Fat Old Guy

"2. If flag ceremony is indoors no hat is worn. If outdoors, hat is worn." That may be the Air Force way but it isn't the Boy Scout way.

"Please show respect and refer to the "circuit" court." Why? The Ninth Circuit is indeed a circus. " I could see allowing the Government to hold for a set period of time, maybe 90 days or less, but if no charges are brought forward the detainees should be released." So you would also release enemy soldiers after 90 days?

Bob White blathered, "You do not like the fact that mom packed the bag, that's fine, counsel the scout. But the board of review has no authority to withhold advancement based on something not required by the handbook in order to advance." Ah, but it is required to advance, it is required for Tenderfoot which would mean that if he never packed his own bag, he shouldn't be sitting in a BOR for Life.

"When I was in band front as Color Guard about 20+ years ago, we were not allowed--school policy--to do anything but that." Was that only during football season or for the whole school year? Back when I was in High School, it was a policy, a hard and fast rule, of the State sports regulating agency that if you played a high school sport, you could not play that sport for any other organization during the school season. In other words, if you played basketball for your school from DEcember through February, you couldn't play for your church or the YMCA during those months. THe idea was that if you were injured in a CYO game, it would be unfair to your school.

"You need to stick to the topic and stop attacking me." Ha! Ha, ha, ha, ho! Ho, hi, he, ho-whoooo, ha, he!

"I have to wonder why a small town, where most of the kids go to the same school, would have four packs? To me this seems like a recipe for disaster." I've seen a situation like this. Started with one pack that grew to over 100 Cub Scouts so the pack split.

"The better place to allow them to maintain their registration status with the BSA and still enable them to participate when they can with the troop is actually a district level registration called College Scouter Reserve." What unit number do they wear? They shoudn't wear your unit number because they aren't registered to it.

dsteele said, " but that they will not advance as quickly and that they should maintain their relationship with the troop." Ah, there's a rub. I've found that the parents of kids whose advancement progressly slowly because of their other activities view that as "punishment" of their kids. Punishment isn't my word, it is the word thrown out by a number of parents at a recent committee meeting. Bob White opinied, "Personally, I think to blame sports for any of Scoutings problems is a cop-out. Kids will want to do whatever is most fun an fulfilling for their needs at that stage of their life. If your unit does not offer more gratification than sports then that is a unit problem." Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it isn't sport per se but it is the sport fixation that our society has and the fixation on winning. Ever listen to a 3rd grade soccer coach yelling at his players to "put their game faces on"? It is pathetic. Also, if a kid wants to play soccer, he can't do that part time anymore. To remain competitive, he has to play spring soccer, summer soccer, fall soccer and indoor soccer. If he skips a season to go camping with the Scouts, he may lose his spot for the next season. The really crazy thing is that parents are willing to put up with it. I know parents who spend their entire lives driving to soccer events. 45 weekends a year are spent driving to soccer tournements. Family life is scheduled around soccer practice and soccer games. Heck, I know one pathetic guy who skipped an aunt's funeral because his son had a soccer game. For many years, our society has held that sports are more important than just about anything else. The President inauguration was delayed because it conflicted with the Super Bowl. Look at the special treatment that college athletes receive. It is sad, it is pathetic but it is life today.

Why would an Eye-talian be writing in German? Very strange.

" If so many got the Eagle Badge without really earning it, do you honestly think the rank of Eagle would enjoy the level of respect shown to it in American society today?" A better question would be how much respect will it enjoy in 20 years.

BW said,"Thank you for your concern but I was not responding to Ron's question, I was responding to the question that was the subject of the thread. " Oh, how you disemble. You quoted my response to Scoutmaster Ron, so you weren't responding to the original question. "Why do you constantly feel the need to make personal attacks on me?" Because you are so duplicitous as evidenced by your statements here. "Sure I clean it before I put it away, do you bring your dirty dishes home?" It may be washed at the camp site but I still run it through the dishwasher when I come home, along with my stainless coffee mug. Laurie said, "It sure is, but regardless of how many times I tell my son it's there, he usually won't bother with that page." I must be an ogre. I haven't helped my son pack since he was a Webleos. For summer camp, he gets the list of suff and is responsible for packing. For regular camping, he gets the list and it is up to him to pack. If something is left behind, too bad. Oddly, he hasn't forgotten anything important in years.

The important distinction is that Padillia was declared an enemy combatant. This is that same as if an American joined the German army during WW II and then was captured. Different rules apply. You can't throw your lot in with the enemy and then cry that you want the protections of the government that you were trying to destroy.

"Looking at where we failed the Tiger program is starting to stick out like a sore thumb. We only recruited half the number that we did three years ago.Again I don't know why the decline?" In my son's five years in Cub Scouting (including Tigers), only twice wat the Tiger Den numerically strong. We've actually had kids drop as Tigers and come back for Wolves. I didnt' think much of the Tiger program. Maybe it was the way that the Leader (Coach) ran things. She passed out a schedule in September and never bothered to remind people that they were supposed to be doing the December or May activity. Consequently, most people forgot that they were supposed to do stuff (myself included). Also the activities weren't that engaging, at least to my son because it seemed like every recommended activity was something had been done to death. Go to the zoo? That was done with the family, church and school. Go to the airport? He'd been to major airshows almost every year since birth (Hint: infants don't like afterburners. find a seat way in the back).

" When I talk to them about a high adventure program again all I hear is how expensive it is." That's why a troop runs fundraising activities but they probably don't want to hear that. OGE said, "The Scout FOG mentions is most likley not from a Troop with artificial attendance barriers." Actually, he is. The troop requires attendance at 50% of troop meetings, 50% of outings to be considered active.

We had a problem with a large number of inactive Scouters so the troop stopped paying their fees. Ba-boom, they all vanished. I don't have a problem with a Scoutmaster emeritus but that's about it and only if he held the position for more than a couple years.

In my humble view, the intense focus on sports doesn't do anyone any favors. The kid's don't get to be well rounded because they do little other than their selected sport. Drama? Forget it, conflicts with indoor soccer. Band? Uh-uh. Try another sport? Coach won't allow it. There's that Disney movie about the twins who made it into the WNBA. Their wacko father moved them to a new school district so they could play basketball but it was his dream not theirs. For them, it worked out but the success stories are rare. A few years ago I read an article about high school sports, it reported NCAA figures that 1 out of 3,000 high school basketball players and 1 out of 1,000 high school football players get some level of scholarship. Soccer is even worse, a high school soccer coach told me that it is 1 out of 10,000. Other school activities are getting just as intense. One Scout dropped out of our troop because of drama club. Yep, drama club. He was a Life Scout, OA and on the track to Eagle when he just up and quit because most weeknights and weekends were involved in drama. There are exceptions to the rule. I know an Eagle Scout who is a varsity soccer player, in concert band, jazz band and CAP as well as still being active in Scouting.

Yo beaver, your posting makes it look as though you were the one dealing with Target. Almost had me there.

"It's obvious what TFB stands for, and it's not appropriate for this forum" Perhaps you don't like SNAFU either. What about "Darn", "Dang," "Gosh," "Odd's bodkins," or "frazzencraker"?

For wingnut, pack bifucated reflexive verb to assemble items needed for an outing and place these items into an appropriate container for the excursion. Never unpack? Don't clean the mess kit? Don't dry out the pack? Nasty. BTW, you're right, I do get to tote my wife's luggage and I'm lucky that she let's me do it. :-) Bob White, please pay attention, I know that's hard for you but do try. The question from Scoutmaster Ron was, "Is it a question he . . .doesn't know what to bring?" As usual, you make every effort to ignore the question at hand and attempt to give yourself another soapbox to stand on.

Boy Bob White, you take others to task for jumping threads and switching topics and there you go, doing just that, quoting something from waaaaay over there. "(remember the MILF crack when you posted as Yaworski)" Still playing that same song. I'm surprised that you don't think that evmori and I are the same person and we're both Yaworski. Maybe Sadaam is Yaworski. Maybe you're Yaworski. You really do need help for these delusions. Anyway, what's a MILF crack?

"Are we holding the lads to a different standard?" There are some things that should just become part of the fiber of our being. Things like Chicago is a city, there are 50 states, and Avagadro's number is 6.023x10^23. I the Gettysburg Address isn't one of those things but who gave the address should be.

"I go on a business trip of two days, take a laptop and small carryon. My family of 4 goes to her parents for one night, and we can fill a dumpster with all we take. I can't imagine her packing for Philmont" We go away for a weekend and I take one small bag and a hanging bag for a pair of nice pants. My wife takes two suitcases and a hanging bag. We go away for a week and I take one small bag and a hanging bag for a a nice pair of pants. My wife takes three suitcases, a duffle for her socks, and a hanging bag.

I'd say that the requirement is "Never do for a Scout what he can do for himself." Mom, a graduate of MS Wood Badge 2001, should know that. Why does she do it? Probably the same reason that many of us are tempted to do things for our kids, we are sure that we could do it quicker and better. After all, if Junior packs for himself, he might forget his extra underwear. Should he know what to pack? It's in the handbook, isn't it (at least it used to be)? He was passed with misgivings.

Bob White, what does your gutter mind think that TFB means?

"Check your kid's Harbrace Grammar Handbook" You really don't think that they use those any more?