packsaddle

My advice is not to go out on personal limbs for the BSA. Shrink back into the shadows and let your son enjoy doing things with his dad and let the pack and the CO deal with whatever problems arise. When he moves on to boy scouts, same advice.

Aside from that old 'pot and kettle' thing, I am quite familiar with some third world places. If you remove that backbreaking aspect of life and give them the spare time, they too amuse themselves with gossip and backbiting. I personally observe that as well. People are pretty much the same everywhere. Some just have more freedom to be themselves.

OMG! You're actually serious, aren't you!? OK, yes, I did read it. How else would I understand the joke you presented to us? In response to someone throwing out an incident report form as evidence of 'prissyness' (for want of a better term), you responded with a couple more forms and a web page which states its purpose as follows: "This chapter provides volunteers and professional staff guidance on documenting and reporting incidents, injuries, and illnesses that occur during Scouting activities." And THEN you ask what is wrong with 'knowing' what is going on, as if those forms are all it takes for you to 'know' what is going on in the real world. You had just responded to ridicule of your forms by submitting more forms and a guidance page that tells us we ought to use those forms. What the heck kind of response is THAT!? Do you not understand the level of derision that kind of bureaucratic (not to mention patronizing) attitude is going to bring in response? Really? You don't get this? That IS the humorous part, from my view. You actually take yourself this seriously that you think waving a form in front of us is going to make us cower in the shadow of your greatness. Gad! The best thing you and the guys in Irving can do to try to recover some of your dignity and some of my respect is just stop talking. And please, stop waving those forms at us.

The laws and their application evidently are changing rather quickly. I'm not so sure about people's attitudes. I think part of what we're seeing is a generational effect of young people who see things differently from their elders. But the elders are dying out and the young people are just beginning to flex their 'muscles'. This is one of the wonderful aspects of being a teacher: I get to have a far greater influence on society than merely my meager contribution to the gene pool.

I'm not Jewish but I AM interested in learning why the synagogue doesn't have anything to do with BSA. Could you expand on that a bit? We had Jewish boys in the pack and the troop but I don't know enough about the various 'flavors' of Judaism to know if they were Reform or some other 'flavor'. Help me out with that, if you can, as well.

When I was CM, I took the approach in which I notified all the families that I was going to the family campout. Period. If anyone else wanted to join me that would really be nice. I have the attitude that if I am the only one there, so much the better. Alone in the woods. Nice. But there was never such an occasion, sadly. Most of the time families showed up and we always had a great time. It WAS kind of interesting to try to predict who would show and who wouldn't.

Unless the business IS an insurance company, businesses should not provide insurance or pay premiums for employees. If businesses want to hire the best employees, they should instead divert those funds to wages and salaries, leaving health care up to the individuals who make their own decisions. This would take a huge bureaucratic and administrative burden off of business and give individual responsibility back to the individuals. However, if the business requires employees to travel in order to do business, then those costs are legitimate costs of doing business and should be reimbursed. But the employee should be reimbursed for actual expenses, and not expect some perquisite such as being able to use the 'company car' for all manner of activity, including personal business. But I see nothing wrong with being reimbursed for travel expenses as long as it is a legitimate business activity.

It should not be an 'option'. An employer should not invest in personnel and bureaucracy to manage these kinds of HR expenses and the employer should not offer any employer 'contribution' to the employee as a 'benefit'. The entirety of those expenses and costs should not be borne by an employer in the first place. Employees should either accept or decline their pay and then pay all of the costs for health insurance that they purchase themselves, or failing that, they should pay for their own health care costs. The idea that one spouse can 'cover' the health of another through whichever employer offers the best benefits is just gaming the current system of employer-sponsored health coverage. There should be no such thing and no such choice to be made in the first place.

It's ok because we're imperfect and make mistakes and often choose to ignore 'rules' that we feel like ignoring. Does that answer your question?

I've written this before and I will write it again: employers should not purchase or provide, nor should they be expected to purchase or provide, health or any other kind of insurance for their employees. Instead, employees should be paid fairly and then they should make those decisions however they choose to. If they want to form health-care coops or even employee-union insurance companies that is just fine. But the employers should be out of this aspect of their employees' lives.

And less than one year has passed and look at all the changes. BSA membership policy. Supreme Court decisions. Wow.

I'm glad to find out that Moosetracker was not among them. Also glad that there were no fatalities.

O!M!G! 30-50 people? Just spend a few days in Grand Central Station. It will be just about the same quality experience. Look, if you really want to enjoy Yosemite, head to the back country and slim the numbers appropriately. Sorry, but what you describe sounds, well....not good...to me.

If you do go there, let me know and I'll give you some ideas on where to go and what to do (and good restaurants, etc.) One of the great things about Dominica is that the only US franchise you'll actually see is KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway. And only one each in the capital city. No other stores, hotels, restaurants, etc. Some of the stores 'hijack' well-known names and symbols. There is a Best Buy for example. It has absolutely nothing to do with what we think of in the USA. Also Ace Hardware. Again no relation. But you can get a good deal on one of those Sheffield blades at Ace Hardware outside of Roseau in Goodwill. You'll never find one of those blades in Ace Hardware in the USA, lol. If you do go there and pick one up, you may want to smooth the wooden handle some because they're rough and you'll earn a blister quickly otherwise. Also, they come really dull. Don't expect to cut anything other than imported butter until you apply the stone to it. They come in three lengths. I find that the short blade is sufficient. For those who feel they need to compensate, there are some really long ones, lol. But who wants something that big dragging the ground all the time? Vicki, are you out there somewhere?

The 'Nature Island of the Caribbean', Dominica. I go there fairly often. The immigration people know me by sight..so do most of the park rangers and some of the government people. I always have my trusty blade with me because I go into remote areas where it's fairly common to have the trail/road blocked by a fallen tree or something. Even more commonly, if a trail hasn't been cleared in the past week it is likely to be grown over with elephant grass or some vines or some other fast-growing plants. I do a lot of hacking my way through stuff. Almost everyone cruising the bush will carry one for the same reasons. Farmers even use them to dig in the ground sometimes. They are, I guess, the Dominican version of the 'Leatherman' all purpose tool, lol. The bank is the Royal Bank of Canada and I go there about once a week to exchange currency. They have an ATM but I usually exchange cash to avoid the ATM fee. I completely forgot about the blade one day and was reminded of it firmly by the bank guard, lol. He remembers me too, BTW. It's all good. As long as this is hijacked I'll also note that they sell really nice blades made in Sheffield, England and at decent prices too. Usually things are really expensive on these islands but for some reason machetes must be exempted. They make great souvenirs/gifts for friends when I bring them back.

Welcome to the forums! You'll read a lot of different views on things and hopefully be able to sift out the BS here and there. But it's fun and, some of the time at least, very helpful. Over the years, I've appreciated the good answers to my questions. But even if I haven't received a good answer to the question I have, I've often been helped to see other views and therefore to view my question in a different, sometimes constructive way.

Welcome to the forums, SharkAttack. Do you have a reference for your claim that libraries can legally make copies? I'd like to read more about that.

I regularly carry actual machetes through air travel and I have never had anyone question these blades (they call them 'cutlasses' where I go..or 'swords' and if they call it a 'sword' they even pronounce the 'w'..interesting place). I've had as many as 5 in a single checked bag. No problem. They DID confiscate my sunscreen from carryon bag - WAY too dangerous for carryon. They also took my roll of emergency packing tape (in case a zipper or latch breaks). Explanation: it could be used to bind someone's hands. I offered them my dental floss. They weren't amused. But it seems that big blades are no problem for checked bags. I think the laws against blade length are mostly local. But no matter where you are, if your sheath knife is hidden from view, it might be considered a concealed weapon and you risk a big hassle if someone wants to make a big deal over it. Especially if some foreigner from a terrorist hot spot like the Netherlands is carrying it. You Dutch persons...and your daffodils and tulips....you are a true menace to the world! But seriously, I'd probably leave it at home for the trip. I know...it feels so strange, not having it. But leaving that blade home would completely eliminate the risk of some local yokel with a chip on his shoulder from being able to 'show hard' over that concealed weapon. And...you'll know that it will be waiting for you when you get home. About thoae machetes, I really like them. And where I go, I carry one with me almost all the time, in my hand, no sheath. No one bats an eye unless I bring it into a bank or something (not a good idea BTW).

I agree 100%

Aw, c'mon folks, That last response by Richard B.? He's just messin' with ya now. He responded to criticism of a policy statement with....ANOTHER policy statement! Don't you guys see the humor in that?

That's great! Who says these forums don't have a positive effect!? Richard B, to respond to your question, "...why is it bad to know what actually happens in the program?", this presumes that filling out your forms is all it takes for you to understand what happens in the program. Egad! What does that say about the program that you expect? What does that say about BSA National? What does that say about YOU? Good grief! I'm channeling Kudu now...deep breaths....

RememberSchiff, thanks for that delightful reminder. It supports my long-standing belief that there are few things as professionally gratifying for an administrator than to create a new form that others have to fill out. In this case the subtitle is delicious, "Events or allegations of injury, illness, or property damage including employment and directors and officers issues" Some management type must have had a multiple orgasm over that one.

Heh, heh, I've been known to show up at an Eagle COH and pull a hank of rope out of my pocket. I just love to see the eyes roll and boys looking away nervously, thinking to themselves, "Oh sh**!" Edit: OK...Prissy huh? I guess I am closer to the Peter Fonda model. I'll let them wade right into the creek and yes, go ahead and see how fast that snapping turtle can move its jaws. Sure go find out if there's another entrance to that yellow jacket nest. Just don't whine about the consequences. Go ahead and bring your smart phone, we'll see how water/dirt/food/grease-proof it is. I'll let them push the limits, up to a limit of safety that I know for whatever activity there is. Let them get dirty, wet, hungry, tired, sweaty. Let them get some blisters and some small scrapes or cuts. Let them get a little sunburn or find out what it's like to be cold and wet. Chances are, they'll prepare better next time out. And they'll still get wet, dirty, etc. but be a little happier doing it. We're all just a bunch of monkeys, after all.

I ran into something like this a couple of times. I chose to focus on the boy. Yes, I invested extra time and effort in getting him to meetings and getting him to other events. I just couldn't bring myself to punish the boy just because his family couldn't/wouldn't give him the support he needed. I made that decision knowing it would put a strain on me and my family. I did it anyway and in retrospect I am glad I did. However, if someone else in the same situation chooses another response, I respect that as well because I DO remember well the strain it put on me and my family. I wish you well and hope that you can resolve this in a way that is best for the boy and for you.

Welcome to the forums! And thanks for your take on this issue. It is helpful to have someone who actually knows something about it to offer their insights.