Scoutfish

Another thing that irks me is when parents will watch their own kid get a badge, belt loop, arrow point or progress bead, but wiil stand up and leave during another kids moment in the spot light. Last year, my son was a Wolf Cub, and the awards were presented (in order of) Tiger, Wolf, Bear, WebI , Web II Even though my son was finished, we sat through the whole thing and clapped for all the kids at the appropriate time. My son asked why we were staying, and i told him: 1) The meeting isn't over - we haven't been excused yet and 2) "Remember how good you felt when everybody

Buffalo; By all means brag all you want. You are bragging for the right reasons! Last year, my son and I entered our pack "Parent-Son Cookoff". It was a dessert competiton. Now, I have always been one to let my son do as much work as safety allows. I wasn't really expecting a first year scout to do that spectacular, so it was more of a participation thing. Now...what's a dessert that isn't way too overly complicated for a 7 year old? CHEESECAKE! We went out and bought the ingredients. My son measured out all the ingredients. He mixed up the crust stuff by hand. He spread

"Replacing union work with "volunteer" work can also be a way of breaking unions" "Volunter" work could also be a fancy way of saying slavery , no? Since it was performed by an under the legal age of 18 scout, it might even break child labor laws right? Did this child perform a scout action unsupervised by any scout leadership? Might out to contact the council and see who need to be reprimanded Maybe he actually paid somebody else to do it...say illegal immigrants? Who knows, mabey the Eagle Review board ought to investigate? Somebody should contact INS at the very least!

My very first comment on this subject was that I did not claim to understand the inner working ofa union. ` But I do have to argue at least one thing you said: "Those are very 1970s-era views of how unions and employers relate, for the most part." Mr Balzano is the very reason that these views are also very 2000's era views too! Nobody lost any work or money. Nobody tried to undermine anybody or replace anybody. Yet istead of using commen sense and thinking, this guy distorted, and exaggerated the situation and tried to make it into something it's not. In order for him to main

"..why they are using every weapon in their arsenal to get their jobs back." See, that's the flawwed logic here. THis was not a city project! THuis was not something the city, city council or public in general had planned on. If it was not for the actions of the scout, this project would not have happened, Not the idea,the planning , nor the project itself. The city did not ask, hire, pay, or compensate the scout. If it was about losing work, then I have to ask: "What work was lost?" There was never a plan for the union guys to do it. BUT there was no exclusion o

LisaBob, " This is a necessity - it is not childish - because otherwise, an employer could be free to "union bust" by simply laying off all or many union employees and HIRING somebody else instead." The scout was nether hired by the city, nor did he get compensated in any way. The union crew was not replaced by him . Now as for my complaining about Unions, I know it was harsh, but that is the norm, not the exception. As with all things in life, there are always exception. Polititions for example: Most are money hungry , self serving people who vote based on personal interest or m

I don't know Frank - "They will not be as fast or efficient as the union members" - The volunteers probably don't have mandated coffee breaks every 15 minutes, cigarette breaks every 30 minutes, and don't have to defer the decision to planting a tree at the next rep meeting because it weighed 2.4 pounds more than the suggested union guidelines! My opinion of unions is this: While they may have been neccesary at one time, the advent of the US labor department, the Employment Security Commission, and current labor and wage laws...I see unions as nothing more than legal rackateering groups.

okay, I'll be the very first to admit that I have no dealings and quite possibly any understanding of the inner workings of a Union. Having said that: Since when did employees of a city, wether union or not, have the say so over who does what and what policies are? "Balzano said "there's to be no volunteers." " I mean, I understand agreeing on what jobs are considered routine or above the bar, I understand negotiating holidays, vaction and insurance. But for an employee to dictate policy to scale of what Balzano said is just ludicris! To suggest that a person cannot volu

evmori; At out den meetings, space is very limited. Too many parents would indeed be counter productive. But at Pack meetings, everybody is expected to attend as a whole unit. this is when we hand out awards, give recognition to scouts, have duplicate crossovers for those who could not attend te official ceremonies , and just have general announcements. This is also a time to show parents who do drop off their kids, what goes on during the other times. At the very least, parents should not act like they are too good to do what they expect their kids to do. Again, at den me

This is a spinoff, I just couldn't make the spin off work. Or I didn't understand it. Take your pick! Another discussion asked what ever happened to pride in scouting. http://www.scouter.com/Forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=258363 Well, after having a few days to think about it, I realized that parents have a bigger role in how the scouts feel about scouting. On the surface, things like forcing a kid to join will obviously make him resent scouting. Holding accomplishments over his head - such as holding back a driver's license until he gets Eagle will cause resentment. But what

A sewing Badge is a great idea. While I in no way claim to be a tailor, I have sewn my sons patches on by hand. I can fix a button and repaired a zipper. Fixed a pair of pants while at work and fixed a coat during winter while in a boat in the waterway. Wether or not it sounds girly may completely depend on the light it's shown in. You ever see the first Rambo movie? Rambo pulls out his trusty survival knife and (with thread and nedle) sews up a 5" gash in his arm, and then sews a shirt out of canvas to keep warm. How he lost his shirt in the winter - I can't remeber! You never k

So after reading many replies, I have come to realize how much I love this site. My son is only a Bear Scout right now, but one day in the future, I may have to deal with all of this. I am just an active parent right now who has already filled out and turned in an application. I plan on becoming a Den Leader with at least a year of ADL first. Anyway, to the point: At our Pack Meetings, the very first thing we do is Rise and watch the color guard come into the meeting hall. Then we salute / scout salute the flag and say The Pledge of Allegiance. Then we say the scout promise, fo

"There is no easy and quick answer to this." That is probably the only truthful and final answer on the subject!

WOW! First off, let me say - this is exactly why I joined this site: To learn this kind of stuff. My son is only a Bear Cub so far, so there isn't a worry of "PL" stuff yet. I , being a second year dad, have just applied to be an adult leader. I'm planning on being a ADL first, so I can get a few years under my belt first. Now, not being in any sort of experienced , or qualified position about PL, I just have to ask: Let's suppose it is absolutely the sole responcibilty of the PL when it comes to rest of the patrol; one scout (with or without a buddy) is fetching wood. Maybe 100 t

le Voy I do not want illegals any more than anybody else! But to say their laws didn't apply because they weren't recognized under OUR constituion? To say OUR 14th Amendment is all that matters is arrogant! By that very logic you stated, then when the next invaders approach America, all they have to say is : "Your laws are not recognized under our constitution!" And years later, we cannot plead , complain or cry about how we were invaded, lest we hear that our "Nativst laws" meant nothing to THIER constituion and whatever passes for their 14th amendment. Now as

Yeah, my ancesters did too. And it was through laws made at the time. BUT... those laws were made by folks that just over took this land. My point is this: If immigration was so closely and tightly controled back in the 1300's and 1400's, there wouldn't be any United States. We would be citizens of all the asian, European, and African countries still. Before you blst people entering a country where they are not wanted, just remember that the current population of America started that way! If you want to cry about immigrants, illegals and unwanted people...cry to a Nativ

First thing I want to say is this: Does anybody know who the first illegal immigrants were? I'll give you a hint: US! We came here from other lands and pretty much declared that we were taking over. We swarmed and multiplied like a nest of cockroaches.We also decided there wasn't room for anybody but us. We killed, maimed and slaughtered many Native Americans and justified it by calling them savages! Can you beleive that? We called them savages? We ran them from their villages, homes,and cities. We herded up thousands and thousand of Natives and "let" them crowd together on barr

Does your troop/ pack/ den not have it's own web site? You could upload all the photos for your whole (registered) troop/ pack/ den group to see,rate and comment on - but only allow uploading or removal by admin staff or the web master. If you do not have a site, http://www.mypack.us/ will create a site just for you.

That's a very fine point indeed Novice! "Perhaps scouting pride is linked to actually wanting to be a scout? How many scouts that have no pride would really prefer to quit? Followup question - but can't quit because mom & dad won't let them, or because cash or a drivers license is the inducement? How many adults have pride in something they don't care about?" Now that I think about it, I remember back when I was 15 or 16 years old. My best friend was a Scout. He hated it! Why? Because every other day, his dad commented about how "If you don't make Eagle early ,

"After you incarcerated the first few and people knew the government was serious, they would quit hiring them." Sorry, that hasn't worked so far with murder, robbery, kidnapping, tax evasion, or even gun laws. You can make the laws tougher, trhe penalties harsher, ....but somebody somewhere will plan even harder think : "I will get away with it and not get caught!"

Now,how you word it is up to you, but basically, I'd tell the parents that are doing the cussing: "Hey look, we are trying to better our kids, not make them worse. Isn't our goal to improve upon society, not degrade it? Let's don't do anything ourselves that we'd get upset with if our kids did it too!" Again, the wording is up to you, but the point should be the same: let's try to teach our kids to a higher standard than what even we live at.

As for me..am I perfect? Not even close! Do I curse? Unfortumneatly, yes. I try no too and I don't around my son...unless something slips when I drop something on my foot etc. I tell my son it's nothing to be proud of. I have been quit from smoking for a little over 2 months now. I had smoked for 20 years, in the past 5 or 6, I had to explain to my son why I smoked, EVEN THOUGH I KNEW IT WAS BAD. But at the very least, I didn't smoke inside my house, or when in a vehicle with my wife and son. Nobody's perfect, but at least we can try to make an effort to be a good as we can be.

I completely agree with Dean! There is never a black and white issue: It's against the law of man AND God to kill. Period! Yet if you are attcked, isn't it called self defense instead of murder? Stealing is wrong by both man's laws and the bible. Yet if you accidentally short the government or another person a dollar or say..just 50 cent, you don't mind it at all do you? As religeous people, we know thet Bible states the Sabbath takes place on Saturday, yet " we always observed it on Sunday, so why change it?" So now we are are directly changing and ignoring one of God's law

Maybe we can blame lawyers? Somewhere we went from being great due to our diversity as a nation to becoming a nation of "Offended by Anything"! That guy listens to a different kind of music than me, accourding to my Home Owners Assoc, we can penalize him or sue! Somebody has a belief or celebrates something I don't believe in: instead of just letting them have the same freedoms I want and expect: I'll complian and sue to make sure they don't do that again and possibly OFFEND me! Of course, if what I do offends them..well, tht's just crazy! Why would anybody be offended by

Okay, this wasn't my pack, but when the family and I went to Daytona for The Budweiser Shootout, we obviously had t0o park somewhere. Well, forget the $50 parking across the street from the speedway! So we actually saw a parking lot that was about 3 acres in size, that only asked for a donation of $20. Turns out it was a Daytona beach Cub Scout pack. I didn't catch the den or pack number as I was too involved with scouting at the time. But from what I gathered from one of the adults, the pack asked if they could rent a portion of the airport parking lot for a "nominal fee". It wa