RememberSchiff

We have not used to JTE for years. Of it's faults, IMO the most glaring was the SPL signature is not required as scouts are out of the loop. No doubt TAHAWK could do this, but to his point, a group of SPL's from scout-run troops should draft the replacement metrics. My $0.02

They sort of work like Scout Bucks, you accumulate them here but you can't spend them outside of this forum.

Meanwhile scoutingmagazine.org reports the renewal the National Park Service/BSA agreement. http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/12/21/bsa-renews-alliance-national-park-service/ To summarize, same old same old - the NPS will continue to do with the BSA what it does with everyone else and the BSA will advertise the agreement. That said, IMO a deeper examination of the resources and needs of both the NPS and BSA should be done. - The NPS "Scout Ranger Resource Stewardship" is geared towards grade school youth; they need not be scouts. And that seems fine for that age group. Here the BSA should approach NPS, "we have this Hornaday Award and this merit badge and... that might be just the thing to incorporate with your NPS Youth Conservation Corps for teens. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/youthprograms/ycc.htm - Why not allow NPS Rangers to sign-off on related environmental/citizenship merit badges? They have had federal background checks. Save them from the becoming a MBC song and dance. The BSA should do this with other professions - medical, teachers, Fire/EMT, police that have the knowledge and existing background checks in place. KISS and get the community more involved in Scouting. - Entrance fees. Scouts working with NPS, should get the Educational Fee Waiver instead of the Non-Commercial Group Fee. - Realize NPS internships are mostly for undergrad and grad students. Hopefully the incoming Secretary of Interior, an Eagle Scout, will help step up the NPS/BSA relationship. Another $0.02,

TripAdvisor ranks the National Scout Museum #2 of 31 things to do in Irving https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g56032-d264982-Reviews-National_Scouting_Museum-Irving_Texas.html

One cannot rate his own posts,hence no up/down arrows appear as you view your own post.

I dunno, I am not sure there is enough room for half of the IT consultants.

I can appreciate there are greater concerns than this topic. I had similar concerns about Nixon in '72.

As OP, my intent was not to find faults of our Presidents, but to discuss our relationship possibilities (Spock again?) with the incoming Trump Administration. With the number of Eagle Scouts in his potential Cabinet, I am hopeful for positive change.

The method of invitation may need some reconsideration. Consider Setting the Record Straight Presidential Visits to the BSA National Jamboree "Of the 18 National Jamborees that have occurred (not counting the cancelled 1935 National Jamboree and combining both 1973 locations into one event), a sitting President of the United States of America has only attended 7 times. That’s only about 39% of the time." Interesting information in that link. - The first National Jamboree was to occur in 1935 but was canceled due to a polio outbreak. FDR attended the rescheduled first National Jamboree in 1937. - Before elected President, General Eisenhower attended the 1950 Jamboree as a speaker. He only attended one while President. - Nixon attended two Jamborees as VP but none as President. - The most/least Jamborees occurring during a Presidency: Eisenhower (3), Kennedy and Ford (0) - Longest consecutive streak of unattended Jamborees by a sitting President: 5 (1969-1985) - While serving as President, Obama, Carter, and Reagan never attended a Jamboree. The only sitting Cabinet member to attend, that I found, was Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Does the BSA intend to sell the Irving museum property or covert it to more office space. perhaps an IT center?

Does National wait until the National Annual meeting in May to name a new Honorary President? IMO during Scout Week in February with abundant social media attention, National should dispatch select groups of scouts with invitations to Jambo, etc. Whoever we want - the President, Cabinet members, famous Eagles, etc. invite them during Scout Week. We might even get a Scout display in the Trump Tower lobby. Another $0.02,

The times we live in. I was impressed with FBI Director James Comey politeness and professionalism during heated hearings and interviews - his "Boy Scout image*" as some media called it. Maybe that should be a new public role for Scouting - help restore civility in the US. IMO much harder than other scouting roles: helping Smokey, disaster relief, physical fitness, STEM, even leadership. I agree we need to get scouting back in schools. *To my knowledge, James Comey was not a scout.

Back on topic. My predictions/hopes: - There will be more in-person appearances at scout fundraisers and events to our benefit. Some may argue that it will be political self-serving by the new administration, but IMO it would be an improvement over past administrations ignoring scouting due to perceived political correctness. - We could use a better working service relationship with the US Park Service maybe centered on a modified Hornaday Award. Work for free access? My $0.02,

Good catch.

So change It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members. to It is the policy of the Boy Scouts of America that the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances is not permitted at any activity involving participation of youth members. The BSA should follow its own policy.

Yes Boy's Life counts. I appreciate the courteous camera angle. Gumbymaster, you win a rubber chicken dinner.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence spoke at the 21st annual Governor's Luncheon for Scouting to say farewell as Indiana Governor. He said he had been a Cub Scout but that Scouting impacted him much more as a father. "To see the confidence in my son Michael grew as he wore that uniform when he went out and went out with his troop. And I saw his character grow. It was a very important part of his life and I'm proud to say he wears a different uniform today as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and the values he learned in scouting are the same values he lives out today." This fundraiser event raises more than a million dollars each year for Scouting. http://www.wave3.com/story/34034329/vice-president-elect-mike-pence-speaks-at-boy-scouts-fundraiser

As part of Good Turn for America, there was this 2008 "legal" agreement between the BSA and National Park Service. I cannot recall that it had any program impact in my council. As I recall the problem with the Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger program was park admission/membership. It was just less hassle and cheaper to camp at a state park or scout camp. Maybe Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke could revisit. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/membership/pdf/MOUNPSSigned.pdf https://www.nps.gov/tapr/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Resource-Stewardship-Scout-Ranger-Brochure.pdf

I had an art teacher who told me "Bad art needs explanation, good art does not." It is very hard to explain this bad art. IMO, NJCubScouter did it best - creepy. Regarding the nudity and its inappropriateness in a scouting statue, can you find any official scouting literature or website which pictures this Boy Scout Commemorative Tribute Memorial? Maybe the Scout Handbook? Sculpture MB? Art MB? Citizenship in Nation MB? Guide to Safe Scouting? Scouts paid for this and gave it to US government so the government could sell it as surplus junk. https://www.nps.gov/whho/learn/historyculture/boy-scout-memorial.htm Bad art aside, I am more interested in thoughts about how the Trump Administration will interact with Scouting.

Replacing the adult Honorary President position with a Honorary Chief Senior Patrol Leader of BSA is sounding more and more desirable.

Honorary Chief Senior Patrol Leader of BSA - someone in OA? Teddy Roosevelt I dunno. He considered Seton, a "nature faker" and that controversy then has similarities to Trump and global warming today. I found Gerald Ford's, Scouting Years scanned and available free http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/grf/10-book/10-fsh-200.pdf His son Jack was one of the founders of Outside magazine.

Yes an American artist would be a requirement as there is a recent trend to offshore statues, e.g., the recent Martin Luther King statue. The proportion of the figures is wrong. The work appears to have been started for a different project with a scout added to move the piece out of the shop. The symbolism that you mentioned , IMO could have been done more effectively and accurately (in the context of scouting) with contemporary American figures. Nudity doesn't bother me, but why in a Scouting statue? Poor choice. IMO, it is just poor re-purposed production art - an eyesore and an embarrassment for us, all the more apparent in a city with the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans, Vietnam Veterans Memorial,... well considered in symbolism, history, and form by talented artists. On our one trip to Washington, we skipped it. But that's just my opinion. Do you think a Cabinet member might become Honorary President of the BSA? Do you think this Administration will have a greater interest in Scouting? I might not agree with their politics, but I think there will be a genuine interest in Scouting maybe even a Cabinet fight as to who attends Jambo as opposed to phoning it in (sorry AT&T).

We have heard how many billionaires and generals there are in his tentative Cabinet. But sonuvagun, he has a lot of Eagle Scouts and others with scout backgrounds. I am skeptical that Trump will have much interest in scouts beyond a photo op (sound familiar). But if the Honorary President was extended to him, I could see him defer the honor to the Secretary of Interior and what scout would not want to meet an Eagle Scout who was a Navy Seal! IMHO, It would be great if Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke ordered the National Park Service to remove the Boy Scout Memorial from Washington and ship it to Irving or recycle. It would be replaced by a new sculpture by an American artist. Make it a competition where every scout gets to vote like the USPS did with the Elvis stamp, put ballots in Boys Life. Maybe people meant well but this just ended all wrong. Disclaimer: I voted but not for either major candidate.

I hope he values the military and scouting.

Donald Trump strikes me as the opposite of an Eagle Scout and here he seemingly has more Eagle Scouts in his Cabinet than any other President including Gerald Ford who was an Eagle Scout. Just seemed ironic to me and maybe only to me.