BadenP

Oh my I do think that our friend Merlyn may have burst a blood vessel. Taking things too personally and seriously can be hazardous to your health Merlyn, have a nice glass of wine and relax it will all be over soon, lol.

Merlyn Read Eamonn's citation, CAP is a volunteer civilian auxillary that can be used by the USAF but it is NOT a part of the military, Thats what volunteer, civilian, and auxillary mean, it also means that they are NOT bound legally to fly any mission they might find too risky, much like in the Coast Guard auxillary for example we can turn down a rescue mission if it is deemed too risky. Bottom line- military agencies can request assistance of an auxillary but that auxillary is not legally bound to perform it. If they were indeed part of the military that would not be the case. So again you have proven nothing to refute what I have said and I am through trying to correct your misinformation and attempts to grasp at straws and find a villian behind every case.

Oh Merlyn I was just refuting your prior posts claiming the CAP is a military organization and a government agency which it is not, or run by the Congress which it does not, or being controlled by air force officers which it is not, proving once again your claims are meritless and your arguments just a lot of hot air.

packsaddle You are as bad as the tabloid press bringing up such a useless topic about a few isolated and ignorant groups in this country who probably haven't read a book outside of school their entire lives. Calling attention to this ignorance just gives these crackpots a way to further spread their ridiculous philosophy. A total waste of time.

Merlyn Get it straight son, auxillary members are VOLUNTEERS we get no pay. They do not discriminate, but then neither does an LFL post. The ties to government as you claim does not make the auxillary subject to military orders, they can not be pressed into military service at ANY time, rather the military may request some help in areas of nonenforcement and nonmilitary tasks which the auxillary can choose to accept or reject based on their current number of volunteers available. So please don't twist your misunderstanding of auxillaries to fit your erroneous views.

By your own words, "a nonprofit corporation", "an auxillary of the USAF". The Coast Guard Auxillary IS NOT part of the Coast Guard and can not assist in either military or enforcement duties, I know because I am a member. The same is true for CAP, it is a civilian group which may be given limited assignments by the Air Force and have liason officers but these officers are NOT CAP. Any auxillary is there to provide assistance to its military counterpart but they themselves are not military, just like my auxillary Coast Guard unit is not military or law enforcement but assists with boater safety courses and registration that the Coast Guard does not have time to perform, the same is true for CAP. In no way or stretch of the imagination are CAP or CGA considered a military organization and are instead groups of civilians with a passion for flying or boating.

Merlyn What is your source because it totally conflicts the information I was given by a CAP rep. I doubt seriously that Congress dictates to the CAP, and maybe some of CAP's members are also USAF employees but I have to seriously question your statement.

A CAP unit is not under the auspices of the USAF, they are an independent civilian organization with their own chain of command. If asked they can assist any military or civilian law enforcement agency, except for enforcement duties. So they are eligible to charter a BSA unit. Where are the Air Scouts when you need them, lol. CAP also has access to resources that few if any scout unit could muster on their own, and that's where this partnership becomes so valuable.

Con job or not the finances/ assets of a pack are the pervue of the unit committee and the charter organization,and any decision or argument over their distribution is their decision not the pack leaders. Those are the rules of the BSA, and this also takes the burden off of you and places it squarely on their shoulders.

When I was a DE I had two units, explorer posts, in one of my districts that had been issued special charters for activities normally not allowed by the BSA, martial arts and extreme wilderness survival aimed at troubled and deliquent teens, so you see there is a method already in place to grant exclusions. A CAP unit chartered as an explorer post would indeed resolve any conflict between BSA and CAP regulations since posts are not bound by the exclusionary rules of the BSA.

I think what Congress needs to do instead is to create even more stringent regulations for health care insurers and providers instead of coming up with a whole new health plan. However this will never happen because these two entities contribute more to political campaigns than any other. It is time to reign in the drug companies,insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors who have been milking the system for years and causing the costs of health care to rise to obscene levels. The more I hear the details of Obamas plan the less I like it and really do not see where it is going to save money or bring the health care industry under control, see Brent I can see both sides of the argument.

Eamonn, Yeah everyone could be so civil all the time, but that would make it a very dull forum and people would drop out like flies. Check out macscouters forum sometime it is always the same four people and when someone new comes in these same four pounch on them, they have no where near the participation this forum does. Here I think people enjoy strongly discussing the topics in the issues and politics section and no one takes anyone else too seriously. After all there is only so much discussion you can do on topics like scout badges, cub scout derbies, and dutch oven receipes, lol.

scouting again, You do not know of what you speak my friend, I did DOD intelligence work for several years and let me tell you there have been many very close calls that are kept under wraps to prevent panic among the population. For every event that gets reported there are least ten or more that do not, so act high and mighty all you want, criticize all you want, but you are still reacting from a view of ignorance and partial information. Your WOMD analogy is a lame duck argument as well. I don't agree with wire taps either but in this day of rapidly expanding communication technology today it is almost impossible to trace many remote phone calls, and computer messaging back to their source.

I don't think this is a tough one at all, if his trangression was a serious rather than minor one you have the perfect grounds not to sign, I think pushing this off on the DAC is kind of a chickens way out, after all this is about YOUR signature not the EBOR so the DAC should not have to be dragged into it at this time. Now if his trangression was minor in nature than you just need to use your best judgement as to whether or not it disqualifies him for Eagle. If you say no then he can always appeal to the DAC at that time.

Of course you could always stick the kid in a dark room with a bright light and interrogate him until he cracks, lol. Come on now this really is a simple matter, have the family get the evidence from the former pack leaders, records or a simple letter stating Johnny earned the following awards. You don't need to make a mountain out of this molehill of a problem. Let the parents do the contacting, it is not the responsibility of the new pack leaders, and until the evidence is obtained let the boy participate like there is nothing wrong.

First of all I think there is a lot of behind the scenes info on terrorism that the public is not and will not be made aware of, and I suspect that is why Obama is keeping parts of the Patriot Act going. Even with all the new safeguards in place it is still fairly easy for some crackpot or group to sneak into the USA, and it is not about the news we hear about as much as the events we never hear about that concern me. No country can ever be completely safe from attack,so I think I will let those leaders on the frontlines make those decisions than critize them from a point of ignorance as some seem determined to do. Brent, as far as the press is concerned both the left and right wing press share equally in the blame, both sides show a total disregard for ethical reporting and the facts and instead go for ratings or sales by resorting to cheap sensationalism, and it is getting worse all the time.

Eisley I think you can add quite a few others to your list for the so called "worst president", oh lets see Reagan, Nixon, and GW come to mind, each led our country into serious financial crisis and a total mistrust of the government bureacracy. Brent, I have witnessed first hand severe racial prejudice in the south unlike any I have seen in other parts of the country, which is sad because there are also many very kind people there as well.

Tahawk No this was not a scout fair it was a county fair, but the police confiscated not only the sheath knives but the folding knives as well. These boys were part of a scouting promo booth.

I don't know where you get your facts Dunwoody but there are also many House Republicans asking Wilson to apologize to the floor for the embarrasment he caused for the republican party and to the House. It's not always just about the Democrats, Brent even if you would like to think so. Besides the whole admonishment is more a ritualistic point of order, its not like he is going to be branded with an L on his chest, lol, and he did get a million in contributions from people who support his boorish behavior, did any of it come from you Brent?

Greaves is right on, when the press gives these isolated nutjobs publicity because they are supposed clergy, most of whom really are not. You know in less than 10 minutes you can get yourself ordained online, get a fancy ordination certificate, and never had one day of education or training. Then rent a storefront, start a church and scream all the moronic hate you can think of, and the press will give you all the free publicity you want, isn't America great. So much of modern day journalism is nothing more than just cheap theatrics and sensationalism, with very few facts, cuz it sells papers and air time and thats all jounalists seem to care about these days. Ignoring these self proclaimed prophets is the best way to shut them up.

Even though I am somewhat surprised by Eamonns somewhat jaded post I do agree with some of his thoughts. A volunteer should always first and foremost try to solve any problems within the volunteer structure or chain of command. Truefully DE's and SE's do not really care about individual unit squabbles or problems, unless they involve child safety issues or adults creating a dangerous situation, or a gross/severe violation of BSA policies or program. For unit level problems there is the unit committee, COR, and commisioner staff, all who are volunteers. As far as starting new units you want to try to work with the DE if at all possible. For example if there is a pack at a local school but it is small and not seem to be growing from year to year, maybe due to internal problems like a weak program, a council might determine that they need to set up another pack to pull in those boys the current pack is not reaching. Some DE's would see the competition as forcing the weaker pack to sharpen its game and to give boys and parents a choice, rightly or wrongly. I think every volunteer here would have to agree that some units that are in so much chaos they really can't be saved. As far as boy scout troops they are dropping so fast in numbers that I think every DE would want to make sure all the troops in his district were rock solid before starting any new ones. So I guess you can make the DE your adversary or a friend depending on the way they work or refuse to work with you and the district.

After reading Lisa's post I have to say any SE forcing a new or any DE to start a ridiculously high number of units where they are not needed should be demoted to DE and given the same task and threat. If Nationals focus has become so narrow and as ill thought out as you guys describe then it is time to demand accountability from them. You know after working for the guy I know how Mazzuca thinks and plans and sometimes his goals were totally unrealistic with the reality of the situation. I think all SE's should get much better training on how to create a realistic and obtainable business/management plan, conducted by top business professionals and not BSA staff.

You guys just don't seem to get it A DE can only be successful if his units are strong and successful and growing. Yes he is suppossed to start new units but not at the expense of his exsisting ones, at least thats what I was taught at National when I was a DE. A DE is suppossed to provide council support to the units and district activities. As far as money is concerned if a DE is providing poor service to the district then his FOS campaign will surely fail and as a result he will fail all his tasks he is evaluated on. So if you think your DE is screwing you over talk to the SE you bet he will fix it fast. While it sometimes might seem as an adversarial relationship between volunteers and council, in a well run council it is actually a symbiotic relationship both parts dependent on each other and both parts successful with mutual cooperation.

I think this situation is already here, we were at a fair and I saw a troop of boy scouts in uniform, many were wearing sheath knives or pocket knives on their belts were confronted by police and told to surrender them and that they could pick them up when they left the fair.

Hey Pack15 I hate to tell you but no matter who starts a new unit the DE gets credit for the increase in district membership. Usually the DE only starts a new unit where none or very few already exsist. As far as school nights, depends on the school district, when I was a DE I was the only one permitted by the school district superintendant to approach schools to set up a school night, and they allowed me to set up a table during school hours several days prior with promo giveaways and information flyers about the big night. I usually took a volunteer or two from the pack, troop with me and it worked out great. Sometimes the Girl Scouts came with me and set up a table as well at the school. Times have changed and many schools will not let anyone in anymore.