BadenP

I heard about that as well. As far as we can determine it is going to be a grant given to a DE whose district has the largest volume of popcorn sales, so much for the smaller districts. Someone sarcastically suggested it is for a spokesman for Trails End who will promote popcorn to other councils for a year, giving them a break from their regular duties. All I know is that our council is switching companies to another popcorn vendor this fall, go figure. PS - Welcome back Eamonn

I agree with Fuzzy Bear 100%. I think all threads in the Issues and Politics are important and necessary and should be allowed total freedom to debate the issues with no holds barred, except for name calling and insults. Anyone going into theses forums needs to know they will be hot and heavy and should avoid them if they are too sensitive or bad tempered. Since the changes have come into effect though I noticed the volume of postings are down and threads are closing quickly from lack of response. I think many are afraid to debate any issue for fear of censorship. We should never be afraid to

Here is an easy yet tasty recipe, called Cannonballs. First you take a large onion and hollow it out, put in some season ground beef, mushrooms, and sliced peppers in each hollowed out half of the onion. Put the two ends together and wrap it tight in aluminum foil, put in the outer edge of the fire, depending on the heat about 10-15 min. Top it off with a dutch oven cobbler ( cake mix and a couple large cans of your favorite fruit), your kids will love it.

Unc Why are you trying to pick a fight with me? I was sincere about Hops and OGE, the number thing was just a joke after all the hatred spewed forth these past two weeks. I thing Hops and OGE will be great moderators, I think you need to lighten up and quit trying to fight fires where there are none. I have read more than a few sarcastic comments from you in here lately. So lets not attack someone without the facts , okay. Unc, I like reading your ideas and I hope you and I can remain civil to each other in the scouting spirit(This message has been edited by BadenP)(This message has been

Hey Anne, In that pb and pepper sandwich is the pepper raw or cooked? I wonder what a roasted pepper with pb would taste like? Here is another favorite of mine, PB, pepper jelly, and potato chips(crushed) on a warm tortilla, A receipe from camp, mmm good.

Hey OGE Congrats on your new assignment. May you shoot fair and true. BP

Welcome Jim I was a former Cubmaster, asst scoutmaster, dist. exec., OA Advisor and am currently a Venture Advisor. I would love to swap stories with you anytime.

When there are more holes in your boots than leather.

ok Marinelaw, Tell me the big deal with the Sea Base, what laws are they breaking? Is it impacting on the safety of my kids trip in a few weeks? You have my curiousity up.

Hey Hops, Congrats on being moderator. Now you can go and slam dunk any thread you want, lol. How come OGE is getting more response on his announcement than yours (2to1). Are the people in here more afraid of him? Anyway keep them honest.

Gentlemen Some very good points have been made here.First the BSA has evolved over the years and has changed as society has changed, the core values stay the same but thats it. Look at the disasterous experiment of the 1970's where the BSA emphasized Urban Scouting, it didn't last long. Trying new uniform styles was another change, no one seems totally happy with this one either. Every organization must accept change or stagnate, the BSA has changed and will continue to do so, some good some not so good. As far as Bob and Eamonn are concerned they were good old time scouters with a w

Hi Backpacker Welcome to the forum, this is my second year as a Venture Advisor. One important thing for the first time is get good officers who can motivate and organize well, this will make your task a whole lot easier. My first year I had the crew replace 3 officers who were not doing their jobs, after that it went real smooth. Another hint, let the teens fail once in a while, don't rush in to bail them out, you will see some real leadership come out of them. Well I look forward to talking more to you and others.

To "The Dude" Get some help man before its too late, you are pathetic and deceitful. You don't need advice you need a good psychiatrist.

Here is my vote ,creamy peanut butter with marshmallow creme and sliced bananas on Wonder bread. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMm GGGGOOOODDD. If you have any left over roll it into little dough balls, makes great bait for trout and catfish. FOG- is it Crushed Quackers?(This message has been edited by BadenP)(This message has been edited by BadenP)

AMEN Brother Kenk Venturing is perfect for your needs. Why recreate the wheel when its already done for you. This is my third year as a Venture Advisor and I really love the program, give it a try. Homemade programs without real organizational support or resources usually don't last too long. Look at the book "Here's Venturing" a great resource tool.

John, First of all my sympathy for your loss. Secondly, reflect on all the time you spent with him, the things you taught him about scouting and the joy you brought to his life. This will keep his memory alive and help you in your grief. Now he is safe with his Creator, the Grand Scoutmaster. Who knows maybe he is even showing Baden Powell himself the scouting skills you taught him. Peace and blessings.(This message has been edited by BadenP)

Eamonn you might be right in all you said. I can only comment on what I observed and was told by the units I visited with. The leaders told me that scouting was dying in England and that they felt some of the changes were bringing them back as some of their unit had tripled in size. I have no stats to support that, but they did seem sincere. As far as expense, everything in London is expensive so is scouting. The scouting uniform and accessories are not cheap in the USA either. I visited a scout shop in England and was amazed at the prices. The unit I spent time with made me an honorary member

To Bob and Eamonn I respect your decision but you both have a lot to contribute, especially to my Venturing crew. I don't want to get my scouting advice from Jason after all (just kidding Jason). My take on the politics and issue threads is that you need a tough skin to participate in them, but I feel scouters need these outlets to express their frustrations and receive some guidance. Whatever you decide, keep up the scouting spirit.

From what he told me he has been on here since 6/14/04. He has apologized to me and to all of you and now he can no longer get in unless he opens his own account, which he tells me he will not do. All of the negative postings here have been from him since I have been too busy for a while to even come on this site, and have been out of town. So again apologies to anyone who was subjected to this guys anger. The sad part is that he knows my background which he said he used to critcize others, it will not happen again.

To all of you in this site let me apologize. I have just found out that a so called friend of mine has been using my name and password to post negative letters in these forums because he has had some negative experiences with the BSA and he told me he wanted to stir things up in here. I have since changed my password so that this can not happen again. I apologize again to all of you and would ask that this thread be closed down right now.

Have the attitudes of a few of the senior members got on your nerves with their good old boy, holier than thou arrogance? Have you witnessed them attack or gang up on those who disagree with them. Most of the senior members are kind and friendly gentlemen with some good sense to share. But there are others who haven't a shred of decency in their bodies and enjoy acting like pompous jackasses belittling others. I am not mentioning any specific names , but most of you who have been in the religion or politics and issues forums know of whom i speak. The first amendment gives them the right to fre

Okay I will try another approach. First teens do not like uniforms, they want their own individuality. This is why I think Venturing is becoming so popular, there are no real uniforms, instead the teens pick out and design a t shirt or sweatshirt. Second, teens like to be listened to and be in charge, Venture officers are given this ability and to show leadership. Third, teens want to do activities they want to do not what is required of them in a book, most do not care about advancement, those that do can earn unique recognition. Fourth, the program is coed a big asset, if you want to attract

SR You are right about Elvis, but I think there is a big difference between shows like South Park, The Apprentice, The Bachelor, et. al and the hedonistic messages they give off versus most of rock and roll. Our society will not collapse, but is rapidly becoming immoral, anti-God, and self indulgent in nature. Scouting is not cool to kids because it runs contrary to current society and is pro morality. There was an ad on prime time TV just last night promoting a dating site for gay men. What kind of subliminal messages are our kids receiving and processing each day. So lets not blame the

All of you make very good points which are very true. Another reason I think is a problem is that Scouting became "not cool" was around the same time that God became "not cool" in our society. Our society has become so hedonistic and self absorbed that it despises anything good and moral. Someone mentioned MTV and I think thats a perfect example of the kind of trash our kids are exposed too. They all wanna be cool like those idiots on TV. While there is a growing wave of people who want to return to a more moral society they are small in number compared to whole of society. The powerbroke

It is sad that this topic has come to an abrupt end considering its importance. This is one forum that everyone involved with Venturing should be participating in. It does not matter whether you guys think that Venturing is good or bad, but to brand it as not being a scouting program is a grave injustice. All of us involved in Venturing could tell you some fantastic stories about what this program has done for youth. Case in point, I have one boy who was deserted by his dad and beaten by his mom most of his life. He had been in and out of trouble with the law and then he came to one of my meet