OldGreyEagle

Pack212, I sorta see your point, the question I have it how long will this last? Football season lasts until mid-November, perhaps a few weeks more if the team is involved in a state tournament. Anyway, the season will be over by December, if the scout starts attending on time and in uniform from then until next football season, I dont see a problem. The issue I see is when Football season morphs into Basketball morphs into baseball and the scout is always late, then I agree with your questioning if scouting is worthwhile, but for a few months? I think the program can handle it

Its just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right, with your hands on your hips and bring your knees in tight ... Lets do the time warp again

Whatever the faults of Jimmy Carter as a president, he has been one of the best ex-presidents the country has ever had. I don''t always agree with his statement, especially some recent ones, but he didnt prostitute himself as an ex-president racking up speaking engagement revenue that was of itself obscene. Given we have people that can''t abide women in the BSA, do you think there are enough voters who can forgive the New York senator''s sex and Husband?

Well, as far as I can tell, all the "bad guys" (and I will let you all define who is bad in your own terms)always wear clothes Therefore, to disassociate myself from the bad guys, I renounce the wearing of clothes as evil and hence forth shall only be seen in what I was born with (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

But I did find a volcano in Japan that has a fake lake in its crater that opens and closes ....

It was a late and black night when we pulled into the Gettysburg Group Camp site. We set up quickly and sent the youth to sleep, talked about the activities of the next day and who would watch what. Then we retired. About first light, 5:30 am-6:00 am or so, we were all awaken to the rather loud MOOOS of some very close cows who did not seem happy. I scrambled out of my tent, to see our camp site backed up against a huge cow pasture and most of its occupants were clustered up against the fence between us and them. Of course, finding out we were immediately adjacent to the Eisenhower Farm, was a revelation but my first thought that we were in the path of a major stampede made me jittery all day.

But Gern, just like motorcycle helmet laws that are over turned because you can''t protect people from themselves, banning another Clinton or Bush is denying the people to have the goverment they want, or deserve, depending on how you look at it Looking at past presidents of the recent past, the governors have been Reagan, Carter, Clinton,and Bush (not 41), not exactly glimmering role models from either side of the aisle. I would think the next President would be smart to make Jeb Bush director of FEMA, this is a guy with experience in disasters, of any ilk/ There isnt much that can happen that he hasnt seen.

I know this is dated, but I don''t see it having changed much, in my Camp School Book, dated 2004, in the back it lists Program Standards. M-64 states in part "... Except for a COPE wall event or high beam activities, any time a camp participant is engaged in an activity that is 6 feet or more above the ground level, the person is belayed. COPE wall events and high beam activities are carefully spotted" That''s where the 6 feet thing and belaying comes in. Now, it does say "Camp Participant", so members of a Troop off on a private wood lot building a monkey bridge for the Pioneering merit badge would not seem to apply. I know it would kill my pioneering spirit if after endless hours of wrapping and frapping I had to get into a climbing harness and be belayed before I could cross the bridge. Then again, once I am in court on the charge of negligence because a non-belayed scout lost his grip, slipped off the bridge and is a paraplegic, the belay thing makes more sense. I have seen plenty of plans for monkey bridges and signal towers, what I havent seen is plans for the belay apparatus. To test the structure, it has to be used. Climbing all over a structure you made and is tall, is the best recruiting tool possible Monday at school and retention tool. A story about the kid with the broken neck after falling off a bridge pretty much puts a damper on future recruiting. The answer seems to be in the adult leaders judgement of what is safe and proper behavior.

Nor should you

So Ed, you are admitting you just bait Merlyn with your comments?

Its all in how you view the instructions, OhioScouter, Ain''t it? eartson sitrom aroh ni te, cnun, ... The Sister Principal got the idea when she fouind out that Da Vinci wrote all his notes backward

I thought in Camp School they taught anything over 6 feet in height required anyone on it to be belayed? Could only apply to Camps?

Calico, that would all depend on whether I meant catholic or Catholic, n''cest pas?

Eamonn, hurry up, can you get here by tomorrow? Its Celtic Classic time in the Lehigh Valley. http://www.celticfest.org/2007CelticClassic/index.html The Haggis eating contest is tonight, the Highland games go on all week end and then there is the Irish Singing, the Scottish Dancing, and the stout drinking and dog handling (you can be sure "That''ll do pig, that''ll do" will be heard at least 100 times) the bag pipe contest. First prize, we throw the pipes away for you, second prize, you have to throw them away yourself

If silent prayer is allowed anywhere, then it follows that silent prayer is allowed in a public high school. I think the issue all along has been public prayer. I wonder if the public high school announcer of a football game invoked Allah to keep all the participants of the game safe would no comment be made? If at the end of the school announcements, a prayer was offered to Gaia, would that pass as fine? If a speaker at a commencement exercise said a prayer, and thanked Jesus as part of a speech representing that persons'' thoughts and feelings, then that speech, prayer and mention of God is covered under the first amendment and is protected.

Well Trev, one could say that Boy Scouts have lost the moral highground or that presidential candidates no longer seek it. It is in the eye of the beholder... As interesting sidelight, let''s say Senator Clinton becomes president. That would make her the Honorary President of the BSA, which she may or may not accept, but thats not the issue. The spouse of the president has traditionally been the honorary president of the GSUSA. Now, keeping with tradition that would make her husband the honorary president of the Girl Scouts and can you imagine the costernation that could cause?

Way back when I first watched Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War, I was struck by the prose written by the rank and file soldiers writting to sweethearts, wives, and mothers back home. I never did understand how all the poets and romanticists ended up in the army!

I moved this here from its original location

Long time readers may remember I went to a Roman Catholic Prepatory Seminary for high school. St Charles Borromeo, on Rte 66 in Lockport, Il. As it was a very small school, in my junior year we had 23 kids in our class, and being a boarding school Sunday-Friday, the school didnt offer college entrance testing. We had to go to the local schools near our homes. I remember the day I took the ACTs , being in the public high school almost all my friends went to every day and it was my first time. Not sure of directions, rest room locations, etc. I do remember one thing, proper or not, many prayers were said that day and never once was I stopped or interrupted.

I see Scouting in terms of "cans", we can backpack, we can rock climb, we can whitewater raft, we can canoe, we can survive on only what you can bring in a shoebox for the weekend, we can have fun rather than "can''ts", You can''t bring a cellphone, you can''t bring an Ipod, you can''t have a BOR without a uniform, you can''t do anything the adults think will distract you from the experience they want you to have. If part of scouting is teaching youth to make decisions, having them decide what to bring on events would seem to be a natural. If during your events you find scouts more interested in electronics and phones that the scheduled activity, then the answer may be in upgrading the activity, not banning items. The country tried Prohibition, it didnt work.

YIPPEE, My pulse is almost back to normal, respirations becomming steady and blood pressure leveling off its good to be back...

I gotta tell you, if I get anything back with the grammar corrected in red, I am apt to get a flash back to the 15 years I spent in catholic education and will most likely be found under my desk, sucking my thumb and reciting the Ave Maria in Latin backwards (a common disciplinary measure of my elementary education)

Keep in mind that alternate requirements require the statement of a qualified medical health-care provider as to the permanent nature of the disability. I usually, I think, am on the youth''s side in matters similar to this, but are we sure its not just a case of a couch potato being asked to move his buns for the first time in his life? Not being a health-care provider, I can''t say, but this sounds like a lot of territory need to be covered before alternate requirements are written. We applaud scouts who struggle for 3 years to pass a swimming test, shouldnt we be thinking the same way for walking? Then again, it may be real,

ANother question could be, why are we (or they) requiring any uniform at a BOR, since this is adding to the requirements?

scoutldr that is what I was trying to say all along