frankj

I would like to add my two cents, based on experience in our district. Our troop is chartered by the Knights of Columbus, but is not comprised of all Catholic boys and parents. When my son was active we had a Scout join our troop from one of the LDS troops in the town because as his Dad told me there were not enough activities and opportunities for him to advance. This young man completed his Eagle rank in our troop and is now on a mission. His parents were two of the most supportive parents to him and to Scouting in general that I ever ran into. His former troop lost a fine young man and we gained one. This particular troop puts on merit badge factories once in a while. They are the only ones in the district that does this.

A slow day on the issues forum.

Eammon, both parties stink. We can point out bad legislation passed by the party we don't like, ad infinitum. Do you like to "harken back?" Sure, let's do that. How far do we go? I'll see your harkening back to GWB's admin and raise you the Clinton 8 years, then you can raise me Elder Bush's term, and Reagan, then I'll raise you Carter. Little is accomplished -- except maybe it backs up my premise, both parties stink. There are a lot of people who don't like this proposed health bill for various reasons: they don't understand what's in it, it may cut their profits, it may dump them out of a plan they like, they may pay more, they may be FORCED to buy a product they don't want, it goes on and on. Just because this health care bill is teed up, doesn't mean it should be driven down the fairway. If this guy Brown makes it possible for the Republicans to filibuster this thing, in my mind that's a good thing. The Dems were poised to pass something that would have serious consequences. And in what I have read about this, the advantages are outweighed by the disadvantages. Maybe I posted this here before, but I am old enough to recall when George Wallace ran for President and I remember something he said about Congress and the 2 party system: "In terms of legislation passed, there is not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and Republicans." SCOUTINGAGAIN: Thanks for your summary. Coakley was involved on the prosecution side of the Amirault case in Mass when it was under review, after they were in prison. Do you think that had any effect, was it mentioned in the campaign? have people forgotten about it? Thanks.

I'm glad this seems headed toward a happy ending. And NJCubScouter -- a funny and maybe accurate post about which MBs tend to get left to last.

He should stand. He doesn't have to recite the pledge of allegiance, but he should still stand, whatever religion he is, or citizen of whatever country he is. It is a matter of respect, like Eammon said. Does the SPL or someone leading the flag ceremony say "Please stand while we recite the pledge of allegiance."

Don't forget to get one from his dentist. Just kidding. Sounds like what I call a "localized" interpretation of the requirement. I have been on Eagle Boards where there were as few a 3 letters. For others reading this who may have a boy getting close to seeking these letters, I have encouraged boys to provide people with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to make it easy for them to write the letter and mail it.

Yes, the left-handed smoke shifter. I'm glad scoutmaster52 brought it up, I was going to. I am guilty on two counts: 1) being duped into going to get one on my first campout, and 2) sending a new scout to get one on a subsequent campout.

SR540Beaver: I'm not a regular, but I am a long term, occasional visitor. I swooped in here like a seagull checking out a MacDonald's parking lot for French Fries and whoa! ... here was this gang fight in progress! The president bashing just gave me a chance to voice one of my pet concerns. The notion that elections really don't change the Congress that much, because of the careful establishment of district boundaries, something a newpaper editor, friend of mine mentioned to me several years ago. Where are we, page 6 of comments? Pretty soon the bashers will whittle themselves down to just a few gladiators who will eventually exhaust themselves, that's the usual pattern anyway.

Rejoinder to MileHigh: use of term "Bushwacker" disrespectful, but I think someone already called you on that. And when you blame everything on GWB, or when someone else blames everything on Bill Clinton for example, their argument loses steam. Sure, Presidents undertake different initiatives, good and bad, but they only serve 8 years. If we want to look at who is responsible for creating bad policy, and failing to correct bad policy, I say it is not the (relatively) transitory office of the President. Good and bad policy does not start and stop on Inauguration Day. Example: (and this is not a Clinton bash) it is just an example: Clinton signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act which allowed banks to expand into the area of investment banking. (One of the sponsors in the Senate was Phil Gramm, R-TX). This contributed to the current economic crisis. Other examples can be found of legislation, policy, etc., hatched during a past presidency that came home to roost in unexpected ways under a later administration. It is an evolving process -- and who presides over this process more so than ANY one President? Congress, that's who. Everybody should take a look at the tenure of those in the House and Senate and decide whether or not THIS crowd deserves the criticism that is routinely heaped on past and current Presidents.

Your definition of "all spending" being "pork" is different from mine. Government has basic functions they need to spend money on: national defense, a justice system, law enforcement, fire protection, and infrastructure like roads and streets. These are legitimate uses of tax revenue. Spending $500,000 for a dog park in Chula Vista CA, as part of the stimulus, is pork, in my opinion. In your post, you don't distinguish between legitimate spending and wasteful spending -- to you its all pork. And one cannot conclude from your last post that you think pork, (i.e. all spending by your definition) is wasteful. Your view seems simplistic, as if you have concluded that they're going to spend a certain amount of money, and you don't care what they spend it on, and, oh yes, its all GWB's fault. As Eisely said in the first post, "it deserves debate." Any legislation this big, this expensive and put together in this much of a hurry is bound to have flaws and can only be improved by examination and debate.

Link to an article that describes the errors Geithner made. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/59703.html Excerpts from the article: Geithner filed amended tax returns for 2001 and 2002 after Barack Obama nominated him. Earlier he did so for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 after an IRS audit in 2006. He did his own taxes in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Q: Aren't there some other mistakes, too? A: One of the more egregious errors was that Geithner, over three different tax years, claimed that expenses for the summer camps he'd sent his children to qualified for the child and dependent-care tax credit. This credit is for working parents with children younger than 13 who send them to preschool or after-school care. IRS documents and commercially available tax software clearly define what qualifies. "That's one anyone who has kids and has filled out that form knows that it's wrong. That's really odd," said Paul Caron, a prominent tax-law expert and associate dean at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Documents that the Senate Finance Committee released suggest that Geithner also failed to pay a penalty tax for withdrawing money early from a federal retirement account. There's a 10 percent penalty for doing that, and it's advertised up front for tax-deferred retirement accounts. This is as basic as it gets in the world of personal finance. "I don't understand how the 10 percent withdrawal penalty could have fallen through the cracks. That's just a red flag," said Peter Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, a group that lobbies for simplifying the U.S. tax code. > There is no evidence in this article that Obama's team caught these errors, as Beavah claims. It says after he was nominated he amended returns for 2001 and 2002.

We are witness to the importance of the Senate NOT being controlled by 60 or more votes by one party. If the Democrats had a 60+ seats, I am convinced this stimulus package in its original form of 900 billion would have been rammed through. I like the Beav's idea of putting the line item vetoing on prime time. BHO will never do it though, too early to be making enemies among your own party. This stimulus package was outsourced to Pelosi and Reid, who bragged they could get him something to sign within a couple weeks. Well, they did and the package is less about an adrenaline shot to the economy and more about increasing the footprint of the federal government on everyday life. So Blansten, you decry the borrow and spend agenda. So do I. But now, your guy, BHO is about to borrow and spend, right up there with the best of them. BHO, Pelosi, Reid and all the rest are about to do what you accuse GWB of doing, but they're going to do it in spades. But it is OK for your guy to admonish the Senate Republicans to pass a pork laden bill because he was "painted into a corner?" That is weak. http://selfinvestors.com/tradingstocks/news/details-of-economic-stimulus-package-too-much-pork-too-little-stimulus/

Beavah: How do you KNOW this: "False for Geithner, perhaps true for Daschle. Geithner wasn't even aware of da errors until they were caught by Obama's vetting team."

I'll tell you why it is worthy of comment. BHO repeated the "change" mantra over and over during his campaign and we aren't even in a couple of weeks and 3 attempts to appoint people run into the same old problems. Or, are we all supposed to so sophisticated that we really don't expect successful candidates to follow through on what they say? Yes, he is now our President, but there is nothing wrong in expecting him to appoint people who aren't tainted.

She withdrew and this morning the announcement came out that Daschle withdrew.