or...as Paul Ehrlich put it, "People can be produce in vast quantities by unskilled labor who enjoy their work." I add...even if they're gay.

jrush, except that Satan (or whatever endearments we use to describe this concept) is just a myth. Satan doesn't really exist. Nor hell for that matter. Just myth.

OGE, yes. I'd say it more clearly but I'm still chewing on that obfuscation.

Told ya so..... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05binladen.html?hp Not that photos would be proof of anything other than mastery of computer imaging.

I and the parents in this unit and the community, for that matter, see this process as an opportunity for the boy(s) to grow and learn. If a boy breaks the law in some way, rather than punish, we try to address the behavior and the decision-making that led to it. We have had instances of theft of public property, drug violations of various sorts, vandalism, alcohol, etc. In each case the response has been to condemn the act, not the boy. The community has been very good at supporting measures to remedy the thinking errors as well as the infractions and it one reason that I strongly support the PTI process. This has worked very well and in this community, the family gets tagged with responsibility as well as the boy. It doesn't work perfectly but to my mind it is far better than writing the boy off. As far as scout advancement goes, we take things on a case-by-case basis. After one of these occasions, and by the time the dust clears and people can even think about consequences within scouting, it is pretty clear to most of us what the best responses are. There is no black-and-white set of guidelines for this and if there were they would not be an effective substitute for good sense with the well-being of everyone in mind.

Vicki!!!! Where have you been? I've dropped all kinds of sexist claptrap here and there but not a peep. I was starting to worry! I guess it just takes another 'god' topic..... Ed, Shortridge is correct I think. Why can't a person who essentially practices Buddhist philosophies without being Buddhist qualify for membership same as a Buddhist? Both would be atheist. The only difference is a label.

Do cub scouts actually 'get' that? As opposed to the parents? When my children were very young I used to try stuff like this and they sometimes would roll their eyes and tiredly respond to the effect that I was referring again to something from the 'old days'. Yikes!

I agree with artjrk, Eamonn, and Jet526. Your signature is not required. Unless it was not approved in the first place in which case THAT is a problem. You can't be asked or required to approve something after the fact when the procedure is clear that it must be approved beforehand.

That was a great quote by Darrow. It goes onto the favorites list. When I heard that the President was about to speak last night, I woke my wife up to tell her and she didn't even get mad at me. FScouter, I do understand that really, the mission is almost never complete. That banner was good enough for Bush a while back and less deserved then than now, so I invoked it. I do know that there are always going to be 'bad guys' out there and as Beavah noted, we have to continuously push back. I do not agree that pushing back is why they are there. The 'growing up' that I did in the South taught me that persons with no reason whatsoever can decide to hurt other people they don't even know - and enjoy it. Friends of mine that I played with in cub scouts went on to relish killing innocent civilians in VietNam and returned to brag about it. Others decided they hated black folks and claimed to do horrendous acts to them. I have known several men who killed for the thrill of killing and bragged about the n***ers they had killed. These acts were not the result of being pushed or hurt or opposed by anything. The absence of any consequences gave them the freedom to act on their worst desires and then to brag as if it didn't matter. I don't even credit bin Laden with that level of act. He, at least, was driven by anger and hatred over the 'invasion' of his lands by infidels. His mind was very clear about this and he was completely honest about his intent. He decided in his mind that he would not tolerate the long-term presence of infidel troops in his country and he struck at us in the most effective way he could. But his acts were rational and calculating, not mindless or pointless or gratuitous. Killing begets killing only if there is someone who wants to kill in response and no one else is there to prevent it. Edit: I add, as I described in another thread on this topic quite a while back, I am amazed to read in THESE forums, how many there are who would do NOTHING in response to 9/11. Amazed.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

I agree with Trevorum. As I understand past discussions in these forums in which we have beaten this thing to pieces (that's just for you Scoutfish ), if he says he doesn't believe in God "...but I do believe in that rock over there...", that is sufficient and an appeal up the line would confirm that. I think it is arrogant to place oneself in a position of examining another person's faith, much less the faith (or lack of it) of a child. Not only that, but any such attempt is always inadequate because there is no way one person can completely communicate matters of their faith to anyone else.

BS-87, that link is not working for me. It says the page is not available. FYI, if anyone would like see bin Laden's humble abode on GoogleEarth, here are the coordinates: 3410'9.27"N 7314'33.33"E just clip these into the search area for GoogleEarth and hit the search button. Edit: Well, that didn't take long. Looks like I'm not the only one out there...just search on Osama bin Laden in GoogleEarth, they're getting it right now. BS-87, I have a premonition that the next link will work just fine. (This message has been edited by packsaddle)

I'm hoping le Voyageur will get in on this discussion. I have always appreciated and learned from his point of view.

"Mission Accomplished" It's good to think that our intelligence services are not run by cub scouts after all. Now it's time to pull the plug on Karzai and the rest of that wretched country. Bring our people home. Heh, heh, but it's incredible. We'll argue for years about whether or not one guy's birth certificate proves he was born someplace but we just accept on the basis of the media that bin Laden is dead. I say he's not dead at all but in custody at some 'extraordinary rendition' location. Hopefully suffering the fate that I have in mind. Prove me wrong. Show me the body. Oops, it's buried at sea....

AnnLaurelB suggested a response, "Our YP guidelines prevent a registered BSA leader from being responsible for getting your son to and from events, but I'm sure some of the other parents would be glad to help you out," First, the YP guidelines do not prevent such transportation. They merely assist with advice on how to avoid risks while doing something like this. I did this many times over my years as CM and as long as you conform to the guidelines, all is well. Second, I never spoke for others in matters like this. I never attempted to reassure someone by saying "I'm sure some of the others..." unless some of those others actually HAD already volunteered to help out. And in that case I gave specific names of the volunteers. Third, if the intent of the statement is to 'get out' of having to transport the child, simply decline to do it. The mom might be disappointed but the honest directness will give her what she needs to know right away. Otherwise it comes across as passing-the-buck at best or an outright deception at worst. I guarantee that the mother in question for this thread has heard similar words many, many times over the years as she tries her best to raise her son.

Artjrk, I seem to remember Clinton and GHW Bush joining to gain international relief support for victims of Katrina, the Indonesia tsunami, and the Haiti earthquake. I suspect they're continuing their collaboration and their international involvement. vol_scouter, I have no idea what lines you're talking about...but as you wish. Scoutfish, sorry, I misunderstood your intent.