Happy Birthday

A belated Happy Birthday to the Boy Scouts of America (http://www.scouting.org/) which were incorporated on February 8, 1910 in Washington DC!! If you have a son, grandson, or nephew who is not in the Scouts please help them join a troop today since he will learn vital lessons that will serve him well throughout life.

Here are some of the key elements of the Scouts that everyone can benefit from knowing:

"Be Prepared" -- the scout motto would have served the Hurrican Katrina victims well versus holding up signs saying, "FEMA - come help us!"

"Do a good turn daily" -- the scout slogan. Just imagine how improved society would be if everyone tried to live this way? The small things count -- I always return shopping carts left in the parking lot to their proper storage locations thus preventing door dings!! No need to thank me for saving you the cost of repairs :-)

"Leave every camp site cleaner than what you found it" -- my troop leaders always mentioned this principle to us which today, since I am older and wiser, I apply to the environment. I do not need Al Gore telling me how to live since the scouts provided the fundamentals I need to live by versus the centrally-planned ideology that the Gore-bots advocate.

For more on the guiding principles of the scouts please visit this website --

http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-503a.html

The Boy Scouts of America have been attacked in recent years regarding the organization's religious and sexual orientation belief system which should be easily defended by the 5th Amendment right of "assembly" in the US Constitution. Regardless of these legal challenges the scouts are an important American entity that should be promoted.

Todd