Master Index of Archived Threads


The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

MFS62 Jul 25 2017 02:16 PM

I heard this morning that the POTUS is the honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America. Many years ago, an ex-Eagle scout described the organization to me as "A group of kids dressed up like schmucks, led by a bunch of schmucks dressed up like kids." How appropriate that Trump is their leader. And, Trump was incorrect. Obama did address the Jamboree in a videotaped message a few years ago on the organization's 100th Anniversary. Later

d'Kong76 Jul 25 2017 04:16 PM Re: Politics in 2017

MFS62 wrote: Many years ago, an ex-Eagle scout described the organization to me as "A group of kids dressed up like schmucks, led by a bunch of schmucks dressed up like kids." Ya know, fuck him and fuck that. I was a Cub Scout, a Webelo, and a Boy Scout. Our scoutmaster was the best fucking man on the planet in the 70's who gave up his vacation time to cart us up to Camp Reed every summer. I was lucky enough go on a cross-country trip to Philmont in New Mexico be- cause of the Boy Scouts (again with a guy who did the trip every year with his vacation time) with a West Point affiliated troop. That schmuck dressed up like a kid also gave up probably ten weekends a year and piled us into his van and took us camping in Fahnstock, Catskills, Adirondacks. The man was a fucking saint and then he died young from a brain tumor. Fuck that too. It is regrettable that BSA took the stance it did on a hot social topic and I can understand how people feel about that. But to make fun of an entire organization based on that and trying to get a couple of giggles about what one disgruntled ex-scout said has (obviously) struck a nerve with me. Sooner

Edgy MD Jul 25 2017 04:23 PM Re: Politics in 2017

[fimg=300:1mgapleu]http://www.goldenspread.org/Images/BoyScouts.jpg[/fimg:1mgapleu]

cooby Jul 25 2017 06:01 PM Re: Politics in 2017

Of all the Boy Scout camporees my husband and brother have told me about, it's a good possibility the boys here were um, "under the weather"

d'Kong76 Jul 25 2017 11:59 PM Re: Politics in 2017

cooby wrote: Of all the Boy Scout camporees my husband and brother have told me about, it's a good possibility the boys here were um, "under the weather" I don't follow what that means. Maybe we should split into a BSA and Catholics thread lol...

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 26 2017 12:37 AM Re: Politics in 2017

If you wanted pot in my high school, you went to the Boy Scouts, at least the one troop. I got nothing against them.

Fman99 Jul 26 2017 01:57 AM Re: Politics in 2017

I was a Cub Scout (age 8-11) and had a very positive experience at that, my mom was a Den Mother for one year and my father the Cubmaster. It was all fun and good times, Pinewood Derbies, Jamborees, things like that. I was a Boy Scout from age 11 until I started high school. I had a fairly negative experience with it, for a variety of reasons I won't go into. The Scoutmaster was the dad of one of my best friends as a kid, and was and is a great guy (though he was also stoned at nearly all times). My experiences as a Boy Scout has led me to not allow my son to participate in scouts, despite the fact that my daughter is a girl scout. Ultimately, there's too much unsupervised time for boys, and I don't trust the environment enough to put my son into it without my direct supervision, and I do not have interest in participating with other kids.

41Forever Jul 26 2017 02:58 AM Re: Politics in 2017

I was a Cub Scout and Webelo and, briefly, a Boy Scout. First attempt at politics was winning the designation of "Denner" at our first meeting. Had a bad ass Pinewood Derby car shaped like the Batmobile for the first year and got serious the second year and had a built-for-speed wedge that came in second overall! Two things led to my leaving the Boy Scouts after the first year. First, you had to go to some stranger's house to get tested for merit badges, and I wanted no part of that. Then, and this is dating myself, I was the only kid in the class unable to watch "Happy Days" because it fell on scout night. Yes, this was before VCRs and DVRs. And if you missed the show, you were an outsider. The Fonz killed my scouting career.

d'Kong76 Jul 26 2017 03:31 AM Re: Politics in 2017

Tenderfoot

Lefty Specialist Jul 26 2017 11:50 AM Re: Politics in 2017

Was a Cub Scout and Mom was the Den Mother. Mostly a positive experience. Boy Scouts was a different matter. The Scoutmaster was a drill sergeant and everybody hated him. He decimated the troop in the first year he was there, and I was one of the ones who fell away. My dad heard me complaining and said I should stick it out, but he sneaked into the back of a meeting once after he dropped me off. I later heard him tell my mom when he thought I didn't hear, "The guy's an asshole. He should drop out." The next meeting was my last. Speaking of assholes, the Republicans are still trying to give a tax cut to the rich by taking health care from the poor and middle class. I wish my Dad could give them a talking-to.

41Forever Jul 26 2017 12:16 PM Re: Politics in 2017

d'Kong76 wrote: Tenderfoot Unquestionably. We went camping just once, and it was sleeping on the floor of some lodge at a Girl Scout camp out in Suffolk County. My idea of roughing it these days is staying at a Hampton Inn that doesn't have a waffle maker. Shudder.

Edgy MD Jul 26 2017 12:20 PM The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics) II

That's the thing about Scouts. The troops are little fiefdoms. Oversite is tenuous, from parents who are just happy to get their teenage kids out of the house. You need a guy that's got plenty of time on his hands and that could be a saint like Kase had, a dork (like I had), a martinet asshole, or something worse. He gets other dads to help him supervise the camping trips, but from week to week, his lieutenants are frequently the older teenage scouts, who can be manipulated into going along with whatever regime he wants to install. For the Cubs, the pack leader's power and authority are offset by the den mothers who are engaged and keep things in line. The standards from Cub pack to pack are a lot more level than from Scout troop to troop.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 26 2017 12:21 PM Re: Politics in 2017

I bailed as a Tenderfoot myself. At the time I got out of Webelos the established BSA troop in my town was too large so I was placed in a "new" troop that I assume was less funded and was definitely a LOT less cool than the established troop, where my friends learned how to smoke and deal pot, but also did much better camping trips and events, etc. I went to one 2 week summer camp with my troop at Baiting Hollow (the cool troop went to Barton). My troop was mostly geeks, nice guys and all, but geeks. We had one tough kid, and everyone would sort of line up behind him when he would make empty threats to beat up other troops. The other personality was a fat kid who I found out died a couple years ago. He was all about masterbating to Carly Simon album covers. Good times! I'm engaging a Scoutmaster I know on FB now about how weak an "official statement" the BSA made on that fucking debacle. It needn't be "taking sides" to denounce a speaker who attacks the first amendment and a former president in front of kids. Shame on them for allowing themselves to be smeared with Trump's shit and take it.

Ceetar Jul 26 2017 01:33 PM Re: Politics in 2017

Maybe something like this exists already, or maybe I should start one..but what about 'Boy Scouts' but instead of camping in the village green, it's science? like STEM Scouts. All that fun cheesy sciency stuff that you get to do like for 20 minutes in science class between tests and curriculum. Building balloon cars, programming a Raspberry Pi, rockets, etc. Yes, trumpy would be fired by an average HR dept at an average company, it's particularly galling that he has any power to push these evil and hateful agendas.

Vic Sage Jul 26 2017 02:11 PM Re: Politics in 2017

i request a spinoff BSA thread, where we can regale each other with tales from the campfire!

d'Kong76 Jul 26 2017 06:27 PM The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics) III

Vic Sage wrote: i request a spinoff BSA thread, where we can regale each other with tales from the campfire! I second that request!

Edgy MD Jul 27 2017 02:30 AM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Did my best to surgically split off scout talk. Some posts were of mixed content so feel free to repost scouting content I was unable to excise. Be prepared.

d'Kong76 Jul 27 2017 02:50 AM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

You can't ride in my little red wagon, the front wheel's busted and the axel's draggin' Second verse, same as the first. A little bit louder and a little bit worse!

Lefty Specialist Jul 27 2017 12:21 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

My only camping experience with the Boy Scouts, I was subjected to the infamous Snipe Hunt. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I was not pleased at the reveal.

d'Kong76 Jul 27 2017 02:54 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

We used to send rookies out for a 'left-handed smoke shifter' hunt.

Benjamin Grimm Jul 27 2017 03:16 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

When my son was Cub Scout age, his elementary school had an assembly that provided the Scouts a forum for recruiting. He and one of his friends seemed interested for a moment, but he didn't persist and I was glad, because of their ban on athiests. I didn't like the idea of him pretending to be religious in order to join an organization that would have otherwise excluded him. We discussed the Scouts in 2005: Boy Scouts of America It's a good thing we have such easily searchable archives! Finding this took no effort at all!

Lefty Specialist Jul 27 2017 03:26 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

My son had the opportunity to join Cub Scouts when he was 8, but none of his friends were interested and neither was he. We didn't push it and that was that.

d'Kong76 Jul 27 2017 04:09 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Nice find, Ben! I was thinking about Mr. T (our scoutmaster) a lot yesterday. A couple of winters we went back up to Camp Reed for a weekend. Played hockey on the lake and went cross-country skiing. It was cool. We bunked in the mess hall so we had access to a giant commercialesque kitchen. Living large haha. We had a younger kid in our troop named Larry who had emotional issues. If you pushed Larry's buttons a little too much he would snap and go into a tantrum. Boys being boys, it seemed every outing someone would make sport of the situation and send Larry into one of his outbursts. One time on one of those winter weekends I crossed Mr. T's line with Larry and he told me to cut the crap. I gave him some punk- ass response about no one stuck up for me when I was bbbyyy. He whipped his pipe out of his mouth (remember pipes?) got all bug-eyed and in my face and said, "horse- shit, do you want me to remind everyone how many times I pulled your rear-end out of the fire or do you want to zip it and start acting your age?" I of course zipped it and never picked on Larry again. For the most part, no one did. The man was a natural leader. He made all of us better people. We just didn't know it at the time.

Mets Willets Point Jul 27 2017 05:11 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

When my son was Cub Scout age, his elementary school had an assembly that provided the Scouts a forum for recruiting. He and one of his friends seemed interested for a moment, but he didn't persist and I was glad, because of their ban on athiests. I didn't like the idea of him pretending to be religious in order to join an organization that would have otherwise excluded him. We discussed the Scouts in 2005: Boy Scouts of America It's a good thing we have such easily searchable archives! Finding this took no effort at all! Still don't know the punchline to the marshmallow roasting joke.

Edgy MD Jul 27 2017 05:11 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I just wasn't engaged enough with scouts. Our scoutmaster was a good guy but he was a total dork and we all knew it. Sort of lonely toupeed guy who was committed to civic engagement — scoutmaster, volunteer fireman, parade committee. Every community needs these guys but he never really got kids' respect. And lacking self-motivation, I kind of needed mentoring to matriculate. I hung around for a while and got to go on a trip or two, but I earned my merit badges haphazardly based on my interest of the moment, and never actually gaining a rank after two years. (Not even Tenderfoot.) When I dropped out, I imagine my absence was no more noticed than my presence. Our troop was affiliated with a temple, so the guys who went to Hebrew School there felt a little more ownership, I reckon. But the thing is, by senior year, when most folks hard forsaken scouting a few years earlier as hopelessly nerdy (or "gay," God help us), the few who stuck with it started outing themselves by asking classmates to participate in their Eagle projects. While I suspect most of these guys were from the other (presumably stronger) troop across town, almost to the last, they were standup, decent guys, who didn't belong to a clique, but comfortably moved among the social silos, and could be depended on if you were in a spot. My friend Tom was one of them. Tom had a great party our senior year. (We all wore 60s clothes and rocked.) Eagle Scout though he was, Tom was no stick in the mud. But there was a conspiracy afoot at the party. Our friend Dave was on the verge of becoming sexually active, and apart from being among the first of the crowd to cross that sweet and sinful line, it was remarkable because Dave was generally a malicious little asshole, who usually smelled pretty foul, and all of us liked his girlfriend and were a little miffed that she chose him. We (rightly) suspected that the deflowering was going down at this party, and the plan (malicious and assholish in itself) was to burst in on them and get a photo. Tom got wind of it and suddenly summoned this grown-up countenance that nobody had seen before, corralled the conspirators out on his porch, told us in no uncertain terms that no guests be so humiliated at his home, and filled us with a new type of shame that had the whole Miller Lite-drunk bunch of teens apologizing profusely. Tom died of lung cancer last year. (He smoked like a fiend even back in high school.) At his funeral in Connecticut, and later online, folks I knew and didn't know shared memories, and a lot of them were of parties where here took the opportunity to recognize the socially awkward person and make them feel comfortable, sporting events where he spent time with the sport's novice to help them with their skills and give them some confidence. He was cool as shit, but he always found the awkward outsider in a situation and reached out to them, always stood up to bullies, even if they were his friends pulling a stupid prank. It turned out he had never stopped being a scout. And he literally never had. The church was half filled with boys in khaki uniforms, and it became clear that he had become a scoutmaster, teaching kids carpentry and fishing and shit on his own time. With 10 million fatherless families out there, scouts like Tom have never been so needed.

dinosaur jesus Jul 27 2017 08:53 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I was in Webelos for a year. All I remember is the pinewood derby. We didn't have the proper woodworking tools, so all I could do was sand down the edges a bit. It didn't go well. It didn't go at all, actually. The kid who won carved his block into a damn rabbit. At my elementary school there was a poster showing all the things you could do with your Boy Scout neckerchief. The best was that if you didn't have a bathing suit, you could tie two neckerchiefs together. Of course, that meant someone else would have to lend you his. I can't see him wanting it back after that. And what was he supposed to wear?

Chad Ochoseis Jul 27 2017 09:19 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Apparently, there are plenty of guys who become Scoutmasters because they have a genuine dedication to improving the lives of kids and becoming a role model for those kids who may not have one in their home lives. Then there are the ones who are insecure third-rate losers in their adult lives and cover up their inner emptiness by lording it over 8-14 year old boys. I had the latter as a Cub Scout and Webelo. A guy whose hobbies, apparently, were yelling "CUT THE CRAP", fining us, and yelling at his kid whenever he called him "Dad" at the meetings rather than "Cubmaster". Mostly, we met at the old YMHA building on Nostrand and W in Sheepshead Bay and made vinegar and baking soda volcanoes to learn about science. Occasionally, we'd do some cool stuff like going up to Lake Tiorati or the Scout camp in Alpine. Once, we had a weekend down in DC and got to see the Smithsonian and the Washington Monument. Fortunately, President Nixon didn't address our group. Generally, the kids in the pack were nice kids. There was one asshole bully named Adam. Big guy, used to beat up on all the little pudgy unathletic kids (yeah, that was me). Adam grew up, got rich selling mattresses, went into business with Jack Abramoff, developed some mob connections, and ultimately wound up getting to relive his Scout camp days, courtesy of the federal government.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 27 2017 10:12 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Great stories of Scouts in Action!

RealityChuck Jul 27 2017 11:26 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I was a cub scout for four years. Never earned a badge (well, evidently the Bobcat badge, which you get pretty much for just showing up). Only two things were memorable: 1. We went to a cub scout meeting the day JFK was shot. I remember someone coming to say, "they arrested someone" 2. The Pinewood Derby. I got second place. Or, rather, my father did, since he built the car.

Vic Sage Aug 01 2017 07:34 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics) Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 01 2017 08:17 PM

my family had a lot of scouting in its blood. Dad was a troop leader (troop 678 in Coney Island), then became head of the Explorers post, taking the older kids on trips. Mom was a den mother. My oldest brother was an eagle scout. My middle brother made it to 2nd class before bailing. Me? I was the black sheep (scouting wise) and quit while still a Tenderfoot. I would have quit sooner if my dad would've let me. He eventually relented. I remember Cub Scouts; my mom was our den-mother and we had meetings in our basement. My dog went crazy whenever he saw anybody at our door wearing a uniform (delivery guy, mailman, repair man, etc), so when all these 10-12 year old boys in little blue-and-gold uniforms started ringing our doorbell, it was like a dinner bell for him. He'd go nuts. That was always my favorite part of the meetings... seeing the terrified looks on the faces of those boys as they had to slip past my vicious mutt to sneak downstairs for the meeting. Otherwise, it was mostly arts-and-crafts kind of stuff, as i recall, and uniforms and handbooks and kerchiefs... oh and the oath. Can't forget the oath. Then, i was a Webelo for a year, earning a bunch of buckles (their equivalent to merit badges). We went on a trip to Shea Stadium to see a Mets game and, on the way home, I got separated from the pack and got lost on the train platform. A cop took me to stadium security and my dad picked me up. I think he had a few choice words for the Webelo troop leader. So I graduated to the Boy Scouts, to my dad's troop, 678. By that time, a new troop had been started in my neighborhood ("Let `em all go to hell, except Troop 256!"), and most of my friends went to that one. I was stuck in 678 because dad. He wasn't a troop leader by that time; he'd taken over the Explorer troop, but he would take me to the meetings... I hated those meetings. After line-up and inspection (i hated wearing those stupid uniforms), and the giving out of merit badges (which i didn't have any interest in earning), or making some sort of presentation about community activities (which absolutely no one gave a shit about), there were stupid sweaty games like dodge ball or "grab the hat", or whatever, where the athletic kids could humiliate the nerds (guess which I was!). Worse were the hikes and Jamborees. Those weekends at Camp Pouch, Camp Alpine, others, were the stuff of nightmares. Long hikes through forests, over hills, carrying packs. Bad food, half cooked, eaten out of kits; shitting in disgusting outhouses (if we were lucky), bug bites, poison ivy, blisters, scavenging for wood, oppressive heat or cold... I fucking hated it. And the worst... setting up pup tents and sleeping on the rocky, damp ground. One time it rained and the entire campsite became a mudpit. I was miserable. So the troop-leader takes a vote on the 2nd day to see if we should go home or stick it out. Finally! A way out! I was outvoted like a million to 1. What the fuck was wrong with those kids, i wondered. Had they no homes to go to, with dry beds and warm blankets? ["are there no prisons? are there no workhouses?"]. I did have one but was being kept from it against my will. My last hike was in the dead of winter, in the snow, to a cabin on a hill. There are some nights i still can't feel my pinky toes because of that trip. I failed the test for my "Knife & Axe" merit badge for the third time that weekend because i couldn't feel my fingers, so i kept dropping the axe. After that, i quit. My dad had the troop-master come over to try and talk me into staying but i was having none of it. He was talking about the wonders of nature, and i explained that nature is what humans created civilization to keep us safe from. So my dad gave up and just started taking me with him on his trips with the explorer post, which was great. No uniforms, or marching, inspection, hiking, etc. Instead, we'd just go skiing, or horseback riding, take buses and stay in hotels, and I'd be like their mascot. I loved that, but it wasn't really "scouting" per se. Ah scouting. such memories. And all of them bad.

d'Kong76 Aug 01 2017 08:12 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Big Ralph/KC SIM Score hits historical low. Details at 11.

batmagadanleadoff Aug 01 2017 09:00 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I am so totally with Vic on this one. ["Bad food, half cooked, eaten out of kits; shitting in disgusting outhouses (if we were lucky), bug bites, poison ivy, blisters, scavenging for wood, oppressive heat or cold..., What the fuck was wrong with those kids[?]] Exactly! What the fuck was wrong with those kids -- sez two landlocked city kids growing up in Brooklyn. If I was at Woodstock '69, I probably woulda spent the whole weekend secretly wanting to go home already what with all of the freaking rain and mud and nothing good to eat. Actually, before I had it all figured out, I signed up for the Cub Scouts. I was about seven or eight years old, and there was a lottery to join the Cub Scouts because, apparently, there were more applicants then there were openings. They didn't use the word "lottery" back then and I was too young to have figured out to express the sign up process in lottery terms, but that's what it was -- a lottery. You put your name on a list and if you were lucky, you'd get to be a Cub Scout. So long story short: I got in, but my friend, who signed up with me, didn't. So I decided not to join the Cub Scouts because my friend didn't get in. End of story. But I really dug that yellow Cub Scout tie with the ring clasp. The only other Scout memory I have is later on in High School, where there was this really superdorky student who obviously remained a scout and climbed the ranks and frequently wore his latest scout uniform to school, which was by then, some shade of brown or tan instead of the cub scout blue. And he had lotsa patches on his uni. What I remember most is the abuse and torture and bullying he'd be subjected to on account of him wearing his scout gear to school.

Vic Sage Aug 01 2017 09:39 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

...sez two landlocked city kids growing up in Brooklyn. Landlocked? I grew up on the beach, dude!

batmagadanleadoff Aug 01 2017 10:25 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Vic Sage wrote: ...sez two landlocked city kids growing up in Brooklyn. Landlocked? I grew up on the beach, dude! Yeah, I know. I was channeling Woody Allen, who jokingly refers to his childhood as landlocked, even though he was as landlocked as you were.

cooby Aug 04 2017 07:10 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I love this thread

cooby Aug 04 2017 07:12 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I love this thread

metirish Aug 04 2017 07:43 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Lorcan has been in the Cub Scouts through his school St. Theresa, just finished Webelos, to be honest it is nothing more than an arts and crafts class....but he likes it so

Edgy MD Aug 04 2017 09:00 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

I was a much better Cub Scout than a Boy Scout. And since Cubs is largely run by mothers, the pack totally had their act together better than the troop. And my pinewood derby car was gorgeous.

d'Kong76 Aug 08 2017 04:17 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)

Looking for something else I found my scout stuff in a box. Hard to fathom just how long ago 1976 is...

d'Kong76 Aug 08 2017 05:05 PM Re: The Boy Scouts and YOU (SPLIT from Politics)