Fat Old Guy

Would this down under organization be the OB, Order of the Boomerang?

" I still do not believe that 1,000,000 boys sort of doing scouting is better than 500,000 doing it correctly." I'm with you on this one. I think that the problem with Charter Organizations is that most COs don't wake up one day and say, "Let's start a Scout troop as part of our youth program." It's been my observation that most COs get involved because someone comes to the COH and says, "We need a CO to start a new Scout troop, can you do it?" The COH say, "What do I have to do?" "Sign here and that's it." Bada-bing a new CO is born.

If you find a source, let us know. Mine has vanished.

"While I have done my stint as both a Cubmaster and a Soccer coach, I have had little guys ask if they could leave early or come late to pack and den meetings I have never had a little guy ask to leave soccer to go to a pack or den meeting." Don't you know why that is? Sports are important and Scouts is just, well . . . Scouts is just Scouts. No one is kicked off the team in Scouting. I suppose that I'm guilty of this to some extent as well. My son plays basketball, not serious, crazy, nut basketball, just recreation basketball. They have three practices before the season starts and eight games. If he misses a practice, he's missed a bunch. Missing one game is 12.5% of the season. Fortunately, basketball and Scouts don't conflict much.

I had written a rambling piece wondering how could a cannon loaded with a blank charge could blow up because there's nothing to contain the pressure. I then went out and found an article about the incident and found that it wasn't a blank charge, they were firing a projectile, a film canister partially filled with sand. Why? I don't know much about cannons, why on earth would they put a projectile in it?

"When the new cub scout training syllabus came out a couple of years ago - 3 I think, I was shocked." I guess no one is ever happy. When I went through Cub Scout Leader Training, about five years ago, I was disappointed that there wasn't more procedures and policies stuff. I came away singing songs and knows how to do magic tricks but still confused about many administrative things. I do understand that for most people, there is only one shot at training. I don't understand that because most coaches go to seminars, meeetings and other training sessions every year so why can't Scout leaders?

" It may be time to strip the Scouting program down to it's essential parts and gear the program towards the youth of Twenty-first Century America." I don't think that Scouting has ever been "relevent". In the early days, it was a program for city youth to experience the out doors. How was camping and fire building relevent to a city boy's life? Scouting has always given boys an opportunity to experience things that they wouldn't normally get to do. If your father is a wilderness guide and you were scaling cliffs at age 7, then camping and hiking might not be of interest to you. However for the average suburban or urban kid, Scout may be the only opportunity that he has to experience the woods, see the stars at night, shoot a bow, or swim in a lake.\\

"If he isn't innoncent until these peers find him guilty why is he guaranteed a trial?" My point is that there is nothing in the constitution about "innocent until proven guilty" just as there is nothing about "separation of church and state." Ed asked, "Doesn't the Constitution apply to American citizens?" It applies to everyone. That's why if a border jumper commits a crime, he still must be Mirandized. TwoCubDad opined, "The other reason is that the Geneva Conventions were written to cover conventional POW, i.e., uniformed members of regular armies." You need to read a copy of the Geneva Convention, many irregulars are covered, it all depends on their actions.

"FOG, I'll admit I enjoy your somewhat acerbic wit now and then, but your attitude towards basic safety and health requirements really needs adjustment." You don't know what my attitude is toward safety and health. I've been in more dangerous locations than you can probably imagine, sometimes with safety gear and other times without because the circumstances dictated it. Get down off your high horse and stop crying. The reality of the situation is that too often when a child is hurt, the saftey patrol reacts with rules that have nothing to with the situation at hand. That's why my daughter's grade school cafeteria has no knives, after all the plastic knives that they used to have are so dangerous. "Accident prevention is not about the enforcement of arbitrary rules." Maybe not, but the safery patrol likes to make their arbitrary rules. That's how the Ferrari F40 wound up with motorized "Mice" seatbelts instead of the standard Ferrari 5 point harness.

NW Scouting Dude said, " Most of the issues were concerning due process" The leaders were business men and were concerned with business issues. The other stuff only came into play because they weren't being treated nicely because they were rebels.

"I could feed you pablum and you'd like it. Crave it, actually. With a bad atitude like that I can't imagine your opinion of cream of wheat or my all-time favorite, porridge." You probably like grits too. :-)

" That attitude gets people hurt, maimed and killed every day." So you are in favor of the flag raisers wearing hard hats?

Laurie, how would you leave the Council?

The Safety monitors will soon have flag raisers wearing hard hats.

It is hard to find "seconds" for BSA uniforms because most of the uniforms are seconds. I needed a new expedition hat a while back and was dismayed to discover that every one in my size had the eyelets for the chinstrap misplaced. I had to return my first uniform shirt because the right pocket was a half inch lower than the left. My current short sleeved shirt has pockets that are not the same size. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that until I had sewn my patches on it. $65 for a pair of cotton work pants is outrageous. Go to Walmart and look at grey work pants for $20, they even have ones with a nifty pocket for a cell phone.

" Our country was founded on the notion of due process" You've been watching too much Law and Order. Our country was founded on the notion of "No taxation without representation." The American Revolution was a tax revolt, not a rebellion against an unjust legal system. "with all due respect I believe that under our Constitition a U.S. Citizen is considered innocent until proven quilty by a jury of his peers." Nope, unless I missed something, the Constitution simply guarantees a speedy trial by a jury of peers. What sort of peers should a terrorist have on his jury? More terrorists?

Make haste slowly. Change things but don't expect to see results in a week or even a year. Get all the adults trained. Set a policy that if someone doesn't complete training by the next training cycle (around here that would be the end of March), they will have their registration changed to Committee Member. Get the youth trained. Run JLT as soon as possible. Get all youth leaders a copy of the appropriate book (SPL Handbook, PL Handbook) To stem the flow of merit badges, say that only the SM can sign blue cards. Phase out the "Patrol Advisor" position to eliminate the ASMs having their own patrol. Don't try to do that all at once because the Scouts will go into shock. Think about mixing up the patrols. Sticking a couple older guys in with the younger guys. Tell them that they need to be role models and teach the young guys. They may rise to the occasion or quit, either way you may be better off. Make all the adults keep their mouths shut at the PLC and let the PLC decide what the troop will do. Of course, the PLC will need guidance and it may be heavy handed guidance at first but they need to be involved in the process. Adults will threaten to quit and adults will threaten that their kids will quit. Let them. We went through this a few years back, some quit and the troop is better of without them. That's my advice and I'm sticking to it.

20 years ago, I didn't think that you'd be able to buy homes wired for Gigabit Ethernet.

"Personally, I think the rule of ettiquette that says a gentleman must doff his hat when he enters a building is out of date and should be retired -- come to think of it, the word "doff" should probably go with it" Why do you take your hat off indoors? One reason is so that you don't obstruct the view of others. Another is so that others don't have to dodge the brim of your hat in close quarters. What do you do with your hat when you take it off? You hang it up or give it to the hat check person. If you are wearing a cap, you can fold it an tuck into a pocket.

Ed, Ed, Ed. . . you and I obviously have a poor grasp of the English language. You see, "showing" how to do something doesn't actually involve doing it whereas "demonstrating" how to do something involves doing it. Oddly, the dictionary doesn't see it this way. demonstrate To show clearly and distinctly.

93 Registered adults? 3:2 Scout to ASM ratio? Wowie! With 93 Registered Adults, why aren't some going to Roundtable?

Ah Bob White, running the words around Maggie's Barn again. I simply would like you to explain to me how someone can show you how to pack without actually doing it. If I showed you how to tie a bowline, I'd wind up with a bowline in my hand.

" Let's say Mr. Ashcroft came in and detained Mr. Fat Old Guy." Never happen. We who live on mountains in Idaho take precautions to keep the government out.

" I wish the librarians were as concerned about the use of library computers by underage youth to surf the internet for pornography." Gotta love the libraries. As a parent, I am financially responsible for anything that my minor children check out. However, if they had their own cards, the library would not tell me what books they had checked out. That's akin to Sears sending you a bill but not telling you what you had bought. The result is that my children don't have their own library cards.

Interesting idea Bob White, show how to do something without actually doing it. Very interesting. Stapler guy said, "A good cure for this problem is to have his mother pack old newspapers only for his next trip" Wouldn't work. Mom is a major part of the problem