AZMike

"These people are not. Is that fair? So, anti-gay marriage is not anti-gay? That must be something that is being spread by talk radio heads somewhere." Or just common sense. One can oppose gay-bashing, believe that gay people should be treated with compassion, accept the idea of a civil union - but still think that the idea of a man marrying another man or a woman marrying another woman is ridiculous, and not what marriage is. It is also common-sense to presume that American's constitutional right to the free practice of their religions, including condemning such practices in public, does

And don't forget Russell, the Wilderness Explorer in "Up!" He may have been a Wilderness Explorer, but he would be a dang fine Scout, too.

This summer, I was driving out of a department store parking lot after we had stopped to use the restrooms en route to summer camp, when a man noticed my scouter uniform and flagged me down. He said he had a tattered flag in front of his home and knew something should be done with it and asked if Scout troops accepted them for proper disposal. A lot of people want to do the right thing with an old flag but don't know what it is. I like SSScout's idea of approaching them with a scout business card and offering to dispose of it properly or to use it for training. If a troop is looking to

The whole thing reminds me of the young John Kerry throwing his Navy medals on the front steps of the capital to show his hatred of the military. A few decades later, he was trumpeting his military service when it became politically expedient to do so. (He also displayed those medals he supposedly threw away, so who knows if he really disposed of them.) I would agree that if someone renounces their status as an Eagle Scout, their names should be removed from the rolls.

This new organization y'all are licking your chops over - a Boy Scouts with girls and atheists and no reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and openly gay Scouters and kids announcing their sexual preference, and no pesky Mormons or Evangelicals or orthodox Jews or orthodox Catholics (or Orthodox Catholics, for that matter), or boys who want to be in a group that is just male for just a few times a month - sounds pretty interesting. Since it is so different from the BSA, why not start your own organization ("Scouting USA" or whatever, since they won't be the "Boy" Scouts anymore)?

The miniseries "Stephen King's 'IT'", about a group of boys in the 1950s who confront an ancient evil and who have to return to their home town and face it again as adults, has a character who in the 1950s flashback was a Boy Scout and who wears his (period-era) uniform even when he's not in a troop meeting (not that uncommon back then, probably). He is attacked by "It" when he is out in the woods working on his birdwatching merit badge.

moosetracker:" SR540Beaver - I am sorry that that happened to you, and I can understand your personal bias, but I you can not convince me." Obviously. "Even with AZMike chiming in "Yes, Yes! They are all pedophiles..! " Nope.. " A Scout is honest, moosetracker. Don't lie. You know I did not say that. I would be interested to see if you can find the study you cite, as statistically, religious clergy are less likely to be child molesters than you are, if you are a parent. They also are less likely to be child molesters than educators (the single largest percentage by professi

SR540Beaver speaks the truth. Many men who self-identify as heterosexual have sex with female minors aged 14, 15, 16, or 17 who are sexually mature (physically, at least) without considering themselves as "pedophiles" or "child molesters" or even "ephebophiles," if they even know what that means. That is why we have rules limiting contact between adult males and teenage females within other youth programs, schools, sporting programs, and religious ministries. It doesn't always work, of course (read the newspaper of any mid-sized town for a week), but we have to take the precautions we ca

I'm not sure on the stats, but at least a fair number of COs in Catholic churches are actually under the Knights of Columbus, who tend to be very orthodox in their support of the teachings of the Pope. Yes, yes, yes, some Catholics use contraception, some Catholics have sex before marriage, some Catholic have abortions. Some Catholics also steal, some Catholics also lie, some Catholics also commit murder. The Church on Earth is a health club for sinners, not a museum for Saints. The Church doesn't alter its teachings based on a popularity poll or what "some" or "most" of its members do.

"Yet your morality and religious doctrine outweighs my morality and religious doctrine. How is that right? " Why, because I was born this way. If I am as discriminatory and shortsighted as you say, it couldn't be because I chose to be that way. Who would willingly choose to be as big a jerk as you say I am? So obviously, my puritanical nature is innate, and you have to just accept it. Moreover, you should probably celebrate it. My sheer nastiness is an integral thread in the diverse and wonderful tapestry of our American society, and it should not be reviled, but my a-holish behavio

How long before acceptance of polygamy?

Agreed. I think the two best parts of summer camp are 1) being completely unplugged for 2 weeks from videogames, computers, cell phones, text messaging, iPads, iPods, etc., and 2) The free time where kids just do what they enjoy without being scheduled. With all the emphasis on patrol activities, advancement, merit badges, etc., sometimes I think we need more time just for unstructured "fun," which boys seem quite capable of doing on their own.

Horizon - sorry you had a hard night. If you don't mind discussing this, who wanted to leave the troop over this? Was it the parent, the scout, or both?

"Remember they are not kicking them out, they are only not allowing them in.. So lets turn this around, chik-fil-A will not hire a gay.. So is it ok for chik-fil-A to destroy this person and his livelihood?.. Answer "neither is destroying anyones livelihood, because at this point chik-fil-A doesn't have a buisness there, and no one is working for chik-fil-A.. But.. "Neither is right for no allowing equal opportunity." Now go futher "If a gay is found working at chik-fil-A, they will be fired.. Now let us ask the question. Is it ok for chik-fil-A to destroy this person and his

Here's an article about the original Master at Arms merit badge and a picture of it: http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/2010/07/always-prepared-the-boy-scouts-and-self-defence/ A 1912 quote from Baden-Powell, after watching Japanese Scouts training in martial arts: "I went and saw a lot of them at their daily practice of fencing with bamboo sticks and practicing jiu-jitsu to make themselves strong and active and good-tempered. I say good-tempered because it is very much like boxing; you have to take a good many hard knocks and take them smiling. If a fellow lost his temper at it,

Kids were almost unimaginably tougher back then. But seriously, they also use to teach jiu-jitsu as an activity at the camps under Baden-Powell. At about the same time, Theodore Roosevelt built a dojo in the White House and hosted MMA bouts between judoka and wrestlers and boxers. His letters are full of descriptions of his bouts, and one of his letters describes practicing Dog Brothers-style full-contact stick-fighting with General Leonard Wood on Christmas day and getting a shiner. Full-contact stick-fighting, boxing, wrestling, judo, jiu-jitsu, and fencing were fairly common activitie

BSA also has the new STEM and Nova Award for achievements in science, technology, engineering, and math that looks interesting. http://www.scouting.org/stem/AboutSTEM.aspx?SRC=ET&ET_CID=ET_nova_2_07162012&Page=http%3a%2f%2fwww.scouting.org%2fstem%2fAboutSTEM.aspx&ET_RID=

SeattlePioneer, if you decide to go with the AHG program, please let us know how it works out.

"The Cowboys" with John Wayne would be a good leadership movie that boys would probably like. He creates a boy-led "troop" that survives the loss of their "Scoutmaster."

"Gays???... I have heard in recent news preists giving sermans about "slapping your sons if he shows any feminine signs.. Or taking all gays to someplace and fencing them in, so they can not reproduce and will die off.."(as if gays begetting gays is where homosexuality comes from)." Moosetracker, can I ask you for a source on this story? A priest is one who offers a sacrifice in a sacred ritual, and so generally is used only by Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Anglicans. Most Protestants who don't claim to celebrate a form of the Eucharist use the terms Minister, Pastor

"Doing nothing, means continual drops in numbers as the country goes to 80% being afraid on homosexuals in the 1990 to today it being 50/50, to tomorrow it swinging to 80% in favor of equal rights.. Even Republican politician are starting to acknowledge they picked the wrong side of the fight, some have voiced it, others don't want to discuss the issue." Maybe so, maybe no. Traditional church denominations that have changed their orthodox teachings to allow for gay marriage and gay ordination have not experienced a sudden rise in membership due to public appreciation for their

Oh, yeah! I forgot about that one! I remember that scene where he points out the young lieutenant who is checking on the condition of his soldier's feet in training. There are some issues with the language used, I agree. In the context of teaching a class on leadership, would it be appropriate to show and excerpt of that scene (and maybe other scenes from movies) to illustrate leadership principles? I'm not sure of the legalities, but I understand that there is a legal exception to copyright law that allows the use of short sections of copyrighted films for non-profit educational purpo

I've wanted to try a Platypus gravity-fed filter for a long time, as they apparently process a large volume of water quickly and you don't need to pump the water. From user reviews on Amazon, the water is clear, clean, and tastes good. Scoutstuff.org just began selling them on clearance for about half-off (about $50), so I ordered one for the troop backpacking trips. We'll see how it works.

Any other recommendations for good movies about leadership for youths?

Perhaps emphasizing to parents the very real dangers of sugary snacks attracting megafauna into their child's tent (and the tents of other children) is the best way to discourage parents packing snacks for their kids.