SR540Beaver

FOG, There is a theory (and at this point that is all it is) that it was done as part of psychological warfare. The pictures were intended for the purpose of showing what would happen to them even at the hands of little petite females if they don't stand down. Of course, there is now a video out of a civilian contractor being decapitated to show us what will happen if we don't leave. I'd like to think we are above using their tactics, but our intelligence community can cook up some pretty strange ideas from time to time.

Adrian and Rooster, No, I'm not an isolationist. I believe in our Constitution and the writings of our Founding Fathers. The purpose of our military was and has always been to defend our nation. I don't see in that defense where it says to strike first out of speculation and suspicion. As a conservative independent, I don't believe in bending the meaning of the Constitution to fit the feeling of the day. It would be rather disingenious to argue that the Constitution doesn't allow abortion and then turn around and say that it does allow us to use our military as an imperial force. Our Founding Fathers didn't believe in engaging in long term foreign entanglements except for brief encounters when it benefited both sides. I agree with that. Also, liberty is something that is bought with a price, usually blood. We can not give a gift of liberty to Iraq and have them understand and appreciate it as much as if they instigated it and won it for themselves. It is not our job to liberate those who do not even attempt to liberate themselves. If that is the case, there are probably 100 more nations on the list and our grandchildren's grandchildren will still be fighting long ather we are old and dead. Do we really want to become a warring and imperial nation that seeks to recreate the rest of the world in our image? Are we that arrogant? Ask the British, the Romans and the Soviets how that ultimately went for them.

Rooster, A few years ago I wouldn't have bet that our government in the midst of fighting the terrorists who attacked us would have committed 150,000 soldiers and 10's of billions of dollars to overthrow another government and occupy a nation that posed no credible threat to us. But we did. Now here we are looking at pictures of POW's being abused at our hands.

They should not be doing peer reviews and the time would be much better spent teaching NEW skills.

FOG: So you think that the President should spend his time watching CNN? That's a productive use of his time. Considering the intelligence information he was provided, it might not be a bad idea. His admin wouldn't be the first to be made initially aware of something thru the media.

Ah competition! I put the damper on competition at our last campout. Everyone had turned in for the night except three boys. One ages out next month, but acts like he is 11. The other two are probably around 12 to 13 years old. They had the misfortune of plopping down at a table about 15 feet away from my tent. I hear the older one tell an off color joke that the other two most likely didn't get. Then the older one says, "hey I know, lets have a competition and see who can tell the most dirty and vulgar joke". I didn't wait for the other two boys response. I said in a rather loud and deep voice, "guys, there are people trying to sleep over here....and keep the jokes clean". I heard some very meek "oh's". Two minutes later they decided to head for their tents. I hate to stop a good competition except in some instances.

scoutldr, With the new HIPPA laws, our scout camp made everyone stand in line outside the health hut last year and only allowed one person at a time to enter and be questioned. There was no group to listen in. You might suggest that approach. Privacy is the law.

TP, I was about 5 or 6 blocks away from the OKC bombing when it happened. I've lived and worked in OKC all of my life. This has been one of the popular conspiracy theories since shortly after it happened. Jayna Davis was a local TV station reporter who picked up on this theory and has spent almost the last decade making a cottage industry of it. The main party (McVeigh) responsible for lighting the fuse was put to death. Nichols is standing trial right now here in Oklahoma as a follow up to his Federal trial. Were more people involved than those two? Probably. Will we ever know who they are? Possibly.....some day. Was Saddam behind it? Very doubtful. Most of the evidence is a crazy quilt of circumstantial bits and pieces where 2 plus 2 ends up equaling 5. McVeigh was deep into the militia, neo-nazi and white supremist movements. It would be highly unlikely that he would do the bidding of Saddam who he had fought agianst in the first Gulf War.

TwoCub, The old trick was to fill out the form to fulfill the requirement and hold it. After the AOL was earned, the form was torn up for those who chose not to continue in Scouting.

Actually, if I remember correctly; the boys filled out a registration form and gave to the SM at their SM conference as a requirement for AOL. I don't have my books in front of me or I could check.

TwoCub, Amen, brother. We have 5 AOL'ers who crossed over back in February. There was another one who crossed over back in November. The one from Nov has his Scout badge, but none of the others do. He also has been persuing his Tenderfoot but keeps being put off. This troop had not done any recruitment to speak of in the last several years. Some of the older boys are within a few months of aging out. It now appears that the boys and the leadership wanted to focus on the boys they had and nothing else. I recently found out that there was disagreement last Fall when Webelos Woods rolled around on whether or not they would participate. They didn't want to take a bunch of little kids camping. In fact, the SPL's mom who is on the committee voted against it. She was outvoted. Funny thing is, her son the SPL didn't make that campout. Neither did the ASPL. The new boys started out for a meeting or two with the ASPL acting as a Troop Guide to teach them what they needed to know. That was in February. Nothing since then. Needless to say, all of us "new" folks have decided to start a new troop since we don't seem to be wanted in the troop. Their loss! They are losing our six boys plus at least 3 more who joined the troop in the past year and one that my son just recruited. They will also lose 5 Wood Badge trained leaders of which 4 are Unit Commisioners and 3 are District Trainers and 2 are 2005 Jamboree ASM's. We think we can put together a dandy little troop.

The boy and his parents have to complete the Child Abuse booklet exercises before being awarded their Scout rank. They also have to have an SM conference. I'm not sure if the SM conference they have for AOL counts towards the Scout rank or if it means another SM conference after registering.

BD, Sooners rule, Bevo drools!

We have one lady who hunts and likes the outdoors and goes on all the campouts. She was the Webelos Den Leader until our boys crossed over. Now she is a Troop Committee Member and Wood Badge trained. She has always spoiled her son rotten. And I do mean rotten. He is ADD and a real discipline problem. Since we have crossed over, it has been hard for her to break the habit of doing things for him. He tends to wander over to the adult campsite looking for Mom. The SM and ASM's ask him what he needs. Nothing. We then tell him to go find his patrol. He comes over to see what we are eating because half his patrol won't roll out of bed and cook breakfast. Mom tries to feed him. The SM tells him/her no, go wake up your patrol and cook. The SM is working on her to break her habit. When he sent her son away at breakfast, he looked at her and said, "tough love Mom, tough love". She agreed. I think she is eventually planning on not coming on some trips so her son will be forced to do things himself. She needs to do it sooner than later. I think we can break her of it before we can break her son. I have a feeling that if she doesn't go, he won't either. I have no problem with her being there. I do have a problem with her babying her son. But then, I'd have the same problem with a man doing it too. We do have another mother who camps with us occasionally and every time her son comes to her, she sends him back to his patrol without fail. Now my personal opinion which is politically incorrect is that I'd prefer women not to come camping. Their presence changes the whole tenor of the camp out. Men want to associate with men around the campfire and they tend to be a little more tight lipped when a woman is sitting around it with them. Also, I'm a big guy and it is really difficult for me to get dressed in a backpacking tent. From the outside, I'm sure it looks like a bull in a China shop. It sure would be nice to only have to struggle into my pants and then step outside to get my shirt on and tuck it in without women standing around.

Fscouter, While it isn't unusual to find units that don't have enough leaders and you find an adult wearing two or more hats, they can not be registered for two positions in the same unit. You can not be an SM/ASM AND a Committee Member. You can change your registration from one to the other, but you can't be registered as both. If you are registered as an SM or an ASM, you can not sit on a BOR. I'm sure there are people who think they can register as both and might turn in a new form to register for an additional position and think they hold both. But I can almost guarantee you what happens from the administrative side of BSA is that you get switched from one position to the other position.

Fscouter, He could be dual registered. I am. I am A pack Committee Chair for a Pack and an Assistant Scoutmaster for a Troop. I could also hold a position in the District if I gave into their begging. What I can't do is be a Committee Member or Chairman and an ASM in the same Troop. The only person who can hold a more than one registered position in a Troop is the COR if I remember correctly. BW, I think he was using CM incorrectly and meant Committee Member instead of Cubmaster. I could be wrong, but many people mix MC up with CM.

Meanpc, You are most welcome! Marty, At least OGE picked a great song. I'd pay money to see him in his cowboy hat and chaps while swinging a lasso.

To a large degree I vote with Eamonn to butt out. However, I have seen an instance where a "not rising star" took a position of responsibility for advancements sake. He was lazy before he took the job, during and after. He did a horrible job. He now brags that he is glad it is over and he'll never do it again. He ages out at the end of June and stated that he wanted to stay with the troop as an ASM. The committee has discussed it and everyone has said that if he tries to register, the answer will be NO. He has been a challenge for years. We have 11 year olds in the troop that have more maturity than this boy.

It is amazing at how childish some grown-ups can be. Last month on our campout we did a shakedown hike for an upcoming backpacking trip. We had a female ASM with us. We stopped on the trail for a break and she decided that nature was calling. She asked me to have the boys look the other way. I said, "gentleman, we have a lady on the hike and she has requested that you all look in that direction for a couple of minutes". They all stood there with a puzzled look on their face for a couple of seconds before I heard a collective "OH". They all turned in unison and stared off into the trees until she reappeared from behind some brush and gave the all clear. No problem for anyone concerned. Lord knows she saw the back of a lot of boys relieving themselvs over the weekend who didn't bother with the same level of descretion that she did.

Actually there is a plant in the Oklahoma town of Watonga and their brand is Watonga cheese. Of course, they make all varieties and call them by their name, but the brand is Watonga. Mmmmmm, good cheese. You can buy bags of cheese curd which are great as a snack.

KS, As someone who was born and raised in Oklahoma, just one state away from Mexico and with a Mexican restaurant on every other corner......I have no idea what it is. All I know is you'd have to milk a bunch of them to get much cheese.

VSNY, I was taught that oatmeal was used for mortaring rocks together in conservation projects. I never knew that people actually ate it!

Two counties? We have over 35,000 youth and 11 districts in 24 counties. Wanna trade? I've been looking at the first aid kits. Some of the first aid fund raisers I've looked at have different size kits you can order and deliver. Or you can just sell small kits right on the spot. An inventory that does not require refrigeration sure has it's appeal. We thought about Krispy Kreme cards that you purchase for $5 and sell for $10. Good profit margin, but not all towns in our council have Krispy Kreme shops. We've also considered the used cell phone thing. You collect used cell phones and there are fund raising companies that pay you for the ones that can be refurbished and resold. I work for a company that has boxes and boxes of old phones sitting on shelfs.

For all of you 2005 Jamboree folks and past Jamboree folks too, I have a question. Have you ever done any kind of council wide fund raising? We have a contingent of 144 and we are around 60 boys shy of having our full contingent. The problem we run into with recruiting is the $1900 price tag. People see that and walk away. I know that in the past some units have held fund raisers to help their Jambo bound scouts to earn the money. Many don't do anything to help. Like a dummy, a cohort and me said we would try our hand at coordinating some fundraising activities that can be used be all the boys who have registered regardless of where they live. Our coucil covers around 25% of the state of Oklahoma. We obviously can't do a pancake breakfast or pasta dinner and expect boys to come from 100 miles away. We can't very easily sell cookie dough or sausage where we have to store and distribute frozen food. Does anyone have any ideas of good fundraisers that have little overhead, manageable inventory and can be done over a wide area? I fear that if we don't provide a way for some of these kids to earn their way, we won't get them signed up. I can easily afford the cost for both my son and myself, but not everyone can. Part of my concern is selfish. If we don't sign up enough boys, part of the adult leadership will be cut out as they won't be needed. I want to go, so it is in my interest to recruit boys and help find ways to pay for it. Any ideas?

I was working a Jamboree recruiting table at a council event this past weekend that had over 1600 campers in attendance. I spied one adult leader in a get up you would never imagine. This guy was at least 6'5". He had on one of those fleece skull caps like the snowboarders wear. It was red with some sort of yellow design. He had on fleece shorts that were red, yellow, green and blue in some sort of wild tropical design. He had on high top hiking boots and an official red jac-shirt with patches all over it. He was a sight to behold. I elbowed my recruiting partner and told him I just found the new official BSA uniform. It got a good laugh out of him. He did look pretty rugged....in a colorful sort of way.