My annual rant, I suppose. While perusing a certain place, the annual "Does your family "celebrate" Halloween?" question came up. Of course, the righteous indignation and tripping over each others egotistical "Oh No we don't" postings are numerous. And each of these are followed by "But we DO get in on the sales--candy AND costumes".
Here's the rant:
You are still celebrating Halloween. You are still sending a message to Corporate Consumer companies that they can continue to make these "abhorrent" abominations called costumes, that they can continue to produce over-priced, barely bite sized pieces of candy; as well as making those "frightening" decorations that cascade across every store front; by purchasing these things. It doesn't matter when you purchase them, that you still do means you are still partaking of the very thing you abhor.
Candy that you buy after halloween, is still Halloween candy because the packaging labels it as such.
Costumes that you buy after halloween are still Halloween costumes because that's what they were made for.
Going to your church to do something called "Trunk or Treating", even if it isn't on the same day as Halloween, is STILL celebrating the holiday. That you do it in a church parking lot does not make it any less so.
Calling it a "harvest festival" is still celebrating it as Halloween, especially if you allow your kids to dress up and accept candy from "strangers". Does not matter that you only dress them up as historical figures, little angels, or their favorite baseball player--it is STILL dressing up and STILL acknowledging that which you wish to abolish.
Handing out chick tracts to kids who come to your door instead of candy is still celebrating the holiday! I have a friend who does this--they decorate the pumpkins with "religious" messages, and hand out chick tracts instead of candy. And they wonder why people don't like them.
I just love it when I read "I dressed my kids up in these innocent costumes and all I see are horrible monsters, skanky clothed kids, scary decorations, etc... I just can't reconcile this with what I am teaching my children. I also don't like it when stores decorate but at least it gives me a good reason to talk to my kids about what is right and wrong, good and evil."
As though these things exist in real life. People say that they teach their kids "Don't talk to strangers" and they felt it was wrong to teach them this but allow them to "take candy from this witch". Forget the fact that what you should be teaching them is the difference between a real stranger and your neighborhood cat lady dressed up as the Wicked Witch of the West. That's why most people--those with common sense at least--walk their own neighborhood with people they know. No idiot--at least those with common sense--walks a neighborhood that they don't know and takes candy from people they don't know.
Even if you walk some place safe like the Mall (and just about every mall does it these days)--those employees, while technically strangers to you, are not strangers in the general sense and won't do anything to your precious little brats that would jeopardize their employment.
A favorite link of mine is this one: http://www.new-life.net/halowen1.htm A Pastor for this church spent a lot of time researching all the holidays and has come to some surprising conclusions. That he is factual and spot on with his history of Halloween, only makes me wonder why the rest of you get it so very wrong.
Listen, if you don't want to "celebrate" this holiday--don't. That means full on removal of any and all appearance of celebrating it--no after holiday candy purchases, no after holiday costume purchases, no Trunk or Treating in your church parking lot, and certainly no "harvest festivals". The amount of idiocy that follows "oh we don't because we are Christian" is frighteningly high. I think you make a bad witness to anyone when you tell them you do not do this holiday, but you take part in the after candy/costume sales.
It's hypocrisy at its best, to do otherwise.
~~Toni
If you ever get a chance to make it to Polk City, Florida, you MUST stop by a place called "Fantasy of Flight". We had a homeschool field trip there today and I have to say--**everyone** had a wonderful time! I honestly did not think I'd enjoy it, let alone my girls (knew Jacob would), but we all had a wonderful time. Our tour guide was most excellent and everything was spot on and very interactive.
Let's start:
We begin by entering the building and going immediately into the fuselage of a DC-10, where, as you can see, we are prepped for "jumping":
We are immediately "transported" back in time to Paris, France, circa 1850's; and a demonstration of Hot Air Ballooning:
And via our transport, we are immediately dropped into World War 1:
And after a long, arduous battle, we are shifted into World War II:
Once our mission was complete, we were taken to the "deck" of the USS Yorktown to begin our Flight Training and Debriefing:
What follows are some random images of some pretty kick ass, famous, planes, exhibits, and one very smiley tour guide.
The 4077th Copter. Authentic. 
"Ina" The Macon Belle--flown by the Tuskeegee Airmen:
Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, this plane was driven by "shortstop" in the beginning of the movie. Actual plane:
The Spirit of St. Louis:
Lastly, we were treated to a show: the owner, Kermit Weeks, brought out the Red Baron and flew it for us. This was actually the coolest part of the day:
Owner Kermit Weeks after just landing the Red Baron:
Me and the kids with the owner and the plane:
We had a really good time. The owner is super sweet and the tour guides very knowledgable. It was hot, yes, but just over all a good day.
~~~Toni
She is so not qualified, and please tell PBS so. Click on this long sentence and vote. Let the fundies know that their under-qualified candidate really does suck.
***Update: Ahem.. stellar performance by the "Admin" removing the post. I guess they enjoy proving my point? Who knows, but thanks for the fun anyway.
Me thinks I'm going to have some new visitors soon, no thanks to "that board" and some people asking where I am. It also appears that some (who shall remain nameless, but you know who you are) have the story totally wrong as it refers to my "removal" from said board.
You see it is simple: I did NOT ASK to be banned. No, what I said was "Ban me. Prove my point." Wait, in fact, here's the direct quote:
Me calling SWB out:
This just proves that your rep system sucks big time. I refuse to edit a relevant post just because you don't like someone calling you on the carpet about your pathetic system. This is what they are doing now, and be damned if you are a newb there, your post will disappear (prompting more questions to be asked, duh), if you even consider mentioning negative rep. I once had respect for you. Now you just plain suck. Ban me, please. Prove my point. Of course, you banning me will do nothing for your bloated sense of power your Mods have. But that's ok , they've got Christ.
You see, if you go straight to the source, you'll get the truth. If you read my entire OLD post, you will see why I said what I said and you will also see that I was 100% correct. I will warn you though, coming to my blog will get you in trouble over there, so watch your back. Those people you consider "friends" are not.
As a side note, check the #3 link on the left. It is a blog I started as a memorial to my brother, with Andrea's full approval, Casket pictures and all (bwhahaha, HUGE GRIN)
Enjoy and welcome to all those who say the loved me. Gives me warm fuzzies, it does.
~Toni
p.s. For the one who claims to read my blog "regularly", you sure know very little about me. Gotta love wearing blinders I guess. Nope, only ever been banned from one other board and that truly was a mutual request on my and the owner's part. Of course, it was also no thanks to a certain person who shall remain nameless, but then again, this particular person also got banned. So, again, you fail. Epic. I don't like being banned from anywhere, contrary to your little bubbly world belief. Oh and own up to your reading. I know who you are, you aren't anonymous like you might think.
Actually, I find you quite pathetic really.
p.p.s Oh, and I am so NOT a Barbie Girl. 
p.p.p.s-- As much as I would love the thought, I'm not a Vampire, so it's bedtime for me. Enjoy your fun ladies.
An article by Dan Savage, questioning the validity of the argument that one should let God choose the hour of death, not you.
And because he says it so well, I am just going to quote the most relevant, appropriate, and "Hell Yeah" statement he makes:
People must accept death at "the hour chosen by God," according to Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the Catholic Church, which is pouring money into the campaign against I-1000.
The hour chosen by God? What does that even mean? Without the intervention of man--and medical science--my mother would have died years earlier. And at the end, even without assisted suicide as an option, my mother had to make her choices. Two hours with the mask off? Six with the mask on? Another two days hooked up to machines? Once things were hopeless, she chose the quickest, if not the easiest, exit. Mask off, two hours. That was my mother's choice, not God's.
Did my mother commit suicide? I wonder what the pope might say.
I know what my mother would say: The same church leaders who can't manage to keep priests from raping children aren't entitled to micromanage the final moments of our lives.
If religious people believe assisted suicide is wrong, they have a right to say so. Same for gay marriage and abortion. They oppose them for religious reasons, but it's somehow not enough for them to deny those things to themselves. They have to rush into your intimate life and deny them to you, too--deny you control over your own reproductive organs, deny you the spouse of your choosing, condemn you to pain (or the terror of it) at the end of your life.
The proper response to religious opposition to choice or love or death can be reduced to a series of bumper stickers: Don't approve of abortion? Don't have one. Don't approve of gay marriage? Don't have one. Don't approve of physician-assisted suicide? For Christ's sake, don't have one. But don't tell me I can't have one--each one--because it offends your God.
It obviously would not be here if I did not agree with him. My hat tipped to you, Mr. Savage, and a genuine I'm sorry for your loss. I've been there, done that. And I'm just as tired as you are, with people who wish to regulate my life.
~~Toni
