Jump to content

Prairie_Scouter

Members
  • Content Count

    788
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Prairie_Scouter

  1. According to my wife, I've never quite made the transition from youth to adult
  2. I agree with Trev on this one. Seems like the adults are doing too much "adulting". Our troop's been around for 25 years (not as long as many but still pretty good), and we've never had the need for bylaws. Our Committee takes care of things in the background. As the Scoutmaster, while I do good deal of mentoring behind the scenes, I consider a successful troop meeting one where I'm able to limit myself to quietly reminding the SPL that it's "time to start your meeting" at the beginning, and make a couple of announcments and a Scoutmaster Minute at the end. If you think you need an info
  3. Wow, Kudu, what a wealth of information. Thanks for all the information, and the time it must have taken to plink it into your keyboard This'll take me awhile to wade through. Thanks again!
  4. I guess the question I'd have, funscout, is why we'd want to make such genetic changes, if homosexuality is indeed found to be genetic. You speak in terms of other diseases, as if it's assumed that homosexuality is a disease. I'd hazard a guess that the only people who think homosexuality is a disease are some subset of those who believe in that interpretation of the Bible. Whether there's been any research to see if that genetic trait could be eliminated (if it is a genetic trait), I would doubt it, really, because news of work like that would probably set off a firestorm of commenta
  5. Ok, so I'm kind of confused. I visited a website about the Baden-Powell Scouts. They say that their organization is based on the teachings and writings of Lord Baden Powell. Yes, I can see the obvious differences and similarities, but there's some history here, I suppose, that I'm missing. If (and maybe I'm assuming wrongly here) BSA is based on the teachings and writings of Baden-Powell, and Baden-Powell Scouts says the same thing, how did they end up going down different paths? Seems like the main differences have to do with the discriminatory practices of BSA, and some things having to
  6. Aloha, Kahuna (and all), Regards "spin", I just paid a visit to the ACLU website (actually only the 2nd time I've ever done so), and they do provide coverage of things that they are working on that affect a variety of points of view. So, the information is there, but I'd have to agree that they don't go out of their way to market themselves very effectively. The ACLU, like lots of other lawyers, surely try to get court interpretations of law that support the point of view of their clients. The litiguous nature of our country today is largely the result of lawyers who floated test c
  7. Sorry, Ed, I just don't see it that way. Can you be a little more specific about how you think the ACLU wants to change the Constitution? Regards religion in everyday life, I think it's pretty clear the ACLU couldn't care less about what somebody does about religion on their own time, on their own property. They start to get upset when religion is being expressed on government property. I think they do get carried with this at times. I honestly don't see the harm of allowing a nativity scene or some other religiously based holiday display, but others don't agree. I've got a probl
  8. Well, Good Morning, Ed Yeah, I guess you're right about that. At some point, it does become a matter of the legitimacy of the source of the information. But, I suspect that there are those who would consider anyone putting forth beliefs contrary to their own to be unbelievable.
  9. Thanks, guys. Miki, that makes a lot of sense to me. I couldn't figure out why they had to move all that way just to find a good deal on a facility, but the idea that there was somebody who popped up with a great deal that happened to be in Texas makes sense to me. Seems a little weird, tho, that they couldn't have come up with something closer to where they were already.
  10. While there are some people here, and elsewhere, that think that the ACLU does nothing these days but attack the BSA, I thought I'd point out some other things that they are doing. I've mentioned before that the ACLU in Chicago is doing some work to help homeless children in the city. This was in the news here a couple of weeks ago. Today, the news covered a story about the Bush Administration being taken to court by a group, which includes the ACLU, protesting the Administration's use of wiretaps to monitor international conversations without court order. It's clear that the Admin
  11. Thanks, Trev, just curious. That's how I remember the numbers as well. On the other part of post, I'm not sure. My personal take, and just my opinion, is that you are right about BSA membership reflecting wide social trends, but I don't think that BSA national leadership is necessarily doing the same. Depends on what side of the fence you're looking from, I guess.
  12. Does it really matter, Ed? If BadenP comes back with some really spiffy credentials, are you going to change your mind on whether the Bible should be taken literally?
  13. We took a crew to Seabase in 2004 for the Sea Exploring adventure, so we were on board ship pretty much all week. I don't remember exactly what the Island Adventure contains, so some of this may not apply. First, do plenty of swimming before you get out there. You want to be really comfortable in the water. Swimming in the open ocean is different than working out in the pool (obviously). I guess I'm speaking mostly for the leaders because the kids generally swim like fish. However, remember that you'll have to pass the BSA swim test comfortably when you get there, so make sure everyon
  14. I'd like to add a thought to what FScouter said (BTW, Great Job also, Calico). If you're in a tent, your greatest heat loss can be to the ground. I've found over the years that it's more important to make sure you have a lot of insulation UNDER you rather than over you. In our troop, we invest in 1" foamcore building insulation (4x8 sheets), cut them into 2x2 squares, and then connect them together with duct tape to make an "accordian fold" that is 2x6 feet. We put this under the tent where we sleep and put our pads on top of that. Really works well, and is pretty cheap to boot. On a
  15. Trev, Might you have some information about "traditional" totals from times past, say, the 60s or 70s?
  16. I can spin this off as a separate thread, but I was wondering if anyone knew why the National Office moved from New England all the way to Dallas?
  17. When my son was a Web2 a year ago, we acquired replica ceremonial arrows from a place in Montana. They were not particularly expensive (about $12 each with the Scout discount), and had a cedar shaft, bone tip, and turkey feathers at the tail. We added a leather lace with wood beads colored to represent different ranks and activities (using a pattern I've seen around a bit on the Web, but something we've used in our pack for a long time). Each year's awards are a bit different. For my son's year, I made a sort of Scouting diorama with the arrow attached. I'd be happy to send you a pictur
  18. If we were to take out the Learning for Life numbers out of the BSA totals, where would they sit in the membership race? Aren't BSA numbers down quite a ways from their heyday? Don't numbers for all these kinds of organizations bounce around quite a bit? One thing you could take from the Scouts Canada story is that they made a mistake by *requiring* units to accept gays, etc. If they were to have taken the "local option" that's been discussed here many times, the results could have been quite different. I really don't know of there's any accurate numbers that could clarify whether
  19. Congratulations, Eric! Sounds like a great, great opportunity. Enjoy your time there. I'm sure you'll learn a lot, and not just what's in the books.
  20. I honestly don't think the Democrats will use the filibuster. They may not like Alito, but I think the only way they could justify a filibuster to the public would be if Alito had given answers to the committee that were blatantly ultra conservative. I thought he did very will in the questioning in that I don't think he caused himself any problems with his answers. He's probably a bit to the right for my way of thinking, but I hope he'll be as objective in his decisions as he says he will be. Although, if the Democrats did filibuster, it'd be interesting to see what argument the Republ
  21. Thanks for the input, folks. We have 17 active right now, and I'm hoping we'll add a few more at the crossover in February. I was thinking in terms of maybe 3 or 4 being minimum, depending the type of trip. 4 if it's a campout, so no Scout has to sleep alone, maybe 3 for other outings. I'm thinking that if only 1 Scout signs up, maybe there's something wrong with the outing, although it's the PLC that's picking the outings, so you'd think that at least they would be going, or most of them.
  22. Ah, Kahuna, you have such a lovely state. I think I mentioned before I've been there twice, one in 1972 and again in about '88 or so. We're thinking about bringing the whole family out over the next couple of years. Anyway..... Biden actually had some pleasant things to say about the judge in some of his closing remarks. I agree with most of what's in your post. I don't think he'll have a problem getting confirmed; he's obviously qualified. I don't think the Democrats will filibuster him. The only thing after that will be to see if he can remain impartial in his decisions, as the D
  23. Do any of you, especially from smaller troops, put any minimum number of participants for an outing to take place? Some things that come to mind..... There shouldn't be a minimum. If even one scout comes out, you go. If he has a great time, that gets back to the other scouts that they "blew it". You need some sort of minimum so that you have enough Scouts going that they can have some fun with each other. You need some sort of minimum so that you make it worthwhile to ask the adult leaders to take time out of their weekends or whatever to support the outing. If the num
  24. Aloha, Kahuna, I hope the islands are enjoying the New Year! Well, I listened to WAY too much of the hearings, and I would summarize the temperment of the questioning as follows..... Republican questioners: "Hello, Judge, I love you and want to have your babies". Democratic questioners: "Why do you eat small children?" To me, it really was that silly. The Republicans asked really nothing of import. The Democrats asked the same questions over and over and over and over and over and over and over. If you didn't get the answer you wanted on the 1st try, what makes you think
  25. Well, the "right" wouldn't allow an up/down vote on one of their own candidates the last time around. Wouldn't you think the "left" would consider it a fair tactic to use as well? I don't think it'll come to that, tho. No "silver bullet" has come along to derail the Alito nomination, and as long as he continues to successfully avoid answering questions, he'll get in with no problem. I would ask some to remember that the ACLU is not a single-faceted organization who's sole mission is to destroy BSA. I've said before that while some of us were debating what the ACLU does and doesn't do r
×
×
  • Create New...