Eamonn

Most of the people I know are aware of my involvement in Scouts and Scouting. At work, I do at times get teased. Of course I give as good as I get! The teasing is more along the lines of good natured banter than any real form of teasing. Many of our staff members are ex-military and a good many were Scouts, some have kids in the program. It's not unusual to see a notice of someone selling popcorn or Christmas trees on the Staff Notice Board. One day this week I ran into one of my bosses. We stopped for a chat. It wasn't by any means a formal interview or anything like that. Just two

I'm not a fan of Tom Corbett. I'm not sure if the way the Sandusky case was dealt with was exactly the way it should have been? Even Corbett now says that the grand jury hearings were risky. However from my point of view. It seems that a lot of groups / people seem to want to score political points more than get to the real truth. Corbett does seem to be playing a lot of fancy footwork with the constitution of the Commonwealth. His vow not to raise taxes has and is doing a lot of harm to the poor and weak residents of PA. I'll bet my bottom dollar that when it come time to elect a

After all these years, at long last I get it! HWMBO thinks she is the President. I've lost count of the times that she has given me "The Look" And said "Money". The President got of light, I rarely get away with just a quick $20.00 Which reminds me. A couple of months back some twit was messing with the cars in the hospital parking lot. A few friends of my wife who also work at the hospital had their cars keyed and tires were let down. She was worried about her car. I came home from work and she said: We need to go out buy some orange juice, a loaf of bread and a car! I

Great story. I bet that the Queen never bought anything from a Boy Scout. Ea.

Kinda looks like the best place to be during this storm is in a nice warm, well lit jail. Bad news is that I very lightly will get mandated to stay there until the storm passes. Good news is all that comp time!! Ea.

A long time back we used to be able to post polls in this forum. Being as this isn't available anymore. I'm wondering if you were aware and knew that someone or some group was doing something wrong and you knew it was wrong. Would you confront them, telling them that it was wrong or would you try and find a policy or rule that you could show them to show that what they were doing was wrong? For the record I'm the type that wouldn't bother finding the rule or the policy. If something is plainly wrong, I'm very much for confronting the wrong doer and letting him or her know. Eamonn

Barry, As I posted this has got me thinking. In the real world and in real time, I tend to plow ahead with my own expectations, my own values and never give it a second thought. I tend to think that I'm right enough, normal enough and maybe even good enough to act as a role model for others. At work I sit on our mentoring committee and am a mentor for several new staff members. Most of these people are happy to have been hired and really seem to want to do their best to do a good job. There are a couple who just don't seem to get it. The most common flaw seems to be not being where th

This bit about not being married is a little hard for me to swallow. HWMBO and I have been married for 30 years. Just before we tied the knot she suggested that we live together for a while. I wasn't having any of it. Looking back, I now think that maybe I was more worried about what others would think and that people might maybe gossip, than I was worried about anything else. My younger sister who is eleven years younger than me lived with the guy she is now married to for over ten years. They had two kids who were both born before the ceremony. Both kids are fine and as far as I

I don't know very much about the AHG. Fact is that until they were mentioned here by a Forum Member, I'd never heard of them. I am very much for coed Scouting.Still, I'm not so sure that any kind of a partnership is needed or necessary. Ea.

This thread got my little gray cells working. While not trying to in any way hijack the thread. I know that I'm guilty of expecting other people to behave in a way that I find acceptable. - Live and behave to Eamonn's standards. Eamonn's standards are of course all based on the idea that Eamonn is right. There are of course some areas, some things that I don't push for or am willing to ignore. Most of the time saying or at least thinking that whatever that might be is up to the person. While I'm happy to toddle off to church most weeks and I think that it's the right thing to do. I'd

Horizon The very idea of having to go through the entire "Hanging Chad" thing again is not one that I'd look forward too. All this talk about polls has got me thinking. I have never been involved in any sort of polling. My guess is that a lot of polls are done by phone. Just about everybody I know has caller ID and most of these folks only answer the phone if they recognize the name or the number of the person who is calling. With this in mind I now question all these polls. Of course not being born and breed on this side of the pond. The Electoral College seems a strange w

If what they are doing is inappropriate and is upsetting the normal flow? Then it needs to be addressed. The best person to do this would be the COR who I'd think would have the backing of the CO. What anyone thinks or doesn't think really doesn't matter. The final word is the CO's. All unit leaders serve at his pleasure. While allowing him to know what's going on is OK. Once is aware of the situation, the best thing for everyone is to leave it with him and then when he decides, it is what is going to happen. Some people might be happy and some might be unhappy. What they decide

And of course the BBC doesn't have any ads! I'm not sure what's worse the political ads or that foul mouthed chef who never cooks anything? Maybe all he can cook is fowl? Tampa Turtle, Back in the day it was flared pants for me and of course platform shoes! At college I had a full bead and very long hair. I sometimes have to laugh when people go off about how the kids of today look like scruffs! I was in my time the poster child for Scruffs! - Me and Mike Oldfield. Ea.

Strange how some things stick with you. Many years back there was a play on the BBC. - I don't think I ever knew the title and if I did I forgot it long ago. It was about two men, one who loved classical music and the other loved pop music. When they died both went to hell. The Hell the classical music lover went to played pop music all the time and the other guy got stuck with the classics. Growing up, I used to wear some very way out socks, bright colors and patterns. My brother who wore only black socks used to say that his idea of Hell, was having to be wear my socks. I don't

How very sad. While I was never a great fan of Jimmy Savile, he was very much a fixture on the BBC. Not only as a DJ, but also for his "Jim Will Fix It!"Show. A show very often about making the dreams of kids come true. I met him fairly often when I worked for the BBC. - He seemed to me to be a nice enough fellow. Life would be so much easier if people who molested children had a dress code and were all really creepy looking characters. What is really sad is that it looks like the BBC knew what he was doing but choose to turn a blind eye. This sadness is starting to sound all too fam

Maybe it's just me? I know that when it comes to advancement and boarding the advancement train I can get a little out of sorts. -Maybe even grumpy?? Still when Scouting is talked about in terms of falling behindand homeworkI start to think that maybe this isn't the same organization I thought it was? As I say it might be just me? If you really think and believe that a Lad hasn't acted in a trustworthy manner? Then you need to have a little chat with him about it. Not doing so isn't doing him any favors. Scouts and Scouting should be about helping Scouts make ethical choices not

About ten years back, I very briefly looked over some of the training syllabuses used by the Scout Association. I wasn't that impressed. I did like how they managed to cut out a lot of the stuff which I seen as being unnecessary fluff. Of course that was just my own personal opinion. I met with the Director of Leader Training at Gilwell Park. He shared a great story how at one of the Gilwell Reunion Campfires the song "Back To Gilwell" was being sung. Some of the Japanese and American leaders had tears rolling down their cheeks, they were emotionally moved by the song, while at the same ti

Seems that saving the good name of churches, organizations and some public people used to be the way to go. I think it's fair to say that it happened in the R.C.Church, Penn State and now the BSA. Used to be that the media in the UK was OK with turning a blind eye to some of the things the royal family used to get up to. Earlier this year inmates at a State Correctional facility accused the staff members of abuse. Very soon after the Superintendent and his two deputies were let go (Fired.) While there is still an ongoing investigation, it's starting to look like some of the allegations a

I haven't taken any time to look at or read the files. My take so far is that there were times when we as an organization maybe didn't do all that was needed. If there are wrongs that can be fixed or need fixing we ought to to move on this ASAP. I don't see that these files will in any way change the way that I act or will in any real way impact me. The idea that anyone ever would want to harm or hurt a kid? Is something that I see as just being plain wrong. People who do things that harm or hurt kids should have the book thrown at them. I'm not sure what else needs to be said othe

Dean, You will I hope note that I never said if I agreed or didn't agree with any of the things that I pointed out. I kinda think that you might also have noted that I was born in the UK, earned my Queen's Scout in the UK and was a Scout Leader there for almost 12 years. Someone a lot wiser than I once said that "Money Talks" When it comes to finance and financial support the BSA and the USA is where just about everybody turns to when they need money. Back in the very early days of Scouting it is a well known fact that BP and James E. West didn't get on, didn't see eye to eye and

I'm willing to accept the fact (Fact in my mind!) That we (The BSA) Are a very long way off from ever pleasing everyone. The easy answer to the gay thing might be to allow the local option? But I tend to think that some people might be still unhappy. If for some reason it was ruled that discrimination on lifestyle was wrong and gays were not allowed to discriminated against. Then the people who are unhappy about having God in the Oath might want to make a fuss. Then if we went with something like the Outlander Promise, the people who want the BSA to go co-ed and allow girls in to Boy

Here where I live, most if not all the Troops in the area have no plan, no way and no system for allowing /accepting adult help. Just so long as the person has a warm body is able to pass the BSA check and is willing to do something, they are in. How long they last or how involved they become? Depends on how long their kid remains interested, how involved he is and if the Lady of the house is OK with it all. We have a few Troops that are willing and do accept any and everyone as a ASM. Many of these guys are only interested and only there to keep an eye on their kid. Sure they hel

Natural Law? Wow!! Have to admit to not knowing very much about it or ever giving it a lot of thought. I tend to like to think that I'm a fairly normal type of fellow. I was born into a fairly normal family and had a fairly normal up-bringing. Somewhere about the age of about 14 or 15, I found out about sex. I had all the right equipment and kinda thought that I wanted to put it to use. Maybe if the girls that I knew and went around with had been a little more obliging? I very well might have. I have a cousin, the son of one of my Mother's sisters. He is one of five boys. He

For reasons unknown to me. My employer (The State.) Had me take the ASHI wilderness first aid instructor course. We use ASHI because it's a lot cheaper than the other big guys. I can and do see how it can be presented in such a way that it would have real meaning and an impact on people taking the course. Still the course I participated in was tacked on to another course. We never left the nice warm classroom in the Training Academy. The guy who was the lead instructor, was very passionate and a first class instructor. Looking at how I presented First Aid to Scouts, it was most of

A couple of weeks back I posted how at times I find myself with a foot on both sides of the fence. I find myself feeling sorry for the SM. Just imagine being faced with a Lad that you know and care about and have known and cared about for a long time then the Lad openly admits that he no longer meets the membership requirements. What would you do? I'm glad that I'm not in his shoes. We as an organization have made earning Eagle Scout rank a very big deal. While maybe the path isn't as hard for Lads who come from well to do families? I really don't think that how well off a family i