Trevorum

Here's the link to the NPR article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5018670 Summarizing, the Economic Research Service of the USDA conducted a survey in 2004 which indicates that 87% of Americans are considered "food secure". "They don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from." The remaining 13% can't be sure they'll have enough money for food. That's 38 million Americans. The working poor. About a third of that group at times goes without eating. Thirty percent of Americans have faced a trade-off between food and medicine or medical care. It's sobering.

Acco, 20 years next August. Often it's not the message itself that needs to be changed, it just needs some context ,,,

Merlyn said "Of COURSE lying isn't always wrong - insert the standard "nazis ask you about Anne Frank's location while she's hiding in your attic" question here." I disagree. I think lying is ALWAYS wrong. Sometimes however, one must choose between two evils. In Merlyn's example, lying is clearly the lesser wrong. This may be seen as splitting hairs, but I think it's an important principle: LYING IS ALWAYS WRONG.

Fred, I heard the same piece - that's where the 13% number comes from. Which reminds me - I need to mail in my NPR pledge!

Here in the sleepy little hamlet where I live, parents would love to see their kid take part in a Christmas play. I assume you mean a Christmas play that is sponsored by a religious organization, not a publically funded one. I, for one, am glad that religious pageants are no longer sponsored by publically funded schools. The majority faith always enjoyed them to be sure, but those of us in the minority were always aware of the religious message. Some didn't mind, but many did and just didn't say anything so as not to create bad feelings towards their kids in the school. Like other parents, I too enjoy school sponsored pageants just as long as they don't promote one religion.

Hey, this is Thanksgiving week! How many of you fellows know what you're going to have for dinner this Thursday? Turkey? Stuffing? Cranberries? Pumpkin Pie. Mmmm-mm! Makes me hungry just thinking about all those good things! I went to the grocery this last weekend and you should have seen all the folks buying turkeys! Almost everyone had a turkey in their basket. And there were some big ones too! Yes, we all know what we're going to have for dinner on Thursday. Well, most of us ... a lot of us, anyway ... 87% of us to be exact. True fact; Government statistic. 87% of Americans know where their next meal is coming from. That's almost everybody. That's pretty good, I guess. Unless of course you happen to be in the 13% who don't know where their next meal is coming from. 13% doesn't seem like much, but in a country as big as ours, do you know how many people that is? That works out to be 38 million people. 38 million Americans who don't know where their next meal is coming from, much less what they might eat on Thanksgiving. A lot of those people live right here in our town. So, what are YOU going to do about that?

I agree with LisaBob (us BobWhites covey well). I think that an individual Scout could probably use BSA images to fundraise. For example, I've seen letters soliciting donations for Eagle projects that use the Scout emblem (although I admit this point may be debated). However, it's pretty clear that a private company may not profit through the use of BSA images or copyrighted material. That's why TV commercials with faux 'Scouts' (remember the recent Midas spot?) always use non-official uniforms and emblems.

I think Terry (or his programmers) are trying to improve service - I've notice a few tweaks in the software recently. I now get a 'patience is a virtue' refresh message, asking me to wait for X seconds as the request is processed. Also, the number of times a thread has been read seems to be always set at zero now. I'll bet that counter was taking up CPU time and was determined to be unbecessary.

If I read you correctly, you are proposing to allow each Scout to create an online replica of his merit badge sash, post it to his personal website, and modify it as appropriate. This is an interesting idea. I've seen websites of individual scouts that essentially do this, along with other awards and honors they may have earned (OA, PORs, etc.) Sort of like a visual resume. As long as you aren't profiting in any way from use of the images, I don't see why not. Although I think you might want to run your idea past BSA legal to make sure.

What kind of service projects does your troop do? Our troop is always looking for fresh ideas that will be both helpful and fun. We like to do 1-2 hr service projects on campouts where possible. These always make the Park Ranger or camp owner very happy. Tell us about a service project your troop has done recently!

Congratulations to your new Eagles! (and to their parents and their Scoutmasters, and their COs, and ...!) It sounds like your district schedules EBoRs differently than does ours. I've never seen more than one at a time. How often are these multiple-candidate EBoRs held?

Are you familiar with Patch-L? There are 700-800 collectors on that list and some of them may be looking for precisely the items you have. You can't make an offer to buy or sell directly on the list, but you can post your URL and ask if anyone is interested to contact you offline.

Semper, your latin handle reminds me of an email name I almost used - CarpePerDiem .

Wie gehts! Wir haben jetzt eine Transatlantic Council Scouter bei uns!

kajm, welcome to our forum! Nice collection! If you want to sell your items, your best bet is probably eBay. Thousands of Scouting items sell each day.

Because it's fun!

Welcome to the forums! No need at all to apologize about your screen name - some of our best friends are moms!!

Welcome Andi! Pull up a log and join the campfire!

re: summer camp - I remember as a boy, one summer we went Camp Chawanakee and camped in covered wagons! That was cool.

I agree with Ed (this is getting to be a pattern) The count starts as soon as a boy joins the troop (cub camping does not count nor the family's trip to Yosemite in 1st Grade). However, the gray area is: Does camping with his family (or another group) while a Boy Scout also count, or must it be with the troop? We opt for the former (as long as it is tent camping) under the theory that the objective is to get the boy outdoors.

Hurricanes. Floods. Tornadoes, Ice storms. Earthquakes. Fires. A recent SM minute on being prepared (shared here in the SM Minutes forum) got our CC and me to start talking about family preparedness. Are our families ready for the unexpected? Do we have flashlights and a crescent wrench at the ready? Are we ready to cook for our family with no power? We decided to create a program for the troop called Operation Preparedness. Some of it will be education, but the highlight of the month-long program will be a weekend in which each family (voluntarily, of course) simulates a disaster. At 6pm on Friday the main breaker to the house is thrown. The family can turn it back on whenever they want, but the goal will be noon on Sunday. The family will know this "disaster" is coming of course, and can arrange not to have lots of frozen foods on hand. But the advance planning (how will we cook meals? what will we do without lights?) will help families get prepared in case a real sitution occurs. We would welcome other ideas you may have to work into our program that would help our Scouts learn about being prepared.

I had aged out before the red beret - and was I ever glad! A beret may look sharp on a steely eyed soldier, but they just looked fruity on Boy Scouts. I'm glad that part of the 1970s French fashion re-design of the uniform evaporated. Plus, the beret provided no (or very minimal) shade. That's the whole point of a hat!! (especially here in Texas) Our unit wears khaki ball caps embroidered with our troop logo; personally, I'd vote for a wide brim crushable fedora (like Indiana Jones) but the boys like the ball caps.

Strangely, I find myself in agreement with Rooster here (hey, it happens!). On the one hand, I strongly feel that in this instance our President should have gone on record as denouncing torture. On the other hand, I do not believe in moral absolutes and I can easily construct thought experiments - as did Rooster - in which one must choose between two immoralities. To take it to an extreme, let's say that Zaphrod Beeblebrox will destroy the entire Earth unless you commit an act which you find repugnant - say, murdering an infant. I have no doubt in that bizarre case what I would do - and I'd just have to live with the guilt for the rest of my life. In that case, one immoral act is outweighed by another of far larger magnitude. However, and as I said above, I have no clue where the line is - tens? thousands? millions? In a similar case, Truman chose to use WMD against tens of thousands of innocent civilians to save perhaps hundreds of thousands of Americans. That decision is still debated, but I think he made the moral, but agonizing, choice.

In our unit, we trained Scouters implicitly encourage this myth (or at least we don't actively deny it) just to have a rock-solid reason to insist on full field uniform while traveling; kids won't argue with mysterious "insurance" requirements. (Of course if a driver ever had an incident on the road, we would make sure that they knew of BSA full coverage.)

And Hunt, don't forget the bright red beret! I saw these for the first time last night - one of the SAs was wearing them. Khaki, but still u.g.l.y.