Jump to content

BSA24

Members
  • Content Count

    354
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by BSA24

  1. > No one would suggest we teach being overweight and/or smoking as a healthy positive moral attribute. It's not good for them and they would prefer to be otherwise.

     

    Yes, they would. They put on a uniform and put themselves up in front of all of us as a "leader".

     

    That in itself is their advocacy. That is why we don't allow gays and atheist leaders, correct? To have them as leaders would send the wrong message, because the very act of being a leader is acceptance, approval, and being put forward as an example?

     

    The guy up there who was trolled worse than I intended said it best: When you point your finger, three point back at you.

     

    That's what's wrong with the gay/atheist ban.

    (This message has been edited by BSA24)

  2. Both threads are trolling.

     

    I think it is pretty obvious what I am doing. I am pointing out that something is factually accepted by all to be bad behavior for your health and a bad example for youth that quite a large percentage of scout leader do while complaining that somehow gay and atheist people are immoral.

     

    Sorry, but in my family, we are not fat and we don't smoke. Not ever. We view it as immoral. So when someone addicted to cigarettes with a XXL size shirt stretching the buttons tells me that gays and atheists are going to ruin the scouts, I'm looking at them trying not to laugh my head off.

     

    My dear friends, you too are ruining the scouts. How can I get my youth to believe that they need to be physically healthy when you are the picture of bad health by your own choice, and unlike our gay/atheist friends, wear it on your body like a badge of pride?

     

    You cannot hide from the youth that you smoke. They know. Heck, your children breath it. You cannot hide from the youth that you are 100 pounds overweight. We all know it. Why it has become wrong to point out your big belly and say, "That's gross. Stop eating ice cream." is beyond my comprehension.

     

    If we are going to have national policies that forbid people to be leaders based on the bible, based on good examples for youth, based on clean living, the reputation of BSA, or the health and safety of all, or whatever the rationalizations are for keeping out the gays and atheists, then please, let's take it to its logical next step.

     

    Only non-smokers with a BMI of 26 or lower need apply. Anyone else is overweight and addicted and unqualified.

     

    And, while I would never actually recommend such a ban, I think the point stands that all of the arguments are identical.

     

    All of the responses to it are basically hand waving. There is no justifying banning gays and atheists with the inconsistency of allowing fat smokers.

  3. While at Summer Camp this year, I looked at our adult leaders when they were lined up and noticed that most leaders are very, very overweight.

     

    I would like to propose that BSA ban fat people. Fat people are clearly not doing their best. They are eating more food than is their share. They are spending the rest of our money on their health problems. They are getting diabetes and heart disease and making our insurance rates go up. Fat people are immoral.

     

    And you can see the fat! It's right there! They are fat right there in front of you for all to see! Look at them!

     

    The boys can see the fat. The boys are getting fatter. Clearly there is some movement afoot to recruit our youth to be fatties. You can see the fat moms and dads offering them juice boxes, juice bags, candy, donuts, and other bad foods on a regular basis? When was the last time you saw a scout leader eating vegetables and lean meat in small quantities?

     

    This disgusting, sinful, gluttonous behavior is banned by the bible.

     

    Philippians 3:18-20 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ

     

    Why are fat people allowed in BSA?

     

    Shirts shouldn't come in any size bigger than adult large. Men's pants shouldn't stretch any farther than 34 inches in size. Women's uniforms should all be size 6 or smaller.

     

    Anyone who has an XL or XXL size anything in the scouts should be thrown out. They are a bad example to the youth. They do not follow the scout law. They do not obey the scout oath. They are lying when they take the oath because they do not intend to follow it and be physically strong or do their duty to God.

     

     

  4. Banning smoking itself at scout meetings is not good enough. These people can be detected because cigarette smoke gets in their clothes and hair. Their teeth turn yellow, and their faces age prematurely. They are always offering lighters when we are trying to start a fire, and their cars our youth ride in smell bad.

     

    There's no way to hide the fact that someone is an immoral smoker and a bad example for our youth.

     

    If we are going to ban adults who are a bad example or who are sinners, we have to get rid of the smokers.

     

    I am not in favor of publicly burning them over cigarettes, as the crowd throwing stones would likely become addicted and might start burning other kinds of people in order to keep the hits coming.

     

    Burning them over regular wood is fine. But do not inhale.(This message has been edited by BSA24)

  5. Can we please ban smokers? I find the smell of cigarette smoke to be dirty and unclean behavior. It is immoral to smoke because you damage your own body, damage your voice, and commit a sort of slow suicide which is clearly banned by Judeo-Christian tradition. They litter cigarette butts everywhere they go. They leave nasty ashes everywhere. They cough up gross noises all the time.

     

    It sets a bad example for the youth. People who smoke are not physically strong, mentally awake, or morally straight, and they are not doing their best to do their duty to God, their Country, or themselves.

     

    It is not thrifty to buy cigarettes. It is not clean to smoke them. It is not reverent to hurt yourself.

     

    Smoking is a choice. You are not born a smoker. It is aberrant behavior. It is an addiction and a filthy habit.

     

    Our youth deserve better examples than nasty smokers.

     

    Let's have a don't ask don't tell, but if anyone smells like smoke, or if a parent complains, let's throw them out.

     

    (This message has been edited by BSA24)

  6. The OA should be dissolved.

     

    Here's what the OA has become:

     

    * Free labor for BSA to set up/take down summer camp at council scout camps

     

    * Native American cultural preservation (dancing, ceremonies, drums)

     

    I see no other real activities from the OA than this. I've been in the OA for 40 years. I don't see that it serves any real purpose.

     

    The OA does nothing to promote camping. The accuracy and appropriateness of native american cultural preservation is dubious. And BSA needing the OA sash as payment for helping clean up and set up campsites is questionable.

     

    It no longer serves as an honor society. Everyone who gets first class or is an adult leader for a year expects to be made a member. OA has so much churn that without handing out lodge flaps to everyone with 12 months of membership, it wouldn't be able to operate.

     

    Shut it down. The end. Write it off. It was a good idea. It was hijacked by BSA for labor. It was hijacked by the wacky Indian interest people as a social club. It has lost its way and adds no value to our country or to the mission of BSA.

    (This message has been edited by BSA24)

  7. It depends on the district and the council. Ours just hands the knots and certificates to the unit leader at round table to give out at their discretion. The district dinner is also an event we have, but almost no one attends it.

     

    Many cub scout packs do not go through the council for their awards. They just buy knots at the scout shops and present them themselves. There are no real controls on the adult training awards, and district volunteers can sometimes be difficult to work with on it or drop the ball and turn them around too slowly to present them.

     

    There are often disagreements about when to give them. Many cub units expect to give them at the end of the school year, even though the leaders were recruited in August or September.

     

    Others get theirs at the annual district presentation ceremony at a dinner or something like that.

     

    Attempts to "get control" of this always fail, because many leaders have multiple shirts, and they have to be able to purchase copies of their badges. This opens the door to purchasing originals. Trying to enforce proof that the award was earned is unworkable. Paperwork is lost, BSA records are unreliable, and angry people at the counter hurt morale.

  8. I have never heard of any unit in our area getting a cub scout through this method. They all come from school events where we recruit during registration at the beginning of the year and school night for scouting. A few see us physically out there and join us. A few join due to word of mouth.

     

    We've never gotten a scout from our web site or any other activity that targets parents. Parents generally don't seek out scouting. We have to appeal directly to boys, and they sell the parents.

     

    As for Boy Scouts, those are recruited in schools (although most troops seem to have forgotten this) and from Cub Scout Packs. The best way to recruit them is to embed den chiefs around your district in various packs to lead them back to you and to embed an ASM in each pack around you as an ACM.

     

    Everything else is a gimmick that does nothing. YMMV.

     

     

  9. Whatever may have been the circumstances, everything went out the window when the ASM made contact with you. That was it.

     

    That needs to be reported to the district executive and the chartering org rep. That leader has to be removed from his position immediately, with no excuses.

     

    No matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone does, no scout leader is ever to ever make physical contact with anyone else except in a loving, helpful fashion or when their safety and health are at risk.

     

    That has to trump all other concerns. Terminating this leader has to be made a priority.

     

    All of the other stuff about troop procedures and everyone having a bad day is irrelevant. This is abusive behavior, and psychologically healthy people would never do this sort of thing no matter the pressure they were under. Particularly something as silly as a hike.(This message has been edited by BSA24)

  10. If you are checking the insignia guide about anyone's uniform other than your own, you have lost perspective.

     

    Nothing is required on the uniform. A uniform itself is not required. Some units, my included, make the uniform seem required, but in fact it is not, and a boy can do scouting without one entirely.

     

    As for what goes on your uniform, there are no consequences for putting anything on your uniform that you want to other than the annoying nagging of others. You may also leave off anything that you want. I have full on decorated shirts and empty shirts. None of my shirts have "knots" on them.

     

    If you are personally interested in having your uniform be proper, that's great!

  11. Non-existent works pretty well.

     

    DE's basically nag everyone for popcorn money, FOS money, recharter money, new recruit money, camp money, and event money.

     

    Since DE's are basically there to ensure that BSA brings in money at the council level and district committees don't run away with it.

     

    Our district had no DE for almost a year. It was rather nice, actually, and we didn't notice any degradation in our support from BSA until a new DE was selected and the nagging started again.

     

     

  12. Show me in the Scoutmaster's Handbook, any edition, where it recommends that the scoutmaster is in charge of Eagle awards. He's not. The Eagle Scout Award is given by national, not by you. The boy will receive it whether you like it or not.

     

    It's the Eagle Scout's COH, not the troop's. He is already an Eagle Scout. He already is entitled to the award as soon as National accepts the application and stamps it. That's it. He's done. He can buy the award on ebay and wear it.

     

    Beavah is dead wrong on this one. I like how kindly he writes, but I don't believe that will reach you. You need to be electro-shocked out of your current practice of sending out letters.

     

    The best SM's have boy-led troops. The boys plan the COH's, not the SM. The SM merely advises the SPL and prevents stupid, destructive plans or a lack of planning. The boys should be planning these ceremonies.

     

    As for an Eagle Ceremony, the recipient should plan the event. It shouldn't be tagged onto a regular COH unless he wishes. He plans the date. He arranges the location. He can print some invitations, and he can invite everyone on Earth to it and provide snacks if he wants.

     

    The image of you mailing out announcements to me is ridiculous. It smacks of everything that is wrong with a troop where the parents are heavily involved in everything and don't allow the boys to grow up.

     

    Condescending? You're dang right I am condescending to you. You're making a boy's Eagle Award about you. Get over yourself and get back into the back seat where the SM belongs.

     

    It's not your troop. It's the boy's troop.

     

    Give the letters back to the boy, tell him it's his COH, ask him to kindly invite you to it, and tell him you would be honored to give him his badge if he will allow it.

     

    Treat him like a man instead of just pinning a medal on him and saying it.

     

  13. That is exactly what I am suggesting.

     

    Instead of sending announcements, he should be sending out invitations to his COH to receive the award. If he wants, he can do as I did many decades ago and send out invites to his Congressmen, the President, and other dignitaries and people who are interesting to him.

     

    They may actually show (watch October Sky for an example of that), or they might not and send him a nice congratulations letter and apologies they cannot come.

     

    That way he invites who he wants, since it is his COH, and his award, and not yours, and he doesn't have you mother-smothering him about his invite list and judging it unsuitable (which I think is absurd and definitely not in your scope of authority).

     

     

  14. It should be. Although I wish they would go back to the white colored "Why Knot?" knot.

     

    The white colored knot was for 18 months of service and meeting some criteria.

     

    The green colored knot was for two years and meeting training requirements etc.

     

    The scouter's key was then a green + white combo knot using the colors from the old scoutmaster badge.

     

    The knot progression made sense for a unit leader.

     

    The current black/blue with shiny gold knot is ugly. I have no idea why they changed it.

  15. > Yah, BSA24, I don't reckon any of us here are "charged with" anything, eh? We're just volunteers.

     

    By volunteering and agreeing to the responsibility, yes, we are charged with certain responsibilities. If we are not willing to perform them, we're not welcome to continue.

     

    > Second, Statistics 101 would teach yeh ...

     

    Thank you for the admission that you have absolutely zero data related to this topic and cannot contradict the numbers with any data or evidence of your own.

     

    The claim stands firm: 90% of pedophiles self-identify as heterosexuals in their adult relationships. Homosexuality does not predict pedophilia.

     

  16. Don't ever ask a boy to do something you would not.

     

    Don't ask him to do a pull up for you when you are fat and can't even hang by your hands.

     

    Don't ask him to run a quarter mile unless you are going to run it with him.

     

    Don't give him 10 push ups unless you can do 10 good clean military push ups.

     

    And don't ask him to be willing to do pushups as a consequence of behavior if you would not be willing to do so at work if you came to the office late.

     

    I am very, very dubious that anyone here amongst the personalities that post would be the kind of guy to just happily drop and give some pushups at the feet of their manager at work as a reminder that behavior has consequences and because fitness is good. I have a feeling just about everyone would either quit or try some HR shenanigans to get out of it.(This message has been edited by BSA24)

  17. I recommend having a sit down with the key three in your district as well.

     

    Committee Chair, Commissioner, and District Executive. They should be aware this happened. BSA may intervene and allow the boy to proceed to Eagle and write this up as his project.

     

    There's many a scoutmaster that thinks he is the master, and then he finds out that national grants the award, not him.

  18. A military surplus store will sell you a khaki navy officer's shirt. It is much, much nicer. You can get it embroidered with Boy Scouts of America over the right pocket and decorate it up, and no one will notice. If you are of athletic build, you will find these fit far better as they are not designed for 400 pound men.

     

    There are at least four different khaki shirt designs in circulation right now - maybe five.

  19. 1. Discuss her during your pack leader meeting and ask for the input of the other den leaders, the cubmaster, and the committee chair.

     

    2. Suggest that the advancement chair or committee chair should play bad guy and inform the parent that the exact requirements must be met based on the youth's best effort.

     

     

  20. > NO, I didn't look at your graph at all.

     

    That's even worse. So you're just using completely unscientific anecdotal observation on your part to draw conclusions about success methods of a corporation that has almost a billion dollars in assets?

     

    Instead, let's just use fiction and say "I post to the Internet Tubes all day" as the basis for confident assertions as to what the problems are.

     

    LOL

     

  21. > LOL. Yah, back to statistics 101 for yeh.

     

    If you have some statistical analysis or data that will disprove what I wrote, please provide it. Otherwise, I'd suggest you study this topic as it is of grave concern to children and their safety, and you are charged with caring for them.

     

    Understanding the demographics of the enemy instead of imagining them through prejudice is probably a better approach.

     

    > Let's keep da gays stuff over in Issues & Politics, eh?

     

    I disagree. This is not a discussion of politics. It is a discussion of volunteers and their demographics... and the threat to children.

     

     

     

  22. > Yep, they have nothing to do with each other...just as being homosexual doesn't have anything to do with it either.

     

    In fact, identifying yourself as a homosexual reduces the chances of child molestation. The vast majority of child molesters and pedophiles say they are heterosexual when asked which adult sex they are attracted to.

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...