perdidochas

I would disagree. I think the skills in totin' chip/fireman are a bit more involved than those in 2nd class. I also think the whole idea of instant recognition is important. Also, if the boys have been Cub Scouts, most have already gotten a whittlin chip, which allows them to carry a pocket knife on a campout. To make those boys wait to get second class to carry a pocket knife again is counterproductive.

E61 is correct. Most abusers are not family. About 30% of abuse is by family. 60% is by trusted people--family friends, babysitters, etc. 10% is total strangers. http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/child-sexual-abuse.aspx

Twocubdad, I'm afraid that's exactly what it will become--a cheap alternative to Environmental Science for boys who don't want to get their hands dirty doing experiments/field observations.

BSA24, Exaggerate much? I live on the Gulf Coast in the westernmost part of the Florida Panhandle, about 3 miles from the Gulf, where the oil did come ashore (and yes, I did see it). Yes, there are still residual tar balls. That said, we are far from having "destroyed the ecology and fisheries for millions of square miles of ocean for decades to come." Effected, yes, destroyed, no. Exaggerations and hyperbole don't help your point, especially with those who know the truth.

BSA24, While I'm not a young earth creationist by far (I'm an evolutionist (biologist by education) as evolution is the best explanation for some of the stranger things in the living world), your argument about technology being science is a little bit strained. Besides evolutionary theory, most of the science in the world today can be explained without need of belief in evolution. Heck, most of the biology needed by an MD doesn't need evolutionary theory.

Nice strawman Nike.....

Our troop policy is that it generally goes to the troop general fund. That said, we have had a committee vote to allow a scout to transfer his funds to a friend. This was the case of an aged-out scout that had done a lot of fund raising despite knowing he wasn't going to be able to use the money for his own use.

I think Seattle Pioneer hit it right on the head: "Based on what I've seen, BSA appears to have been acting reasonably by the standards of the times. " We can't judge these people on 2012 standards and be fair to them.

It was on local news last night, and national news (Good Morning America) this morning.

The local district doesn't require an extensive background check for volunteers. It does, however, check you against the state sex offenders list. Not intrusive, takes about a minute. Now anybody that works at the school district, from principals to teachers to roof workers, all need fingerprinting, etc.

Our scribe does a lot of work. First, he takes notes at PLC. Second, he takes attendance at every meeting/event. Third, he assists in making sure the outing permission slips are given to parents. Fourth, he also records advancement. That is about as much work as any other POR, and much more than librarian. I've been a webmaster of a Cub scout pack site. If the website is being maintained by the webmaster, it's a pretty decent amount of work.

Political ads don't affect me much, however, I do admire candidates who stay away from negative ads. Marco Rubio, one of my senators, didn't have a single negative ad against his opponents in my local TV market. ((don't know about what he did in the peninsula the rest of the state) but I only saw positive ads about himself from him, and primarily negative ads from his opponents) I would have voted for him anyway, but it made me feel better about my vote that he stuck to positive, from my view.

Librarian too much work? I can buy Quartermaster or Grubmaster being too much work, but our librarian is almost like a "Maytag" repairman.

The article says he was denied Eagle due to not agreeing to the "Duty to God" part of the oath. From the above article: But a spokesman for the Boys Scouts, Deron Smith, told NBC News in a statement that Andresen recently "notified his unit leadership and Eagle Scout Counselor that he does not agree to Scoutings principle of 'Duty to God' and does not meet Scoutings membership standard on sexual orientation. While the BSA did not proactively ask for this information, based on his statements and after discussion with his family he is being informed that he is no longer eligible for membership in Scouting.

I agree with ScoutNut's last post. I agree it's silly to ban the toy guns, when the problem was that a child was shooting at other children with a real weapon (a slingshot, albeit loaded with acorns rather than rocks). I also think it's silly for the DL to think this is worth quitting over. Finally, why bring toy guns to a campout when you can use sticks? With a toy gun you are limited to whatever it represents. With sticks, you can pick up sticks for anything from a small pistol to a rifle to a bazooka to a cannon. Pine cones make great grenades.

Lawsuits, public pressure, etc. IMHO, if we allow the local option idea, the pressure will be off to make changes. I believe in compromise, and in the idea of local governance on most things. Basically said, I don't mind what you do in your troop, there are certain things I don't want to go on in my troop. I don't believe that homosexual males are appropriate role models for boys in a values-based organization. I do think that your views may vary, and I have no problem with you choosing others to be role models in your local organization.

Peregrin, We don't have the choice of who we fall in love with, but we do have the choice of who we don't fall in love with. As a married guy, I have chosen not to fall in love with any other women besides my wife.

The above said, I agree with the idea of local option. IMHO, our current position will lead to BSA eventually being forced into the position of allowing gay leaders regardless of CO opinion. The local option will allow groups that wish to stay traditional in terms of gay leaders to stay traditional.

CalicoPenn, Until the last 20 years, I've never heard of marriage defined as "Marry the person you love.' the definition has been "Marry a person of the opposite sex that you intend to stay with for the rest of your life."

I'd have no problems leaving either of my sons (1st class and Star Scouts) for two nights camping on their own. My wife might not be so confident, but they have the skills to do that. I do think that the classroom badges are the hardest to get scouts to do. I truly don't understand why we have three different Eagle Required Citizenship badges (until 1958, we just had a single badge required--Civics). One should be enough. Let's replace the other two with outdoor oriented badges. Scouting is Outing, and the only way we will succeed as an organization is to embrace that.

Kahuna, I hear you. It's the same around here in FL. The BSA here is obsessed with shoes. Crocs were allowed for a while, then they decided to ban them. Sad to me, because I think crocs are the best camp shoe around. Light, comfortable, easy to put on. Similarly, for light duty hiking, I would rather wear Teva sandals than anything else.

My IOLS training consisted of knots, what to put in a first aid kit, LNT, compass navigation (enough to do an orienteering course), what to pack in a backpack, dutch oven warming, and a demonstration (not hands on) of saw, axe, knife sharpening. I knew all of the above (well learned a little about backpacking, got one or two ideas about packing a first aid kit), and actually got irritated by the dutch oven warming. First, they didn't actually cook anything. All they did was heat up already cooked ground beef, and melt velveeta type cheese. In addition, they used charcoal chimneys, but put matchlite in them, which confused me. Why do both? Charcoal chimneys are so simple and efficient, that there is no need for matchlite. I'd already been an active BSA parent for a year and WDL for 2, so I knew my knots, and the rest of it (the LNT trainer was the SM of our troop, so I had already heard that in detail). Oh, Joebob, the Paul Bunyan Woodsman award is still available. A few of our now aged-out scouts had earned it a few years ago. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/bunya.aspx

Flipflops popularity on flights is primarily due to the TSA, IMHO. I wear easy to don/doff shoes whenever I'm going to be on an airplane.

The main thing is that a scout shouldn't be hurting other scouts. I'm just glad to hear that nobody got hurt. Also, what did the adults who were at the pack event do? I pretty much agree with OGE. No rule other than common sense.

AZmike, Good suggestions. Because too many of us leaders are not knowledgeable in all outdoor areas, there should be classes set up to teach us (and certify us) in new things. There are really two aspects of Boy Scouts in the public eye--the nerdy boy who helps old ladies cross the street, and the super woodsman who can start fires using just two sticks with his eyes closed. We need to capitalize on the second one--the Bear Grylls one. As part of this, I would 1) condense the three required citizenship merit badges into one; 2) replace the two extra ones with two outdoorsby badges--maybe a pick two of Wilderness survival, Backpacking, Canoeing, Pioneering, and Climbing.