Thursday, October 31, 2013

Why bother to save Halloween? by Richard Seltzer

Why bother to save Halloween?
by Richard Seltzer


Halloween is in trouble. Each year editorials in magazines and newspapers and on television warn of dangers to children. And each year more communities "ban" Halloween.
So what? Who needs it? What is Halloween anyway? It's just an excuse for big kids to make trouble, little kids to eat too much candy, and candy companies to peddle their wares. Bah, goblin-bug!

 

Or so I thought until, despite all the warnings, I took my three children out last Halloween. Nine-year-old Bobby was the boldest. Seven-year-old Heather held back and was reluctant to approach houses of near neighbors she didn't know well; but curiosity and pride in showing off her home-made witch's costume won out in the end, and she'd go racing after Bobby up the walk, and be just as delighted as he was at the smiles and words of praise and handfuls of candy that greeted them. Three-year-old Mikey held me tight and wouldn't let me put him down, but he wouldn't let me take him home either, watching all the doings intently.

 

The same as previous years, many of the people we visited were folks we only see at Halloween even though they live just a few doors away. Most of them, the elderly especially, had bought supplies of candy and were waiting. Most gave out two or three times as much per kid as they had originally intended, because there were so few kids out. And they were as delighted to see the kids as the kids were to see them.

 

When I got home, I couldn't help but wonder what had gone wrong with Halloween. And it occurred to me that it wasn't just a handful of crazy people who were endangering this tradition and the joy it can bring to little children and adults as well. It's a pathyon the part of everyone else, the failure to recognize that Halloween plays an important function in our society, the unwillingness to speak out in defense of Halloween when the media were so unanimously against it.

 

So what's so important about Halloween?

 

Maybe at one time Halloween helped exorcise fears of death and ghosts and goblins by making fun of them. Maybe, too, in a time of rigidly prescribed social behavior, Halloween was the occasion for socially condoned mischief -- a time for misrule and letting loose. Although such elements still remain, the emphasis has shifted and the importance of the day and its rituals has actually grown.

 

Nowadays people often don't know their near neighbors, much less the neighbors a few blocks away. For little chidren these strange houses and strange people are a source of fear and anxiety. Children have been taught not to trust or talk to strangers, to beware of them. But on Halloween that prohibition is lifted; and, with fear, but impelled by curiosity and greed for candy and other loot, little ones ring doorbells at houses of strangers to find time and again that these strangers are really friendly people like the people they know well. In the course of the evening they gain confidence in themselves and in their neighborhood and come away not only with bags full of candy to be enjoyed for week safter, but also a warm feeling about their neighborhood and people in general.

 

As for adults, especially the elderly and those who never had chidren or who haven't had young children at home for some time, children in the neighborhood are normally a source of anxiety and distrust. What mischief and vandalism might this strange new generation growing up with television violence be capable of? On Halloween night their fears too are exorcised, as wildly and imaginatively costumed kids parade to the door, a reminder of what they themselves did as children -- a common link of experience.
 
Looked at another way, Halloween is a time that reconfirms the social bond of a neighborhood (particularly the bond between strangers of different generations) by a ritual act of trade. Children go to lengths to dress up and overcome their fear of strangers in exchange for candy. And adults buy the candy and overcome their distrust of strange children in exchange for the pleasure of seeing their wild outfits and vicariously reliving their own adventures as children.

 

In other words, the true value and importance of Halloween comes not from parading in costumes in front of close friends and family, but from this interchange with strangers, exorcising our fears of strangers, reaffirming our social bond with the people of the neighborhood who we rarely, if ever, see the rest of the year.
 
So when you hear all those warnings about pins and poison, use caution and common sense. But don't just abandon a tradition that you yourself loved as a child, that your own children look forward to months in advance, and that helps preserve our sense of fellowship and community with our neighbors in the midst of all this madness.

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
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Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

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Tricky Treats: Candy Myths

Tricky Treats: Candy Myths

 

Young trick-or-treaters have found needles, pins and razor blades in their Halloween candy.

 

The correct answer is true. While only a few minor injuries have been reported, there have been several instances of kids or young adults inserting pins, needles and even razor blades in apples and candy bars as a rather poorly-conceived prank. If you're worried about this happening to you, it's not your neighbors that you should be concerned about, but your own family. There is only one documented incident of someone actually handing out pin-laden candy bars to trick-or-treaters. In all other cases, the candy was usually tampered with by a sibling or the child himself after it was brought home.

 

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

History Of Trick-Or-Treating

History Of Trick-Or-Treating

 

One of the main events of Halloween is trick-or-treating, also known as guising in Scotland, in which children dress up in costume disguises and go door-to-door in their neighborhood, ringing each doorbell and yelling "trick or treat!" The occupants of the house (who might themselves dress in a scary costume) will then hand out small candies, miniature chocolate bars or other treats. Homes sometimes use sound effects and fog machines to help set a spooky mood. Other house decoration themes (that are less scary) are used to entertain younger visitors. Children can often accumulate many treats on Halloween night, filling up entire pillow cases or shopping bags.
 
In Scotland, children or guisers are likely to recite "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween" instead of "trick or treat!", they will then have to impress the members of the houses they visit with a song, trick, joke or dance in order to earn their treats.

 

Tricks play less of a role in modern Halloween, though the night before Halloween is often marked by pranks such as soaping windows, egging houses or stringing toilet paper through trees. Before indoor plumbing was so widespread, tipping over or displacing outhouses was a popular form of trick.

 

Typical Halloween costumes have traditionally been monsters such as vampires, ghosts, witches, and devils. The stereotypical Halloween costume is a sheet with eyeholes cut in it as a ghost costume. In 19th-century Scotland and Ireland the reason for wearing such fearsome (and non-fearsome) costumes was the belief that since the spirits that were abroad that night were essentially intent on doing harm, the best way to avoid this was to fool the spirits into believing that you were one of them. In recent years, it has become common for costumes to be based on themes other than traditional horror, such as dressing up as a character from a TV show or movie, or choosing a recognizable face from the public sphere, such as a politician (in 2004, for example, George W. Bush and John F. Kerry were both popular costumes in America). In 2001, after the September 11 attacks, for example, costumes of firefighters, police officers, and United States military personnel became popular among children. In 2004, an estimated 2.15 million children in the United States were expected to dress up as Spider Man, the year's most popular costume.

 

"'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" has become a common sight during Halloween in America, Canada, and Mexico. Started by UNICEF in 1950, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $119 million for UNICEF since its inception.
A child usually "grows out of" trick-or-treating by his or her teenage years. Teenagers and adults instead often celebrate Halloween with costume parties or other social get-togethers.

 

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

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Trick'O'Treat!

Trick'O'Treat!

 

Trick or treat, Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat !!!


The history of "Trick'O'Treating" can be traced back to the early celebrations of All Soul's Day in Britain. The poor would go begging and the housewives would give them special treats called "soulcakes". This was called "going a-souling", and the "soulers" would promise to say a prayer for the dead.

 

Over time the custom changed and the town's children became the beggars. As they went from house to house they would be given apples, buns, and money.

 

During the Pioneer days of the American West, the housewives would give the children candy to keep from being tricked. The children would shout "Trick or Treat!".

 

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

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The Pumpkin Patch

The Pumpkin Patch

 

The Celts that lived in what is now Great Britain and Northern France would carry a lantern when they walked on the eve of October 31. These lanterns were carved out of big turnips and the lights were believed to keep the evil spirits away. Children would carve faces in the turnips. These carved turnips were called "jack-o-lanterns.

 

Legends have it that the "jack-o-lantern" got its name from a stingy and mean old man, named Jack, who when he died was too mean to get into heaven. When Jack went to hell he was met by the Devil who gave him a piece of burning coal and sent him away. Jack placed the burning coal in a turnip to use as a lantern to light his way. The legends claim that Jack is still walking with the lantern looking for a place to stay.

 

When the early settlers came to America they found the big round orange pumpkin. Being larger and much more colorful than turnips, the pumpkin made great "jack-o-lanterns". Eventually the pumpkin would replace the turnip.

 

As the settlers spread across America they took their Halloween celebrations with them. The custom of the "jack-o-lantern" would travel with them. Eventually the Pumpkin would become the most widely recognized symbol of the Halloween holiday.

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

The Witches' Caldron *

The Witches' Caldron *

 

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog"
"Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing"
"For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and babble"
"Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and caldron bubble"
William Shakespeare

 

Witches and Warlocks have had a long history with Halloween. Legends tell of witches gathering twice a year when the seasons changed, on April 30 - the eve of May Day and the other was on the eve of October 31 - All Hallow's Eve.

 

The witches would gather on these nights, arriving on broomsticks, to celebrate a party hosted by the devil. Superstitions told of witches casting spells on unsuspecting people, transform themselves into different forms and causing other magical mischief.

 

It was said that to meet a witch you had to put your clothes on wrong side out and you had to walk backwards on Halloween night. Then at midnight you would see a witch.
When the early settlers came to America, they brought along their belief in witches. In American the legends of witches spread and mixed with the beliefs of others, the Native Americans - who also believed in witches, and then later with the black magic beliefs of the African slaves.

 

The black cat has long been associated with witches. Many superstitions have evolved about cats. It was believed that witches could change into cats. Some people also believed that cats were the spirits of the dead.

 

One of the best known superstitions is that of the black cat. If a black cat was to cross your path you would have to turn around and go back because many people believe if you continued bad luck would strike you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Holidays on the Net has received numerous objections about our presentation of Halloween folklore involving witches. In fairness we present this letter from one of our visitors wishing to address this stereotyping. "Letter to the Webmaster:"
Letter to the Webmaster

 

Please Note: We at Holidays on the Net work hard to present factual holiday information. We have received numerous objections about our presentation of Halloween folklore involving witches. In fairness we present this letter from one of our visitors wishing to address this stereotyping. This letter is unedited (aside from spelling corrections).
Holidays on the Net is great! There is only one really big problem that I see here.
You see there is this religion that IS recognized by the United States of America as an actual religion. We hold the SAME religious freedoms that you hold. It is called Wicca, for short we are witches.

 

Yes it's true that we do gather on Halloween and May first. Actually their names would be Samhain, pronounced Sow-wan, Oct. 31.Yule, Dec. 21, Imbolc, Feb 2nd, Ostara, March 20, Beltane, May 1st, Summer Solstice, June 21, Lammas, Aug 1, Mabon Sept 22, and then back to Samhain again.

 

We, however, do not worship the devil as your story put it. In fact we have no deity that we call the devil, Lucifer, Satan, or whatever. We believe is a balance of both male and female. Thus we worship the God and the Goddess. We honor Mother Earth, and hold all of nature with great respect.

 

Also we do not harm anyone. The Wiccan Reed states that, AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT YE WILL. This one line encompasses all of the Ten Commandments the Moses supposedly brought down off of Sanai. We do not seek to destroy nor harm others for their beliefs. And we always try to understand everyone for their own system of beliefs. We do not believe that Wicca is the only true religion, and that we are all heading in the same direction after life, but we all get there on different paths.

 

If you were to sit down and actually study the Christian holidays you would see that many of our traditions were taken by them. Many of the rites that Christians perform were here long before there was a Christian church, or Jewish for that matter. These are rites and ceremonies that were and still are practiced by Wiccans.

 

Just to name a few, Yule is on December 21. That is when we celebrate the birth of our Lord. Ostara is right before Easter. This holiday, or sabbat as we call them, is a fertility rite. Hence that is why there are bunnies and eggs. We believe that on Samhain the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. So this is when we gather to honor our past on ancestors. To tell them that we love them, that we miss them, and ask for help if needed. It's our memorial day. Not a day that we gather to fly out on "brooms" and bring harm and evil upon the world. To be quite honest, the Samhain ritual is very emotional and touching. There are lots of tears and hugging.

 

We also do a little ritual at our sabbats called cakes and wine. This is when we break bread and offer it to the God and the Goddess. Then in turn we each partake of the bread. After this we do the wine. It is offered to the God and the Goddess, and then we each partake of this. It seems strange how a pagan ritual has been put into a Christian ritual, communion.
On Yule we celebrate the birth of the Lord. This falls on December 21st. We decorate our homes with Yule logs and holly. Funny how Christmas songs still sung by Christians today talk of "pagan" rites for the sabbat. The holly is placed to honor the Holly King. The Yule log is set with three candles. They honor the maiden, mother and crone. The three forms of the Goddess. The Christians use the three as well, as the father, son and Holy Ghost.
Also we DO NOT use the term "warlock". This word means oath breaker. A male witch is called a witch, not a warlock. Many witches will take offense to this. Myself being a "male witch", and High priest and ordained minister of the Wiccan faith, I am not very fond of people calling me a "warlock".

 

The myth that people formed about us flying on brooms is a very old crop fertility rite. The people would gather together at their fields with brooms and pitch forks. They would jump over the brooms and such as a gesture of showing how high the crops should grow that year. The higher they would jump, the higher they believed their crops would grow. We did not fly through the air on the full moon wreaking havoc.
This is just a very small portion of our belief system.

 

And as usual, people have misconstrued us out to be some evil beings trying to bring harm to the world. It's sad that people can't understand who we really are. Even the Hebrews worshipped the Goddess for a time.

 

If you don't think so look in Jeremiah chapter 7:8. Everything was fine until good old Jehovah got mad. In all actuality, he didn't get mad. It was more likely that the male governing body couldn't keep control if the woman were not brought down. Probably where they got the saying of let your women be silent in church.

 

Understand that I am not trying to bash you for your story. But it would be nice and VERY appreciated if after the stories you could put the actual truth. It may have been just a Halloween tale, but people read this stuff and believe it all to be true.

 

There may be no more witch burnings in America, but we still lose our jobs, homes, families, and children because of belief. Because we are not following the "one true god" as the Christians would put it. That is why there are organizations like the Witches League for Religious Discrimination. We are still here, and growing in numbers. Our belief will never die out, no more than the Christians. But we do hold the same religious freedoms that they hold.

 

When you do your holiday net stories and such perhaps you should add people of other faiths as well. Not just the Christians and Jews. Maybe then the world would be more at peace and people could understand one another better.
Thank you,
Rev. (Name Withheld)*

 

* Holidays on the Net has chosen to leave the writer anonymous because we have not been able to contact the writer to get permission to publish his name.

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

The Story of Halloween

The Story of Halloween

 

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many cultures over the centuries, from the Roman's Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.

 

Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts. The Celts worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as their favorite. It was "he" who commanded their work and their rest times, and who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow.

 

The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st. It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the end of the "season of the sun" and the beginning of "the season of darkness and cold."

 

On October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter the cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees were considered sacred). The Druids would light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would begin.
When the morning arrived the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take them home to start new cooking fires. These fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits.

 

The November 1st festival was called Samhain (pronounced "sow-en"). The festival would last for 3 days. Many people would parade in costumes made from the skins and heads of their animals. This festival would become the first Halloween.

 

During the first century the Romans invaded Britain. They brought with them many of their festivals and customs. One of these was the festival know as Pomona Day, named for their goddess of fruits and gardens. It was also celebrated around the 1st of November. After hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs of the Celtic's Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming 1 major fall holiday.

 

The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain. In the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church holiday to honor all the saints. This day was called All Saint's Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years later the Church would make November 2nd a holy day. It was called All Souls Day and was to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils.

 

But the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their early customs. On the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued to celebrate the festivals of Samhain and Pomona Day. Over the years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st became known as All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallow's Eve, Hallowe'en, and then - Halloween.

 

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day's apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain's black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day.

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

Halloween Prayer

Halloween Prayer

 

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
 

Appropriate for many faiths

 

Source: Scottish prayer

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

Season's Greetings: Happy Halloween.

Season's Greetings: Happy Halloween.

 

I bid you Seasons Greetings of Halloween. When werewolves howl and pumpkins scowl and frightful witches fly, when fearsome phantoms haunt the dark and eerie voices cry! It's time to send a special friend a notice to remind you if you're out on Halloween, be sure to look behind you! Have a Frightfully Happy Halloween!

 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

I bid you season greetings of Happy Halloween. Iam @ the Hopewell Denny's enjoying a $Grand Slam Slugger Breakfast with coffee & lemonade ice tea & a $2biscuit & gravey with an egg for Halloween Breakfast.
Carl Ray Louk

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Thank These Republicans for Obamacare Ann Coulter | Oct 30, 2013

Thank These Republicans for Obamacare

Ann Coulter | Oct 30, 2013
Ann Coulter
We have Obamacare for one reason and one reason only: For a brief, ghoulish period in recent history, Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

We don't have Obamacare because the public was clamoring for it. We have it because Republicans lost elections.

First, Republicans lost their majorities in the House and the Senate in 2006, thanks to George W. Bush's highly effective "Keep the Base at Home on Election Day" campaign, which consisted of pushing amnesty for illegal aliens.

Then in 2008, Republicans had the bright idea to run crazy-eyed crypt-keeper John McCain for president.

McCain supported: amnesty (until he needed our votes), retroactive Social Security benefits for illegal aliens, free speech-crushing campaign-finance laws, crackpot global warming legislation, criminal trials for terrorists and stem-cell research on human embryos.

He opposed: the Bush tax cuts, a marriage amendment to the Constitution, waterboarding terrorists and drilling in Alaska. Oh, also, he called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "dishonest and dishonorable." (As suggested by the subtitle, all this is covered in Never Trust a Liberal Over Three-Especially a Republican)

As a consequence, Democrats won the presidency, as well as huge majorities in Congress. The last time Democrats had controlled the presidency, the House and the Senate was 16 years earlier, back in 1993. Remember what they did back then? The very first thing? (No, Clinton masturbating on an intern came later.) That's right: They tried to pass Hillarycare.

Hillarycare went down in humiliating defeat, so the Democrats patiently waited nearly two decades for the stars to be aligned again. Then, the very next time they had the presidency, the House and Senate, they went right back to national health care. (Notice that, in neither instance, was public opinion involved.)

If an alien landed and asked why America has Obamacare when most people hate it, we'd have to say: Because the Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate.

The Democrats' policy is: We vote and vote and vote, until it finally comes out their way, then we never vote again. (This, too, is detailed in Never Trust a Liberal Over Three) That's why the moment this greased-through, widely detested law was enacted, liberals began hailing it as the "law of the land." How dare you question "settled law"? Are you unpatriotic?

Democrats would never have been in a position to pass Obamacare if both sides of the Republican Party hadn't helped them win elections. The establishment Republicans screwed over our party with their greed, incompetence and lassitude, and the conservative purists screwed our party by running candidates who could not possibly win.

True, the tea party also gave us the majestic Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, among a few other improvements. But was Dick Lugar really the biggest problem in the U.S. Senate? Wasn't Claire McCaskill a bigger problem?

And why are so many conservatives today burbling about the alleged deficiencies of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell -- while ignoring the actual crimes of Democratic senators like Mary Landrieu from Louisiana, Mark Pryor from Arkansas and Mark Begich from Alaska?

All those Democrats voted for Obamacare -- and they're all up for election next year in states that could easily go Republican. If any one of these senators had voted "no" on Obamacare, it would not be law.

By contrast, McConnell not only voted against Obamacare, but presided over a Senate minority in which every single Republican voted against Obamacare, even that idiot McCain. Kentucky only seems like a red state because McConnell keeps winning elections there: It went for Clinton twice and has had a solid run of Democratic governors since 1947, interrupted by one-term Republican governors only twice in 66 years.

But McConnell is in hot water with Kentucky's "9/12 Project" -- a group with enough marketing savvy to have a name that no one understands.

The project's executive director, Eric Wilson, is hopping mad with McConnell because, when given a choice between raising taxes on all Americans or raising taxes only on those individuals making more than $400,000 a year, he chose to raise taxes only on the high earners.

It's the easiest thing in the world to be a purist, denouncing everyone else as a sellout and hack, while other people do the hard work of getting elected in blue states and preventing even rotten Republicans from voting for Obamacare. You want McConnell to stop all tax hikes? Give him a majority in the Senate.

Al Franken's Senate seat is another one that should be on Republicans' radar. He stole the 2008 election in Minnesota, going from a thousand votes down the day after the election to 300 votes up a few months later, after vast numbers of Franken votes kept being discovered in heavily Democratic districts. As economist John Lott pointed out at the time, the magically appearing votes for Franken were a statistical impossibility.

Obamacare could not have passed without the Democrats' prodigious vote theft in Franken's 2008 election. But if the Republican candidate had won, some conservatives would now be trying to take out moderate Republican Norm Coleman for being a "RINO." The far-left Democrat won, so conservatives can't be bothered to find someone to beat him.

The inability to distinguish Coleman and McConnell -- and whomever else the conservative purists have in their maw -- from Obamacare-ratifying Democrats is as insane as the left's inability to distinguish Saddam's rape rooms from the shortage of female CEOs in the U.S. Three and a half years after Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote, anyone who can't see a difference between the parties should be institutionalized.

There are some fantastic congressmen who could beat Franken in 2014, such as Rep. John Kline. But liberals are counting on tea party activists to insist on running someone who can't win.

Let me introduce you to Marianne Stebbins, a Ron Paul fan who helped lose the 2012 Senate election in Minnesota with a libertarian candidate, who lost to the Democrat 31 percent to 65 percent. She thinks the fight within the Republican Party is "frankly ... probably a more important debate than the one going on between the Republicans and the Democrats."

When your new health insurance premiums arrive in the mail, and you can't find a doctor in your plan who speaks English, tell me the fight between Republicans and Democrats is not that important.
Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter is a columnist and author of Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault On America.
 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/

Is There a Way Out? Walter E. Williams | Oct 30, 2013

Is There a Way Out?

Walter E. Williams | Oct 30, 2013
Walter E. Williams

According to a recent Fox News poll, 73 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, up 20 points from 2012. Americans sense that there's a lot going wrong in our nation, but most don't have a clue about the true nature of our problem. If they had a clue, most would have little stomach for what would be necessary to arrest our national decline. Let's look at it.

Between two-thirds and three-quarters of federal spending, in contravention of the U.S. Constitution, can be described as Congress taking the earnings or property of one American to give to another, to whom it does not belong. You say, "Williams, what do you mean?" Congress has no resources of its very own. Moreover, there's no Santa Claus or tooth fairy who gives it resources. The fact that Congress has no resources of its very own forces us to recognize that the only way Congress can give one American one dollar is to first -- through intimidation, threats and coercion -- confiscate that dollar from some other American through the tax code.

If any American did privately what Congress does publicly, he'd be condemned as an ordinary thief. Taking what belongs to one American to give to another is theft, and the receiver is a recipient of stolen property. Most Americans would suffer considerable anguish and cognitive dissonance seeing themselves as recipients of stolen property, so congressional theft has to be euphemized and given a respectable name. That respectable name is "entitlement." Merriam-Webster defines entitlement as "the condition of having a right to have, do, or get something." For example, I am entitled to walk into the house that I own. I am entitled to drive the car that I own. The challenging question is whether I am also entitled to what you or some other American owns.

Let's look at a few of these entitlements. More than 40 percent of federal spending is for entitlements for the elderly in the forms of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, housing and other assistance programs. The Office of Management and Budget calculates that total entitlement spending comes to about 62 percent of federal spending. Military spending totals 19 percent of federal spending. By the way, putting those two figures into historical perspective demonstrates the success we've had becoming a handout nation. In 1962, military expenditures were almost 50 percent of the federal budget, and entitlement spending was a mere 31 percent. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that entitlement spending will consume all federal tax revenue by 2048.

Entitlement spending is not the only form of legalized theft. The Department of Agriculture gives billions of dollars to farmers. The departments of Energy and Commerce give billions of dollars and subsidized loans to corporations. In fact, every Cabinet-level department in Washington is in charge of handing out at least one kind of subsidy or special privilege. Most federal non-defense "discretionary spending" by Congress is for handouts.

Despite the fact that today's increasing levels of federal government spending are unsustainable, there is little evidence that Americans have the willingness to do anything about it. Any politician who'd even talk about significantly reining in unsustainable entitlement spending would be run out of town. Any politician telling the American people they must pay higher taxes to support handout spending, instead of concealing spending through deficits and running up the national debt and inflation, would also be run out of town. Can you imagine what the American people would do to a presidential candidate who'd declare, as James Madison did in a 1794 speech to the House of Representatives, "Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government"?

If we are to be able to avoid ultimate collapse, it's going to take a moral reawakening and renewed constitutional respect -- not by politicians but by the American people. The prospect of that happening may be whistlin' "Dixie."

Walter E. Williams

Walter E. Williams

Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of 'Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?' and 'Up from the Projects: An Autobiography.'
 
Carl Ray Louk

Not racist, not violent, just not silent anymore

Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

I am Carl Ray Louk and unlike the President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, I stand with Israel

FreedomWorks
We are a community of over 2 million grassroots activists We recruit, educate & mobilize across the country Fighting for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.
http://www.freedomworks.org/

"Friendship Never Ends" SG-1996

"Let Love Lead The Way" SG-2000

"The Phoenix Shall Rise" Count Carl Ray Louk 2003

"Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart And Says His Prayer By Nigh, May Become A Wolf When the Wolf bane Blooms And The Autumn Moon Is Bright." LT-1941

"Flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin when I say come to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my bidding!" CVTD-1895

"From Hell's Heart I stab at thee, for hate sake I spit my last breath at thee" CA-1895

"I have been, and always shall be your friend" Spock

"Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat candy is dandy but murder, oh murder, is so sweet" Count Carl Ray Louk-2003

"Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog adder's fork, blind worm's sting, lizard's leg, and owlet's wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like Hell broth boils and babble. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble"
WS

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk

MySpace:
www.myspace.com/carlraylouk

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/

Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/