BrentAllen

BS, Even when you think you have things figured out, you might still get a surprise in the elections. In ours, I thought for sure a certain alpha-male Scout would get elected SPL. He didn't, and I think the reason was his patrol didn't want him leaving them, so they voted for another candidate. I never questioned anyone about their vote, so this is just speculation on my part, but I don't have any other explanation for the results.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the White House has a YouTube site, so I take the story to mean they are trolling public pages and collecting and archiving comments posted, as well as who posted them (and no telling what else). No problem with that?

Hmmmm. I wonder how some feel about this action by the White House: EXCLUSIVE: W.H. collects Web users' data without notice http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/16/obama-wh-collects-web-users-data/ "The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama's promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet. Mr. Obama signed a memo in January stating that his efforts to maintain an open government would be "unprecedented" and "ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation and collaboration." The National Legal and Policy Center, a government ethics watchdog, said archiving the sites would have a "chilling effect" on Web site users who might wish to leave comments critical of the administration. ...Obama is at heart a moderate... Thanks for the laugh. I needed it this morning.

This, from the representative in a neighboring district, which used to be held by nut-job Cynthia McKinney: US Rep. Hank Johnson, Democrat, discussing his vote to rebuke Joe Wilson: "It did not help the cause of diversity and tolerance with his remarks. If I was a betting man, Id say it instigated more racist sentiment, feeling that its OK, that you dont have to bury it down, Johnson said. I guess well probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside, intimidating people, he said. Thats the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked. That's quite a leap. Even for a liberal.

Carter lives here in the deep South. To get some insight into his thinking, go back and read packsaddle's comments about the South yesterday morning. "And I can tell you after traveling and living in so many other states in the USA, when it comes to prejudice, The South doesn't have a monopoly on it. But NO ONE does hate and prejudice with the skill, subtlety, and religious fervor of The South." The only way I can describe it is white liberal guilt. Here in the South, just about any time you are against anything liberal, you are called a racist. Luckily, this card has been played so many times, it has lost its shine.

BS, I know this is after the fact, but may help for next time. The night of our recent elections, I addressed the boys about the election. I explained that their voting for officers was very similar to the nation electing a president, senators and representatives, that they needed to take the process very seriously. We use ballots and a ballot box to enhance the message. I also reminded those interested in running that there was a lot of work involved in being an officer - attending PLC meetings, arriving early, leaving late, attending all campouts and meetings. This tends to discourage any irresponsible Scouts who are just looking to have their egos boosted by getting elected (luckily, we don't seem to have many of those in our Troop at this time). Then, let the candidates have their two minutes and vote. Side note - gwd, you must have thicker skin than me. I've yet to receive a scathing phone call or conversation, but if I did, it would be the last. After hopefully resolving the conflict, I would let that mom know that if she ever treated me like that again, her son would be looking for a new Troop. Now, if I screwed up and deserved it, that would be a different story. It certainly doesn't sound like you screwed up or deserved it. I hope that mom quickly learns how important you are to her son and his Troop.

"Why would folks outside his district care one whit about contributing to he or his opponent's campaigns?" Maybe you should ask these guys. I think they have your answer for you. ActBlue raises over $750,000 for Joe Wilson's opponent http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/11/actblue-raises-over-750000-for-joe-wilsons-opponent/ " Online fundraising site ActBlue announced Friday that since Republican congressman Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's address, his Democratic opponent Rob Miller has raised over $787,951 (and rising) on the site. The first donation came in at 9:15 p.m. ET on September 9. ActBlue Deputy Communications Director Adrian Arroyo told CNN that the donations have come in from over 21,622 people since Wednesday night's speech, a major jump from the 5,000 who had contributed as of yesterday. Arroyo admits that since the fundraising push is viral, "there is no one place to locate what is going on. You have DailyKos, Twitter and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee circling these issues. There is no one prime mover." The mean contribution size is $36." Now, if you think all those contributions are just coming from his district, I have a few bridges I'd like to sell you.

OK, SR540Beaver, you asked for common sense, so let's use a little more. You don't think Joe Wilson should lose his seat, just like me. So now you see his opponent getting $1 million dollars NOT for any position he has taken or because of his tremendous leadership, but just because he is running against Joe Wilson. So, do you sit back and let those who don't live in the district and who have never even heard of the challenger before, bank roll him into office? Or do you try to even the tables by contributing to Joe Wilson's campaign? Common sense tells me his challenger didn't just raise a million dollars for any other reason than those people want to take Joe Wilson's seat. If that's true, then why is it impossible for Wilson to raise a million from those who want him to keep his seat?

OGE, funny, but I don't remember mentioning any of those things, but thanks for the vivid imagination. Let's see, what else could I do, in a similar situation? If I think real hard, I could probably pull out my cell phone and try to reach the Ranger at home. If not, I could probably reach the Sheriff (not by 911, they do have office numbers, ya know). I would like to think the park would have some appropriate phone numbers posted at the front office for after hours. If I could get one of these folks on the phone, we should be able to get this settled, and no one would have to drive out. If modern technology isn't working, I would have gone to the other site for the night, and would be at the front office at 8:00 AM the next morning. In my judgement, based on the other Troop's action and attitude, this was not the first time they have pulled this, and it won't be the last. The only way to keep them from doing it again is to make them pack up and move. But hey, OGE, you are a bigger man than me.

SR540Beaver, Kudos to you as well, on your mind reading abilities. You seem fairly certain of their motivations for their donations.

I guess I'm not so sure about the lessons learned here. SMT224, what did you learn? That making reservations is a waste of time? That who ever gets there first, and puts his foot down, wins? I'm pretty sure I know what the other Troop learned (or had learned before). Take what you want, get your gear set up and don't back down - the other guy will fold. As for the Scouts in SMT224's Troop, I don't know. They didn't learn that when you make a mistake, you should admit it and try to make things right. They didn't learn that when someone is gracious to you, you should find some way to thank them. I'm afraid they learned that a hard-nosed, stiff-necked attitude will get you what you want, even if it isn't rightfully yours. Our State Parks have resident Rangers and staff. They are pretty visible on the property. They would have settled a problem like this pretty quickly, in favor of those who planned ahead and followed the rules.

SR540Beaver, I would disagree. Are those donating to his campaign doing so because they agree with his behavior, or because they don't think he should lose his seat because of it? Two separate issues. I personally do not condone the behavior, and I don't think he should resign or lose his seat because of it. You got a link on that, SA? All I can find is Boehner quoted as follows: "Boehner said only Wilson can say whether he'll apologize to the chamber. "You'll have to talk to him," the GOP leader said."

BadenP, No, I missed the Republicans calling for Wilson to apologize on the House floor. There were many who asked for him to apologize, but I didn't see where they called for another apology. You may well be correct. Who were these many Republicans? Source, please. So, Beavah, are you calling him a liar? An elected US Representative? Gee, that's not very civil.

skeptic, I imagine if you were to ask Joe Wilson, he would tell you he was ready for it all to die down. Only the Dems wouldn't let it. They were demanding that he follow up his apology to Obama with another apology on the House floor. Others were demanding that he resign. Looks to me like he has just been defending himself. And let's not forget - Obama isn't new to the word liar. He was using the term pretty well back in the Democrat primary against Bill Clinton.

SR540B, I fail to see where Wilson's behavior is either accepted or encouraged. This was not pre-meditated, he just let his emotions get to him. He has apologized, and Obama has accepted his apology. What more do you want?

If I had the site reserved, and the other SM let me know he wasn't moving - instead of asking if something could be worked out - I would have had the Ranger there in a NY minute to hopefully settle the dispute in my favor. We had a similar situation on one of our Council reservations. We had the Cub BB range reserved for a District Webelos Woods. Another Pack wanted to use it as well, and wanted us to share. We needed it all day. The leaders from that Pack started talking about using metal spinners and other non-legal targets (could cause BB bounce backs). I called the Ranger, who I happen to know, and he said to send those leaders to him - he wasn't going to let them in, no matter what we said. They hadn't turned in the paperwork, and we shouldn't have to put up with their lack of planning. Sounded like they needed to get their leaders trained, as well. Start with nice. If they respond in kind, we might be able to negotiate. If not, pull rank.

You must have missed the last sentence of my last post; I'll repeat it: Finding good counselors who understand the program is much more important than finding 21 different counselors, in my book. If there are really good MB counselors at the district level, we will use them. If a district level counselor is no better than the parent in our Troop, we'll use the parent. I see no advantage gained by just seeking out different counselors for the sake of being different, all other qualifications being equal. If that SM is a registered and approved counselor for all the MBs, I don't see much the EBOR can do about it. They still meet the Policies and Procedures.

Earning Eagle isn't easy. The percentage of Scouts who earn it is still very small. Most boys spend 5 or so years earning it, which is longer than they will spend in college. I don't see any need to make it harder by trying to find 21 different MB counselors. Adult Association is a SIDE benefit to the MB program. The main benefit is the knowledge and skills gained and the experience from completing the requirements. Finding good counselors who understand the program is much more important than finding 21 different counselors, in my book.

Basementdweller, I see no advantage to the boy in the restrictions you mention. How is an adult who is the parent of another boy in the Troop any different from a parent from a boy in a different Troop? Also, there are other Troops that don't require any training to be a MBC, and don't even mention the YP training. District MBC training? Yeah, we had one about 3 years ago. I conduct training for our Troop MBCs once or twice a year. I required them to complete YP training. We follow the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures as outlined. "As a practical approach to providing merit badge counselors, troop and team committees may establish their own lists of counselors, if necessary, at least for the required and more popular merit badges." Sorry, but the Policies and Procedures carry more weight than your opinion.

Ed, She does a pretty good job of getting ready. The first week of school, the bus came at 7:15 and she had no problem. There were a bunch of kids at the stop, and we had no problems. She is attending a new school, a 4th & 5th grade academy that opened this year, and they are having transportation issues. That 7:15 bus was extremely crowded, 3 kids to a seat, kids standing in the isle. So they changed routes around, and the bus comes at 6:34, and now there aren't any kids at the stop (the parents are taking them to school, or to another stop nearby that picks up at 7:00). So am I comfortable having her waiting at the stop in the dark at 6:30 in the moring by herself? No. I make no apologies for that, and you can think what you want of me. When she gets home from school, she hops on her bike and takes off all over the neighborhood. I have no problem with that - she gets her "Free Range" time in. When I was a kid, I walked to elementary school - in a group of 6 - 8 friends. I believe we still teach the Buddy System in Scouting, and there are many reasons for it. I think the safety lessons in the Buddy System work for my daughter as well. Your mileage may vary.

Source: Wilson breaks $1 million A source on Rep. Joe Wilson's campaign says his fundraising has broken $1 million -- and surpassed that of his Democratic rival, Rob Miller -- since his outburst of "You lie!" during President Obama's address to Congress Wednesday. The source said Wilson's current tally is $1,005,021 from 18,859 donations amid a high-profile campaign on the Drudge Report and elsewhere telling conservatives that Wilson is "under attack" for his willingness to take on Obama. Wilson, who initially apologized for his words, is now riding a reaction that has surpassed the liberal backlash to his words: Miller has raised less than $900,000, according to the Democratic fundraising site ActBlue -- though still more than enough to envigorate his challenge. Still, Wilson's success -- despite having been criticized by Republican leaders -- represents the power of the conservative grassroots to reward politicians who confront the White House in the sharpest terms. CORRECTION: He may still trail Democrat Rob Miller, who broke $1 million yesterday.

Nike, He was in a late model Mustang. Didn't hear about the Shelby paint job, but the women might not know what that was. Hopefully that means the guy isn't local, at leat not Dunwoody-local. Thanks for the info.

SM196, For any of our parents to be a MB Counselor, they must go thru training first. We go over all the proceedures and policies. We emphasize that we don't want parents counseling just their son, and use this very issue as the reason. Once parents see this possibility, they understand. If we do have a situation where the parent is the only counselor available, we ask the Scout to find a buddy to earn the badge with him. This helps easy some of the legitimacy questions. If you are a new SM, you might want to conduct a refresher training course. I have a powerpoint presentation for the training, if you would like a copy. PM me your email address and I will send it.

Sure, Twomorrows, she is capable. I walk her down for a couple of reasons: 1. With the bus coming at 6:34, she is scrambling to get out there on time. I usually carry her pack while she is putting on a hoodie. 2. The first day of school, we had some nut job driving around in the neighborhood at the crack of dawn, asking the women who were out running or walking for directions. When they approached him, they saw he wasn't wearing any clothes and was, well, acting badly. They never caught the perv. So, yes, I'm a little over-protective right now.

Hey, thanks for the lecture on civility in the other thread, there, Beavah. Nice to see you practicin' what ya preach, eh? Or does the little smiley face make it ok to go name calling? Is that what Joe Wilson should have done, just tossed out a smiley face after calling Obama a liar? :-)