NeverAnEagle

Why not? If you have an embroider in the area you can have anything you want on you patch. Now that my little one is in Boy Scouts, his Patrol is the Phoenix. You can't find that at the scout store, but they have blank patches you can take to the embroidery shop.

I understand what you are saying. I think rather than 1 & 2 I might go with Red Wolves & Grey Wolves. This way they can make a Den Flag, etc. and have something visible to relate to instead of just a number. As for competition causing resentment, I disagree with that. I'm of the belief that competition is healthy for growth. (Just my humble opinion) My oldest child was in the "Road Runners" Den. This was because most of the boys had an older brother in they coyotes den. They even had a den cheer, "There are no coyotes here, we chased them all away! We are the Road Runners, get out of our way! Beep, Beep!" My youngest boy was a member of the Vampire Bats den. Their cheer was, "We fly through the night 'til the morning light, Wahahahahah!" I loved having dens use the patrol patches, gave them a sense of unity. It always took one whole den meeting for them to choose a den name and another meeting to come up with a cheer, but they always had a cheer on hand for any cub activities that happened over the 5 years they were cubs.

Jblake: The news letter for the DNC is call "Kicking A$$." One of the major differences between the two parties is a sense of humor.

It's not just the youth; a lot of the adults have been mislead as well. The Sad part is that most adults don't care to check the facts. I have met people who send their kids to private school because they don't like the way the public schools are run. One of the biggest grips about public schools is that the kids aren't allowed to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning. That statement is completely false. Kids in public schools are required to stand quietly while the pledge is recited every morning; they are free to join in if they wish and most do. Just because a kid is not required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance doesn't mean they are prohibited from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I've even invited the jerk to come to any public school in the district with me to watch; yet they won't come.

After years of claiming they want the Government to operate more like a private corporation the Republicans have finally succeeded. During hard times they have shut-down; Employees were laid off. And thanks to the provision that everyone else will have to work without pay government employees who still have jobs now qualify for welfare because their households now live in poverty despite the fact that they are working; just like their counterparts employed at Wal~Mart. Congratulations! I can't imagine many states will be happy about picking up the tab and having to provide the same benefits to government employees that they have been forced to provide to other low-income households that are employed by major corporations. If Major corporations actually paid taxes, the government might have the money to keep their doors open, but why expect a corporation to contribute to society? And now that the Republicans have gotten their wish of government acting like a corporation there is no reason for the government to act responsibly and contribute to society either. ​http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf

NJCubScouter: Could be a local deal for the Courts. Maybe limited funding from fee's etc. are why the clerks are working, but the lawyers aren't? In the Pacific Northwest the Bonneville Power Administration managed to have carry over funds from last year and are using those to keep their employees on the job, at least for a little while. Other agencies are not so lucky. I was still in college when the shut-down happened under Clinton, so I can't offer any comparisons.

There have always been people willing to go around a gate. I don't mind if you go on foot, but around here there are places where there are "roads" around the gate made by 4 wheelers and sometimes expanded enough to get a truck around. If you are planning a trip behind a gated area please be considerate, go on foot, and don't leave a path big enough for motorized vehicles to pass.

I've always figured Jesus's birth should be celebrated on April 15th, since that is Tax Day and Joseph & Mary were traveling to pay their taxes! Historically and Agriculturally the date of May 20th makes a lot of sense. The shepherds were in the field watching their flocks by night, which would mean warm weather. If it were the dead of winter the flocks would be held in the fold. Ewe's lamb in March/April so that would place the date in the spring, rather than summer or fall. The Greek holiday of Saturnalia was held from December 17 through December 23. It was a festival of light leading to the winter solstice. Later Roman Empire moved the "Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun," to December 25. Because being closer to the equator were not able to accurately time the solstice until the sun began to return. Northern Religions of the Celts and Germans place Yule (birth of the Sun) on December 21st because their astronomers were better able to predict the sun's final decent.

Non-essential means no one will die if I don't show up. Timber sales on National Forest land have stopped; if you asked a mill owner he'd say the guy who authorizes the sale is essential, yet no one dies if the foresters don't go to work, hence they are not working right now. Ironically the USDA labeled food inspectors non-essential, so don't eat any eggs or spinach as there is no one to watch for Salmonella or ecoli. I guess they are letting the private health care sector worry about the "you might die" bit.

BD: Exactly what kind of leadership is a boy demonstrating when he willfully disobeys city ordnances? There are only 32,000 people in the entire county, maybe 12,000 in town. Everyone knew about what was happening with the school. When the school wanted to expand from 1st thru 6th to PreK thru 8th all the surrounding neighbors were up in arms because there was no parking and they were tired of being blocked in their driveways every morning and afternoon and things got really crazy when there were school events. A condition of expanding the building was that they put in a parking lot. The parking lot was put in, but they tore out the sidewalk in the process, then fenced it off so cars couldn't actually park there. (They put in 2 sets of basketball nets though.) City ordinances require a sidewalk along the street for all buildings. The legal case was in the paper almost daily because the neighbors were threatening to file suit if the city didn't. The School untimely lost the issue of the sidewalk because you have to follow the ordinance, but won on the parking lot because the condition was that they install a parking lot, which they did. There was no condition that the parking lot had to be accessible to cars. There should be someone to read the proposal and make sure that the kids are following the local laws. When my kid was working on his project all that fell to me. I was the one to tell him he needed to attend city council meetings, library board meetings, and planning and zoning meetings; Kids don't think of those things on their own.

The court system continues to operate because they receive funding in the form of fines and fees, which have no bearing on whether or not the government is operating. The same is true of the Postal Service (money comes in from stamps, etc.). If the agency has outside funding they are able continuing to operate.

Our Council does not allow parents to share sleeping quarters with Scouts. I worked as camp Staff one year and was told that my boys couldn't share the cabin I was assigned, they had to set up a tent next to the cabin so I could keep an eye on them.

A few things I don't understand; A) Mom is on her 3rd marriage; has 2 kids from hubby #1, 1 kid from hubby #2, and is 8 months pregnant by Hubby #3 (They have been married a whopping 3 months.) The new Dad is on his second marriage; he also has 2 kids from wife #1, but has 1 kid from the mistress that resulted in the divorce from wife #1, and the current woman is expecting, per above. This couple gets to share a tent because BSA has decided that married=morally good??? B) Mom and Dad have been together for 20 years and have produced four beautiful offspring. They have never had any other relationships, affairs, etc. They have chosen not to get married and often joke that they have been living in sin so long that Satan has given them their own zip code. This couple can not share a tent because BSA has decided not married = not moral??? C) Jake and Dan are not married because it's not legal in their state, but they have been together for 15 years; 11 years ago the adopted their son Jimmy. This couple, while not married can share a tent because they are the same gender????

Ironically, the word Pagan as used by the Romans meant people who worshiped outside, rather than in the temples. I laugh every Easter when Christian get up very early to attend a Sun Rise Service somewhere out of doors; nothing like a Pagan Ceremony to start the day!

NJCub: If you are deemed "unessential" you do not work AND you do not get paid. I work for the Department of Commerce, we aren't essential, so no work=no pay. My Mom works for the Corp of Engineers, their non-essential employees were sent home this morning (resource rangers, environment quality people, tour guides, etc); the guys how actually run the dam are working and so are security personnel, but they are not getting paid. Right now there are no provisions for them to receive back pay. Congress would have to pass legislation that would authorize them to receive pay for work performed during the government shut-down, and congress it's likely to be passing anything. The only people I know of who will continue to receive pay are Congress themselves.

Well, as a Federal Employee, I'm not getting my salary! It's hitting us hard. It's rural here and with the Forest Service, USDA, and Corp of Engineers shut down there are a lot of people out of work in town today.

The Eagle Project in question was in the right of way along a city street. The local Catholic School tore out the sidewalk when putting in a new parking lot and fence around the playground. The City told them that the sidewalk had to be replaced. The Catholic School refused to replace the sidewalk because they didn't want public school kids (public school two blocks away) walking on the same side of the street as the Catholic School kids. While the city and the school were engaged in a legal battle a kid from the Catholic troop planted rose bushes where the sidewalk was supposed to be. When the city ultimately won, the roses were pulled out and the sidewalk put back in. This was not the first time an Eagle project was used to deliberately go against city and county ordinances.

I'd be interested to see how you do overnight cooking. That just sounds like fun. (I'd be afraid that everything would end up over cooked or dry out.)

"I guess some people have stated frustration with them packing up Saturday night. This does seem small minded.. With most of our District camporees nothing happens on Sunday anyway." Sunday is when the mandatory religious service is. The only way to avoid it is to leave Saturday night on the pretense of attending service with your CO. We escape Saturday night with the Mormons just to avoid the Church service on Sunday.

Are you Jewish? I've only met one Jewish Scout in my life-time. He offered to pray at a Summer Camp and had to endure taunts of "Hats Off!" because he was wearing that special cap they have. It was the opinion of the surrounding Scouters that he should not be allowed to pray i he wouldn't show the "proper respect" by taking off his hat. I'm betting he never went back to that camp. Glad to hear you found somewhere that will work with your unit.

If they ran the government we wouldn't be in debt, LOL! Heck, we'd have enough surplus to last for three years!

The magic underwear is refereed to as their "garments" which are more like a shorts set. The men's shorts come down to the knee and have an undershirt that goes with them. (No Idea what the ladies wear.) I do know that they are never to be taken off and that after marriage each spouse is allowed to open the seams in the crotch area to allow for intercourse. The truly devout don't even take them off to bathe. We have LDS haters here too. You find hating where you find people unwilling to learn about each others religions; fear spawns hate.

"It's not part of my job to question the beliefs of others and act as an 'enforcer' for BSA." But would you act as an advocate for the child? BSA has a long history of not following rules, or applying them inappropriately. We do a disservice to the boys when we allow BSA to run rough-shod over their beliefs.

Absolutely not! As you can see from some the post here he's not a "real christian" so he shouldn't be welcomed in to the troop period. (Sarcasm intended) Of if we do accept him he should be forced to reject his beliefs and do as all the others do because it makes the "good Christians" feel uncomfortable to know that there are others out there with differing beliefs who might possibly want to be treated with respect. (gasp!)

My son did not have an eagle coach or eagle advisor. We saw them mentioned in the stack of paperwork he had to fill out, but it was a PIA just to track down the person who is supposed to sing off so he can start, let alone try to find anyone else. The man who signed the OK for my son's project didn't even read the proposal. I've always wondered how a boy could earn his eagle by completing a project that the city didn't want, didn't approve, and ultimately removed; now I understand exactly how that happens; there isn't anyone to actually help the lads!