President Obama Running Wild with Bear Grylls in Alaska

[RememberSchiff]

Could be; Grylls was all in favor of admitting atheists in the UK, and that almost certainly helped in bringing the change:

 

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/286003/Bear-Grylls-wants-Scouts-to-be-open-to-the-non-religious

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/08/bear-grylls-keeping-the-faith-in-scouting-4139068/

 

Merlyn, thanks that second article is worth reading and discussing. Wouldn't that be something if the President said to Grylls, "Heh, Bob (Gates) worked for me awhile ago. Lets get him on a conference call and talk. We can grab some salmon with our teeth later."  

[NJCubScouter]

Merlyn, thanks that second article is worth reading and discussing.

Yes, that was a good one. I especially liked these parts of what Grylls said:

 

Young people need the time and space to develop their own thoughts and beliefs and need as much support as possible. In Scouting we can provide this.

 

...

 

In Scouting we celebrate broad mindedness. We want young people to ask questions, to challenge the status quo, to live up to their own potential and be true to themselves.

In other words, Scouting can still lean on the side of faith and belief, and promote those values, without kicking out kids who are still trying to figure out what they believe.

[Eagledad]

Yes, that was a good one. I especially liked these parts of what Grylls said:

 

 

In other words, Scouting can still lean on the side of faith and belief, and promote those values, without kicking out kids who are still trying to figure out what they believe.

Please NJ, give me a list of these kids that were kicked out. Shesh, talk about revisionist history. As much as you want to paint the BSA as this bad program, it was one of the most inclusive organizations for kids. Ironically less kids today will participate than during the bad years you like to impress on everyone.

 

Barry

[walk in the woods]

Come on; anything President Obama does has to be with an agenda.  If he says God bless you after someone sneezes, he is somehow being hypocritical or worse.  If he shows simple courtesy to the wrong person, he is somehow licking their boots or some other negative comment.  Even the least imaginable positive thing he does, somehow is construed as negative by large groups of poorly educated loudmouths, usually in foul and strident terms.

 

Of course I may be exaggerating a tiny bit; but not as much as I wish.  I truly am embarrassed by the image too many represent to the world community.  It is one thing to disagree and dislike; quite another to denigrate with rudeness, crass comments, and familial put downs.  It is simply sad.

Do a quick google search on Olbermann and George W. Bush then tell me this is anything new.

[blw2]

I just like to see the BSA's chief scout get out of the office and his pressed uniform & go do some running and rappelling with Bear.....

 

I think some of that kind of publicity would do a lot for BSA.

[NJCubScouter]

Please NJ, give me a list of these kids that were kicked out.

I do not have a list. Maybe Merlyn has a list. But this isn't really about individual names. Are you denying that the BSA's current policy is that belief in a higher power is required in order to be a member?

 

As much as you want to paint the BSA as this bad program, it was one of the most inclusive organizations for kids.

I have never "painted" the BSA as a "bad program." I have never believed it is a "bad program." If I did I would not be involved with it. I have criticized certain actions and policies, and at times I have criticized the National leadership, but I have never said it is a "bad program." I like the BSA. My family has a 77-year history with the BSA. If I didn't feel so close to it, I would not care what it does.

 

Ironically less kids today will participate than during the bad years you like to impress on everyone.

I hope not. I think it remains to be seen. As I have said, my prediction is that if the BSA (mostly meaning the volunteers on the unit/CO/district/council levels) want to make the new policy work, it will work, and the BSA will be strengthened. If people don't want to make it work, it won't work, and the BSA will suffer.

[JoeBob]

 It is one thing to disagree and dislike; quite another to denigrate with rudeness, crass comments, and familial put downs.  It is simply sad.

You do realize that this describes Obama as much as anyone else?

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Please NJ, give me a list of these kids that were kicked out. Shesh, talk about revisionist history. As much as you want to paint the BSA as this bad program, it was one of the most inclusive organizations for kids. Ironically less kids today will participate than during the bad years you like to impress on everyone.

 

I will.

Claude Taylor (1973)

Paul Trout (1985; reinstated after public outcry)

Mark Welsh (1991; refused membership)

William and Michael Randall (1991; readmitted during legal suit)

 

"it was one of the most inclusive organizations for kids"

 

No, most organizations for kids were more inclusive, by simply not excluding some kids on the basis of religion.

[mashmaster]

I just like to see the BSA's chief scout get out of the office and his pressed uniform & go do some running and rappelling with Bear.....

 

I think some of that kind of publicity would do a lot for BSA.

I totally agree with this.  I also think they should take some scouts with them too.  Make a scouting survival or educational tv show would be great unlike the are you tougher than a boy scout with sucked.

 

I am sure people will hate on Obama for this and others will like it.  It is all political, I get so tired of hearing the "Your guys sucks and is evil, our guy is great and is being picked on."

[CalicoPenn]

Anytime a President does a trip like this, it's part of the President's agenda.  Most of the time, they're fairly open about what that agenda is - we know, in this case, that it's part of President Obama's climate change initiatives.  President Bush had an agenda with his Mission Accomplished visit. 

 

It's also true that how you view the visit is going to be affected by your political leanings and whether you like the President or not.  Sometimes, though - it's tone deafness that people remember, or some gaffe along the way.  Bush's Mission Accomplished outing seemed to even his supporters to be tone deaf given the amount of American's still on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time - and the flight suit was a bit of a Dukakis Tank moment - yes, Bush was a pilot in the military but he would have been better served if he just wore casual clothing with a jacket from the ship with his name on it.  That his staff allowed a photo of the President gazing down on New Orleans in a flyby in Air Force One on his way to a birthday party, is a pretty big gaffe. 

 

Even when Presidents make "spur of the moment" decisions to visit the scenes of natural or manmade disasters all feeds into the Presidential Agenda - in most cases, its to show that the President cares, understands and that something will get done.  President Bush's "Independence Day" moment, standing atop some 911 rubble with a bullhorn in hand is a masterful Presidential image.  Another on par with Bush's best moment would have to be President Carter touring the site and building of our biggest nuclear accident in the US at Three Mile Island which served to calm down a country that were in as much fear over the possibility of more nuclear accidents as we were of more terrorist attacks after 911.  For thos unfamiliar with why that accident was so nerve wracking, the Three Mile Island accident happened on March 28, 1979 - just 12 days after one of the top movies of 1979, The China Syndrome, about a nuclear plant meltdown was released.  Bush's cowboy image was just what was needed on the pile of rubble, and Carter's nuclear experience was just what was needed in that reactor.  Bill Clinton and Al Gore working side by side clearing hurricane debris is another of those great images (and yes, the "other" side roundly raspberried it as just a photo op).  All of these feeds into a Presidential Agenda. 

[Sentinel947]

Anytime a President does a trip like this, it's part of the President's agenda.  Most of the time, they're fairly open about what that agenda is - we know, in this case, that it's part of President Obama's climate change initiatives.  President Bush had an agenda with his Mission Accomplished visit. 

 

It's also true that how you view the visit is going to be affected by your political leanings and whether you like the President or not.  Sometimes, though - it's tone deafness that people remember, or some gaffe along the way.  Bush's Mission Accomplished outing seemed to even his supporters to be tone deaf given the amount of American's still on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time - and the flight suit was a bit of a Dukakis Tank moment - yes, Bush was a pilot in the military but he would have been better served if he just wore casual clothing with a jacket from the ship with his name on it.  That his staff allowed a photo of the President gazing down on New Orleans in a flyby in Air Force One on his way to a birthday party, is a pretty big gaffe. 

 

Even when Presidents make "spur of the moment" decisions to visit the scenes of natural or manmade disasters all feeds into the Presidential Agenda - in most cases, its to show that the President cares, understands and that something will get done.  President Bush's "Independence Day" moment, standing atop some 911 rubble with a bullhorn in hand is a masterful Presidential image.  Another on par with Bush's best moment would have to be President Carter touring the site and building of our biggest nuclear accident in the US at Three Mile Island which served to calm down a country that were in as much fear over the possibility of more nuclear accidents as we were of more terrorist attacks after 911.  For thos unfamiliar with why that accident was so nerve wracking, the Three Mile Island accident happened on March 28, 1979 - just 12 days after one of the top movies of 1979, The China Syndrome, about a nuclear plant meltdown was released.  Bush's cowboy image was just what was needed on the pile of rubble, and Carter's nuclear experience was just what was needed in that reactor.  Bill Clinton and Al Gore working side by side clearing hurricane debris is another of those great images (and yes, the "other" side roundly raspberried it as just a photo op).  All of these feeds into a Presidential Agenda. 

The Mission Accomplished banner was never authorized by the President. He never said the mission was complete in the speech he gave. 

http://csis.org/blog/bush-never-said-%E2%80%9Cmission-accomplished%E2%80%9D

 

 

[walk in the woods]

And carter looked like a nub wearing the yellow booties in the control room when nobody else donned them. I worked in Navy and commercial nuke power for 10 years and never observed such a thing.

[Horizon]

And carter looked like a nub wearing the yellow booties in the control room when nobody else donned them. I worked in Navy and commercial nuke power for 10 years and never observed such a thing.

 

Carter went into the Chalk River reactor after its accident as a young Naval officer - I'll give him a pass on that one. 

[RememberSchiff]

If I may...I keep googling for news of Obama, Bear Grylls, Alaska, boy scouts but nothing.

 

It would be cool if some local scouts loaned the President a Scout Handbook - electronic or otherwise. I know, wait for the episode to air as maybe good surprises await.

 

Maybe the President will show scouts how to make a fire with a Blackberry.

[desertrat77]

Maybe the President will show scouts how to make a fire with a Blackberry.

 

True, and Hillary created a firestorm with her Blackberry.