TAHAWK

The OA Lodge I joined followed the Lakota tradition. Every other year we sent a group of 12-18 (2-3 station wagons) to the Res to be trained in Lakota dancing and ceremonies. They did not want us to perform the Ghost Dance for religious reasons, and we did not. I was trained as a drummer, not being graceful. Of course, they were very conservative. They routinely wore European clothing, ate European food, and drove motor vehicles. It never occurred to me that they were engaged in "Cultural Appropriation, " but this was back before PC. American Indians were on

Well, they did pass another rule allowing SMs to veto a signed Blue card if they determine that the badge could not have been earned - as with a child "Merit Badge" counselor. The language of the rule discourages its use, but it's "Something" - or virtually so. Meaningless metrics give life virtual meaning.

BSA's much - or largely - unenforced rules require that anyone signing a Blue card must know that the MB candidate has individually completed all the requirements and must also be registered with the BSA as a Merit Badge Counselor (solely an adult position). Most "Merit Badge Counselors" I have met in the last twenty-five years, in council camps in five different states, are not adults and many MBs are given out with no individual testing whatsoever. BSA is well aware of this pattern and practice, and elects to do virtually nothing.

I tried the "report to council" path once, only to find that the "mill" was the council SE's idea - a tactic to increase faltering attendance at camp (and very successful in doing so). The Council Advancement Chair had resigned and was not replaced. Ask yourself why so many council camps expressly say on their website that they are "not a merit badge mil." And the "visitation program:" that supposedly insures that a registered Merit Badge Counselor, necessarily an adult, will direct each Merit Badge at camp, otherwise the MB cannot be offered? "Trustworthy "

Many Scoutmasters select council summer camps BECAUSE they are merit badge mills.

BSA expressions of its policy on "Reverent" and "Duty to God" are sometimes clear, sometimes opaque, and always inconsistent. Buddhism (to touch on only one of the expressly non-theistic religions allowed to have BSA units for nearly a century): "Religious Principles and Key Terms • Goal: Enlightenment through understanding of the reasons and causes of suffering. • Essential elements: Awareness of impermanence and of oneself and compassion toward others. • Fundamental doctrine of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths, which are: o Noble Truth of Suff

"either or" - Beware the bane of a false dichotomy. Very few things are "either or.." I recall that the Greater NY Council publicly rejected the BSA rule on Gay Scouts months before BSA changed that rule. Our local council rejected the early YPT rule that "incidents" be reported solely to the Council's SE. (BSA petty promptly changed that "rule" in the on-line training.) Plaintiffs' lawyers are in abundant supply. There is a lawyer for every claim, however sketchy.

The future is written on water, with a pitchfork.

"Since 1995 the statue [, bought as scrap after the Czech revolution of 1989,] has been held in trust waiting for a buyer, standing on temporary display for the last 25 years on a prominent street corner in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. It has become a Fremont landmark, and frequently has been decorated, or vandalized. The statue has sparked political controversy, including criticisms for communist chic and not taking the historic meaning of Lenin and communism seriously, or for taking it all too seriously, or by comparing the purported acceptance of such a charged political symbol to t

If one is going to repeat revisionist opinions about B-P, one might put them in the context of the remarks of the chief revisionist, Mr. Jeal: "It was all to do with the outward bound life - it was only these references to character-training that he found appealing, not Hitler's hatred of Jews." "Baden-Powell condemned Hitler for being a megalomaniac and for mounting what he called 'huge pageants for hypnotising his people.'" "He hated totalitarianism, twice hoped that he would be able to marry Jewish women and chose a Jewish doctor." Historian Dr Andrew Norman point

"UK council stops plan to remove statue of scout founder Baden-Powell" ???

Perhaps the most important "unit," the patrols, might meet - out-of-doors if practicable.

Philmont: So the right of possession goes to the judgment creditors, subject to the mortgage. Summit: "Ownership" is a number of rights, possession being one of them, legal title being another. A mortgage lien is a right in the property as well. How that right works out depends. Sea Base: ocean-front property is disproportionately valuable.

What species of pine? Scots Pine (alien species) in NE Ohio are being slaughtered by Pine Bark Beetle. Millions have been planted in vast monoculture tracts courtesy of the Government. We have six acres, and half was all Scot's Pines. We lose 9-12 a year. I have gone through five chain saws in 2 years, and I'm getting old for the work. Wood is useless for fireplace. Seems only good for rabbit piles. White Pines and more resistant, as are Spruce species. We also have diseases killing all ash, all oaks, Sugar Maples, and hemlocks. 😐 Nature's way.

Until the shut down, my old troop continued for the 27th consecutive year to have best attendance at backpackers. (The May backpacker was cancelled.) It mainly draws from an inner-ring suburb adjoining Cleveland, Ohio. The attendees are as culturally diverse as the troop itself. Not surprising, as the program is selected and planned by the customers themselves, through their representatives at the Patrol Leaders' Council. At the annual Program Planning Weekend, they schedule the backpackers first, then Summer Camp, then other feature campouts, and then the meetings that lead to the featur

Membership in Marc's council has continued to fall, as it doubled its territory. The outdoor program has been deemphasized. Megatreds. This loss of camping "customers" reduces the need for camp property. Plus, more campsites have been created at the largest site, Beaumont Scout Reservation. Marc is good at recalling one's name. He said he favored less training for volunteer adults as the solution to badly-run training, but left the same regime in charge of training. Districts were eliminated. Fund-raising has fallen significantly our the recent years, except as to the capital fund,

Words of wisdom.

This has all been discussed here at length. One might distinguish between why youth join Scouting and what Scouting aims to accomplish. Those aims (or goals) have varied slightly over the years and from Scouting organization to Scouting organization. One expression is that the goals of Scouting are developing persons of good character, who are good citizens and who are fit in mind and body. BSA has made "leadership," once understood to be part of "citizenship," a separately-stated goal of its program. That B-P person said, "Let us, therefore, in training our Scouts, keep th

Deep Creek - my first Scout campout. SoCal high dessert. Fall. Terrific thunder storm. All but one tent blew away. Now you're talkin'!

Mrjeff is, I believe, addressing program, not goals. BF warned against asking youths to join an educational program to make them better citizen of the Empire. "So with Boys"

"proprietaries"

Fox ran the headline for days, as it is want to do for lack of actual journalism. And it was misleading every day. The offensive federal order applied only to federal proprietaries not to placing flags on vet's graves in general.

For many of these claims no one around back then is alive except the plaintiff. This makes it hard to mount a defense. That is a reason for statues of limitation of a couple of years - it is inherently unfair to allow the bringing of claims decades after the alleged individual wrongdoer and all other potential witnesses are dead. So politics. Legislatures arbitrarily extending periods of limitation by decades for political reasons. BSA might have done better by preserving its "base" instead of trying to placate its enemies.

That would require paid Scouters who actually know "the way it is supposed to be."