Halloween (or Hallowe'en), a contraction of All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), is an annual holiday observed on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
Typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)", derived from the Old Irish Samuin meaning "summer's end". Samhain was the first and by far the most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Irish calendar and, falling on the last day of Autumn, it was a time for stock-taking and preparation for the cold winter months ahead. There was also a sense that this was the time of year when the physical and supernatural worlds were closest and magical things could happen. To ward off these spirits, the Irish built huge, symbolically regenerative bonfires and invoked the help of the gods through animal and perhaps even human sacrifice.
Halloween is also thought to have been heavily influenced by the Christian holy days of All Saints' Day (also known as Hallowmas, All Hallows, Hallowtide) and All Souls' Day. Falling on November 1st and 2nd respectively, collectively they were a time for honoring the Saints and praying for the recently departed who had yet to reach heaven. By the end of the 12th century they had become days of holy obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as ringing bells for the souls in purgatory and "souling", the custom of baking bread or soul cakes for "all crysten [christened] souls".
Oh, for zombies:
Or if you're feeling frisky, want that up-close-and-personal experience:
I try to avoid all the day to day hubris and dog & pony show that passes for news. I don't listen to anyone else's opinions. I got enough of my own, thank you.
Of course, it's not good to stay under for too long. Imagine viewing life like this:
While I am gathering my thoughts for another most excellent brilliant post I will open up some windows, nothing wrong with a little fresh air.
This tune tells how I am with music. And with life in general, I guess. I reckon folks that're stuck in a rut didn't do too well on the Stanford-Binet.
And dig this: none of the music I like has the F word in the lyrics. Using a lot of profanity is a sign of arrested development. Maybe not enough oxygen to fuel the synapses.
We can figure it out; we know what the Lefties are doing and what they are gonna do. Knowing that, we could stop them more effectively. Except there ain't no "we". There is no collective opposition to the Left Wing/Socialist movement. Sure, there are a lot of folks upset, disappointed, indignant, outraged even, not at all pleased with the path our government is on - but no organized opposition. Don't mention the Tea Party. What started out as a force, an entity, has come unraveled. The people are OK but the concept has become a joke. Standup comedians with "you know you're a tea party member if ..."
Where are the leaders? The ones that talk sense and are willing to stand up, take the hits if necessary? No focus, no next step, no marching orders, no "to arms, to arms". Nothing. The heroes of the Revolution, they finally committed, took a stand and turned talk into action. You can't get the hay into the barn by standing around talking. And you won't effect political change on the magnitude that is needed by standing around bitching and tweeting and blogging and showing each other how clever you are. "Oh we will do it at the polls" sounds like nothing but hot air.
To paraphrase Yeats, "the center cannot hold".
And we are still standing around, talking. Some of the savvy ones, they are retreating to a place of safety, got the mountain hideout, stash of beans and ammo. Patton said something like "you ain't gonna win any battles crouching in a foxhole".
Here is a guide to what the Left is up to, thanks to Remus at the Woodpile Report:
Rules for Radicals - Tactics of the Left - Saul Alinsky
Rule 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.
Rule 2: Never go outside the experience of your people.
Rule 3: Whenever possible, go outside the experience of the enemy.
Rule 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
Rule 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
Rule 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy.
Rule 7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag.
Rule 8: Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period.
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself.
Rule 10: Maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
Rule 11: If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counter-side.
Rule 12: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
Rule 13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
It will come down to blood spilling. The Government is not your friend.
Alinsky is one of Obama's mentors. Alinsky is one of Obama's mentors.
Wow! Hear that? All the epiphanies, folks falling off their donkeys on the road to Damascus. (Some biblical humor in case my Baptist preacher stepson is reading)
Saul David Alinsky (January 30, 1909 – June 12, 1972) was an American community organizer and writer. He is generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing, and is noted for his book Rules for Radicals.
In the course of nearly four decades of organizing the poor for social action, Alinsky made many enemies, but he has received praise from an array of public figures. His organizing skills were focused on improving the living conditions of poor communities across North America. In the 1950s, he began turning his attention to improving conditions of the African-American ghettos, beginning with Chicago's and later travelling to other ghettos in California, Michigan, New York City, and a dozen other "trouble spots".
His ideas were later adapted by some U.S. college students and other young organizers in the late 1960s and formed part of their strategies for organizing on campus and beyond. Time magazine once wrote that "American democracy is being altered by Alinsky's ideas."
Alinsky described his plans in 1972 to begin to organize the White middle class across America, and the necessity of that project. He believed that what President Richard Nixon and Vice-President Spiro Agnew called "The Silent Majority" was living in frustration and despair, worried about their future, and ripe for a turn to radical social change, to become politically-active citizens. He feared the middle class could be driven to a right-wing viewpoint.
Several prominent American leaders have been influenced by Alinsky's teachings, including Ed Chambers, Tom Gaudette, Ernesto Cortes, Michael Gecan, Wade Rathke, and Patrick Crowley. Alinsky is often credited with laying the foundation for the grassroots political organizing that dominated the 1960s. Jack Newfield writing in New York magazine included Alinsky among "the purest Avatars of the populist movement," along with Ralph Nader, Cesar Chavez, and Jesse Jackson.
Biographer Sanford Horwitt has claimed that U.S. President Barack Obama was influenced by Alinsky and followed in his footsteps as a Chicago-based community organizer. Horwitt furthermore has asserted that Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was influenced by Alinsky's teachings.
Now, ain't that something.
Like I told you, we know who they are and what they are doing.
