SeattlePioneer

> These days, man creates God in his own image.

In my view, we must all take pains to keep organized political violence outside the realm of acceptable political activity. It's all too easy to rationalize such behavior, and once it starts it easily can start a deadly spiral. For forty or more years, the left has had a weakness for indulging in and excusing political violence targeted at property destruction --- but that's not acceptable political behavior either. Most recently, the FBI arrested and stopped environmental terrorists who were burning building and property. The most dramatic violence by the right was blowing up the Oklahoma City Federal building, killing hundreds. That perpetrator was properly executed for that outrage. Violence by the right has tended to be directed at people as well as property. I condemn organized political violence by both the left and right. I would like to see others do that as well, and not excuse or extenuate criminal behavior by either.

Interesting point, Calico. That was a period of genuine political revolution. In a period of revolution, the social norms against violence evaporate. Violence and warfare, often on a large scale, tend to follow. Is that where we are? I don't think so. We should be reinforcing the social norms against political violence, or things may get A LOT worse. We have elections coming up. Four years ago the political left won the Presidency, House and Senate and ruled as they wished for two years. The political left has not revolted against leadership by Obama and the Democrats. You should keep in mind that the right has pretty much avoided organized political violence in recent years. But when it does happen, the right tends to use a lot of firearms and explosives to make its point. Do you really want to start that kind of political warfare?

Well, it's rude to walk out in the middle of a meeting. But leaving that aside... Boys leave when a program isn't of interest to them. What kind of games do you have? Sounds like these aren't of much interest to the older Scouts. What kind of outings do you have? In general, boys don;t go on outing they aren't interested in. Perhaps you need more challenging activities for the older boys. I'd probably have a bias toward doing the skill building training for younger boys and the Merit Badge classes at the same time, since they ought to be targeted at different boys. I'd have a bias towards NOT doing Merit Badge classes. But perhaps they work for you.

So which council staff positions usually wind up overworking the people who hold them? Which ones aren't especially burdensome?

Ummm. My last DE had the typical extensive list of Scouting activities, including multiple summers staffing Scout camp. After a year as DE, the council fired a Camp Director not long before summer camp began. Our DE took his place, and served three summers as Camp Director. I guess his Scouting background proved to be useful to the council.

Congratulations dkurtenbach, for your troop's outstanding job supporting Webelos Dens and Webelos Den Leaders. Frankly, I don't like the Webelos program --- far too complicated to get through. The one redeeming thing is that there ought to be plenty of camping opportunities in the program. If there are, it can be fine. I have a WDL who has been churning through the Webelo 1 program this year. I've been sending him opportunities for Webelos Woods, Camporee and other camping opportunities which would make it easier for him and better for the boys, but he hasn't adopted those. I've also tried to get the neighboring troop involved in working with this Webelos Den, and they have done nothing. It's VERY frustrating!

Organized political violence is organized political violence, and that's what happened May 1st --- and during the WTO protests as well. We ought to have a bright line that excludes organized political violence as an acceptable or excusable political tactic. I'm sorry to see some people offering excuses for that.

Helllo KISMIF, We have a parent meeting/committee meeting/leader meeting Our recruiting night was April 2nd and our first parent meeting after that was April 30th. The idea was to make a point of inviting the new parents to meet the existing parents in the pack and to introduce themselves. The second portion of the meeting involved planning our May program and some discussion of other business. All our new parents attended as did most of the current parents. We have a history of well attended parent meetings, and we have been getting good support from parents in recent years. It's good to hear about how other units get their year started ---- wow! School starting in early August! Last year my plan that integrated recruiting, the start of the Cub Scout year, a hike/popcorn site sale and parent meeting worked very well to get things started and to get new families effectively started in Cub Scouts. I'll be interested to see if it works as well again this year.

I think Basement is due for, and entitled to, a vacation.

Lots of atheists and agnostics fit into Scouting right now. Many of the rest will NEVER be satisfied with any effort to accommodate them that doesn't exclude religion ffrom Scouting altogether. Of course, they are always talking about some slight reasonable accommodation, but it wont stop there. It never does. The immediate goal of the secular/atheist movement is to exclude religion from the public square and confine it as narrowly as possible to home and church. At that point they will start going after religion in the home and church, just as was done in the French revolution, USSR, Maoist China, Vietnam and so on. I see Scouting as reasonably accepting of those who don't accept one of Scouting basic principles and values. I see no reason to make further compromises which will not satisfy, but just embolden and empower that opposition.

> I never did much DX (distance) contacts in amateur radio, but I suspect that various radio shorthand symbols would allow a modest degree of communication between stations that don't otherwise have a language in common. QTH------- Station location. QRM ------ radio intereferance RST 599 ---- Radio signal strength, quality and intelligibility HI HI laughing de Here is and so on. Perhaps some DX specialist can comment based on experience.

Hello Basement, It sounds like units in your district might want to consider rechartering as American Heritage Girls. That might get someone's interest and attention. Get to use the Boy Scout Camps and all....

Has your Scoutmaster been trained --- especially the Scoutmaster Specific training? Has he read the Scoutmaster's Handbook? These are fundamental questions about the program that should first be read straight from the book, in my view. The Troop Program Helps (or whatever they call them these days), has specific suggestions for a model troop program. Reading through some of these programs should give you ideas on meeting formats. What kind of experience in Scouting has your Scoutmaster had?

Homosexuals. Atheists. Fatties. ever notice that when the shoe pinches, it squeaks? I think it was in one of Joseph Wambaugh's police novels that an old cop said he liked rapists the best ---- they tended not to have a lot of excuses for their criminal behavior. Seattle Pioneer Fatty

Why yes --- an organized, planned and deliberate attack on the city of Seattle by a good sized group of thugs dressed in black uniforms all wearing masks to hide their identity armed with 3" thick poles used to punch in windows DOES sound like Brown shirt tactics to me. The moral equivalence is with the Nazis, not the Tea Party. However, if you'd feel better comparing it with Mussolini's Black shirt thugs doing similar things in Italy, I'd be willing to accept that if it makes you feel better about it.

I'm disappointed to see Beavah making the moral equivalence line of argument to compare a bunch of violent thugs with the Tea Party. I also reject his claim that it's unreasonable to compare a group of violent thugs that deliberately trashes a downtown area according to a plan obviously devised ahead of time with the Nazis. The only excuse is that he hasn't read the newspaper coverage of these incidents, which is, of course, entirely possible. It's very sad when educated people fail to recognize a violent bunch of politically motivated thugs for what they are, and offer excuses for their violence. I wonder if Beavah's attitude would be as charitable if HIS house had had it's windows broken out late at night while his wife and young children were home? That's what happened to Seattle Mayor after he connived to avoid taking any action which could have provoked the downtown attacks, or any actions which might have protected businesses from a lot of damage.

BSA can't do that, but Scout troops can. In my view, Scout troops ought to be taking an interest in neighboring Cub Packs where that is welcome, encouraging and supporting them with Den Chiefs and Assistant Scoutmasters to identify unit weaknesses and encourage and support remedying those problems. That goes DOUBLE for Webelos Dens. Webelos Den leaders ought to be adopted by Troop leaders and aided and assisted, and inviting out Webelos Dens on suitable Troop camping trips. Instead, the usual thing is to ignore packs until its time for a crossover ceremony.

I would start by improving communications with your COR. I presume he doesn't attend you Pack Committee meetings. You want to change that if you can. You could start by inviting hime to come to a committee meeting to describe service projects which would benefit the chartered organization, and then take action to have the pack do one of those. Then I'd have the Cubmaster and/or Committee Chair invite the COR out to Starbucks once/month to keep him informed of pack activities and issues, and to learn about the activities and issues of the chartered organization the pack should be aware of and might help with from time to time. Make that a pack expense. I'd also make a point of sending press releases to the local paper on pack meetings, outings and service projects.

> The Tea Party movement has shown themselves pretty adept at learning and using the political process to influence government. By contrast, the political purpose and method of the "occupy" movement seems to revolve around getting into fights with the police. May 1st in Seattle, that turned into deliberately planned attacks by thugs armed with clubs, who broke out hundreds of thousand of dollars of picture windows in businesses along the downtown streets of Seattle in deliberate and entirely unprovoked attacks. It was a despicable thing. It was VERY reminiscent of the Nazi Brown shirts, the only difference was that these people were wearing black. The tolerance policy of Seattle's mayor was rewarded when the windows of his home were stoned while his wife and children were home alone later that night. That was a little taste of justice for HIM, anyway.

Our Pack recruiting night was April 2nd. By the end of last night's meeting of our Bobcat Den, composed of newly recruited boys and their families, we completed seven of the eight Bobcat requirements. I explained the meaning of the Cub Scout promise to boys and their listing parents. For us, the "duty to God" means two things: 1. We respect the religious traditions of our families. 2. We respect the religious traditions of other people and families. Our pack is chartered by a Catholic Church. Several families are parish members, and more are not. I haven't had the parish, parish families or pack families that may have no religious beliefs object to the formula I described. From time to time we may have a simple prayer before meals or at the Blue and Gold dinner or whatever. But people are free to not participate in prayers if they wish. So far, that has been working well.

I've just put together a draft of our Pack program for September-December as requested by the Pack Committee. I find that September is the most difficult and critical month of the year to plan. It needs to include our recruiting night. It needs to introduce new boys and parents to the Cub Scout program effectively. And it needs to introduce new families to the Pack Cub Scout Popcorn Sale. Stringing all those together effectively is something of a challenge. I will relate what I've come up with: Wednesday Sept 12th Recruiting Night/Rocket Launch Monday Sept 17 Den Meeting Saturday Sept 22 Hike/Popcorn Site Sale Monday Sept 24th Parent Meeting School starts the previous week, and I often can't get permission to go into schools for recruiting that week because things are too chaotic. So the Wednesday recruiting night is about the earliest practical. It's functions as a recruiting night for new families, a "back to Scouting" night for current Cub Scouts, and a fun activity making and having contests launching "stomp bottle rockets" made from a sheet of paper. The rocket launch is the most powerful means of attracting new boys to a recruiting night I have found, and it is a fun experience for parents who help their boys build their rockets. We don't have to talk much about Cub Scouts as a family activity, because parents have just had a fine family experience with their boy. The den meetings Sept 17th are about getting dens started again and about introducing new boys to their den, the Bobcat Trail and getting ready for the Saturday outing. The September 22nd Saturday outing last year combined a popcorn site sale with a fun hike and hotdog roast. Our destination was Seattle Ballard Locks, run by the Army Corp of Engineers (pictures http://www.google.com/search?q=ballard+locks&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7ADRA_enUS457&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=a1OpT-fzC9LciAKa3pDTAg&ved=0CHUQsAQ&biw=800&bih=382 ) We set up our popcorn site sale outside the gates of the locks and all the Cub Scouts and families took turns selling popcorn for 45 minutes or so. It was an excellent introduction to the popcorn sale especially for new families, and sales were good. It gave an opportunity to explain that the popcorn sale is voluntary for families, who can sell popcorn to earn funding for Cub Scout dues, uniforms and activities should they wish to do so. MOST families, including those just recruited, chose to sell popcorn. Our Monday, September 24th parent meeting will be designed as a reception for new parents. We will make a point of inviting new parents to this reception in their honor, and most will attend and also get an understanding of how we use the parent meeting to plan activities for the next month. I see MANY packs that have a poorly planned program for their first meetings in the fall and where recruiting is an afterthought. A common attitude is that the first meeting of the year is expected to be poorly organized and chaotic. It needn't be, and shouldn't be, in my experience. And it's equally important to make newly recruited families feel welcome and to make a point of bringing them into the heart of the pack program RIGHT AWAY! If they understand how to participate, and get into the habit of participating, they will do so from the beginning. If they get into the habit of NOT participating, that is the habit that will persist. Which does your pack experience?

Hello BS-87, Thanks for providing the additional detail. As you can see from my earlier posts, the Santorum, Gingrich and Paul delegates cooperated to send our own slate of delegates to the Washington State Republican convention, defeating the Romney Regulars. I haven't heard of what efforts will be made to organize a similar slate at the State convention. Our Congressional District caucus will elect three delegates and three alternates to the National convention. I doubt that Paul will have the delegates to elect just Paul delegates. It will be interesting to see what happens. The smart move by Paul delegates is to probably forge a joint slate with Gingrich and Santorum delegates, but that might well mean one delegate from each of those three camps. On the bright side, it would mean NO Romney delegates. Personally, I have no hostility towards Romney and expect to support him once he is nominated.

Hello MVScouter, Thanks for providing a list of things you think a SB association would be useful to do. One of my goals this year as district membership chair is to contact fifty people on the Scouting Alumni or NESA list and see if I can recruit some to help with district or unit programs. I think there are a variety of reasons why you would want to maintain contact with former Scouts. Frankly, I don't see Silver Beavers getting lost in the shuffle and needing an association. They are usually very experienced Scouters very well acquainted with Scouting. I don't see a need for an association for that purpose. Setting up scholarships or serving inner city youth are programs most councils support --- I don't see a particular need or role for SBers in doing such things. And I do think there would be a real or perceived risk that a SB association would be seen as a group of insiders. Personally, I think there a tendency for Wood Badge attendees to be seen as an in group in councils. Personally I would prefer to avoid that kind of thing. Based on your own suggestions, I would oppose forming a SB association in my council --- and I was just Beavered up in March. Sorry if you see that as "negativity," but you just haven't made a persuasive case for that as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather see Scouters as a fraternity of equals rather than being chopped up into a variety of sub groups. I still prefer the idea of spreading the manure around rather than collecting it in a pile. But of course that's just my opinion, and you are certainly entitled to see if you can find people interested in that kind of association. If my council decided to form such an association, I would probably attend one or more meetings to see if they had a program I was interested in. It's not something I would take a hand in organizing unless asked to do so by council leaders.

I've been told that in order to be eligible to be nominated at the Republican National Convention, a candidate must have won a minimum of five states. Paul has won none. So while Paul, Santorum, Gingrich and other candidates can send delegates. only Santorum meets that standard and is actually eligible to be entered as a nominee if he wishes to do so. Santorum hasn't dropped out of the race, he has "suspended" his campaign.