Beavah

I think it's fair to say dat the information on Saddam and WMD at the time was ambiguous, eh? I mean, the guy himself claimed pursuit, and it is fairly clear that both the French and the Russians were quite flagrantly violating the sanctions protocol. Lots of people fool themselves by seeing what they want to see in ambiguous data. Where I fault this administration is not in that single error, but in its culture of premeditated ignorance. The WMD issue was just a symptom of a constantly repeating theme... ignore the data and let Osama escape from Tora Bora... ignore the data and assume

As for the "chain of command" comment, I sorta agree. But I think it's just a word for what we know exists. There are responsibiliites in the troop. The PLs "report" to the SPL, the troop PORs "report" to the ASPL, etc. This just makes it more formal than we're used to seeing it. Not just more formal than we're used to seein' it, eh? Also more formal than any set of kids is likely to be when runnin' it, if they are in fact youth-run. Better to teach collaboration and shared responsibility in this day and age, don't ya think?

Yah, firecrafter, this is a common problem in many troops out there, eh? Good SM's naturally have to say "no" sometimes, otherwise they wouldn't be good SM's. Some parents aren't used to being told "no," or to have their child told "no." If you've got them on your committee because somewhere along the line someone was dumb enough to invite everyone to be on the committee, then yah, it's always a drag on the SM. In my experience, open committees only work with like-minded folks; and sometimes not even then. Every parent bein' on da committee is definitely not the BSA model program. Ho

Yah, given what you said about their level of ability/responsability, I'd let them do this on their own, eh? Make them fill out an itinerary, check out their gear, have them present their emergency plans... in short, treat it like a pre-project review for an Eagle project. When you're comfortable with it, drive 'em to the trailhead, and let 'em loose until the arranged pickup time/location (with plans in place for delays/revisions). That'd be the right level of challenge and growth for them, eh? After all, in a year or two, they're goin' to be adults in college who will be launching of

Hey klflintoff, Da SM handbook, Troop committee handbook, and the District Advancement Committee Policies & procedures books are good places to start. As someone new, I agree, it's good to start with the books, eh? With time, though, I hope you recognize that the above sources conflict with each other on some minor points, and that all are written to be deliberately ambiguous to some exent. That's because contrary to popular opinion, there isn't "one, best" way to do scouting. The materials reflect the different views of the Charter Org. members out there. And your role as a

Kids in public schools have due process rights. Kids in volunteer-run private activities do not. Both organizations acted within their rules and mandates, eh? Nothin' much to be done, except to voice your thoughts in person and in writing to the COR; respectfully, gently, with supporting evidence, so that if other such things come up in the future there may be more skepticism of the strong views of one long-time volunteer. It's always hard to judge these things from outside. Good volunteers and well-run programs can't always err on the side of "save every boy," because that as lik

I've seen all kinds of things in troops. Ours is pretty simple; the boy or the SM/ASM who did the conference call the advancement chair, he/she arranges members and date/time/location. Some troops like doing the once a month "standard" time with the boys signin' themselves up with the advancement chair. Some troops the SM grabs people from the back of the room at a meeting / from the campfire at an outing when needed. I've seen one troop where the Troop Scribe was responsible, working with the advancement chair.

Beavah, agree with the gist of your post, but gasoline on the fire is a bad example. Scouting insurance is "at will" and violation of G2SS or other BSA policy would allow BSA to refuse to cover (as it has been explained to me). Yah, of course gasoline on da fire is a bad example! Insurance isn't for when you've done your best, because if you did everything right there isn't liability to begin with. Insurance is for when you do something dumb, eh? And there's no such thing as an "at will" insurance policy. That would be called "insurance fraud." In my experience, most of the people wh

It's hard to comment on these things by remote, eh? And hard to tell how much of your description is just healthy "venting." First, good job in tryin' to take your troop to higher expectations. Ultimately, that will pay off for you and the kids. To help you on your way, here are a few more thoughts to consider. A few thoughts: 1) You threatened (several times), talked to, called out, argued with, etc. the ASPL several times. Don't do dat! Boys learn more and better by simple consequences than by lots of words. Choose the consequence, and apply it fairly and without a lot o

BSA insurance is always secondary/excess coverage for driving, eh? So in other words, each parent's normal auto policy covers first; da BSA policy only comes in once the auto policy is exceeded. The place where there is a difference is that for most other things, the BSA insurance is primary if you are registered, but secondary if you are not. So if Joe Parent dumps gasoline into a fire and burns two boys, then the liability is on his insurance (homeowners). If Joe is a registered committee member, then it's on the BSA. So being registered is a help for the parents, but not partic

If as a member I sued to force female membership, I wouldnt be surprised to learn my memership was being revoked. Yah, but that's not what happened, eh? The man is President of another organization, and that other organization (presumably at the direction of its board) sued the scout council. As he was just a volunteer with the BSA, it's also fallacious and deliberately misleading to call it a "conflict of interest." Is it "legal" for the BSA to revoke his membership? Sure. But that's not the standard of behavior to which we should hold ourselves. The question is rather "is it

Tap the brakes lightly, Eamonn. Take the time to get your current youth up to speed and workin' well together. The world is full of companies that grew too fast and imploded because they didn't have the infrastructure to support the growth. That wasn't fair to their customers or workers. Your ship growing too fast for your available infrastructure isn't fair to your adult leaders or your kids. Not for too long... crews and ships need to be recruitin' all da time to stay healthy, eh? But for a little bit, slow it down a touch, and work on gettin' better, before you wor

Upon reading Longhaul's comments, I was tempted to join this fray. Don't let me keep you out of it, Roostah. Da more da merrier. I do part ways with you on one point. I'm not convinced that the life of a child-molester/killer deserves the same sense of sanctity as the unborn or some other innocent life. Did I say that? I didn't mean to. I think I said the child molester/killer deserved to die. But it is a Christian act to spare their God-given life, because so long as they have breath in them they may yet be Saved. Sometimes, though, particularly in small communities and

Merit Badge Counselors "must be men and women of good character, age 18 or older, and recognized as having the skills and education in the subjects for which they are to serve as merit badge counselors, as well as having the ability to work with Scout-age boys.... Older Venturers, age 18 or older, make excellent counselors" - Advancement Committee Policies & Procedures, page 13. Yeh should still be thoughtful about an 18-year-old who is still in high school and has buddies who are 16 and 17. A new ASM/MBC needs some help switchin' into "adult mode", eh? Do him a favor and don't put

We will not violate the mothers right to privacy to guarantee the childs right to life. It's not a privacy issue. It's a search without a warrant issue. Law cannot really be used to protect life; it can only be used to punish those who kill. If there is evidence of a crime, it should be pursued; but in this nation we don't allow "fishing expeditions" to find evidence of a crime that may or may not have occurred. Ordinary jurisprudence. If a doctor has knowledge that a crime is going to be committed that doctor must tell the police. Yes, so if a woman solicits a docto

LongHaul, I think yeh use ordinary jurisprudence, eh? Packsaddle makes a big deal out of how sometimes drugs that prevent ovulation also work by preventing attachment to the uterus. But if we're honest, there's really no risk of prosecution there. No way of the state ever having evidence. Ordinary civil liberties also would mean that no, we wouldn't make women take a pregnancy test before leaving the country, buying cigarettes or whatnot. For your other cases, we already have established law as a guide. A woman abusing drugs while pregnant might indeed be convicted of child

Aw, packsaddle. Yeh were waitin' and proddin' us to talk about birth control and in-vitro from our perspective, then rather than answerin' us, you retreated to statements from anonymous "pro-life contacts" that you could straw man. Very disappointin. Yeh had un-anonymous pro-life ladies and gents right here. No question that genetic technology is proceedin' at a pace faster than most of society has had a chance to think about and discuss, let alone reach consensus on. Frankly, that's pretty scary. Just because we can do somethin' doesn't mean we should. The race to tinker with genet

Yah, first you need to get documentation from dad, and perhaps ask permission to speak to the treating physician/psychologist. This has nothin' to do with rank advancement, this is so that your adult (and key youth) leaders understand the boy's condition & medications enough to be able to help, support, and keep him safe on trips. We must remember that advancement is just a technique we use to help boys learn and grow. You should not hesitate to use it! If you figure that with an extra three months, a clear goal, and some more support for this boy you can help him improve in an are

Ed, that's a nice story. But remember your mother CHOSE. That's my point. If the pro-life arguments are sufficiently persuasive, the choice will be agreeable to them, as was your mother's choice. Sure. Our ideal and desire is always that people freely choose to do the right thing. I hope all of our scouts freely choose not to smoke or do drugs. And it would be nice if they so chose because their parents' arguments or ours were sufficiently persuasive. But we still choose to help them make decisions by criminalizing possession and by criminalizing sale of drugs (or cigarettes

Ed, that's a nice story. But remember your mother CHOSE. That's my point. If the pro-life arguments are sufficiently persuasive, the choice will be agreeable to them, as was your mother's choice. Sure. Our ideal and desire is always that people freely choose to do the right thing. I hope all of our scouts freely choose not to smoke or do drugs. And it would be nice if they so chose because their parents' arguments or ours were sufficiently persuasive. But we still choose to help them make decisions by criminalizing possession and by criminalizing sale of drugs (or cigarettes

Yah, Eammon. You've got a Sea Scout ship, eh? You're an advisor. These kids are old enough they don't need your support for this kind of task. This is not your problem. The problem belongs to the leaderShip. You aren't allowed to steal it from them. If they can successfully flex the deadline (and want to), then it gets flexed. If they can't successfully flex the deadline, then it breaks for some reason (transportation falls through, not enough spaces, etc.) and they have to deal with that. Not your problem. Go tinker with the boat and leave 'em alone.

Thanks for da update. This is good news. If the courts and scouters can force the governance issue and finally send the Executive Board packing before the final zoning ruling comes, then all your hard work may pay off. My understanding of the sales agreement is that it's contingent on zoning changes. And only the council has the legal standing to challenge the zoning decision. If the Executive Board chooses not to fight a negative zoning decision, then that will void the sales agreement, eh? Never, ever have I seen such dishonorable behavior by a NFP board of directors. To h

Yah, der's no question that the insignia guide agrees with you, ScoutNut. The youth religious award knot is clearly permitted on the adult uniform, I suspect for the reasons you mention (just like the program capstone awards - AOL, Eagle, QM, Silver). Da rest is just my personal opinion. I'd at least want to see the youth knot worn only if the person earned it for the highest level program they participated in as a youth. Wearing the knot for a cub level religious award if you spent seven years in Boy Scouts and didn't earn the scout-level award just seems cheap. As far as the res

"Members wear only the insignia that show their present status in the movement. Members should make every effort to keep their uniforms neat and uncluttered. Previously earned badges and insignia - not representing present status - [should be moved to a patch vest or blanket, etc.]" Dat's in my copy of the Insignia Guide, page 4. I read this to mean that when you shift positions, you remove knots associated with your former position. Thus if you move from a pack to a troop, you remove the Cubmaster Award, Den Leader Award(s), Cub Scouter Award, etc. Similarly, a district or counci

LongHaul,asking a Scout what,why,how questions is not in my opinion a retesting, but a way of determining if requirements were met. Gotta be careful there, eh? "WHAT precautions must be taken for a safe swim?" (2nd class 7a) "WHY do we use the buddy system in Scouting?" (TF 9) "HOW do we treat for exposure to poisonous plants?" (TF 11) Asking what camp gadget a Scout made is not retesting it determines if the requirement was fulfilled. Yah, maybe. But it doesn't determine whether the skill has been learned. And the first purpose of the BOR is "To make sure the work has b