Trevorum

What I find telling is that one of the most iconic conservatives in the country, and flag holder for the Republican Party, Cheney accepts the concept of marriage equality because he knows a real, live homosexual (as opposed to illusionary stereotypes created by fear and hatred). I wish everyone could be so lucky as to have a gay or lesbian family member. (edited typo of his name.)(This message has been edited by Trevorum)

"I have always been in scouts, and look forward to getting back into it." I love Scouting, too. My advice is: if you enjoy Scouting, become a volunteer; if you like fundraising for a non-profit, become a professional. (Of course, if you're hurting for a job, any port in a storm.)

Excellent project, Todd - good luck! How will contributors be acknowledged?

Continuing Sidebar ------------------------- Hal - wow, what a difference a century makes! our acceptance of risk has dropped dramatically: these days, there's no way we would recommend that ANYONE approach a "mad dog', much less a youth! I think our advice today would be more along the lines of, "Stay away and call 911"!

Hal, just curious - what was the recommended method for killing a mad dog?

"Being marginalized by an ever increasing decadent society is not a bad thing." I suppose virtuous self-marginalization is its own reward.

He's talking about you. And your ilk.

Ed is correct. The troop has NO control over the Eagle Court of Honor. The timing, venue, and content of the ECoH are 100% up to the Scout and his family. If the Scout wants no ECoH, that's his decision too. In the rare case of a severe rift between the Eagle and his troop, I would expect that the Eagle's family would be highly selective in whom they invited. The Eagle plaque, on the other hand, clearly belongs to the troop (actually, the Chartering Organization) and which names go on it would be the decision of the troop leadership.

Hello Nhan, and welcome! This forum is mostly adult Scouters, but we do have some youth members as well. I'm sure you will be able to connect with a pen pal here. Good luck! Finding pen pals is much easier these days than when I was a Scout - back in the dark ages before computers!

Brent, I don't think things are changing fast. But they are changing. To slow for me, too fast for you, perhaps! And so, I stand by my point: BSA will need to change on this issue or else it will become increasingly marginalized by society, as have been whites-only clubs, and no-Jews clubs.

I always wanted to learn how to throw a boomerang. Someone should offer that to cubs!

Thanks, Fred. Nice video. Thanks, Dad.

... And back to the original topic ... Change is inevitable. Our children will live in a very different world than that of our parents. Iowa has now approved same sex marriage (see original post) and the federal government will extend equal benefits to same-sex partners. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR2009052402145.html At some point in the near future, the BSA will be seen by the majority of Americans as mean-spirited, reactionary, and out-of-touch for denying membership to homosexual persons. At some point, the BSA will discover itsel

All kids throw rocks. Always have. Teaching them how to do it safely seems to be a good idea to me .

These things are always under the radar. I was hoping to attend (work keeps getting in the way of Scouting, dagnabit!) as our cub award is up for approval by the religious relationships committee.

Merlyn, I didn't know you were an ex-Scouter (or is that a typo?). I remember you said you used to be a cub scout.

Related to Pitts' point, I noted yesterday Wikipedia's featured historical blurb for May 15: "1252 Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_15) I'm glad we've made some progress in the last 750 years. We still have political leaders that condone torture (and, bizarrely, it seems acceptable to many citizens), but at least the Pope has distanced himself.

Oy veh!

GWD, the obvious reason is that it is outright theft of property belonging to the people of the State of Texas and of the United States, respectively. The underlying reason is that it is, further, a violation of the Antiquities Act of 1906, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and the Archeological Protection At of 1979 (on federal lands), and of the Texas Antiquities Code (on Texas State lands).

I hope you do that hobby on private property only and with the permission of the landowners. It's illegal on state or federal land.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience as a Cub and as a Scout. Many people who disagree with BSA's membership requirements still acknowledge it to be the nation's best character-building and leadership-training organization for young people.

(ahem) Returning to the original thread ... following in the footsteps of Iowa, "Maine becomes 5th state to approve gay marriage." http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/05/maine-become-5th-state-to-approve-gay-marriage.html

No objection. If given the choice, I'd rather take my business to a small family-owned, local business rather than a large national distributor. But that's just me.

Yes, that's the WalMart argument, too.

A few years ago, we had a group of adult leaders who were under the impression that it was their campout. They tended to want to wake up the Scouts themselves and get the troop moving. ("We're burning daylight!") Boy-led was a difficult concept to transition towards. If the scouts have planned the campout, they should know what activities are planned (or not!) and what the day's schedule should be. If the schedule goes awry, well, it's their campout. Maybe it takes several months before a sleepyhead SPL is replaced by new blood. The important thing is for all of the Scouts in the tro