Stosh

It's kinda too bad the rest of us don't get a chance to ban someone when they jerk us around on the forum.

Now lets place our bets on how long before the girls get involved in more than just Venturing.... I'm going to project 5 years. What say ye?

Not a problem, I'll take one Real Scout over a hundred Paper Eagles any day. Well done, he knows more about Scouting than a lot of Eagles out there.

Hmmm, I'm Lutheran, but I like the comment anyway!

When I moderated forums, 100% of the issues were dealt with through PM. Most of the time the members never knew who the moderators were until they got out of line and one popped up in their PM window and told them to cut it out. A ton of communication was also held among the moderators and a consensus was come to before anyone got banned.

This is the sticking point for many. As long as one keeps it to themselves and doesn't try to justify their sexual preferences in front of the boys or explains to the boys that this is an acceptable lifestyle and "flaunts" it into the program, most people don't care. I'm a pedophile (I have worked extensively with minor youths for 40+ years now), homicidal maniac (behind the wheel, some of the people I see in traffic, I could easily participate in the Darwin Principle) , with paranoid tendencies (just because you believe there are those out there that seek to do you harm, doesn't mean it's not true.). As long as I don't flaunt it, as long as I don't try and convince everyone it's okay and as long as I don't act on the impulses, I can be and have been in scouting as a leader for 30+ years. I guess I'm just not a fan of "in-your-face" politics on any subject. I signed off on a gay Eagle Scout long before it was officially acceptable to do so. He was pictured on the front page of the local newspaper dressed in drag having won "fairest of the ball" at a local dance 2 months before his picture showed up in the paper as receiving his Eagle rank.) So does that make me a fan of the new policy? I have also simply walked away from toxic BSA troops, crews, and programs when the politics became more important than the boys. That's another tendency I have and I HAVE acted on those in the past.

Wisconsin Synod has it's own scout program (Pioneers) just like the Catholics (Scouts of St. George) , Assembly of God (Royal Rangers), general conservative protestant (Trail Life USA), etc. The pie will continue to split as time goes on.

For years now the government agencies have taken away the need for corporate charity. It's no longer necessary. In the first half of American history it was the religious organizations that built the schools, hospitals, orphanages, etc. Whole denominations like Salvation Army were set up to attend to the needs of the unfortunate. Well, the vote of the poor people can be bought at a pretty low price so all these programs have been slowly taken over through political promises of being taken care of by the government instead. Those votes produce sufficient leverage to make it happen. Money that was once available to be freely given to charities is now systematically removed from consideration through taxation and through entitlement expectations is now given to the poor to secure their political leverage. Why would corporations continue this process? There are the political forces now clamoring for more and more of their money through huge tax increases and once again, the need for charity pool funds are reduced. The government will eventually need to make do with what it can generate through taxation to maintain its bureaucracy. Eventually there will be no one left to provide funding for the government because the poor have voted them out of existence and the government will collapse. Social Security and other such programs are on the verge of proving this out.

So now that BSA isn't just a bunch of bigots, the company doesn't need to be either. I got the point and made mine.

For many that is not two issues.

Companies have been doing such donations for years, it has nothing to do with the gay issue.

In today's society, a change of mind is a sign of weekness and betrail to the others in their group. They may be classified as even worse than those that oppose their way of thinking because of such disloyalty. Fear of such banishment of the "group" will keep everyone in line, no one wishes to be labeled a traitor to the "cause". What people don't realize is that 99% of the discussion revolves around discrediting the opposition with personal attacks and slander that only about 1% focuses on the subject at hand. Discussions on this forum have devolved to nothing more than a SNL Point/Counter-Point skit with a dash of Rosanna tossed in with a smile emoticon. I have held my opinions for 65 years, does anyone think for one momement that their brilliant debate skills are going to cause me to do a 180? Like Barry points out, the degredation to the point of feeling unwelcomed in recent months is blatantly obvious to some on the forum. And as Barry further points out some of those who are blatantly oblivious might just be those who are supposed to be the moderating voice in the group. I have been extremely careful not to express my "positon", "opinion", etc. Yet it has been made clear that there are those who have assumed, concluded, ascertined, and have taken the time to "correct" my vague, meanless and immaterial contributions on the subject. Sorry, but people are not the uneducated, simpletons that some here seemed to think they are.

I don't think national has the right to dictate to any CO who they can or cannot associate with. Who's to say that this person is not the congregation president of the CO and BSA just told them to dump him/her. That would take a bit of splainin' to cover up that mess.

It's the camp the boys picked. They had a negative experience this past summer and that may motivate them to select something else for next summer. I'll just have to wait and see what they decide.

I guess I'll have to figure out a way to show dripping sarcasm with a new emoticon of some sort. I seem to be losing my touch.

The camp I have been attending has a rubber stamp icon that prints a report at the end of the week. No counselors are identified by name. They do five MBs for each scout and no alternative program except swimming lessons and first year scouts. Basically the camp is a MB university for the week.

With all the camps geared toward MBs, what troops to do when there is no alternative activity? If there is none, one is going to see more and more troops doing their own thing. Yet another nail in the coffin of BSA camps out there.

One does not need an "actual church" to have religious beliefs. The Constitution is supposed to be protecting my individual rights, not those of some "actual church" (whatever that means). As society becomes more and more polarized, and people become more intolerant to those around them this decline will become more obvious.

I'm thinking the forum is more courteous than most I have been on. I also think that it is because the members are Scouts. Having been a moderator on many of them I'm of the opinion that I agree with @ The reaction of @@Eagledad sums it up for me as well. I'm finding I am marking threads "read" and bypassing them more often than before.

Financial crime could mean bank robbery.

Without knowing what was identified in the background check everything is only speculation. There's always the possibility there's more than what has been disclosed thus far.

COHs whether it is Eagle or not is the responsibility of the home troop. The reception /celebration on the other hand is up to the family. There's no limit to the number of them the family can host. People do this all the time with weddings.

Ain't auto-fill a wonderful addition to Smartphones and Kindles?

I can play reed instruments as well as brass, guitar, piano and fife. I know what it means to practice. With that being said, I wouldn't put a scout in the bulging POR unless he can do a fair job to begin with. At the minimum he needs to have the bulging MB. PORs expect some level of proficiency to begin with. One does not give webmaster responsibility to someone who can't turn a computer on. Same for bulging.

I don't think it is a scout patch. 99 percent of the time the two stars are present. No stars