packsaddle

Really? That would be news to a whole bunch of Buddhist (and a bunch of people of quite a few other faiths). Though I guess you could be one of those people that don't believe Buddhism is a real religion. Even BSA seems to agree that almost any belief could form the basis of an acceptable religion, for the basis of membership. So what's the difference between a superstition and a religious belief, if the difference isn't merely a matter of perspective?

I've made footprints using a variety of materials and some grommets. It's not hard. I have one favorite tent whose floor I've protected so well that the floor is still just great even though the roof and fly are both tearing and splitting from all the sun damage, lol. Sometimes you just have to let go. Or...maybe take a piece of blue plastic instead of the fly? Around these parts, we've already gotten more than our normal annual rainfall and it shows no sign of letting up. To think that a couple of months ago, agencies were arguing over whether or not there was still a drought, lol.

What the frakkin' frik are you talking about? What you "quote" me as saying cannot be found anyway in what I had posted. That makes you a gorm-darned liar! Would you please attempt to clarify just what the frak you might be talking about? Look, YOU wrote to JoeBob about "What you "quote" me as saying...." It's in your post above this comment. So I looked in JoeBob's post and I didn't see where he quoted you. So I asked you to indicate where he quoted you. If you can't do that, that's ok. Just say so. That statement about keeping BSA professionals away....YOU wrote that. It was in YOUR comment to Skeptic yesterday at 644pm.

What the frakkin' frik are you talking about? What you "quote" me as saying cannot be found anyway in what I had posted. That makes you a gorm-darned liar! Would you please attempt to clarify just what the frak you might be talking about? Uuuuh, I don't see the quote. In what part of JoeBob's post did he claim to quote you? As for " Every single Scouting volunteer must make it his primary mission and imperative to keep BSA professionals as far away from his unit and from his people as is at all possible." And it took all of this discussion and strife in order for you to arrive at THAT conclusion? Wow. Seems almost self-evident to me, regardless of the topic.

I'm with you on that chowda! And the lobsters and syrup are just fine as well. But if you want to experience a real cuisine you'll join me in New Iberia next time they have the world championship gumbo cookoff...for a week or so of all kinds of wonderful cuisine statements, not just the gumbo either. Yes, you have a few noteworthy things by virtue of your natural resources but with the exception of the clams, you've done almost nothing truly creative with it like we have with just about everything we've brought to the region from all over the world. I mean it. Come to New Iberia and find out what 'cuisine' really means. In comparison, with respect to food, New England=boring. Now about that other stuff. Tongue in cheek is NOT part of the cuisine. What the heck do you think the civil war was intended to do? Yes, I know it was all about slavery but slavery was merely a means to an end. And THAT was to PRESERVE a system in which a very few rich people could suck the life out of a whole lot of poor people. Third World! But the South lost that war so it had to find another way to keep that way of life alive. And it doesn't matter which political party is dominant here. The democrats were just as bad before the Republicans discovered how powerful prejudice could be. It's still a good-ol'-boy system that favors the few and pretends all sorts of things while it preserves all kinds of social and economic inequities. I grew up in it. I know it well. I've observed many of the changes personally. The thing is, if you keep people ignorant enough, just enough, so that they can still doff spindles (for example) but have no idea what benefits they might have from forming unions (for example), those workers will also support that wretched status quo. The privileged few knew this long ago and they still know it. It's one of those unspoken things that you will only hear an admission of from, say, the guy down the road who is an open racist. Those ideas are not dead. They're just simmering deep down like the really tasty stuff in an unstirred gumbo. But this IS the South. And if you go to many places in the third world, you'll find very similar social and economic structures (not to mention roads and bridges). So living 'here' makes it really easy to visit 'there'. I know the 'score'. I have an innate understanding that helps me avoid mistakes. And for that, I'm thankful. (plus, I have a really good 'sense' for where there might be some other great cuisines to sample, here and there, yum!)

"Do these states have a worse education system and more poverty.. I would imagine they do." Hey, you're slamming my region here. Remember what it felt like to have your state motto poked fun at? Besides, it's all in your imagination, remember? But even if it isn't, I like the wretchedness of my region. I don't want them to improve but rather I want it just like it is and to stay like this for a long time. I admit my reasoning is selfish but this allows me to visit third-world countries with great ease. I get off the plane and feel right at home...no adjustment needed. So go ahead and cast your aspersions, at least WE have legitimate cuisines, lots of them. What do YOU have? Lobster? Syrup?

"All absolutes are false by definition." Except, of course, for this one, heh, heh.

Well, yeah, I've read that stuff. Look, this is not a legal system. It's not a government agency with regulations they're legally required to follow. It's a private club. And, as it's been made clear to me many times over the years, the 'rules' for membership are pretty much whatever the 'top brass' want them to be, interpreted pretty much however they want to. As your experience shows empirically, just because they don't explicitly exclude someone doesn't mean that person (or group) is not excluded. Now you can complain loudly about openness and honesty and honor and all that and I'll be right there with you. But as long as the 'Lords Proprietors' or the 'High Priests' want it to be the way it is, it WILL be. I wish you luck.

I suspect a collection agency would seek and accept money from anyone they thought might be willing to pay, even if for no other reason than to end the harassment. But if the economic meltdown and moral fabric of our financial industry is any guide, considering that practically no one has been convicted of anything, I'd guess that no one is responsible. Don't worry about it, just walk away and leave the unit 'holding the bag'. Seems to have worked for bankers and brokers. On the other hand, if you happen to be the CEO who has committed comparatively minor transgressions (without sending the entire world into near economic collapse) AND you happen to be a woman...lady, you're going to prison. Just ask Martha.

You know....you have to wonder what the purpose is for a DRP in the first place, or even those words in the oath, if BSA really doesn't care about whether or not members are religious? You have to wonder why BSA has so strongly resisted, even claiming to be a private religious organization, if for the past 23 years, they actually welcomed atheists as members? Before I could possibly consider claims that atheists are welcome as members, I'd have to first read such as explicit policy from BSA itself. And I'd need for BSA to answer my opening questions. Of course, there's also a diabolically delicious way to test all this....and that is for lots of atheists to submit their applications to become members. H'mmmmm? Merlyn, ready to give it a try? Edit to add: DWise1, welcome to the forums. I have to ask, was that really your first post here? BTW, if you click on the underlined 'A' in the message menu, it opens the editor so that you can do all sorts of cutesy things to the message.

I'm with Basementdweller on this. Make sure your own records are secure and complete. Don't depend on anyone else. And destroy them when they're no longer needed. Old photos, awards, newspaper clippings, etc...I'd keep those.

In my best imitation of Father Guido Sarducci, "I blama myselfa". I knew there was a risk that starting this thread would just bring the complaints and I have to admit my amusement at the dark humor of a lot of this so I'm not saying you guys need to stop it necessarily. BUT in the spirit of rekindling the original intent of the thread, ...thinking.....oh, what the heck, just carry on.

OK, now that we're into the introspective, self-analysis phase, I have been watching all this with the 'fickle finger of fate' hovering, ready to pounce. GM seemed to be giving as good as she received but I sensed an expectation from the first post that she would get support from all you well-seasoned soldiers. She didn't. But she was plucky enough to continue to butt heads for a while. As I read her posts I sensed that she's good at that and I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing. But none of us wins all the battles and sometimes wisdom is expressed when we can make a good decision about which hill is the one we're willing to die for. She didn't seem to be good at that. I'm not sure she gained from this experience, either. All that said, I'm glad that I didn't apply the 'fickle finger of fate' but...wouldn't it have been great if everyone could have gained from the experience?

Aw, now you're taking all the fun out. You DO know that bigfoot is real...right?

Wow. Mind-boggling.

Polygamy is still legal in the USA as well. Just not all at the same time. Just ask Newt Gingrich.

DigitalScout, Do you think the Illuminati also were behind the whitewash job done to accept racial integration and interracial marriage and end the purity of the white race? If so, one can only guess what their motives were.

DigitalScout, if you will take Scouter99's excellently-researched post and apply it here, you will see that almost exactly the same arguments and reasons explain the change regarding as well as concern/opposition about interracial marriage (actually nearly all aspect of racial integration). I remember it well. The same conspiracies, Biblical references, etc. It makes perfect sense.

OK, I do know about hyponatremia. Just never heard of 'water chugging' before. I am astonished that something like this would rise to the top of the 'fun' bucket. You know, I bet if we had better stuff for them to do, water chugging would fall off of their list of 'fun' things to do, hint, hint.

Uuuuhhhh, what is water chugging?

Well, he was wrong about quantum mechanics. And while I never heard him play I have been told he 'sucked' at playing the violin, as if that is relevant to anything.

Scouter99, Actually, I did read Karl's book years ago. I saw a copy in a bookstore and had heard that it was 'controversial'. My apologies. It was a great book. Truly visionary, now that I reflect on it. And about those other things. You're right about those too. The political machine worked perfectly and now in the 40 years since Victorian times, we've definitely "become much more conservative about teen sex." And much more tolerant of the whatever-you-want-to-call-it. No question about it, the evidence is all around us. My apologies.

Exactly. Contemporary events seem to contradict his claims.

The use of the term 'whitewash' is Scouter99's interpretation and opinion. While I understand that his view of things is different I'm less certain that he's actually provided evidence to support it. Perhaps he can help both of us out with some clarification in that case. BTW, I made no claims whatsoever about what you wrote or what you think. All I did was ask some questions about it. If you don't know the answers that's OK. He's also free to provide those if he wants to.

Sentinel947, perhaps you can clarify what Scouter99 means by the part of his statement, "....because at the same time we (as a society) have been learning not to judge people who pick up boys for sex in locker rooms and write Top 40 hits about it, we've ironically become much more conservative about teen sex " First, do you think that Scouter99 really speaks for all of society? And then do you think all of society really has been learning not to judge pedophiles? I confess my doubts regarding both of these things. And that part about all of society becoming "much more conservative about teen sex"....I am astonished. Perhaps I don't understand what 'conservative' means in that context but I would have concluded exactly the opposite IF I were bold enough to think I could speak for all of society. What do you think?