Prairie_Scouter

eagle90, I remember exactly the same thing. It really wasn't a big deal back then (for me, high school in the late 60's). Anyway, We tell our Scouts that they have to clean up everyday. Showering and pool or lake time all count. If they get too "ripe", somebody let's them know. Let's face it, this is summer camp. Some guys proudly come home with all their spare clothes still folded up in their bag the same way they went in.

Hi Elizabeth, Congratulations on your new position! And I mean that sincerely. I've moved on to Boy Scouts now, but I served as CC in my pack while my wife was CM, and it was really a great time. Getting people to volunteer to help out is always difficult. From everyone I talk to, it is getting more and more difficult in each succeeding year. And, well, the CM is a bit more than "reading announcments". The CC is responsible for the "business" of running the pack; the CC is more or less responsible for getting the various jobs filled, pack finances are tracked correctly, de

According to some commentators I've read, the port issue isn't getting all this "action" on its own merits, although there should rightly be concerns over it. It appears that this has become one of those "straw that broke the camels" back situations. This administration has defied the Congress enough now that even the Republicans are starting to revolt. You can only say "trust me" so often before somebody finally stands up and says "why?". On the port issue specifically, everything I've read leads me to believe that management of ports is pretty closely scrutinized, at least to the leve

Since jk has been pretty much right on the mark about the situation in Chicago, why would we think that he's totally off the mark on the situation in Atlanta? More detail, as suggested, is always helpful, but hasn't all of this been in the press at one time or another? Does anyone from the Atlanta area, for example, have information that the Scouting professionals there are, instead, doing a stellar, or at least, nominally successful, job?

Eamonn, A show about the royals followed by Monty Python? How could you tell the difference? As with just about all business these days, the management of the ports are probably being sold off because there isn't enough profit in it for U.S. companies. The same reason we're sending our jobs overseas, sending our technology overseas, etc, etc. Profit is all. The almight buck rules. 25 million people in the U.S. are getting food stamps; thankfully, we can take comfort that many companies are declaring record profits and their CEOs have more income than some countries. This whol

I agree with what you're saying, t158, but for some, what you'd describe as "spreading discontent" is more a matter of raising issues that need resolution in order for Scouting to be the shining light we'd all like it to be. (of course, not everyone sees some of these issues as problems, and are perfectly happy with the status quo. I spend the vast majority of my time working within my local unit. That more than uses up my "1 hour per week" . But, when I can, I try to work towards resolution of larger issues that I see as being damaging to the organization overall. In my case, that is

When fighting an uphill battle, it's always easier to walk away than continue the fight. That's exactly what some would like to have happen. Working from within is difficult, and can be very frustrating. There's no reason that Scouters such as jhk can't come here for some venting and support. A few of us, at least, are probably happy to read what he has to say. If others aren't, just click on to the next topic. BSA does many things very well; they also do a smaller number of things very badly. Internal control appears to be one of those less fortunate items in at least some parts o

It's a shame that Scouts were used as display pieces for this effort. It may be well-meaning, I suppose, but it looks more like a bit of political gamesmanship to me. BSA itself has been played as a pawn of the conservatives (my opinion) for some time, but this is usually the adults, and the Scouts are left out of the mix.

No-bid contracts shouldn't be awarded to anyone, regardless of the administration. Could be Halliburton didn't come up as a problem during Clinton's adminstration because the conservatives were too busy going after him because he couldn't keep his zipper up. Doesn't it seem just a bit convenient that a contract for military support seems to be structured in such a way that only one company can fulfill the requirements? Hmmmm. And what was the meaning of that quote, anyway? When you've got a war going on, you don't have time to think and do things properly? Things like actually incl

Or perhaps just a tangle of fingers from too much typing?

>P.S. I am very pro-gun, pro second ammendment. The only civil right >that guarantees all the rest. Uh, oh, are we going to start up THAT discussion again? How does that argument go again? Something like "we can only be safe knowing that we all have the ability to blow each other's brains out"?

Sometime inadvertantly, and sometimes not so inadvertantly

Well, I have to admit that most of those kinds of things have happened at my house. We occasionally have rooms that we feel fortunate to have a path to walk through. Several instances of a food might be open at the same time, etc etc etc. BUT............. My kids are good kids. They get good grades, they get into just the right amount of mischief, they love us, and we love them. All that other stuff is just details that I can ignore. Well, most of the time. My wife will get really, really ticked off sometimes when they do something like not put their clothes away. My usual res

Eamonn, Both the military and BSA are supposed to operating under a policy of "don't ask, don't tell". As far as BSA goes, at least that's what I've been told. I don't know who's currently fighting the military case in court, if anyone, but I suspect that they'd probably have an easier time winning the case for gays in the military. As I understand it, the original argument was that gays for some reason weren't considered to be competent fighters, or that straight soldiers would somehow be distracted by the thought of a gay being nearby. I think that's been pretty much disproven over t

Especially in this forum, we should remember that most posts here should be assumed to have a "header" of "this is my opinion". Opinions are fine, and we should welcome them. And to not agree, and say so, is part and parcel of what we do here. But, having a friendly disagreement becomes difficult when preconceived attitudes come into play. Among those are things like "I'm on the religious right, and therefore more moral than you" and "I'm a liberal and therefore more openminded than you", etc. You've got some people out on the extremes of both sides, and those people tend to get a lot of

Fgoodwin, I think the simple answer would be "common courtesy" and privacy. When we have co-ed leaders on an outing, the women are given separate quarters. Why? Are we afraid that if we put a male leader with a female, they're automatically doing to have sex? No, but because common courtesy says that you give them separate quarters. I think Kahuna got it right. We don't need to overthink this. Venturing seems to have gotten it figured out, and some variation on their rules would probably work just fine, while remembering, always, that sexual behavior has no place in Scouting. P

I think that OGE covered the essentials of the environment very well. I'd just like to add one thought. The mere fact that you put a boy and girl together in a possibly secluded area doesn't automatically mean that a sexual encounter is going to happen. The same is true of gays, I am sure. Even in the teen years with the alleged raging hormones, the mechanics of relationships are still in play, unless the assumption is that rape is the inevitable result of such a situation, if consentual sex isn't there. I think that that's just WAY out there in the realm of possibilities, and in my m

Albert Einstein is quoted as once having said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge". The current trend towards using standardized tests as the main arbitor for advancement as well as federal funding is forcing schools to teach their students in a certain way, the way that allows them to get the highest scores on the tests. This is hardly conducive to teaching our children to actually "think". I've always thought that schools mainly exist to teach you how to learn. What they actually present in the way of knowledge is useful, or not, depending on your circumstances, but the tr

Well, this is certainly the part of Scouting that we can all agree on.

No need to forgive, fun. Glad to have you here at the circus. I've had my moments; I kinda remember early on in my time here that OGE said I'd made the 2nd most outrageous comment he'd ever heard here; I don't remember what it was anymore, but I still remember wondering what #1 was I have a good friend who's about as conservative as they come, and a friend who avoids politics at all costs. I, eeek, have gay friends as well, and golly, they're just normal folks. I myself was raised in a Chicago neighborhood deep in Democratic territory with an uncle who was a Democratic precinct cap

>>but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' >>wickedness!" Well, I'll say one thing for the God portrayed in Exodus; the guy sure holds a grudge So, here's the problem, I guess. Some religious folk hold their beliefs very strongly, and good for them. But, fact is, the Bible, as a book, has any number of contradictions and statements that are open to wide variety of interpretations. People who believe the writings in the Bible have created a certain interpretation for themselves, and they have built a very clever w

Yeah, funscout, but a statement like yours makes it sound like supporters of a "blue state" run around in some sort of moral black hole, which is basically, well, a crock.

The DaVince code isn't fact? uh oh.

Hi Eamonn, We have a Golden as well, Buddy, who's 6 years old now. Still a pup, all 85 pounds of him. He's kinda big for a golden; not a pudge ball, tho, just a big moose of a golden. We do our best to "keep him a dog", but to be honest, he's a member of the family. I don't think non-pet owners understand the bond between a family and their dog. Golden's, by their nature, are gentle, intelligent beasts. We had a big Scout whoopdeedoo at my house this past weekend, and one of the younger siblings (old enough to know better, tho), decided to whack Buddy in the face a couple of times,

Ah, I knew it was only a matter of time until somebody brought up the Canadian elections. From what I've read, the Liberal loss at the polls was not about their social agenda, it was more about a series of financial scandals that have rocked that administration, and came to a head only a couple of months ago; not unlike the unfolding financial scandals we're seeing in our own government. According to a news story today, Canadians remains solidly pro-choice, and in favor of equal treatment and rights for gays. I seriously doubt the election results will have any impact on Scouting Ca