Tampa Turtle

Any time is swine time!

The sad thing is after a couple of politically connected (yes, Republican) Supervisors of Elections in my county that botched some elections by incompetence folks even wonder if their votes will get counted. Last Presidential there was a bath of absentees in a sack in a closet uncounted. Whatever happened to a Supervisor being a non-partisan job where you wanted a talented technocrat who wanted to deliver accurate service.

OGE My philosophy is if folks make their own choices than they shouldn't complain. I do not drive a car but the money I save means I can not sweat the family scout bills. I walk (and in the summer it is rough)3 miles a day but think I rather enjoy camping with my boys more. But I do not complain to everyone about how hard it is. On the other hands my boys will not be going to Jambo. They are saving my money and theirs for a trip to the UK next Summer. We all weigh our choices. Just stick with them. But yeah I don't get some folks. I do my own lawn, fix my own house, will give large appliance or car repair a shot and I am a freak in my own neighborhood. My neighbors, some of home are in bankruptcy, buy all these services they could at least try to do themselves. Heck, some of them have kids and hire nanny's and they still let the nanny's take care of the kids after they get home to hang out with the neighbors.

Yeah I have that DVD set with the two movies. They got a terrorist attack in it and everything. Penelope is pretty cool...

One Cubmaster I had encouraged Den yells...and we had 12 dens. So they would listen carefully during announcements since they were encouraged to loudly do their yells when the patrol was mentioned.

Or the bacon-wrapped sausage-filled burgers.

I read an article that while prices will go up because of corn mostly it was a well done PR release by a Brit Trade Group. And "Bacon" in the UK is what we call "Canadian Bacon". Our "Bacon" is their "Streaky Bacon". So I think there will be bacon but all Pig will cost more.

Ahh...My last Webelos Den/Patrol was Thunderbirds. They used "Thunderbird are Go!" but I had to bring the DVD's. Now they know what "Supermarionation" is.

EagleDad's comments are very good. I have seen some Cubmasters speak really really low.That also worked.

"Romney has said he would prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions." How? With the cooperation of the anti-healthcare reform House? Why it's anti-free market. As an individual with pre-existing conditions who would likely die without coverage I am not willing to take that chance. And my child would be denied as well...

As a Democrat I was much happier with Clinton than Obama. Clinton was a far superior politician particular during his lame duck year. I was in DC at that time and it was amazing to watch. I also think that Clinton did more for the little guy than Obama. I was very unhappy with Clinton's "zipper failures" and, at the time, wanted him to resign so we could move on to governing the country. I voted for George W the 2nd time since we were at war but boy have I regretted it. It seems to me Clinton, Obama, and Romney are all pretty bright guys. George W...strikes me as average...I just don't get it. I can never completely throw him under the bus...his speech on the evening of 9-11 was well delivered and struck the right tone. For a brief period he rose to the occasion. I do believe he did the best job he could given his limited abilities in a difficult situation. I am a Democrat who will support a Republican candidate if he is the better man and I think he will do a better job. I will tend to vote Democrat in a toss up. I want pragmatic centrists who will govern and get the job done. However I have seen some good men who are local Republican officials personally hounded by Tea Party types who think they are not extreme enough (I have been in the room and heard the voicemails and seen the emails). I want to be fair to Romney but the Republican Party of 2012 scares me--it does not seem conservative as much as wanting deconstruction of the government by starvation, switching what is left of the safety net to a laissez-faire "good luck to ya--I got mine" environment, and is selectively fiscally responsible. Also seems to be more than a little tolerant of folks who are bigoted. It has really forced me to harden my position and vote AGAINST all Republican candidates for State and National office as much as FOR the Democratic alternative. The Republican party seems kinda dogma-crazy like the Democrats were in the 70's. I only bring this up not to, obviously, convince anyone but to express the impressions that a persuadable Democrat in a swing area of a swing state with 29 electoral votes is feeling. And I am sure there are other folks like me.

I believe it is a Cardiologist Conspiracy. I am sure Pfizer Pharma will head this off in time.

I have a good friend who is Persian (never Iranian) and he is a very warm and rich with hospitality. We have also had long talks into the night in which he and I acknowledged that, yeah, in the right circumstances we could be shooting at each other--nothing personal. Quite up front about it.

Boy oh boy. I know we all want to bring 'em all back safe and sound when it doesn't happen for someone we all can feel their pain. Awful. Whitepine, ditto the help. You just never know. I will give an example: My sons' brand new assistant principal at their middle school suddenly died after only 3 weeks on the job. No one really knew him other than seeing him watching the halls between classes. Very little interaction with him. Most of the kids did not seemed fazed --I mean they really didn't know the guy. Maybe a little sad but that as that. But my older rough and tough son kept bringing it up and was bothered by the sudden loss of a father-type figure; the reality of death shook him up. (Guy felt bad with the flu on Wed, Pneumonia by Thursday, Hospitalized on Friday, Died on Saturday). So he needed someone to talk him through it. So it is really hard to predict...furthermore unless any of us know the complete family history of each and every boy you never know how this kind of thing might "trigger" a response. Sometimes if a boy has lost a sibling or parent in the last few things an event like this can churn things up. I agree reaching out to the other Troop is a good opportunity. Your boys and theirs crossed paths that day--you are already connected...

In my experience: (1) Sports as they get a older. (2) Craft and school activities that turn off boys who thought it would be mini-Boy Scouts. They leave and while they might have liked Boy Scouts they usually don't give scouting another try. (3) Time. As Elementary school starts to ramp up demands toward the end of Elementary school homework and after-school activities make it harder for parents to juggle demands. (4) Burn out. The kids who starts as the enthusiastic Tiger starts to burn out half way through the Webelos journey.

Politics aside all 4 guys running seem: (1) Do be pretty nice guys at a personal level. (2) Seem to be pretty good family men. No kinda Messy Reagan Family dynamics. (3) Have nice families. No Billy Carters. (4) Seem to exercise. So I guess that is a step forward.

For me the biggest issue with Romney is the poor campaign and foreign policy gaffes. It does not inspire me for him as Presidential material. It is not like he didn't have a favorable economic scenario to unseat an incumbent, campaign money, and time to build an organization from top to bottom. I was talking to some of my friends who are in the political consulting business and they state that in central Florida they are having a hard time keeping the locals out here. It is a much different feel for the two Bush races.

We had a highlander games day at our Medieval themed Cub Scout Camp and the boys were thrilled by seeing kilted men doing the hammer throw, caber toss, etc.

Mr Boyce ken takawy ere kilts but 'e kent takawy our freedom!!

I come from a political family where we debated at the dinner table every night. I always watch the conventions and it reminds me of growing up. So I am weird that way. Tampa, being at one end of the I-4 corridor is the key swing area of Florida. (South Florida swings democrat and north republican). So we see a lot of action. West Tampa was visited twice in a week. President Obama was here for his 3rd stop in 2 weeks. All within 1 mile of my house. In fact just last night I was stopped at a light on a Walmart-DEET run for the weekend Troop campout. I had to wait 10 minutes and I saw Obama's motorcade whiz through. For a split second I saw him through the window. It was pretty exciting. In previous years I have seen Clinton in person, twice. (Met him many years ago) and both Bushes. A "decoy" motorcade once turned the corner one house down from me. All exciting stuff. But Trevorum might be on to something. I have not seen many yard signs yet or many bumper stickers. Of the bumper stickers maybe 2 to 1 for Obama. More Romney signs than Obama but most came during the convention here. The yard signs (both parties) this time seem to be plastic stretched over a wire frame--pretty cheap looking. This time I have been bombarded almost every night by polling and fake polling. As a white 5o male I usually get a lot of republican literature but none this time. But the Obama social media and phone reach out is relentless--at least for me. I am not being asked to just contribute or support but urged to get actively involved (throw a party, join a rally, do a bake sale). So my impression is that the Democrat campaign seem better organized; especially at the local level.

PJ, Hang in there. All of us who loving scouting have periods where the rest of our life (school, kids, health, employment)makes us less involved than we would like. Stay connected and you can come back. I had to work for about 1/2 tuition. (The other 1/2 from life insurance money--"blood money" from when my brother died). I think it made me a more serious student--I hated wasting money on fluff classes, etc. But it was easier then--school was a lot cheaper and part-time jobs more plentiful. So I do not envy you.

Though it is sad, whenever we talk about the "3 R's" requirement (Recognize, Resist, Report) I go into: Recognize-Yes it can be a scout adult like me. Sometimes a family member. Resist-I make them practice screaming for help. Some kids (I was) are pretty shy. I tell them IF something happens (and it probably won't)this not the time to wait for permission. Report-Tell a trusted adult right away. It will be hard and might make you unpopular for a while. I know I felt very uncomfortable talking to my own son's. Yet I was molested by a trusted stranger (my couch) and my dad, the alter boy, buggered by his favorite priest. (One of those death bed confession things, and explains why he was an atheist--kinda disillusioning, that.) In any case similar things to YPT would have helped. I understand some folks fear of false accusation. That happened to me as a young professor but YPT would have protected me there. Luckily my squeaky clean reputation kept me out of trouble from that troubled girl but I learned no one-on-one the hard way. I was wondering how do UK Scouts and other youth organizations handle this?

I see more and more of this in the Tampa area who provide MB classes at Musuems, etc. It is usually classified as "education" but typically seems more like a revenue stream.

I am dyslexic. I thought it said "The Bear was beheaded". Never mind. Congrats.

Other night first adult at Troop meeting. About 12 (of 60) boys already there. Without me saying anything they start pulling out the Patrol tables, setting up chairs, getting the flags, etc. New SM (not really into bot-led) wanders in, looks at me, sees it getting done and says "OK, maybe there is something to boy-led".