Backpacker

If you are going to wear official BSA Venturing insignia then it must be on the official BSA Venturng uniform shirt. You can make up your own recognition patches, as long as they are not copies of official BSA ones, and wear them where ever you want. With my crew if they earn a bronze or gold award or any official Venturing award they are not allowed to wear them on their crew sweatshirt. Some of them purchased the green Venturing shirt to display them or others created their own display case to show them off. There are a lot of unapproved official looking patches being sold

Brent You are without a doubt the biggest (geographical slur) I have ever have come across. Who are we fighting in Iraq? ourselves to start with as this war continues to tear this country apart, secondly a group of people who feel that the USA had no right to invade their country based on false evidence, and lastly a group of radical hate mongers who will use any opportunity to strike back at the US for all the injustices they claim we have committed against them. In any case there will be no winners in this war which will continue to go on longer than Vietnam did. Finally when we realize t

Pack Despite all your efforts to illuminate Brent I am afraid it is falling on deaf ears, he can only see one point of view and he is extremely guillable to the misinformation put out their by the Bush administration. He seems to forget that Powell resigned as Sec. of State because of the WMD fiasco, embarrased that he was used as a Bush tool at the UN, and now his political career is pretty much over. Well now the American people are letting their feelings be known and are pressuring W to start withdrawal from Iraq. He has the lowest popularity rating of any president since Andrew Johnso

Brent the only moronic statements I have read come from you, if you knew how to navigate the USDA site you would have found it under corporate purchases of US farmland, 70% were owned by foreign owned or controlled corporations, its there if you know where to look. What that has to do with Rooster just proves you cant stay on topic, per usual.Of course you spout the same intolerance as Rooster used to do, I feel sorry for the guys in your troop. ED, the only one missing points around here is you, too bad BW isn't around anymore he at least kept you in check. So both of you get your fac

Romney is the Rep. version of Kerry so he doesnt stand a chance. Look for Rice vs Clinton in 2008, now that would be an interesting race. As far as Rooster is concerned, I kinda miss him, but not his brand of religious intolerance and prejudice. He was always the first to condemn others rather than listen to opposing viewpoints. On the farms when a rooster gets too old and crotchity the farmer usually shoots it, still I will miss arguing with him.

Unfortunately I have to agree with Gern, the ACLU won on a technocality that I believe will stand up in review. This is indeed a sad day when an organization created to protect the rights of all goes on a witch hunt to try to destroy a youth organization whose main objective is to turn youth into good and decent citizens. It makes me wonder what the future of our society will be, as well as the future of the BSA.(This message has been edited by Backpacker)

I just couldn't stand this drivel going on without responding: jkhny - your misinformation is so untrue and pathetic. YOU HAVEN"T A CLUE ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE PRESENTING AS FACT!! I have been a professional and now I am volunteer scouter for two decades. If the BSA is so wealthy why have over half the councils either been closed or merged? The facts are that in many areas the BSA has lost funding from the United Way and others because of pro gay groups influencing these organizations by using the ACLU to sue them into compliance. The BSA just did not take a tough enough stance to refute them

OGE To answer your question, it all depends on whether you are looking at the situation from a volunteer or professional scouter viewpoint. National mandates to councils that they must grow in both members and units, especially in special interest units like the new cub soccer program for inner city youth,LFL, any type of unit serving minorities or special interest groups is also highly desired. Why, because then councils and National can show they are reaching out to a more diverse cross section of America and make themselves eligible to receive special grants and funds from a wide var

Rooster As a former professional scouter I can tell you first hand that at the council up to the National office all of it is about numbers and money, that is what 99% of your annual review is based on. Second, I agree with you on the unit level and thats what I wrote in my posting, that loss at that level is based on poor programs usually done by untrained leaders who feel that they are above taking training. As far as Merlyns numbers are concerned, I don't believe his or even Nationals numbers are truly accurate, and that the truth is somewhere in between the two. As we have seen i

I too think the statistics are appalling and does cast doubts on Scoutings future. It is too simplistic to deny the facts and blame Merlyn for the information. Merlyn for me personally I despise how you revel in any and all problems that befall the BSA, and you exemplify what is wrong with so many people in America today, a growing negative and fatalistic mentality. Scouting has decreasing numbers for three reasons, the failure of National to deal and adapt with the changing American society, Nationals failure to address wrong doing and corruption within the professional scouting rank and

Rooster Per usual you find ONE story that kind of supports your view and that becomes your Bible, again rose colored glasses. If you bothered to read more news reports and political magazines you would see that all the Homeland Security agencies are vehemently opposed to the deal, that cabinet rep is a Bush appointee so of course he supports Bush. The heads of the CIA, FBI, Coast Guard, etc. all advised the president very clearly their opposition which Bush has chosen to ignore. What will it take Rooster, to see Boston or Baltimore in flames before you see how myopic Bush is being. Long

I hope all of you who felt that the port debacle was no big deal have read the just released news story that Homeland Security not only strongly advised Bush against the sale of the ports to UAE but stated that "this deal presented a huge potential security risk to the safety of our country and that they were not properly equipped to deal with this threat." Just like we learned with the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the twin towers we can falsely believe that no one can harm us on our own soil. NO ONE can insure that this deal will not have severe consequences. The very agency in charge of

Rooster, when you talk about mob mentality I can't help but be reminded of your own religious intolerance of others who believe differently from you which you display constantly in this forum, your Christian far right mob mentality which has caused more harm than good in our society, especially these last ten years.You see the world only through your own version of the truth, which is rarely the reality of the situation. Maybe one should practice what they preach Rooster. John, as far as Bush is concerned, I have great respect for the office of the president, however they too must be h

Dan - to answer your question on the farmland there are many good books, but you can go directly to the USDA website and get all the facts and figures for yourself. Lisabob- first of all this topic has nothing to do with scouting and is not brought up at meetings. Secondly, this president has repeatedly now violated Constitutional law to push ahead his own personal agendas, anyone who has as little respect for the law of the land as this man does not deserve my or anyone elses respect who truly love this country and what it stands for. There has been no accountability demanded for this ad