OldGreyEagle

Sorry, but I choose to be pig headed about this, as opposed to other situations where I am pig headed but dont choose to be So, the answer is to abandon all the publicly funded facilities that have accumulated over the years because we as a people cant make the system work? What is next, vouchers to choose what type of government we want? I want a benevolent dictatorship, my neighbor a democracy and the guy across the street a representative republic. Yeah, that should work as well

I dont know if all Voucher systems are the same, so I will have to assume (never good) all voucher systems are set up the way the one I am familiar with. It seems to me that comming up with a voucher system is a way of ignoring the obvious. That the regular public school system pretty well sucks the big one. So, instead of holding the local school board''s feet to the fire, or the local teacher''s union accountable, we will issue vouchers to allow students to attend schools that "work". So, does that mean we just abandon the schools that dont?

I may be completely off base here, but I have a question. If you are at a Shopping Mall, and you see an individual who was in the papers and indentified as a convicted dope dealer, can your off duty police officer husband arrest him? Even if he is on duty, can a person be arrested because of a past conviction? While the above poster''s are correct the SE should be notified if there is any hint of drug use or being under the influence, the fact the parents have a drug conviction history is not a reason to prohibit them from actvities. Now, showing up under the influence is of course a different matter, and worthy of calls to the SE and local on duty police. And I should add if the CO doesnt want convicts'' kids they have that right

alexsma At some point you should be getting a course evaluation form, or perhaps you already have. Be sure to mention the uncertainty you felt regarding the ticket issue. The handling of the Wood Badge tickets is the weakest part of a great program, I dont understand why such a great exerience has to include the misery of ticket writing by people without a clue administered by people who seem loath to give help.

Just to be accurate, if you are a male wearing a kilt, you had better not be wearin'' panties nor any other hint of an undergarment if you know whats good for you (and you want to be historically accurate)

I did not mean to imply the money found was in the congressional office searched although I certainly could have worded my post on that topic better.

Ok, I will use hyperbole So, if a Congressman wants to use his Official Congressional Office as a combination brothel/opium den, its sanctity cant be violated by law enforcement agencies? The guy was caught red handed still in the cookie jar and all I heard about was how illegal the search was. No condemnation of what was done by the COngressman

Is thie related to that guy from Lousiana who had cash stuffed in his freezer because he was accepting bribes and fought the search as he thought it was unconstitutional?

Peer Pressure or the mistaken notion that scouts are "gay" has been around for a very long time. Even the best scoutmaster ever, Lem Siddons had a recalcitrant youth in his town. Whitey, when first asked to join the troop, replied he didnt want to associate with a bunch of "daisy pickin' momma's boys", so it was always there. In the late 60's in the Chicago suburbs we went 18 month without wearing the field uniform except to Scout Sunday as it wasnt considered safe for us to do so. And while a Cub, I had worn my uniform to school on Den Meeting days without any issues. Truly the best defense a scout has about being a scout is to explain what he just did last week, month, year, and be proud of it.

The National Zoo

When backpacking, a delicious evening snack is to take a can of chocolate frosting, warm it by the fire, or better yet, make a double boiler with your cook stove and melt the frosting down and have Oreo chocolate fondue. You can also use vanilla wafers or anything else you manage to bring along relatively in good shape

then again, one fears the response, "I haven't a square to spare" But it does bring a new meaning to the childhood rhyme "skip to my loo, my darling..."

I always get "Man Vs Wild" and Surviorman confused, but I do know the boys love talking about the show. Work some of the stunts they do. No food unless the catch it on their own. (most likely limited to fish)Or they have to, as a patrol (team) accomplish something like Survivor on network TV, to get food. I never thought kids would flock to book stores to read books, but Harry Potter proved me wrong, kids can be touched, we have to figure the key.

But there is one such law in Beverly Hills, California for sure at least in 1998 and Beverly Hills has never been mistaken for a bedrock of conservatism Minneapolis, Minnesota is a pretty liberal place, at least I always thought so, I could be wrong

I almost agree with the writer, but why do I keep thinking this is like the exasperated business man who when stopped for doing 50 MPH in a 30 MPH zone demands to know from the officer why the officer isnt out catching "real criminals" and not harassing law abiding citizens?

Gee Pack, I am here and I reread the posts and have to say that I am not sure I feel the same way about the topic as I did 5 years ago. Does that make me bad? A Relative Moralist? If as time goes on, my view/opinion on a topic changes, is that good? bad? of no consequence? When Bill Clinton was first elected president, I voted for him, he soon lost his lustre, when George W Bush won, I was happy. I liked him after 9/11 even more. I was and am for the military action in the Mid-East but the handling of post-invasion Iraq is lacking. Then again, I know from personal experience that destruction is much easier and more quickly accomplished then construction. When I was a youth I was with John Lennon when he sang "All we are saying is give peace a chance", then again, I have since thought "how do you make peace with someone who wants you dead?" I understand the ten commandments are as valuable today as they ever were, but generally what we talk about are not found specifically in the 10 commandments.

As Spiro Agnew would say, dont let nattering nabobs of negativism get in your way, you are doing fine

Gee, Marktrail, didnt I read about your exploits in the funny papers? Having said that, don't worry about the OA being over run by mere girls as Venturing Crews do not hold elections. Of course, a male Venturer could be elected, as a member of his troop, and then wear the lodge flap on his Venturing uniform. The women you saw with Lodge Flaps are all adults and all reccommended by their Troop COmmittee and accepted by the Lodge. Now, lets get on to how the "watering" down of scouting, you may find lots of common thinking here

How do you assume that what you describe is the sign off tradition in the troop I serve I serve? There is no such thing as the minimum requirements, there is the requirement no more no less. There is no sign it off once and lets move on, the scouting experience is built on learning skills and being in situations where those skills are used. If the troop program does not allow for use of the skills, then there is a problem, in the troop program, not in First Class First Year. If as you say items are signed off and the scout doesnt know the requirement, then that is a failing of the Troop and the way it signs off items and not of the scout or of First Class First Year

OGE, was he just a guard, the coordinator or the director? Was he gone the next week, after all the complaints to the camp director? I beleive you meant OGO (OldGreyOwl)

Perhaps I was emotional, the guy hasnt posted in nearly 2 years and his name is bantered about like he posted 15 minutes ago. I apologize

you know, for a guy who hasnt posted here since 9/28/2005 he certainly egenders a lot of emotion yet. Obviously he has moved on, should we not do the same?

We had a similar case about a year ago. A scout who has Aspbergers was involved in an altercation at Summer Camp and was sent home early. As the youth was scheduled to be on a High Adventure trip in a few weeks, the Scoutmaster, Committee Chair and adults going on the trip met and discussed what to do. The scout was allowed to go on the trip. His father was present, he had always planned in it. But during the trip 2 other incidents lead to the scout being asked to leave the troop. It was a tough decision. The boys father was a bright enthusiastic guy who helped plan most of the High Adventure Trip. The scout had never been really liked by the other youth, but he was tolerated but as he reached puberty, his strength increased and his mood swings increased and he tendency to violence increased. The troop has a reputation for handling "problem" kids. most of the COmmitee and ASM have ADD kids and we like to think we can handle anybody, but when faced with the total uncertainty of this boy, he was asked to leave. One of the tougher things in scouting, nay in life I have had to do was look at the father in the COmmittee meeting and tell him I like your boy, but he is a danger to others and now that we know it, we cant ignore it. We are volunteers we should do all we can to help the boys in our troop, but we can never go beyond our own abilities

When you say charges are they: Criminal Civil In the Troop Committee In the COuncil, In what venue ?

Wasnt George Michael arrested for the same thing? In 1998 he was fined $810 and 80 hours of community service. Now, of course that was in California, but how different could the punishements be? I am sure I will find out Whenever a person or an organization espouses values and tries to live them, it always creates controversey when that organization fails. The Catholic Church with its shuffling around of pedophiliac clergy and the BSA with its Writer of Youth Protection a child porn fanatic. But, does that make the principles of the organization null and void? Does the impropriety of an individual(s) besmirch the entire organization? Can I say because a judge in my state has been convicted of bribery, that I dont have to respect any decision ruled on by that judge? If state legislators pass an illegal pay increase, do I get to ignore the associated tax increase? If I take the position that I will only follow prefection, I set myself up to be awfully disappointed.