SeattlePioneer

GKlose--- Congratulations on persuading the pack to do the right thing.

The campfire of the future is here today!

Families will download the Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs and complete advancement requirements at on line camps using avatars to demonstrate skills. The only real need to get together will be when twelve years olds have their Eagle Court of Honor.

Does your pack encourage dens to make or use den flags? If so, how does that work?

> This is the logic of the various groups and organizations that have been pushing the sexual liberation movement the past fifty years or so. There is really no place they will stop or can stop. > The "we're discriminated against" argument doesn't win by itself. It has to be pushed by political organizations. Left wing groups choose what agendas they wish to push.

35 troops have died but no one needs the district or council? I'm not attacking Basement. He seems to be under a regrettable amount of stress with his program. It sounds like council and district leaders are, too. That's a formula for some unhappy experiences.

I suspect that part of Basement's difficulties is that he is being overwhelmed with issues and problems. That leads to a lack of resilience when problems come along. That's something I'm familiar with, and indeed I'm having those issues myself right now. That works both ways. A LOT of councils are being severely stressed with funding and financial problems. That leads them to be less patient with units they depend on for funding. Council leaders then have less resilience and patience as well. When you get unit leaders that aren't resilient colliding with district and council leaders that aren't resiliant, you get problems.(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

Frankly, I wouldn't hesitate to fire the Assistant Webelos Den Leader. He's made it clear where his loyalties lie. Using his position to undermine the program is not what being a leader is about. That may not solve all the problem, but it at least clarifies the issue.

> Unfortunately, I'm sure there are plenty of horror stories about unit leaders "going rogue" and creating problems. We've seen many of them on display on this forum. Personally I think cutting off communication with the district and council is a mistake that will only make things worse. Someone from the pack or chartered organization should be keeping in touch. The Committee Chair or Chartered Organization Rep would be the logical people. I'm afraid this isn't going to end well....

For $5 million I would have made him an honorary Eagle Scout. A year or so ago Bill Gates was awarded the Silver Buffalo at a well attended $100,000 a plate dinner at the Chief Seattle Council.(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

I find an attractive sheet or yard goods at a thrift shop and cut pack neckerchiefs out of it. During the summer I cut twenty out of a colorful sheet that cost $6. I cut sections out of branches cut from a tree, and then drill a hole in them with a spade bit. I fold, iron and package the neckerchiefs in plastic sandwich bags and keep the slides in a bag. As soon as new Cub Scouts pay their fees, they are awarded a neckerchief and they choose a slide that appeals to them. Their parents help them put that on. The fact that the neckerchief is neat and clean provides an opportunity to tell the boys about treating the uniform respectfully and keeping it neat and clean. When parents are appointed to pack positions, they get a neckerchief and slide at a pack meeting, and the Cub Scout assists in putting the neckerchief on the parent. I also let the Cub Scouts know they can decorate their neckerchief if they wish. They are "in uniform" if they are wearing their neckerchief and slide. My aim is to get boys and parents in uniform right away. They can buy more uniform parts at their leisure. I wear this neckerchief and slide myself to set an example, and I have it decorated with a "Join Cub Scouts" motif cut from a recruiting door hanger.

> The Supreme Court has already decided that any child that can get pregnant is mature enough to consent to an abortion on her own inituiative if she wishes to do so. Frankly, it's absurd to say that a child can consent to having an abortion but not to the sex that got her pregnant. And in contrast to homosexual marriage, there is a VERY LONG history in western civilization to pubescent children being deemed old enough to consent to sex. And of course, such children are having sex left, right and center all the time in any case. The effort is to prevent adults from having sex with such children --- children clearly can consent to having sex with each other right now. The sexual liberation juggernaught has already rolled a long way on the sex-with-children issue. The last issue or two will fall easily enough before long.

Our topic for Roundtable next month is how to encourage and promote Cub Scout Advancement. Frankly my competence in that area is kind of shaky. So I invite those with ideas and methods to post them here!

> Heh, heh! The laws will change, under the same assault as laws limiting marriage to heterosexuals. You simply like and approve of your own prejudices, just like those you don't approve of. When it finds an opportune moment, the sexual liberation movement will attack limitations on sex between consenting youth and adults. You already see that in cases like Mary K Laturneau, the teacher who not only had sex but two children a a 14 year old student of hers. After all, if they LOVE each other --- why should the government get in THEIR bedroom? Is that an argument you've heard someplace? And sharp declines in fertility among Romans profoundly affected the history of Rome. We are seeing much the same thing happen, as is the rest of the western world.(This message has been edited by seattlepioneer)

Heh, heh! THIS is proving to be a lively topic this morning! It's not uncommon for units to fail to turn in paid applications until they recharter, and this costs BSA and the council money they ought to have, and District Executives are there to get those applications completed and processed. As a district membership chair, I'm highly motivated to do that too. Still, my brand new district executive goosed me to send in our pack membership roster to him so he could check it for any unpaid memberships. I wasn't too happy about that missive, but I turned it in anyway and he notified me yesterday that he didn't find any unpaid memberships. THAT was a waste of time! When I'm helping with pack recruiting nights, I only collect and turn in PAID applications. My own experience is that additional payments typically come in at the next meeting or two, and DEs are entitled to want to get those completed and turned in. In my council, the DEs can't process an application unless it's been signed by the unit leader. I think that helps prevent abuses. I schedule a recruiting night, a den meeting the following week and a terrific outing that next Saturday. Families that don't pay for memberships at the recruiting night can pay for them at the den meeting, but they must be paid in order to attend the outing. That provides an incentive for families to pay. Also, the pack charges $5/month dues, so at our September recruiting night we collect $20 for the remainder of 2011. Families can pay for 2012 pack dues by selling $200 in popcorn, and we do a site sale at that September outing to give new families the opportunity to participate in the popcorn sale if they wish to do so. Our September outing was at the US Army Corps of Engineers locks in Seattle: http://www.google.com/search?q=ballard+locks&hl=en&rlz=1T4GUEA_enUS381US381&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=aVGgTpS4JK39iQK6ku1Z&ved=0CIgBELAE&biw=1024&bih=540 Our popcorn site sale that Saturday was at the main entrance to the locks, and sales were quite good, and a lot of fun for boys and families since we had a crowd of Cub Scouts there. "Hello, would you like to support Scouting by buying Cub Scout popcorn?" We trained everyone in the fundamentals of selling popcorn at the outing.

It's important for people to be trained to fill positions they are assigned --- October is a good time for that I think. I had an integrated and planned September that worked well. Our first meeting of the school year was also our recruiting night September 14th. We had the first den meetings September 19th, one aim of which was to prepare for a hike on Saturday, September 24th. The hike was at Corp of Engineers locks in Seattle-- http://www.google.com/search?q=ballard+locks&hl=en&rlz=1T4GUEA_enUS381US381&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=aVGgTpS4JK39iQK6ku1Z&ved=0CIgBELAE&biw=1024&bih=540 It's a fun hike with lots of activities, and we did a popcorn site sale at the entrance as well to get new and existing families into the swing of selling popcorn. We closed out out popcorn sale at our October 17th pack meeting, so the popcorn sale didn't interfere with other activities. Our council had it's major training program October 15th ---- unfortunately I couldn't attract anyone other than myself to attens --- I was leading the Tiger Cub Den Leader training. You do you best. I think we did well.

Pack meetings don't usually fall exactly on the day of a pack meeting, but I don't let that stop me from recognizing the day. I review the history of Armistice Day/Veteran's Day, emphasizing it as a means of recognizing and remembering the service, hardships and deaths suffered by veterans and as a day set aside for the hop for peace. I ask all veterans at a pack meeting to step forward and have their service recognized. Each is invited to recount the period of their service, branch of the military and add any additional remarks they may wish to make. Monday we had one veteran from the Korean War and one from the Iraq/Afghanistan War. The second veteran of the Iraq/Afghanistan War was serving in Afghanistan a year ago in the Seabees. He wasn't present last night, but I invited his wife and three children to step forward and be recognized for the hardships they endured as a family missing their father/husband. In addition to caring for those three children alone, the mom also chaired our popcorn sale last year and this year. In earlier years our former Cubmaster stepped forward --- he had been a dentist assigned to the 82nd Airborne. And a Tiger Cub Den Leader was a Marine floating offshore in a Marine Amphibiou unit off the coast on Iraq during the Iraq/Kuwait war.

Framkly, I'm amused by people who think there is a place to stop when you've adopted the sexual liberation ethic. Ten years ago, people would have been amused at the idea of the military permitting homosexuality or homosexual marriage ---- both featured Federal laws disapproving of each of those and signed by Bill Clinton. We already accept children having sex with children. It's just arbitrary age discrimination to throw adults into prison for having sex when children clearly consent to such sex. After all --- the Supreme Court says such children are entitled to consent to have an abortion without the consent of their parents. The idea that they can't consent to the sex that gets them pregnant is really absurd. And if there is a right to get married ---- why is that limited to a single "other" person? The sexual liberation argument just goes round and round and round, recycling the same basic arguments and applying them to tear down the next social standard of behavior. By contrast, the traditional Christian idea that the purpose of sex is for procreation places limits on sexual behavior that have served us well for two millennia.

I like to do a competition during pack meetings. In December, I'll be doing sleigh races. Dens each make a "sleigh" from a cardboard box or whatever and decorate it. A rope goes in the front of the sleigh. The competition is a relay race, with a boy in the sleigh pulled around the race course by the rest of the den and then den members trade places until everyone has been in the sleigh. That's lots of fun. We usually do 2-3 races until interest starts to wain. Another we do in ther spring before our campout is setting up tents. Each den gets a self supporting tent in a bag, and the dens compete to set up the tent (no rainfly, get all the dens in the tent and give their den cheer. A second race competes in disassembling the tent and putting it back in the bag. What kind of pack activities do you do?

Keep in mind that demands for polygamy and to legitimize sex with children are just around the corner. The sexual liberation movement has no way to stop using its "if it feels good, do it" to ever new horizons. Recently I read a biography of the life and time of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Sexual liberation was a major part of what the Roman Empire was about, and it was a highly licentious society. When Christianity came along, it posed a real challenge to that ethic. Christians then and now valued sex as a means of procreation, not recreation, and that is the sharp edge that divides Christianity and the sexual liberation movement. If your values are "if it feels good, do it" there is no logical place to stop. Furthermore, sexual excitement quickly becomes jaded and a lot of people must engage in ever more exotic behavior to get their sexual lusts satisfied. That's the direction we've been headed for decades now. Unfortunately, the fundamental idea of the sexual liberation movement is increasingly controlling mainstream values. We are becoming the Roman Empire in this regard, and there is nothing to stop the continuation of that value scheme.

Hello Horizon, All you need to do is be appointed a Council Executive, Chartered Organization Rep or Committee Chair for a unit and you can begin implementing the standards you set immediately and you can implement your policies. Help yourself.

What are some things that Cub Scout and Boy Scouts could learn from GS? I keep hearing about GS emphasis on learning about different careers --- perhaps Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts should do more of that outside of the Merit Badge program --- just as one example.

Sorry jrush, I do not find your personal assurances reassuring. And it's more an issue of who is standing up in front being an example for boys and young men. Perhaps you find the example of a Cubmaster and his boyfriend holding hands to be charming. That's not the example I want to provide for boys, young men or parents. Nor do I find the evangelical efforts of the gay rights advocates to sell their views to be charming. In case you haven't noticed, they are NEVER happy, and always have new ways to try to impose their views on society. In California, it's currently redesigning school text books to feature a politically correct number of homosexuals for children to admire. So no thanks. Cub Scouts doesn't need it and neither does Boy Scouts. There are ample good reasons to keep the gay rights movement out of Scouting in my view.

Oil it and work the blades using needle nose pliers or a table knife to move the implements. If that doesn't work, take it back to a Scout shop for replacement under the BSA lifetime guarantee.

Somehow the genial insistance of first responders to "Call 911" reminds me that while fires in homes are way down, call for health related insistance continues to grow rapidly, along with proposals for ever higher taxes for more personnel. equipment, and taxes. Personally I expect to continue to use some judgment before calling for assistance. It's not "free," and I imagine if those calling were handed a bill for $500 or so by first responders, people would be somewhat choosier about the calls for help they made.