scoutingagain

The Volvo Ocean Race stops in Boston the next two weeks and apparently the World Organzation of Scouting is an associated organization. The race is an around-the-world sailing race on 70' high performance sailboats. This race is a decendent of the first Whitbread Around-the-World race back in 2000. On the schedule of events, Saturday May 9 is shown as Scouts Day. Units in the area might want to check it out. (Note: Times & Dates shown on the Website are continental style, i.e. the day comes before the month.) See the websites below for additional info. Check out the video on the first one for real, "high adventure". This should definately be of interest to SeaScouts. http://www.volvooceanraceatfanpierboston.com/ and http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ports/boston/ Saturday 09/05/2009 09:00 - 00:00 Scouts Day: it's the Scouts Day at the Race Village with a day full of activities 09:00 - 17:00 In-Port Race of the Volvo Ocean Race. Where the power and performance of the Volvo Open 70 can be seen up close and personal SA

I don't know for sure, but I highly suspect the average BSA Council's financial picture is about as clear as your average Wall Street Hedge Fund. I agree, a bit more financial transparency might help with donations, depending on what was seen through the looking glass. SA

We did something similar to Sheldonsmom for the religious letter. We are not exactly a well known quantity at our church. Doesn't mean there is no faith there but the Pastor wouldn't have known my son from a hole in the wall. I wrote the religious letter and my wife wrote the letter from a parent. In CA's case I would have either written a letter as the SM or Parent, and had either an ASM or the other parent write the other. I know it's 20/20 hindsight. I purpose of the hoop and the process I think is largely symbolic. Among other things it prepares a scout for college applications, job applications etc. in the future. The process also teaches the scout to read and follow directions. While it may seem petty(and it is) it teaches the scout how to deal with bureaucracies, be they college administrators, the military or the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. SA

Congradulations. Being asked to provide a reference letter means the candidate thinks highly of your opinion of him. FWIW our council has a form letter that can be filled in with instructions. I believe its specific to our council but it will give you an idea of the kind of information they're looking for. Go to http://www.oldcolonycouncil.org/ and click on the link to Documents and Forms. SA

"It's bad for some of my friends who recently bought homes for so-called 'fair market value', only to be upside down in less than a year." Unfortunately true, but at the same time I know folks who have bought homes in the last several months who never could have dreamed of home ownership at the previous inflated prices without mortgaging their financial futures...and they were disciplined enough not to do so not matter how much money the banks were willing to throw at them. Given home prices and current interest rates,(and the tax credit) homes are more affordable now than they have been for quite a while and their seems to be some evidence that homes are selling...just not at the inflated prices folks believed they were worth. But as noted such is the American way. Personally I'd prefer the government stay out of the housing market, tax credits, mortgage interest deductions etc. These types of subsidies improperly influence markets. Among other things this lead to the McMansionization of the housing market and relaxed lending criteria,(eagerly supported by banks, the financial services industry, their lobbyists and politicians of all stripes). SA

HICO has it pretty much correct. Except for the Bush thing. I don't think Bush had any more fiscal discipline than any other politician, even less. But he is correct. Your 401(k) is not real money until you sell it for cash. At any given point the assets in the account are worth so much on the market, but don't confuse that with real money. If you havn't cashed in your 401(K) you havn't lost any money...yet. For now it's all "paper" losses. SA

"I predict that the BSA will try to avoid the issue as long as possible. Gradually change to some sort of local control and too finally succumb when there is little risk. " I agree, but I think they'll stop at local control and do it with as little fanfare as possible. That's pretty much where they are with women as leaders and overall that seems to be accepted. Somewhere some CO will announce that it has a gay leader and national won't do anything about it and they'll eventually remove some text from the website. Financially, it think it will be a wash. Sure some parts of the country will suffer reduced FOS donations. But those of us in other parts of the country have already taken a hit from United Way will get some of that back. And the Cradle of Liberty Council can get it's building back. SA

The unit I serve is also sponsored by the UMC. Gern's response would be mine. We would like to have a stronger relationship with the Church, but the IH has changed 3 times in the last 5 years and each time we start the relationship from scratch. They provide us a place to meet and store our equipment. We occaisionally do service projects for the Church but other than that there is little interaction. Our finances our run by the troop and there is no oversight or audits by the Church. Also, only one scout family out of about 20 - 25 are members of the Church. SA

"I contend that the main reason that UAW was so intractable about serious concessions (they did sacrifice lesser paid new hires), was that they knew that the Dems in congress would bail them out. " Well that might be true of members of congress, Dem and Republican who have significant populations dependant on the auto industry. But as Beavah noted, Obama seems to be the one politician with enough chutzpah to stand firm and either have them come up with a workable plan or force them into Chapt 11. that will void those union contracts, and put bond holders at risk. Chapt. 11 is where GM should have been back in Nov. had Bush not given away $12 Billion just to push the problem down the line to the next administration. Heck GM has a current market cap of less than $1.5 Billion, the US taxpayer owns them 5X. We will never see that $$ back. And last I looked card check is going nowhere, in spite of the fear mongering of talk radio. I agree with Beavah. Same should be done with AIG and the Banks that need to the $$. Govt. should back the FDIC so deposits are insured and lend $$ to a reorganized Bank or company to work itself out of Chapt. 11. AIG has a current market cap of less than $3 Billion. The US Taxpayer has given them approx. $188 Billion. More money we will never see again. And don't talk about Obama and the Democrats. This was all done under the Bush Corporate Welfare Program. As Beavah noted. Obama's just stuck cleaning up the mess. I don't agree with every thing he's doing, but give him credit for trying to do something. SA

mdsummer, I won't go into any additional advice. You've received plenty of good advice and seem to be following it. I just want to add some words of encouragement. Based on what you've told us, if your son follows the appeals process, I am quite confident he will prevail at some point based on what little I know of the process. I am aware of two appeals from our district that were eventually approved at the national level and involved issues far more serious than what your've described. SA

The Federal Government nor Obama ever asked to be put into a position of having so much involvement with the private sector. Remember it was the banks and auto companies that came hat in hand(via private jet) to the government for help. They got just enought to survive to get to this point. Now those that begged for help are shocked that the government might have certain expectations on how it's money will be used. It was the private sector that put themselves in this situation. It certainly wasn't a scheme of the current administration. Is this level of government involvment in the private economy good? Certainly not, but don't come looking for taxpayer dollars and not expect some strings attached. I havn't heard Obama has making suggestions on who should run Ford. Why is that? SA

"Earlier today, I sat at a redlight and noticed a young panhandler with his iconic cardbard sign." See this kid doesn't get it. If he had been wearing a suit and had previously squandered billions of dollars of other people's money the government would wire tranfer to him billions of dollars and he wouldn't need to ask for cash. SA

"Other countries might be researching WMDs? Should we invade them. " We'll apparently the previous administration thought so. OGE, I seriously doubt Saddam wanted to snooker Bush into believing he had WMD or was pursuing WMD. He knew that would be the end of his regime. I agree Bush, truly believed the intelligence he was presented. But, he was snookered by members of his own administration. SA

It doesn't matter if it's considered a character flaw or a sign of character. The BSA has chosen to allign itself with one end of the political spectrum on one or two specific issues. It is no longer percieved by the general public to be politically neutral. SA

I don't know why the meeting was closed to the press. Maybe for polical reasons, maybe to protect the youth involved in the meeting from wingnuts on the left or some reason I can't imagine. Either way I find personally disturbing that on the eve of scouting's 100th anniversary in this country a meeting of scouts with the President of the US, no matter who he or she is, has become so controversial. SA

Well to quote Woody Allen. Can I do it until I need glasses? SA

"scoutingagain, I refer you to the 1994 Republican Revolution. The AWB was a major reason for the revolt. Clinton admitted it himself. You may not be aware of the importance of the issue, based on your state of residence. " Well that may true. I admit I don't know many Assault Weapon owners who aren't worried about their job or home who voted for Obama or even generally vote Democratic who would likely change their vote if the government banned them. SA

"personal responsibility, .... personal accountability" OK so who's responsible and who's accountable. Seems like so many have made major mistakes, (Banks, Auto companies, Unions, Consumers, Insurers, Government, Voters, etc.) if we let them all take the hit they deserve we all go down with them. So we have no choice but to help out as best and intelligently as we can. But that's where the debate begins. What to do, for who, and who to leave out. Tough job, glad it's not mine. SA

The stimlus bill isn't perfect and to say there are no "earmarks" or pork in it is a bit disengenuous to say the least. I think it was a mistake for Obama to flat out say the bill had no earmarks. But I think he was faced with getting something out the door that was 90% right quickly versus qwibbling about a small percentage of the spending that really didn't meet even his criteria for what should be included and delaying passage of some kind of stimulus bill that on the whole most main stream economists said was needed. He made a judgement call based on the info he had. That's what leaders do. We'll see if it was right or not down the road. Based on the whining I'm reading from both the left and the right, seems to me, Obama trying as best he can to plow a pragmatic middle ground, based on what he thinks is right for the country. I support that effort even though I don't agree with everything he's doing. Anyone who believes anyone who voted for Obama in the last election is going to change their vote next time around based on an Assualt Weapons ban is living in a dream world. The Republicans, if they are going to get back into the game, are going to have to come up with something other than gun control, gay marriage, etc. while people are worried about loosing the livelyhood, home and retirement. They could talk about fiscal restraint and responsiblity but based on their performance the last 8 years they have no credabilty on economic or fiscal policy either. I hope Obama succeeds. I can't afford to lose my job, just to be able to say, see he failed. SA

There is absolutely nothing wrong or against any advancement policy that I'm aware of, of having a youth member teach a skill or content of any merit badge inside or outside of a summer camp environment. However the youth member cannot act in the capacity of a MBC, which is to confirm the candidate has met the MB requirements to his/her satifaction. For a scout to earn a MB, an adult MBC, should be involved in the process. They certainly can be aided by a youth member with appropriate skill/knowledge in the "teaching" process. SA

We used to give all the items you noted at the cross over ceremony. Now we give the handbood at the first troop meeting the boy attends. We provide all the rest, provided the boy complete an application and pays a troop resgistration fee. This covers the cost of the items noted. The registration fee is waved the following year at re-charter time if the boy is still active in the troop. Essentially we have them pre-pay for their registration for the following year. If they're active, they get registered. If they're not, the fee pays for the neckerchief and shoulder loops. SA

Sounds like a neat idea. As Barry noted, two deep adult leadership is for an outing. These are events or activities within an outing. The two deep leadership requirement doesn't apply. You still need to avoid one on one contact between adults and youth though. In that sense, I could see having one adult at a station actually creating a YP challenge. If there are two other youth present and for one reason or another one of them had to leave. The lone adult could not be left with a lone scout and could not hike back with one youth. You are more likely to stay in compliance with YP requirements leaving the adults behind in a central area with the youth in communication as suggested. SA

Yes, they refused to prosecute. They did not refuse to investigate. They did investigate and came to the conclusion there was no fraud to prosecute. Or would you rather have Federal Prosecutors prosecute citizens simpley because the President or his cronies believe they should be? SA

I'm highly skeptical of such a report. I know in our council there was an effort to have national revoke an Eagle award presented to a young man who later was convicted of sex related crimes with younger boys. The request was denied. His name was removed from a plaque listing Eagle scouts at the unit's CO, but his was done locally and his membership was revoked. So know I am not aware of any rescinded Eagle awards, but I admit I don't go looking for that information either, I just happen to be aware of the one case described above. SA

Currently still working, but like others living with the uncertainty of what's down the road. 401K took a big hit but not as bad as some. Have two boys in college. Will definately be able to get the first through, he finishes next year. The Freshman will be OK as long as I have a job. If not he may need transfer or take some time off to earn his way through or be prepared to pay off big college loans. He plans to teach and there are programs and scholarship help for those planning teaching careers especially in science or math. So we're not as bad off as some, but are feeling the pinch. Doing our best to limit expenses and pay off debt. So far my industry, Heavy engineering & const. seems to be holding it's own. There are projects out there, the big concern is will those that are in the pipeline be able to keep financing that's already been negotiated. The industry is practically panting for infrastruture $$. Industrial investment also seems to be holding up, but some projects are being slowed down. Seems like some folks believe there is an end to the tunnel, just don't know how long or dark it is. Biggest concern is a sibling who has been out of work for the better part of the year. She has two boys and is the primary bread winner. She was in the financial services business and is paying the price for being employed in an industry that imploded. She needs a break or the rest of us in the family may have to help out once unemployment runs out. That will hurt, but we won't let her lose the house or medical insurance. SA