acco40

Frog with no legs is deaf. As an engineer, I get a kick out of medical research because very rarely, does it show cause and effect, just tendencies. For example, bald men age and eventually die and then someone (media, misguided doctors) or some corporation (Merck-propecia, Pfizer-rogaine) touts their new drug to prevent baldness and prolong our life! Data, in and of itself, is not good nor bad. I think it would be wonderful to collect data on gun violence - the questions are who pays for database management, who enters the data, who has access to the data, etc.

Five shot on MLK road, after MLK parade, on MLK day. To quote Linda Ellerbee, and so it goes. The New Orleans Police Department says that a gunman in a white sedan shot at five teens in front of a store on Martin Luther King near LaSalle around 1 p.m. Monday. The incident occurred on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday marked by a parade in New Orleans that passed by the area of the shooting about 30 minutes prior to the incident. Five people were shot in the incident. The injuries were said to be non-life-threatening. According to police, the drive-by shooting was caught on surveillance video.

I'm old enough to remember the last war where the Government drafted able bodied young men against their will, I wasn't impressed.

FDIC insurance is now to 250,000K. That is correct if the "units" are in tenths of a cent. Otherwise, it is $250K or $250,000.

This would solve the problem really fast, unless we run out of bullets. Anyone who harms another individual with a firearm should be shot.

What this case shows is what many, many cases have shown and what research in other countries have shown. Folks living in homes that have guns are more likely to be injured or killed by gunfire than folks who live in homes that do not have guns. Data from a US mortality follow-back survey were analyzed to determine whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home. Those persons with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 3.4). They were also at greater risk of dying from a firearm homicide, but risk varied by age and whether the person was living with others at the time of death. The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 10.4, 95% confidence interval: 5.8, 18.9). Persons with guns in the home were also more likely to have died from suicide committed with a firearm than from one committed by using a different method (adjusted odds ratio = 31.1, 95% confidence interval: 19.5, 49.6). Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home. -American Journal of Epidemiology Granted, folks who feel threatened by homicide may be more inclined to have a gun in the home and that may skew the statistics somewhat.(This message has been edited by acco40)

Anyone of you who believe that your kids are more important to the Nation that the current President's kids are complete idiots. That's rather harsh. Don't confuse "importance" with newsworthy or celebrity. Have you ever read Luigi Pirandello's War?

Currently from The Scoutmaster Handbook Most patrol activities take place within the framework of the troop. However, patrols may also set out on day hikes, service projects, and overnighters independent of the troop as long as they follow two rules: The Scoutmaster approves the patrol activity. The patrol activity does not interfere with any troop function. A patrol activity without adult supervision should be allowed only when it has been thoroughly planned and the Scoutmaster is satisfied that the activity is well within the patrol members levels of training and responsibility. If the Scoutmaster has any doubts, encourage the patrol to reconsider its plans, or assign adults to accompany the patrol during the activity in question. G2SS under Scouting's Barrier to Abuse section. Two-deep leadership on all outings required. Two registered adult leaders, or one registered leader and a parent of a participating Scout or other adult, one of whom must be 21 years of age or older, are required for all trips and outings. There are a few instances, such as patrol activities, when the presence of adult leaders is not required and adult leadership may be limited to training and guidance of the patrol leadership. With the proper training, guidance, and approval by the troop leaders, the patrol can conduct day hikes and service projects. Appropriate adult leadership must be present for all overnight Scouting activities; coed overnight activitieseven those including parent and childrequire male and female adult leaders, both of whom must be 21 years of age or older, and one of whom must be a registered member of the BSA. The chartered organization is responsible for ensuring that sufficient leadership is provided for all activities. Okay, these two resources seem to conflict. the SMHB is 2010 printing.(This message has been edited by acco40)

Again, how is that being communicated to the unit level? Via the commissioner staff only?

The backdrop I always found entertaining was the state of the union addresses with a president of one party and a usually cynical, bored looking speaker of the house, from the opposition party, sitting squarely behind him.

If a small bank goes belly up our money should still be protected in some manner Why should the size of a bank matter? If I lose $100 at ChaseManhattan that's okay but if it is by my local community bank it is not? What is being suggested by Mr. Fisher, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank head, was not deposit insurance based on the size of the bank but based on the type of investment. He suggests only commercial banking operations receive protection in the form of federal deposit insurance. Other activities securities trading, insurance operations and real estate should fall outside any backstop. Furthermore, he recommends that these banks require customers and trading partners to sign an agreement stating that they understand the business they are conducting is not covered by any federal protection or guarantees. Now as for myself, I know that even though I may have $150,000 invested in a commercial bank, FDIC only covers it to $100K. Also, not sure exactly what kind of "backstop" Fisher is referencing (federal bailouts maybe) but didn't know any guarantees for securities trading, insurance operations, real estate, etc. existed as he implies.

Yeah, the wacko liberal mind of none other than Antonin Scalia acknowledged that the Second Amendment is not unlimited and is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose. I say treat guns like cars - tax them, register them, license them, make operating them limited to qualified individuals and test those individuals on a periodic basis. For me, a non-gun owner, now I don't have to just tolerate the nut cases that may be lurking with their guns of what ever vintage, caliber, capacity, etc. but it looks like now I'll have to fund them too.

Kansas City John, Scouting.org still has the G2SS on-line which states:There are a few instances, such as patrol activities, when the presence of adult leaders is not required and adult leadership may be limited to training and guidance of the patrol leadership. This is advertised to the BSA as being updated quarterly so even though it has a 2012 copyright, I don't think it is more than three months old. Where are you getting your facts? I'm not implying you are wrong, just wanted to know how this was communicated.

jpstodwftexas - obviously you don't understand that my children are much more important than yours. Seriously, it really is an easy concept that Beavah is trying to state. Yes, all children are equally important but when my neighbors house is on fire, do I complain that the fire department came to their house first? Heck, why didn't they check on my kids at the same time? The obvious answer is risk assessment. The real questions that should be asked is who makes these risk assessments and then after they are made, how much of our limited resources should we expend to ameliorate these risks. Right now, the president, the vice president, and their immediate families receive secret service protection during their time in office. The president and his wife are used to be entitled to receive secret service protection after he left office for life - now that has been reduced to 10 years - due mostly to economic pressures (or a Republican dislike of Clinton?). Malia and Natasha will get protection until the age of 16. These are protections that these folks should get - not because they are more important, but because the risk is is greater- risk as defined by both the likelihood and consequences.

The people of New Jersey? Thanks for those well thought out opinions. I don't think Christie is enamoring himself with Republican insiders but I find it refreshing when a politician doesn't seem to care about that all that much.

With a stroke of a pen, I could immediately have my Constitutional rights stripped away and made a criminal. That scares me more than determining what an assault rifle is. Um, no. If that "stroke of a pen" changed the constitution, striking down or more probably, interpreting the 2nd Amendment more like Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer and Stevens did in dissent in D.C. vs. Heller, your constitutional rights would not be stripped away - just changed. Southern slave owners did not have their constitutional rights stripped away. Right now, a ban on hand guns in the home or requiring them to be kept unloaded is not constitutional. The courts have not said bans on assault rifles or heavier weapons are not constitutional. States may require background checks or a national registry or licensing standards or waiting periods and impose conditions on the commercial sale of guns. Also, bans on machine guns, sawed-off shotguns as well as restrictions on carrying guns near schools, and to prohibitions on ownership for felons and others individuals are all considered constitutional. The beauty and curse of our constitution is that is can be changed or interpreted differently as time goes on.(This message has been edited by acco40)

. . . on integrating them into troop activities and the advancement with younger Scouts. That's the rub. Go look at boys in school, the athletic field, gangs, neighborhood, etc. - not too many 14-17 year-old boys choose to hang with 10-13 year-old boys. Don't force it. Let the boys choose their patrols and invariably, the vast majority will gravitate toward age based/peer based patrol. There is nothing wrong with that. Yes, they are still members of the troop but having a stronger patrol identity, nothing wrong with that.

Christie is correct, the children of politicians should not be used as political pawns. If Republicans use them, that doesn't make it right for Democrats. If Democrats use them, that doesn't make it right for Republicans. It is my opinion that having armed adults at our children's schools would not make them safer. If fact, I believe it would increase the amount of gun violence. Yeah, lots of my friends can't believe that I hold that attitude but from the evidence that I see, the proliferation of firearms in a society increases the the probability of death and injury due to firearms. I know, that seems like a crazy notion, but I'm not alone in that thought. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/ Yes, we happen to beat those bastions of freedom, Serbia (#2) and Yemen (#3) as having the most guns per capita by a wide margin - just under one per person. Switzerland, which has compulsory military service, is #4 and less than half of the USA in per capita ownership! The USA is about #10 in the death rate due to firearms with suicide almost twice that of homicides (about 1 per 10,000). I believe, more firearm deaths are triggered by distress, as opposed to crime (suicides, Aurora, Sandyhook, etc.) Heck, if we got rid of our antiquated drug laws, crime deaths would go down even more. This easy access to guns is a public health crisis. Gun deaths due to accidents and suicide are about double those due to other gun deaths. An interesting fact is that Americans own just slightly more guns per capita than automobiles (888 vs. 812 per 1,000). And, it's close but autos kill slightly more than guns - roughly around 30,000 to 35,000 per year. It is projected, due to the auto fatalities decreasing, and gun deaths increasing that by next year or so, gun deaths will exceed automobile deaths. For automobiles, the government (usually the states) require licensing with written and practical tests, require a renewal every four years or so (including updated photo and cursory medical test), require special licensing and training for special products (motorcycles, commercial, trucks, etc.), require product registration and mandatory liability insurance policy, effective enforcement of product safety and use regulations, key locks and other anti-theft devices, mandated best safety features in spite of additional cost (seat belts, air bags, anti-lock brakes, etc.), age restrictions, industry or publicly funded awareness and safety campaigns and the restriction of high-performance, unsafe products to private courses/ranges. I don't see a ground swell of emotion about the regulation of autos? Nobody is claiming that making me register my car is really an ulterior motive for getting rid of all cars. Why the fanaticism about firearms? The USA is the only "wealthy" nation in the top ten wrt gun deaths. Americans kill each other at double the rate of Canadians, more than double of Switzerland, three times the rate of France, five times the rate of Israel, and more than ten times the gun death rate of Germany, England, or Japan. All of those societies have violent movies, (pick your poison) rock/rap/hip-hop/jazz music, violent video games and large ethnic minority populations (except for the Swiss). What is the difference? Easy access to firearms.

I'll add a little levity. One day at summer camp, one the first year scouts, who had a rather calm, easy going disposition, sits down at a picnic table with myself (SM) and about four other scouts. He calmly pulls out his knife and then next thing you know, waves his arm back left to right and back again. The Scouts to his immediate left and right dive out of the way and everyone is just sitting there in shock for a second or two. Finally, I can sense the scout has no real aggression and I ask him what in the heck was he doing. Well, he stated, that is what they taught us in Pathfinder today, before you use your knife, make sure everyone is at least an arms length away. In his eyes, he was just mimicking his instructor that day. Well, I calmly but firmly informed him of the proper way to ensure the arms length rule and he was fine. I'm sure other adults may have acted differently but it did help that I knew this scout and was able to witness firsthand the entire event. I also made a side trip to the volunteer Pathfinder instructors the next day!

Good God, who do you think run IOLS? They are volunteers like everyone else. If your training staff is subpar, why not volunteer to fix it? Yes, I've taken some training that was really lacking. JOeBob, instead of being fearful of riling up trainers, why not think of future Scouters that may take the course and administer constructive criticism (every IOLS course should solicit feedback) and even go further and volunteer to help out the next IOLS training opportunity.

There are wives (and husbands) who get upset if their spouse spends too much time away from the home. There are wives (and husbands) who relish the idea of their spouse spending more time outside of the home. Some marriages collapse when one partner spends to much time at the office or on travel. Other marriages collapse when the now retired spouse spends way too much time hovering around the other spouse who was used to their "space." Bottom line, do what works best for your case.

So we've progresesd to the point that teachers can't be trusted to administer corporal punishment but we would like for them to carry guns?

The flip side is if your are a Scoutmaster or other similar leadership position - folks look to you to "get it right." When you are dealing with peoples kids, the parents usually don't cut you to much slack. Forget that they put in a total of about 15 minutes into scouting each year, if you don't get everything 100% "correct" - look out! Yes it is a balance, but if an adult does agree to be a SA, DL or such, they should do a quality job and make sure they learn the fine art of delegation!

In Boy Scouts, our "CCW" for knives is earning the Totin' Chip. As one can see, a certified knife holder (Scout who has earned the Totin' Chip) may act in a irresponsible manner. Also, just like firearms, you can see there is not a universal agreement to the justifiable use of such a weapon. Pulling a knife = dismissal from the Troop... nothing else really matters. vs. #3 was justified in threatening #1 as self defense. From my perspective, that is why I prefer adults don't carry weapons. Now, "pulled a knife" is a very loose term and I think the age of these Scouts is very relevant. In our troop, I think I've described a knife throwing incident before on this forum. An eleven year old lost his temper and threw his (pocket) knife at another Scout. No injuries - the patrol was on their way out to go to the various stations of a camp-o-ree. In our case, I talked the Scout at hand, took his knife and later gave it to his father and described what happened (I was not present at the incident) and let the father deal with it as he thought he should. Yes, at this age, the boys forgot about it in about 10 minutes. Boys at this age will sometimes taunt a peer until a reaction occurs. Lesson learned on all sides.

Before I would consider being a unit commissioner, I would want to have experience as a unit leader - den leader, Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Committee Chair, etc. That is not mandatory but nice to have.