SeattlePioneer

Hello AZ Mike, > Interesting article. You can see the idea of the eugenics movement again being revived by Progressives. I guess the horrors of Naziism are forgotten or forgiven. And notice how the interest of the state to avoid caring for expensive children is again given as a reason for government intervention in life and procreation. At least in the 1920s the eugenics movement was aimed at sterilizing those deemed to be mentally incompetent, not actually killing children who were already born. I think this amply illustrates why the values of life and procreation as espoused by Thomas Aquinas are so important. The Progressive alternative is to dispose of life and procreation as central human values, replacing them with utilitarian values which amount to "if it feels good, do it" and in the longer term will give government control over such decisions whether the individuals involved like it or not. The Progressive movement has used "choice" as the battering ram to destroy natural law values in government, but longer term we can see that the aim is to give government the power of life and death and to decide whether human life can be conceived, born and lived.

As described earlier, the eugenics movement was a cornerstone of progressive politics before WWII. Progressives rejected the natural law value given to life and to procreation, and decided that their politics and the wisdom of government could be used to clean up the gene pool of humanity that nature did so poorly. Then along came Adolf Hitler and Stalin, who showed the real potential of such policies when wielded by a self confident state. Even progressives were horrified by that! They have not, however, been deterred by the example of China's "one child" policy to revise their support of abortion. Apparently it doesn't matter if a million unborn children in the United states are killed, as long as they are killed at the initiative of the mother rather than the state. The Progressive value (seen in this thread) is the utilitarian assertion that a human fetus is valueless and can be destroyed at will by the mother. Of course, this is contradicted by laws which criminalize the killing of a human fetus if it is not done by the permission of the mother. An assault by someone that kills a fetus can be prosecuted. Roman fathers used to have the power to kill their children even into adulthood. These days we have the same power, except that it is the mother who is free to decide to kill her child and she has to decide before he/she is born.

Hello Two Cub,

Troops have different personalities, and issues such as the one your raise are among the many reasons why. My philosophy as a Scoutmaster was to offer experiences and competitions which would help teach the Trail To First Class requirements. To me, First Class was the most important rank since it fulfilled the promise of Scouting to teach boys hiking and camping skills. Scouts were warmly welcome to pursue Star, Life and Eagle, but they did that on their own initiative. So.... no Merit Badge classes in my troop. This was thirty years ago. We did first aid training and exercises often enough --- Scouts probably earned a lot of the First Aid Merit Badge from that, but most earned it at summer camp. The Troop program tended to be about games and competitions learning, using and practicing Scouting skills, planning for the next camping trip or outing and recovering from the last camping trip or outing. I favored the kind of "stealth advancement" you describe. Frequent practice tended to develop Scout skills that Scouts could actually use when they needed them. "Once and done" wasn't an issue since by and large much of the learning was practicing skills that Scouts already had nominally learned.

Perhaps it's worth noting that the fault lines of a number of key moral issues runs between the natural law of Thomas Aquinas and that of the current progressive movement. We've discussed on other threads how the natural law value of procreation conflicts with the "If it feel good, do it" values promoted by the sexual liberation movement. That is the source of conflict between lots of things from homosexuality to birth control to contraceptives to abortion. A second very important natural law value is the value of human life. That conflicts with the utilitarian notions of progressive values on things like euthanasia and abortion. It is really remarkable to see the very durable cornerstones of western civilization being torn up and replaced on such issues. I'm not really sure that happened during the Hundred years War or the reformation. It probably happened during the French Revolution, but those value changes were largely defeated in the end there. In the history of ideas, this is a remarkable time, and not necessarily a good one despite the pretension of progressives.

At our District Committee meeting, several Scouter who commonly sit on Eagle Boards of Review as Counsel representatives had nothing but praise amounting to wonder at the quality of Eagle Scouts they were approving. No reservations at all were expressed. I don't know if that's because so many Eagle candidates deserve the award or whether the Board of Review process doesn't pick up weaknesses and acts as a rubber stamp as a matter of routine. Any opinions? These were all experienced Scouters with high personal standards themselves in my experience.

Hello Calico Penn, > You are the only one arguing that an unfertilized sperm or egg is a human being. Your argument fails when it is applied to a fetus that is three months, six months or eight months from conception.

Hello Platypus96, Were you in Cub Scouts and Webelos? If so, what kind of Webelos program did you have?

The mothers of America and Europe have killed off more inncocent human life than Hitler and Stalin --- combined. It's the greatest massacre of the XXth century --- a century noted for massacres ion a previously unknown scale, mostly done in the name of atheism and against religious values. "Science" and secular values have a lot to answer for.

> The youth application has a question for the parent signing the application: "Are you an Eagle Scout?"

A new parent has more to learn about the program as a new Scout. One of the things they need to learn is to stick around and start learning about the program and the other Scouts and parents.

I'd say that a Den Chief should be a partner with the Den Leader in planning and presenting the program. How much they do should depend on the ability and interest of the Den Chief. I wouldn't load the Den Chief down with the whole program unless he really had the talent and interest to do it well. For most Den Chiefs I'd consult with them on which parts of the program they would like to organize and present, and probably give them the opportunity to do the things they want to do. That might be different things at different meetings. An Opening Ceremony here and a game there and teaching a skill another time. To me being a Den Chief is still a part of the Boy Scout program. The Scout should be trained by the Den Leader in good teaching skills and activity planning. The program should be fun for the Den Chief.

Hello Baden P, > I think this is a real and serious issue. If we turn out too much counterfeit coin, people are going to notice. I think we are turning out too much counterfeit coin, and the sad part is that BSA has procedures in place to be sure that no one looks very hard at the coin before it's sent out to the public.

I already explained that on this thread I believe: 1. I use the recruiter strip I wear as a device to encourage and inspire Scouts to take an interest in recruiting their friends and buddies as Cub Scouts. A motivated Cub Scout can do FAR better than I at recruiting. Scouts who see adults wearing awards are often motivated to earn the same award for themselves. Also, as a District Membership Chair, it's a lot easier for me to find a recruiter strip to show boys when it's already sewed on my uniform! Otherwise the pesky blighters can be hard to find when you need to display one.

< *You don't need to camp! *Avoiding the scoutcraft trap. *Eagle by 13 or last minute--which is easier? *Time-saving easy POR's, making the fake Den Chief, Librarian, and Bugler get you the credit. *Managing Mom and Dad: getting them to do the work. >. Wow! I'd say Tampa Turtle and Beavah really have the outline for this book KNOCKED! Funny though --- I was at a Patrol Leader Meeting last night to discuss plans for a Troop Recruiting Night September 10th. The emphasis was on how to have FUN at the recruiting night with a super cobbler cooked in a Dutch Oven and the opportunity to go on an easy backpack trip the following weekend to so some mountain lakes in the Alpine Wilderness Area. Selling fun and adventure seems like a promising strategy for attracting new Scouts. Selling "Eagle Scouts For Dummies" does NOT. So what is happening between the enthusiasm of new Scouts and the cynicism of "Eagles For Dummies"?

What chapter titles should be included in my new book?

Hello JMHawkins, > I agree with that. As Scoutmaster, First Class was the most important rank for a Scout to achieve, and that's where I put the emphasis of my program. Scouts who were motivated were welcome to do more, and many did. I don't see pushing it as a marketing campaign as necessarily being bad. What's bad is deliberately designing an advancement and appeals process designed to override the preferences and programs of units in order to give out Eagle awards units don't think have been earned. THAT's what tends to cheapen the brand, in my opinion.

Hello Horizon, > I'm not a big believer in luck. I'd prefer to suppose you have identified some methods of doing Scouting which have paid off with Asians. I can't do much with someone else's luck. If someone has some effective Scouting practices that pay off in recruiting and keeping new Scouts, that's something I'd like to hear about. Anything like that you can suggest?

Hello Horizon, Well, no doubt you have a good list of additional problems. As a District Membership Chair, I like to concentrate on things I can do something about. And what I aim to do something about is finding ways to recruit more under represented ethnic group youths, beginning with Latinos. I've been studying the issue of how English speaking Cub Scout Packs can recruit more Latinos for nearly two years, and I think I have some answers about how to do that. My pack recruiting night will be September 12th. I'll know then whether my bright ideas have some merit or not. If I'm lucky enough to have some success with recruiting more Latinos, the next issue is how to keep 'em.

> I went backpacking via Cascade Pass in the North Cascades National Park over the weekend. Pictures of this spectacular area: https://www.google.com/search?q=cascade+pass+pictures&sugexp=chrome,mod%3D2&hl=en&spell=1 There are a bunch of things I don't like about how the Park service is administering our parks. I'll mention one here: a clear prejudice against campfires. At Cascade Pass, archaeologists found evidence of human campfires before and after the Mt Mazama eruption that formed Crater Lake, Oregon 4,000 odd years ago. Boy, would those guys have been in a LOT of TROUBLE had the National Park Service been around then! No camping at all around Cascade Pass. I had to descend about two miles and 500 feet to get to one of the Park Services classic modern campsites --- a half mile off the trail, a hundred feet below the main trail, a quarter mile to any water and, of course, no fires despite being in the woods and trees. Now. Those using the park 4,000 year ago had their campfires at the pass. I'm guessing human beings have been sitting around camp fires BSing with each other for 100,000 years or more. I'd guess that staring into a campfire probably has a genetic component to human beings, to say nothing of a cultural one. But no campfires in the modern National Park! It got dark at 8PM --- and got cold rather quickly too. A fire would have provided light an heat and invited comradely and friendship between people. It gives people something to do once it gets dark. But noooooooo! Environmentalists appear to have clamped a stranglehold on what people can do in national parks these days. And either you enjoy life as the Sierra Club likes to live it or DON'T GO! As usual with liberals, there is no diversity allowed if it might contradict some element of their social or political agenda.

Hello eisely, Heh, heh! Wow --- you are WICKED!

I'm currently the Troop Treasurer. I maintain Pack records since I haven't found anyone else willing to do the job. Yes, my e-mail account was hacked. The apparent goal was to send offensive emails to everyone on my e-mail list. I appreciate the comments that suggested that an e-mailed birthday greeting was a waste of time. Those suggesting it is "creepy" to e-mail a greeting directed to a parent's e-mail address for their child is just warped, in my opinion. But since the prevailing opinion is that this is a worthless thing to do --- I'm not going to do it. I appreciate the opinions other than those from creepy people.

Personally, I like to have a fun den competition at each pack meeting. Boys love competitions! A variation on raisinemright's sled race is the sleigh race we did at the December pack meeting. During the month, dens designed and made their own "sleigh" usually from a big paper box and some rope. They cut down and decorated the box. At the pack meeting, we had a relay race with one Scout in the sleigh being pulled around a race course, and then a new boy in the box until everyone had a turn being pulled around the race course. Another competition I like was race setting up tents. Each den got a self supporting tent and the race was to see which den could set up the tent the fastest, get everyone inside, zip up the tent and give their den cheer first! I'm helping with a Boy Scout recruiting night December 10th, and I'm going to suggest that as an activity for the night, with each new boys at the meeting put in charge of a patrol to lead them in setting up a tent they've never seen before. Of course, there's a second part to the race: STRIKING the tent and getting it put back into the bag.

Merlyn's biased source implies that declines in Scout membership has something to do with the gay issue. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It's primarily a reflection of the dramatic growth of Asian and Latino populations, which BSA has found difficult to penetrate, plus the continuing difficulty in recruiting more African American Scouts. In my view as a district membership chair, the gay issue has little to do with BSA membership numbers.

With the proliferation of very legalistic "rules" on the Scout program from national, I'm wondering how long it will be before Scout Lawyering is recognized as a specialty in the legal profession. Perhaps a professional journal could be a place for legal research to decide so many of the issues considered on these forums. I would not be surprised if a founder of this new specialty would be a lawyer who obtained his Eagle rank as a youth on an appeal to national that had been denied by his Scoutmaster and unit because they didn't think he had properly completed the Eagle requirements.