Gold Winger

That will just create a new mess. Supporters will go to vote at 8 AM and then hang out in the hallway and chat with each other for four or five hours.

What do you mean "before PORs"? They used to be called "warrant officers" but they've existed for aeons.

"Boys are a pretty non-creative bunch, eh? They don't have much life experience to dream up new things, and have nowhere to start on a new idea." Let's ammend that to say "Boys today are a pretty non-creative bunch. . ." Boys of yesteryear would pretend to be spacemen, cowboys, indians, and deep sea divers using a washing machie box for a spaceship, submarine or fort. Boys of yesteryear would build go karts from old crates, tree houses out of abandoned lumber, race tracks in the wilderness and baseball fields in empty lots.

"Most kids of scouting age are absolutley fascinated with gross bodily functions," Let's make that "Most boys of Scouting age . . ." Very few girls are fascinated by smelly bodily emanations. Heck, get a bunch of adult men together and a farting contest will often errupt (pun intended). I doubt if you'd see that with women. This is one of the many reasons that girls don't like to hang out with boys (despite Dean's protestations).

Explain to your aunts that we bloody Yanks take things and make them uniquely American. Pizza, chop suey, fiddle music, and even Winnie the Pooh.

"It does bother me somewhat that because I use my own life expirience as an example, you feel compelled to use derogatory adjectives towards my children." Since when is "unusual" a deragatory adjective? Fishing for insults is the usual behavior of a certain subset of society. " I've never seen an atheist or agnostic launch a tirade when someone bows their head in prayer at lunch either. " Maybe you haven't been around too many atheists. "Like I said - in time, hopefully BSA will see the irony of these policies and revise them accordingly for the good of ALL of America's youth." Strangely, the more inclusive Scouts Canada is struggling. GSUSA is far more inclusive than BSA and they're struggling too. Maybe there's a message there.

" They will not let him run for SPL or ASPL. Because he has already earned Eagle, he does not "NEED" the POR and must let the younger boys fill the positions." That's as wrong as forcing elections to 'give every boy a chance to lead' or 'make room for someone who needs the position.'

He disagrees with Bush because Bill Maher and Chris Rock say to do so.

"1) I have two boys. They play with BOTH girls and boys in the neighborhood ALL THE TIME ! " You have very unusual boys. According to Desmond Morris, it is normal,healthy and beneficial for boys and girls to not want to spend time together. "O.K. - so if you have an autistic scout that acts out, are they collectively (as a group) barred from scouting?" What's that have to do with atheists? "What if the religion is not judeo-Christian in nature?" Oddly, I've never seen a Hindu or a Wiccan launch a tirade when someone bows their head in prayer at lunch. (This message has been edited by Gold Winger)

" I've also heard this scout "slam" any and all Republicans at non-scouting events. It's sad that his parents have taught him to be so mean towards people he disagrees with." With few exceptions, most Democrats I know are vicious in their attacks on any and all Republicans.

It's pretty simple. Wearing the shirt is campaigning which cannot be done close to the polls. Enough states have similar laws that if there was a serious objection to that restriction, it would have gone to the Supreme Court by now.

" At the very minimum it would have to be in sight of another adult." Just another person, not necessarily an adult althugh and adult usually gives us a warmer, fuzzier feeling.

My son's SM tried to organize a PLC campout but no one wanted to go. Then again, I'm pretty sure that most of them don't really want to be PLs or Boy Scouts.

Maybe it is a sign of the end of sports supremecy in this country. Who else remembers when Reagan's innauguration was pushed back a day so as not to conflict with the Super Bowl?

I can't think of why I'd want to schlep a frying pan of any sort on a backpacking trip. What sort of food do you fry? Maybe if you catch fresh fish and cook them but then where do you get the oil? Do you schlep that too? An aluminum stock pot and roaster bags work wonderfully. If I ever make it to Tennessee, I'll have to stop in and see the Lodge factory. I called them looking for information once and the guy on the phone, who if memory serves was the head of marketing, spend about a 45 minutes with me talking about the history of cast iron, how to identify old from new and a bunch of other cast iron stuff.

Isn't Georgetown a Jesuit school? Yeah, it is. I wonder how many Muslim schools have a deparment of Christian studies. Money talks but it don't sing and dance and it don't walk.

I had envisioned a spray can of thick brown goo. Still think that it was inappropriate but would be funny to a 12 year old. It will be funnier 15 years from now. On the other hand, having to sleep in that tent would be appropriate punishment.

Why no girls? I ask "why girls?" Boy normally don't seek out girls for play or companionship at young ages. Remember, girls are icky and have cooties. Even at older ages, most guys want to hang out with guys, girls are for dates. Girls like to hang out with girls. Girls and guys talk about different things. They like to do different things. You'd be hard pressed to find a girl, or woman, who thinks that farting is funny. 'Nuff said about that. Atheists being respectful and not disruptive? I wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe a few but not many that I've known. Bill Maher was on TV last night talking about his movie and he continually hammered on how stupid he thought religion was and how idiotic it was that rational people would buy into it. Most atheists are like that.

"As SM, I have no sway on how the committee is run. That's the concern/arena of the CC. If he ever joins the forum, he'd be able to address that issue. I'm the SM. What the committee does isn't my concern." What committee? Most of the committee functions are being handled by ASMs. You can say what you will but it really doesn't sound like you're running a Boy Scout program.

"I honestly believe there are extremely few renegade Scoutmasters that prefer to do things their own way. Shortcutting advancements, adding to requirements, or violating safety guidelines." I respectfully disagree. I think that there are more out there who are doing their own thing than following the BSA program, even if that program is the program of 50 years ago. How many of us know or have spoken with at least one SM who appoints the SPL and PLs? How many of us know or have spoken with someone who has added requirements like "You have to do at least three chin ups for Tenderfoot"? How many of us know or have spoken with someone who drives Scouts around in the back of a pick up truck. I met an SM a few years back at camp who selected the merit badges for each of his Scouts because he didn't want them "wasting their time on fun." If each of us has dealt with just one Scouter who falls into one of the above categories, that's too many.

Because usually when people ask "Can this activity count for two things" they are looking for the quickest and easiest route to the badge.

It isn't helpful to progress a discussion when all one has as a basis for debate is the posting of personal attacks. No personal attack, just a comment that you don't seem be running a Boy Scout program. ASMs doing committee jobs. Do you even have a committee? That doesn't sound like anyone is paying attention to BSA. What do you do with an Eagle who has done everything? PL of the Venture Patrol so he can plan out the next great adventure. Take another shot at SPL to train up new PL's to do their job even better. PL of the NSP so these new scouts have a chance to learn from the best PL of the NSP? How does he become the PL of the NSP? Just show up and say, "Hi guys, I'm your new PL. Same goes for PL of the Venture patrol. Just show up and say, "Hi, I'm an Eagle, I'm your new PL"? What about all those other positions? Those are appointed by the SPL. What if the SPL doesn't want him as QM or Chaplain's Aide? The more you talk, the more it sounds like Stosh Scouts of Stoshland are controlled by the whims of Stosh.

Yep, can't wave that American flag around at an election, it might inspire people to vote all of the incumbents out.

It would be hard to step on our toes here.

So what you're running is "Stosh Scouts of Stoshland" and not a Boy Scout troop.