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ghjim

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Everything posted by ghjim

  1. I have a vivid memory of one of my days at summer camp staff. I was having a conversation with our District Executive. He was a former WWII fighter pilot, a well-known and pretty powerful personality, known throughout several southwest states. The conversation took place 1970 or 1971, I can't remember. He told me that National had sent all DE's a 10 page memo detailing how to "handle" any women who applied for an SE position (how to turn her down in a correct manner). He was laughing about it and I remember he told me that if a women applied for the job and was qualified he would "hand
  2. As I have stated in previous posts, my grievance with the BSA (like many others) concerns the membership policies. As I have been out a long time I am not familiar with the other issues concerning the professional side of the BSA. From the many posts complaining about that I can see it is a big issue. Clearly the BSA has become more conservative and National much more autocratic than in my days in scouting. Any solution gets back to my earlier post in this thread. National is setting policies and doing things that the adult volunteers and parents (the people who should be makin
  3. Beavah: "Yep, that quietly includes gay youth and kids who don't have any clear belief in God". ?? Whereas this statement was certainly true when I was a scout in the 1960s it most definitely is not now.
  4. As a former scout and adult scouter who is now ineligible for membership (not religious)it seems to me that the far right wing in America has gained control of the BSA due to its non-democratic structure. The national executive board imposes regulations regardless of the opinion of the adult volunteers. Former chief executive Robert Mazzuca was fond of stating that the vast majority of scouter members were in favor of the exclusive membership policies. I am not so sure. Nearly all of my friends still active in scouting are opposed. Since I and my friends are liberal-leaning this data could
  5. what a tirade. nonsense
  6. Brewmeister, I have no objection to religious public displays. Does it have to be on government property? Property owned by the people for all the people? Can it be done on church lawns, or businesses that choose to display religious symbols?
  7. Think I will weigh in here. The rumor that B-P was gay comes from the extensive biography "Baden-Powell" by Tim Jeal. In the chapter "Men's Man" he comes to the conclusion that B-P was a repressed homosexual. The biographer is highly respected and produced the most thoroughly documented information about B-P ever written. In the end there is no way to prove either way.
  8. This is an issue I have always wondered about? Does the EC have some special purpose to balance the vote? I always though that it existed only as an artifact of earlier times when the United States had no mass communication. The EC was invented as a simple way of organizing the voting across the country when our "electors" counted up the local votes and then hopped on a horse to ride to Washington to represent their state and what the state majority voted for. If that is the case I am in favor of eliminating it (even though my candidate won this election by a large margin in the EC)
  9. nldscout: I often seen the statement in other forums that those opposing the BSA policies should look for or start another program. As it is now clear and decided that the BSA has the right to employ exclusive membership we forget that the BSA also wants to reap and enjoy its heritage as a national icon with a congressional charter. I have mentioned in another thread the BSA has used this charter to block competing organizations from forming. This is one of the reasons the BSA is continually criticized from without (and within).
  10. I was a scout in the 1960s and we had unmarried ASMs. We also had several unmarried Scout Executives who acted as summer camp Camp Directors.
  11. Sentinels position on voting for Obama after being a self-described right-leaning independent supports my assertion in another thread that this election is the Republican's to lose. If the Republicans hadn't thrown out several of their moderate candidates early in their primary they would have swept the independent vote. The party is clinging to extremists.
  12. President Obama appointed a bi-partisan committee to come up with a plan to balance the budget. Republicans and Democrats together came up with a plan to: 1. cut spending 2. raise taxes. Both party leaders rejected the plan. I don't know what more a president can do.
  13. I am a Democrat and a big Obama fan. But I am very aware that a majority of Americans do not share my views. This entire election has been the Republican's to lose. The party rejected some candidates early on that would have swept the independent vote. But the Republicans keep nominating extremists.
  14. As I stated in my earlier post, the Congressional Charter has great legal weight and is being used by the BSA to block the introduction of any competing organizations.
  15. It sure looks to me like National cracked down on them. I notice Clark Green's website no longer allows any discussion on BSA membership policies. Looks like they got to him also.
  16. The congressional charter is not fluff and has been used by the BSA to block other scouting organizations from forming: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Judge-scouts-answer-to-infringement-case-3266074.php
  17. I just joined this forum. I was active in scouting from 1963 until 1977. As I am nearing retirement and was planning on getting involved in scouting again I find I am ineligible for membership due to my religious beliefs (agnostic). I went through a period of a lot of anger against the BSA and after a while I calmed down. I realized the BSA doesn't have to remain the organization I remembered. All I am really trying to do now is figure out the history of how all of this changed. It seems that the executive council (whose new members are chosen by the council itself, so not a
  18. This is what I am confused about. Wasn't it the executive board that reaffirmed the ban against gays and athiests? Isn't it the executive board that is making that policy in the first place?
  19. What I would like to know is how will Randall Stephenson change the membership rules if the rest of the executive board are against him? How did he get on the board in the first place with those kind of views?
  20. namu, I'm new to scouting as well, but I am an avid river rat. Not sure exactly what kind of trip you're planning, but more info might help folks point you in the right direction. Are you planning a multi day float trip? Or ,is this going to be a car camping type trip with day float trips on a popular white water section of river - that is, will you return to the same "base camp" at the end of each day? Is this a self guided float or are you hiring a guide/outfitter? Are the boys going to be passengers in a raft that has a rowing frame and one person on the sticks, or is
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