gwd-scouter

We retired several flags last winter. The boys collected the grommets, enough for each to have one and each said he was going to give it to someone special - usually a relative who served in the military. One of the flags was given to us by an elderly gentleman who lives across the street. My younger son, not knowing the gentleman's military service gave him the grommet since he had asked us to retire the flag for him. Son was gone for quite a long time - seems the neighbor was moved by receiving the grommet and shared some of his history in service to our Country. That's nice I think.

Has anyone seen An American Carol, yet?

"Mr. Briggs,(Dan Briggs) played by Steven Hill head of the IMF before Peter Graves joined the cast." He was head of the International Monetary Fund?

Hey Packhound, welcome to the forum. Quite a few Southerners here. I like the idea of joining forces with another small troop in your area. We've tried to do that also, but the other small troops haven't shown any interest. Wingnut, I like your saying - only a large troop with several openings. I'm going to use that if it's OK with you? We have nine Scouts at the moment but a good bunch of Webelos on the way. Yep, guess they are filling those openings.

Interesting family life you have there, Pack. You have a gun and your wife an ice pick? Did you hear the joke about the 72 virgins? Male terrorist dies and eagerly awaits his flock of virgins. Turns out all those virgins are men.

I would have to agree that whomever is elected, he is unlikely to do much to fix the financial mess we are in. In that regard, I feel sorry for both men. It is doubtful that the next Pres. will serve more than one term. So who is up next in 2012? Palin vs. Clinton? Watched news last night and McCain seems to have decided that some of the folks at his rallies have gone too far. One woman told McCain she was afraid of Obama and that he was an Arab. McCain took the microphone and told her "no Ma'am" and went on to say Obama was a decent man with whom McCain disagrees on issues and not someone she should be afraid of. Good for McCain, but I think the horse has left the barn. It may have been better if he had admonished Ms. Palin for her comment about Obama "palling around" with terrorists, which seems to have started all this. Also last night I watched a new McCain ad calling Obama a liar. So, McCain is trying to reign in the nasty sentiment at his rallies, but his campaign is still putting out the negative ads. I guess the candidates don't really "approve" their messages? McCain from 2000? My husband was supporting him in the primaries back then. I tend to lean democrat, but I was giving him serious consideration. Yes, he was a different man then. I don't know what happened to him, especially in these past few weeks. I wonder where we would be today if he had won back then instead of W? During the primaries when Obama won state after state, Clinton seemed desperate. McCain now seems desperate as the numbers grow in Obama's favor. Oddly similar - both Clinton during the primaries and McCain now thinking with disbelief - who is this guy and how can he be winning?(This message has been edited by gwd-scouter)

Hey skeptic. The Waltons reruns are on the Hallmark Channel.

"Now, before I get flamed, I know there are those who have carefully analyzed the issues and arrived at an informed, educated decision. My hat's off to you and I wish you the best. But you are in the extreme minority." Who exactly is in the minority? Those that have made educated informed decisions regardless of whom we are supporting? Or, those that are supporting the supposed Marxist Muslim (his middle name IS Hussein after all) who "pals" around with domestic terrorists and has things to hide in those tax and medical records? (oops, he did, in fact, release those records). You don't want to be flamed, but you don't see it as being inflammatory yourself when you post this about Obama supporters: "There are millions of cult followers who will vote for him without even knowing the issues." Cult followers? Wow.

Who could forget Lost in Space? The Jupiter 2? June Lockhart? That Major Don West was hot! OK, I was very young then. Danger Will Robinson. Oh the pain, the pain. Here's another one, anyone remember? It's about time, it's about space, About two men in the strangest place...

Yep, our guys made hard boiled eggs one morning. Not the actual plan, but they forgot to bring the ziplocks so had to make do.

Debate Round Two. I watched. Was a bit more lively than the first, but what was with all the rules and restrictions? Came down to little more than talking points. No follow up. No talking to each other. Yuck, what a bore. I did think it was interesting to listen to the commentary after. Most of the news shows reported on post-debate polls showing Obama won the debate. Usually the numbers were around 50-something to 30-something in favor of Obama. Turned to Fox channel and Hannity and Colmes. They had folks call in to say who they thought won the debate. Big surprise - almost 90% said McCain won. With the mudslinging that's going on now in the candidate rallies (and, sorry folks, I admit to being partisan on this, but I do believe the McCain camp has gotten much dirtier than the Obama camp), what do you suppose the third debate will be like? Probably just more of the same as the first two. Certainly is more entertaining to watch the "debates" on SNL.

apocalyptically deluded man? Wow, Pack, tell us how you really feel. Let's see, the talking points about Mr. Bush was that he was "just like us" the kind of guy you'd like to have a beer with. Now, same is being said about Mrs. Palin. Is that really the criteria we want to use when selecting a President? The nastiness that was displayed at a McCain rally the other day was quite dismaying. Folks yelling out in the crowd (when referring to Obama) like: off with his head, traitor, terrorist, etc. etc. Palin feeds it and McCain doesn't stop it. In his defense, it does seem like McCain is uncomfortable with the outbursts. So will this work with the American people? Will folks really disregard the financial crises and be persuaded by these rants? Less than four weeks to go. Anything could happen.

For what it's worth: My older son earned his Eagle at 14 1/2. He is now almost 22. In is own opinion, he feels his younger brother (15 1/2) is getting more out of the journey to Eagle than he did. Older son was singularly focused on earning Eagle. Never missed a meeting or campout. Knew all the Scout skills. Held the appropriate PORs (although back in those days PORs in our Troop were mostly a patch on the sleeve without much substance). Also back in those days of our Troop, the other Scouts that earned Eagle were also around 15 years old. Interestingly, all but two (my son and one other Scout) were sons of the SM, ASMs or CC. Looking back, he feels he rushed through the process without really enjoying the ride. It was more of an academic pursuit for him. Watching his younger brother, a Life Scout now for over two years, he sees an enthusiastic Scout, fully enjoying the experience, using his knowledge to really help younger guys and his Troop. We have three guys currently working toward Eagle. One in 11th grade and two in 10th. A culture change in our Troop? Perhaps. All three are friends and very active with the Troop, only missing outings if they conflict with band competitions. They are truly leaders in our Troop and enjoying the journey. Welcome to the forums cookiemonster, and good luck to your son.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner - OGE! Captain Kirk, uh William Shatner, is on Boston Legal. Lot's of Star Trek folks are on Heroes.

Jocularity, jocularity. Anyone remember the TV show M*A*S*H? Two actors played Father Mulcahy. Who played Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy and who played him in the pilot only (as Father John Patrick Francis Mulcahy)? Bonus question, can anyone answer why his names were changed around?

Camp Old Indian has a bugler during summer camp. Scouts learn very quickly what the calls mean.

Last night's meeting we had a visit from 3 Webelos Dens. Two fifth grade and one fourth grade. We have the commitment of one of the fifth grade Dens (6 Scouts) to cross over to our Troop in February. Three of the boys are receiving the AOL at the end of this month and we've been invited to their ceremony. This particular den has camped with us a couple of times already and visited before. Great boys and their leaders/parents will be a welcome asset to our Troop. The other fifth grade Webelos Den came from another Pack. First time we've met them and they do plan to visit other troops before making a decision. They will be camping with us this weekend at our District Camporee. The fourth grade den is from the same Pack as the first mentioned fifth grade Webelos. They came to give us a look and plan to do more with us next year when the boys are in fifth grade. I have to say our guys were overwhelmed last night. Seventeen Webelos were there, four of whom are currently fourth graders. Even though overwhelmed, I was very proud of our guys and how they handled themselves and the Webelos. The sounds of fun ringing out in the evening as they played outside was marvelous. We, the adults, spent time with the leaders and parents talking about Boy Scouting and answering their questions. We received very positive feedback from them. So, we have six coming in February and the possibility of seven more. Our guys are already talking about making up patrols and changes in leadership. Looking ahead to 2009!

Oops,made a mistake. Walt Johnson HS is in Bethesda, MD. Hey SSScout, Graduate of Sherwood? You live in Montgomery County?

doo doo doo, lookin' out my back door. So, if the guy had to sit down and take a rest on the porch, how could he be lookin' out his back door? Must have caught something nasty during his visit to Illinois since there's a giant doing cartwheels along with the happy creatures dancin' on the lawn.

I watched CNN after the Obama-McCain debate. The commentator talking about the poll very clearly said that the poll was biased because it turned out more democrats watched the debate than republicans. Yes, they reported the bias themselves. Seems fair (neutral) to me.

We have two buglers - younger son and his friend. Not officially holding the title as a POR, but both play trumpet in marching band. They both play the trumpet like a bugle, not using the valves. Echo taps is lovely. Younger son has earned the bugling merit badge and played the various calls while working on staff last summer at camp. He is interested in playing at our upcoming district camporee since we've never had a bugler at one. Hope those in charge say yes.

Yep, there is a Walter Johnson High School in Potomac Maryland. Big rival of my High School, Winston Churchill. A favorite quote: Bessie Braddock: Sir, you are drunk. Churchill: Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.

Yeah, Pack. As we discussed before - I'm much too gullible!

Hate to disagree with you there Pack, but I would say the debate was at best a tie. I think Palin surpassed the rather low expectations of her performance. But, in the end, she did not say anything to my ears that would lessen my unease about her being our next VP, much less lessening my outright fear that she could be a "heartbeat away" from the Presidency. I know a lot of people are happy she's just like "regular folks," but I don't want someone running our country who is like regular folks. I wouldn't vote for me to run the country!

We hold our elections once a year. Not on an exact calendar measurement, but it works out to about a year. We used to have elections every six months, but that was something designed by the adults in order to help guys fulfill their PORs for advancement. The consequence of this was that most guys wore the patch but didn't really do anything. Or, a guy held a POR for, say, Life for six months. Then for the next two years while he was working on merit badges, didn't do much of anything at all - including attending meetings or campouts. The change for our Troop came about three years ago when our then SPL's six months was up and he decided he was only then really getting good at the job and wanted to continue. Now, our guys hold their PORs for a full year and our elections are held when the PLC decides it's time to change things around. For us, this has probably been the single best change our Troop has made toward empowering the boys to run their Troop.