This was one of those diaries where anger detoured an inspiration into a linguistic minefield, meeting the wrath of a few Kossaks. That in turn inspired a remorph of the diary based on its original idea, sans minefield, replaced with a possible "solution".

Neither Israel nor the Palestinians (a people without a place) celebrate Halloween. But that's exactly what we need - an uninvolved 3rd party. Halloween is in some ways all about being scared, and the last thing we need more of in the Middle East is fear. Well, there's a huge difference between "being scared" and having your home bulldozed, your food supply and electricity cut off, and your ability to earn a living removed. What we need are more hobgoblins and Star Wars characters, less bloodbaths in the nursery. What we need is not a "Peace Talk" for Propaganda where nothing moves, nothing changes. What we need is a real costume party.
You see, it's all about make-believe, fake fears, and trust...

Hello friends,
Welcome to the round up off this week Headzup cartoons.
Do we have Fred Thompson faling asleep?  We do.
How about John McCain turning a blind eye to waterboarding?  We have that too.
Bush on Impeachment?  
Obama Taking The Gloves Off?  
Halloween at the White House?
We have all of this and more.
So, let's get to the roundup!

So last night,SNL's opening skit poked fun at the Democratic candidates. Even though Saturday Night Live has gotten to be very hit-and-miss over the years... this was a direct hit. The SNL crew really did a great job. All the jokes were of the "funny-because-it's-true" variety.

Here's how I rate the truthiness of each portrayal:

Over at FOX News, if you even think the words "Happy Holidays" during the Christmas season (i.e. June to December), you’ve just declared war. You see, the fine folks at FOX just won’t tolerate anyone who dares to express a view other than their own. When it comes to Christmas, you’re either with it or against it.

But FOX doesn’t come to the passionate defense of every threatened holiday. On the contrary, they only defend the holidays that need defending, and they know where to draw the line between good Christian holidays and evil Satanist holidays. Why, just this morning FOX’s Sean Hannity declared war on Halloween:

The following events took place on Halloween night 2007:

I never thought I'd see the day when suddenly out of nowhere I'm the intrepid blogging reporter who is responsible for breaking Google news stories. See, I just have never had any authority before now. Never really particularly wanted it either. There are a lot of bloggers around who are much better writers and reports than I am. Hat tips to all those of them who are actually trying to restore our country to what we once thought it was. But then one spooky Hallowe'en, along came Bradblog, Google news and the ghost of Sibel Edmonds and they changed my life forever (well, hopefully not).
Read more below the fold.

I love Shakespeare.  Particularly in the spirit of the season.  

He does the bestest ghosts, the scariest scenes (I love the creepiness of Juliet waking up in a tomb; can you imagine being 14 and waking up wrapped in a shroud?  Even if you were expecting it?), and there is so much love for the language it just feels gorgeous, sensual even, to let my tongue form the words.  For example, Act III, Scene 4, of Macbeth, where he is dealing with seeing Banquo's Ghost:

It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood:
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augurs and understood relations have
By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth
The secret'st man of blood. What is the night?

(Originally posted at NewWest.)

My older sister took to school like a fading, B-list movie-of-the-week actor takes to "Dancing with the Stars." Growing up on our ranch, 10 miles from anywhere (and that particular anywhere being pretty damned sparse itself) she had a lonely young existence, with a little brother who was distinctly uninterested in being what she wanted of him--her personal doll--and me as a baby sister whose luster didn't really last.  School for those first few months was a revelation and a wonder and the best thing ever.

And then she found out about Halloween.

IT WAS DISMISSED AS AN URBAN MYTH, a sight which causes the untimely death of any DKos user within 7 days of seeing it for themselves. Many scoffed at first, but the proof is there... for here is a partial list of the users who saw it last Halloween, exactly one week before the election, who are with us no more:

democrats_will_get_us_out_of_iraq

the-democratic-congress-will-hold-bush-accountable

PelosiWillBeTheBestSpeakerEver

Harry_Reid_Is_A_Hero

just_wait_till_the_first_hundred_hours

thiselectionwillchangeeverything

Now-Our-Constitutional-Rights-Are-Safe

AtLeastThey'llStopWarWithIran

Do you know others who have died painful deaths, lying prostrate with eyes wide open after seeing the Ring? Then add 'em below...

Imagine there was a beautiful planet.

Imagine it was inhabited by billions of sentient beings.

Imagine the most technologically advanced of those beings was in the process of poisoning that planet for everyone.

Imagine that all life was at risk.

The contributing editors of Daily Kos occasionally confer via email about various site matters.  Who’s going to write about X breaking news subject.  Does anyone want to do an interview with whatever media outlet.  Travel schedules and the like.  But occasionally what starts out as a fairly straightforward matter of site administration runs a bit off subject.  That happened this afternoon, on the important subject of Halloween loot.  I learned that in some boutique liberal neighborhoods in some of America’s bluest, East Coast states that children return from trick-or-treating with something called UNICEF pennies.  I think I surprised some of my fellow contributing editors with the harsher news that I occasionally dumped my Halloween loot on the table for inspection (to make sure I didn’t eat a candy bar spiked with a pin, a razor blade, or the brown acid everyone at Woodstock was warned not to drop) to discover I had been given a religious tract (and seldom the cool ones like Chick Tracts that declared my Catholic family apostates).  We even learned that Good N’ Plenty is America’s oldest branded candy.  

In an effort to use the collected knowledge and wisdom of our community, I propose three questions for the community to mull.  

First, what was your least favorite bit of Halloween loot?  Candy Corn?  Apples?  Pennies?  Skoal?  Gift certificate for a free spinal tap?

Second, what was your favorite morsel of Halloween greatness?  A full-sized Hershey bar?  My favorite, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?  Gift certificate to your local adult lingerie shop?  Lawn darts?

Finally, if you could give out a crappy Halloween treat to any politician, name the treat and the politician.

In a completely unfair and arbitrary contest, the best answers will be posted tomorrow on the front page a the top of an open thread.  

To get you started, here’s a hierarchy of Halloween greatness as proposed by Hunter:

Mini chocolate bars, dimensional (3 Musketeers, Snickers)
Mini chocolate bars, flat (plain: Hershey, Krackle)
Mini chocolate bars, flat (dark)
Mini chocolate bars (w/ coconut or almonds)
Pumpkin-shaped candy corn (not because it was good, but because it was pumpkin shaped)
Tootsie Pops
Other shapes of candy corn, aside from "corn" (turkey, ghost)
Hard candy, if you were allowed to take a handful from the bowl yourself
milk duds, mini pack
Tootsie Rolls
Hard candy, if you were handed it one or two pieces at a time
Quarters
Good N' Plenty
"Toys", e.g. whistles, cheap plastic things shaped like something
Candy corn, corn shaped
Nickels
Peppermints
Pennies
"Healthy" food

It's my favorite holiday :)

A scary tale
That must be told
Venture if you dare
Below the fold

Just Published!

For Halloween, I thought I'd shift your attention away from the monsters, werewolves, and blood-sucking vampires that exist in the haunted mansion that exists on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, for something that is just a little more fun.  My five-year-old niece has a stuffed, black, kitten, who wears a witches' hat, that she loves for Halloween.  She has named this kitten Maria.    When I babysit her, we end up creating fun little stories about Maria, or any of the other hundred stuffed animals she has.  Since Maria is a Halloween decoration, I came up with an wonderful little Halloween story titled Maria and the Ghost Mice.  My niece loved the story.  And so, I'll share it with you for a Happy Halloween.

Continue reading Maria and the Ghost Mice.

"By the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes."

As we celebrate another Oíche Shamhna, celebrating the collision of the worlds of the living and the dead, it would be rude to ignore the Children of the Night that walk among us.

It is all too well known that vampires stalk the White House and demons dwell under the United States Naval Observatory.

I came from a middle class suburb, and so everything I know about childhood is based in that microcosm of reality.  We had porch lights, we had dinner bells, we had sidewalks and mom's calling after sunset - and you could hear their voices no matter what street you were on.  That was the setting for my Halloweens.  It has given me a bias for which I can't be sure if I should apologize, rationalize, or try to put in perspective.  But it isn't something I can change.

I'm going to try find the link to this story, but I wanted to get this out to y'all right away.  

The Feds have just issued an urgent recall on those fake teeth kids might use on Halloween.

They are full of lead.

Don't let your kids use those tonight--even if they aren't this brand....

More soon.