Nike

This really doesn't fit the spirit of Scout fundraising, which is to offer a fair product at a fair price. (Yeah, yeah, popcorn)

It's a cute idea for raising money for Toys for Tots or a local shelter, though.

They can't be bothered to bring in their unused absentee ballot????

I can't take another contested election. We don't have TV service.

While I am sure that I am preaching to the choir, every successful youth program requires trained leaders, supportive parents who do more than just pick up and drop off, and kids who want to be there.

How big is your troop and could you ease into the purchase of backpacking by making these patrol hikes? Just a thought.

Splitting a pack or troop doesn't have to be a traumatic process. It's more like spinning off a new congregation, you plan for it.

An old pack of ours was so large and cumbersome that they all knew it was time to split. They went to a CO about 1/2 mile away, but across a major road, and proposed planting a new pack there. One of the many great dads volunteered to be the CM of the new group. They meet as a pack on a different night of the week from the original pack, giving some experienced parents a very distinct reason to choose one pack over the other.

Both packs are still doing very well but are more manageable in size.

You can't logicaly believe in the science of geology and a young Earth at the same time. They are completely antithetical.

With no statistical abstract, these files are useless and harmful.

I randomly chose one from overseas which was from 1970. The male subject was discharged from the military for homosexual conduct. There was no indication that he was involved in child molestation or any kind of detail on what he did to be discharged by a court martial.

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Opened right up for me in Chrome just now with no warnings.

Just an update:

CNN's digital editorial director just called me and let me know that they had removed the photo from the article and that CNN had violated their own policy of not using photos unconnected to the article.

So, writing in works.

I know it isn't PC because of the illustrations, but I loved "Little Black Sambo" when I was little.

The banned classics list was basically our high school's reading list. Who could choose just one?

If the Wolf was fine sleeping by himself, let him. If he was crying and upset, I would have knocked on Mom's tent and told her that little Boo-Boo needed a little more time before leaving the nest. Although, I would have encouraged him to invite his buddy to share his tent too.

As for Mom and boyfriend...sigh....Perhaps she was trying to obey the rule about Scouts only sharing tents with their parents or other boys.

Our pack is going to invest in some larger tents specifically for WEB use so that they and their parents start to get the idea that boys should tent with boys.

Make sure you send a nice thank you letter to the owner. Having the boys make a big card at the next pack meeting from a folded poster board would also be a nice gesture. All you can do is apologize and move forward.

Won't Scoutnet choke on this kid's Eagle Application when the dates don't match up to the programmed minimums?

As for Skeptic's Scouts, I suppose you can ask them if:

1. They think the boy is doing all of that by himself?

2. They think he is having any fun?

3. They think he is learning anything or having any sort of experience akin to theirs?

4. There's more to earning Eagle than just getting a patch faster than anyone else?

You could have quite an discussion about honesty, integrity, loyalty, working as a good member of a patrol and troop, really learning about something as opposed to pencil whipping, etc.

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Well, it's still a good idea to always have a couple pounds on hand.

Along with attending a class on how to fill out your son's Eagle paperwork you can do this too:

Advancing in Scouting Binder

Every Mom or Dad needs help to organize their Boys workbooks and keep track where their son is in scouting.

This is the perfect solution! Come check it out!

The cost is $15. Worth every penny! It includes a $5 off a

merit badge class coupon!

Crazy me told my son to keep track of his own stuff! No wonder he didn't Eagle out at 14.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/world-bacon-shortage-unavoidable-223157784.html

I figure Scouters are one group that will immediately understand the gravity of the situation.

Let it go.

The Brookings Institute has crunched the numbers and a teen who has a child, commits a crime, or has less than a 2.5 GPA has a significantly reduced chance of being middle class (300% the poverty level) in his or her 40s. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2012/9/20%20pathways%20middle%20class%20sawhill%20winship/0920%20pathways%20middle%20class%20sawhill%20winship.pdf

We do not have a society or media that supports an abstinence based sexual culture. We will not have such a society with out significant changes in established law or precedent. And that is very unlikely to happen.

We could have much, much better, more realistic sex Ed and widely available contraception, like the vast majority of Western Europe, and probably have a much lower teen pregnancy rate.

We are not going back, so we really need to get our collective heads out of the sand and find the best way forward.

Deployments and traffic. Most of us live off-post scattered around the southern half of the metro area, and our traffic is on par with DC or Atlanta. Rush hour is a nightmare.

You can always de-charter her if she continues to be a nuisance. Or, give the acquiring SM/CC a frozen smile when he says, "So tell me about Ms. X."

Have you tried working through the PTA/PTO channel? We can put an announcement in our PTA bulletin?

Does your neighborhood/community have a FaceBook group? Any Homeowner Associations to hit up?

How about hanging at the local soccer (ugh) complex one Saturday with stomp rockets and other cool things?

I've also got a kid in the photo, and I think this is a TAC photo. It appeared on CNN.com at teh time of the camporee.

My son sent an email to CNN stating that he didn't think they should use a photo of Scouts, kids who can't make policy decisions, to illustrate this issue.

In our pack, the Membership chair does this. However, this person also reviews our current roster every other month by asking for an update from council. The Committee Chair and Cubmaster also review the roster, and it's an agenda item at the pack leaders' meeting. We put as many eyes on it as want to see it.

We prorate everyone and figure it evens out.

Check the safety checkpoints for BB gun usage by Girl Scouts. And get out of the dining hall.

You can practice outdoor cooking at meetings or at after soccer lunches. GS prefers the use of camp stoves to grills or open fires. Anything you can cook at home can be cooked at camp! If your council has an outdoor cooking class take it. Your camping training should cover several different types of outdoor cooking. Box ovens, solar ovens, and Dutch ovens really expand your capabilities. Our girls made chocolate cake at day camp this year in the box ovens. I cooked a whole chicken in a 5 gallon popcorn tin. It was exceptional.

Juniors is really when you can begin outdoor cooking, camping, and fire starting skills.

Soccer is the bte noir of weekend activities. Thank goodness my kids hate it.