JoeBob

So many fires! Which one to fan? Packsaddle: Your neighbor who flies the Confederate Flag over the US Flag is clearly wrong. CSA was defeated by USA, and implying otherwise with your flags merely feeds an anti-Southern bias. As much as I hate to see an honored symbol of my Southern heritage be despoiled, the Confederate battle flag has been co-opted by fringe racist groups. I don't have the Stars and Bars on any of my trucks, but I do have a couple folded in a cabinet for special occasions. There won't be a confrontation with your neighbor, Pack. A couple of sixpacks later and we'll be weeping for the good old days. le Voyageu: Your argument degenerated to name calling so quickly that you failed to notice the irony of your using the 1st Amendment to decry my exercising of - the 1st Amendment. Am I the closed minded one? I fully understand that the world is not all black and white. Do you understand that the world is not all grey? There are extreme believers on both sides of most issues who are willing to speak up. I have an extreme love for the USA, and I'm not ashamed of it. If a father in BSA, a group which holds a special place in the lore of the US Flag (Flag Retirement), chooses to openly mock the reverence held by the rest of the group for the US flag, he should be confronted. It doesn't have to be tar and feathers from the start. "Back hurting you? Can't stand up?" If he still chooses to sit out the pledge, that's his 1st amendment right. But it's my 1st amendment right to make him uncomfortable. PC manners would have us always compromise towards the middle, and tolerate anything. If you always compromise, eventually you will stand for nothing. Scouting is one of the last places where we can teach our youth how to make a stand.

Dissent is patriotic when you're disagreeing with an action or policy of the government. When you dis-respect the whole country by refusing to honor the flag, you need to find a country more to your liking. If you don't like your USA citizenship, we've got thousands of Mexicans who will gladly take your place and proudly pledge their allegiance in exchange for the privilege of living here. Git!

Dissent is patriotic when you're disagreeing with an action or policy of the government. When you dis-respect the whole country by refusing to honor the flag, you need to find a country more to your liking. If you don't like your USA citizenship, we've got thousands of Mexicans who will gladly take your place and proudly pledge their allegiance in exchange for the privilege of living here. Git!

I'm old, 55, but with a Bear Cub Scout in the house; I can't let myself get feeble. (It took me a while to find a mate that would tolerate me...) Old is mostly in the mind. Feeble can be kept at bay with exercise and Ibuprofen.

It's a lot too much! I'm even resistant to the 'Progress Towards Rank' beads. I lean towards small insignia that mean a lot; not large badges that mean little.

"Sycophant Fox News-quoting neanderthals"

Do we need to add a 4th 'G', Gringo ? The ethnic makeup of our CO has shifted to 50% Hispanic. (You've probably guessed that we're a Catholic church?) After resisting the idea that I was going to have to learn Spanish in order to be an effective leader, I realized that I would much rather have these Mexican boys immursed in the Scouting side of American culture as opposed to the gang-banger culture. Now we just have to find a better way to recruit them. Help? JoeBob

NoseRule: Responding to an argument against profanity by calling it profane is a touch flacid. (Although I do admit that 'Taurus Excretus' was part of my own adolescent vocabulary.) Kids curse to pump up their perceived coolness. Pointing out that lurid language is the opposite of cool is not belittling the kids, it's belittling the behavior that you want to discourage. Mafaking: You might try turning this into a vocabulary building exercise. Words that are listed in the dictionary but not defined as 'coarse slang' or 'vulgar' are permitted. When I excoriate my own children as 'flatulance blossoms', they don't get it. (One day they'll ask me to spell it.) But the release is just as rewarding for me. JoeBob

'Real Men' don't need to curse. People who cuss are faking something, and are using ugly language to distract you from their insecurity. Boys join Scouting in order to grow secure enough with themselves that they don't need to prop up their manhood with dirty words.

Depending on the numbers of the parties needing to be segregated, you could use a tent inside the dome. ie- If there are two girls who need to be segregated, put 'em in a tent inside the dome.

If you're not using a mummy bag, you can mimic the air seal by wearing a wool sweater to sleep. Pull your arms out of the sleeves, and the bunched up material around your neck will keep cold drafts from infiltrating down on your shoulders and lower.

Vol_Scouter: When the 'Public Option' eliminates private insurance, reduces payments to hospitals and Dr.s, and basically socializes the medical system; then the Docs and hospitals will be government entities who can assert sovereign immunity. State insurance boards presently control what must be contained in policies sold in their states. (I presume that multi-state companies can opt local or opt for the state where the head office resides - I don't know.) If policies could be bought outside your own state, then any state could offer a stripped down policy for healthy young men (like the major medical policies of the past) and capture a large market share. But this would rob funds from states that require all manner of conditions be covered (obesity, alcoholism, low self-esteem...). And the out-of-state purchasers would be the very ones who prop up the shared risk pool by paying more premiums into the insurance pool more than they take out in medical services. ObamaCare/PelosiCare do nothing that can seriously be believed to bring down the cost of health care. They're just shifting around who pays for what, and adding the cost of a huge (historically and inherently) incompetent bureacracy. If their plans are going to be so great for healthcare, why don't they kick in before 2013? Ya think they want to get elected one more time before the feces hits tha air-mover?

Contrarian thoughts on Health Care: 1- Isn't it ironic that the entity that prohibits free market competition a) No out of state insurance purchases b) All policies must cover certain conditions claims that they need to create a Government run insurance program to provide competition? 2- What are trial lawyers going to do for money when the Public Option eliminates private insurance and they can't sue the government?

BREAKING NEWS: This just in!!! Obama wins the Heisman Trophy after watching a college football game!!!

I sit my cubs in a circle and have them say the pledge one word at a time going around. The den chief stands in the middle and turns around pointing at the next scout. The goal is to make the den chief dizzy. They grow secure in what word comes next and have to pay attention to know their word. JoeBob

I've got to say that Two Deep Leadership and the Buddy System really made 'Hide and Seek' a challenge. Two adults stay with the seekers; two adults go with the hiders. There aren't many places that two kids can hide together. "Pist; Hey buddy? They'll be within sight of the two adults trying to look inconspicuous..." Now about 'Capture the Flag'...

Don't worry about filling every minute with planned activities. The cubs make up plenty of activities on their own. Their favorite seems to be running and screaming around the campsite looking for holes to fall in... JoeBob

Shortridge, Perhaps my willingness to believe the 'It's not mine!' argument is based on the many times that I have helped friends/acquaintances move. If you own a truck, you're everybody's friend on moving day. And nobody is going to dig through boxes to check for dope. I accepted the first statement: 'I went to Florida to help my sister in law move'. So 1- He was unaware of the contents of his vehicle, and 2- he'd be a real fool to take a dealer quantity of cocaine and 3- unsuspectingly give a state trooper permission to search his car. Taking the fall does raise a flag; but it was 12 years ago. I like to that my judgement has improved over 12 years. You?

Ditto mbrownkc7. I can only guess that those who chose to criticize and ridicule must have a plethora of volunteers for their scouting program. Why would OMH bother to present his case to this forum, basically pleading for our help, if he were not the type of help we need? OMH, if you're still out there, I apologize for the cheap shooters on this board. Scout Nut gave you good advice. Good Luck!

The last Pew Research poll on the subject showed that Fox News had more liberal commentary than the other five networks combined had of conservative commentary. If you think that discovering both sides of an issue is pornographic... Caught myself. Too many bad jokes. JoeBob

I knew that boxers would be bunched by the dominance aspect of 'Prisoner'. But the topic is 'Making Knots Fun'. My cubs had FUN! ShortRidge: Thanks for the suggestion Tree/Square Knot/Bowline. I like it. But I must object to you're using a clove hitch tie to the tree. The odds are 66% against it holding. If pulled from the correct side of tree (A), a clove hitch will hold. If pulled straight out from the tree (B), it will weaken and fail. Pulling from the opposite side of A is how you UNtie a clove hitch. Cubs butts on the ground... Use 2 1/2 hitches. ;^) JoeBob

Sound like someone's "chickens have come home to roost!"

October brings out the Corn-Mazes. Our wolves did a day-trip to a corn maze and loved it. It's difficult to maintain 2DL, unless you pair adults and let the boys rampage as buddies. Here's a link the maze we attacked. Got a cool patch: http://www.uncleshucks.com/uncle_shucks_scout_weekends.php

We just did this. I was aghast at how inable my bears were to tie simple knots! Great hand and eye coordination for the computer games, but NO manual deterity with a piece of rope... I had to demonstrate individually to each scout at least twice to get a square knot. And I have little faith that they'll retain any of it. They surprised me with their bowlines, though; which I thought was a more complicated knot. Prisoner: Divide into teams. Teams have five minutes tie a volunteer from the other team (usually the worst knotter) to a tree. Then the team to untie their prisoner first, wins. Safety: Have a blade handy. No tying around the neck, face or head. No tight wraps that hurt. They had a blast, but the escaping only took about 15 seconds. I plan to make this a regular game and hope to advance their skill level by requiring the use of all the knots at least once. The meeting finale was all the cubs tying the leader to tree. It took 10 seconds to escape (I admit to flexing in order to create slack between me and the tree), and I've been lead to believe that the photos will haunt my future. It did take me 30 minutes to untangle and untie the 300 odd feet of rope wound and woven aroung the tree... JoeBob

Popcorn makes good ammo. Cheap and plentiful, it won't attract the wrong kind of critters...