How About A Prisoner Exchange? We Turn Over 23 Convicted Felon Terrorist CIA Agents, and Europe Gives Us A 76-Year-Old Man Guilty Of Consensual Sex.

We all thought that the election of Barack Obama would lead to the redemption of our nation, lead our country to repudiate the international terrorism, murder, kidnapping and theft waged by the Bush Criminal Cartel. We expected Obama to bring about a new age, one in which his administration would be dedicated to the pursuit of justice, to demand an accounting and reparations for victims, seize assets from the criminals, hold public hearings and indict those against whom there was sufficient evidence, re-establish decent relationships with other nations. End these illegal wars, stop the kidnapping, torture, and murder which had become part of the official policy of the Bush Regime.

Man, what were we drinking a year ago? Because in the harsh light of morning, one year down the road, it looks to me like we're living in the same old corrupt seedy joint that we occupied in 2008.

Our legal system is a disgrace. Where is the prosecution of the criminals who have started illegal wars, brought about the murder of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people? Where is the prosecution of the Wall Street criminals who have stolen everything from the public? How can "our" politicians take bribes from Wall Street, and pretend to be honest? How sickening is this whole system? Why did Eric Holder refuse to prosecute the Aipac spies and instead let them walk free? Why is Bernie Madoff the only criminal from Wall Street who's in prison, and why are the rest of them allowed to continue to rape and pillage? What is our "Justice" system doing? What's really going on?

Well, sadly, the only real news we've heard lately about "justice" in this country is that the U.S. has demanded that Switzerland arrest a 76-year-old man based on a plea bargain he made, 32 years ago, to consensual sex with a minor. Is this really the best we've got?

Roman Polanski is an internationally-renowned filmmaker. He began his live as a young man in the Krakow Ghetto created by the Nazis to isolate the Jews before sending them off to be slaughtered. He escaped the ghetto and was raised secretly by a Polish Catholic family, who claimed he was their child. In later years he went to film school and became an accomplished filmmaker in Europe.

His first big hit in the U.S. was Rosemary's Baby, followed in later years by Chinatown, Death and the Maiden, and The Pianist. His total body of work is too lengthy to list here, and I'm only mentioning a few that had widespread distribution within the U.S.

In 1969, Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate was butchered by the Charlie Manson cult.

In 1977, Polanski was arrested based on charges that while he was at a Hollywood party, he had given drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old, and had sexual intercourse with her. He negotiated a plea bargain, but someone later repudiated it and he fled the country rather than face an extended period of imprisonment. This was consensual sex. Nobody claimed it was forcible rape.


For the past 32 years, Polanski has lived his life lawfully, working in his field as a filmmaker in Europe. Recently some people made a documentary, apparently in an effort to clear his name in connection with the 1977 incident. Apparently Polanski or some of his supporters claim that he only entered into the plea bargain based upon the understanding and agreement that he would be given a minimum sentence -- perhaps time served. This is generally the way it works. But somebody in L.A. -- perhaps a judge -- decided to repudiate the agreement at the last minute, and wanted to send Polanski to prison for a lengthy term. That's why Polanski fled the country. Or at least that is someone's version of what happened.

I support statutory rape laws. We should have some age -- I think 18 is fair -- that is hands-off to everyone. Of course if the sexual partner is also under 18, the laws should not apply. But all the over-18-year-old (usually) men out there should be very careful to check ID and, better yet, don't just pick some young girl and have sex with her without getting to know a little about her, to make sure she's old enough to be a consenting partner. So I support the laws. But I don't like judges who repudiate plea agreements at the last minute, because that's not fair. Assuming that's what happened.

So, somebody gets their panties in a wad about Polanski trying to clear his name, and the U.S. government gets involved and asks Switzerland to arrest Polanski. Of all the terrorists and criminals wandering around the U.S. freely, in the open -- by which I mean most of the people who worked in the Bush administration -- the U.S. government instead decides to go after a 76-year-old filmmaker based upon a "crime" of consensual sex with a minor that occurred 32 years ago. Give me an F-ing break.

But our government is insistent to Switzerland: Turn Him Over. Give Us That Prisoner. So Polanski shows up for the Zurich film festival, and ends up cuffed and thrown in jail. The U.S. government is demanding that Switzerland turn that "criminal" Polanski over to us. I suppose once we get him, he'll be hooded, sent to Guantanamo, beaten, tortured, locked in a cage 24 hours/day, and left to die. Or is that only for the Muslims?

Fast forward a few weeks to see the U.S. engage in disgusting hypocrisy when the shoe is on the other foot. A few years ago, some CIA thugs kidnapped a man in Italy, took him to Egypt and left him to be tortured and brutalized based upon the fact that he was a Muslim. Or, in the CIA parlance, a "suspected terrorist." A court in Italy indicted the CIA thugs and convicted them in abstentia of, among other crimes, kidnapping. They are convicted felons. The CIA agents refused to appear in Italy for their trial and apparently are hiding out in the U.S., with full protection by the U.S. government. All the press in the U.S. is reporting that it is "unlikely" any of these CIA agents will ever "do time." But why?

Why would Roman Polanski be hunted through the international corridors of film festivals to be drug in chains back to the U.S., presumably to be shut away in Attica or Guantanamo for the rest of his life based on having consensual sex with a minor? But CIA thugs who are convicted felons, who conspired to and did kidnap and cause great bodily harm, participated in attempted murder, are given the full protection of the U.S. government which refuses to arrest them and turn them over to Italy to be thrown in prison, which is where they belong because they are criminals.

The CIA agents are criminals. They have engaged in kidnapping, torture, murder, and international drug running. They work for the biggest criminal enterprise in the world: The United States of America. And because of that, they can do anything they want, kidnap anyone, brutalize, torture, and murder anyone they want anywhere they want, without consequences.

Those CIA thugs should be turned over to Italy to serve out the rest of their lives in Italian prisons. After all, if our government can get so excited about a 76-year-old man who, 30 years ago had consensual sex with a minor, then somebody inside the Obama administration should manage to get a little bit excited about convicted kidnappers and felons walking freely in our communities. Aren't these CIA agents terrorists? They sure terrorized the guy from Italy that they kidnapped. I thought we didn't like the terrorists, but it turns out that we employ them.

If nothing else, maybe we can negotiate one of those prisoner exchanges. We turn over the 23 convicted felon CIA agents who kidnapped and almost killed some poor guy in exchange for Switzerland giving us a 76-year-old movie guy. Maybe we can call in the thugs and murderers of Blackwater to arrange for armed transport of the dangerous movie dude. Make sure he doesn't escape and return to making movies.



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-italy-verdict5-2009nov05,0,2106586.story

Godzilla for MVP

Godzilla is a Japanese giant monster that first appeared in popular Japanese culture in a film of the same name released in 1954. Some believe that the movie monster represented a post-nuclear mutation, the symbol of the threat of the devastating destruction caused by the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over time, the monster has become one of the most world-wide popular and recognized symbols of modern Japanese popular culture. Starting in films as a threatening and dangerous creature, he eventually softened in later films, taking on heroic characteristics, and became the star of comic books as well as a series of films. He even got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hideki Matsui is a major league baseball player who plays for the New York Yankees, currently as designated hitter. He began his career playing in Japan in their major leagues, and became a Yankee in 2003. He has played an invaluable role in this year's World Series, and deserves to be named MVP. His nickname is Godzilla because of his powerful hitting, which has been on display in the World Series in spectacular fashion.


A-Rod is the choice of some because he finally got a hit. No, in fairness, he's turned in a humanoid performance at all levels. Not only has he played well, but his press interviews have risen to the level of what should be expected of a team player and a professional. He praises the talent of the opposing team, deflects the complements to other members of his own team, and responds to requests for future predictions with the noncommittal response that we will play each game as it comes. But he's no Godzilla. This may be Matsui's last year as a Yankee, and I hope he gets MVP.

Besides, A-Rod is finally going to be a bride, not just the bridesmaid, finally getting a ring on his finger. That should keep him happy for awhile. Of course Derek Jeter will have 5? World Series rings if things go well in this game 6, and it's finished out with a Yankee win. Pettite went up against god (Pedro Martinez) tonight, and both are great warriors, always a pleasure to watch, even when they are clearly exhausted.

Congratulations to the New York Yankees and Joe Girardi for what looks likely to be another World Series win for the Yankees, but the first with Girardi as the manager. (As I write, Philadelpha has 6 more outs to make 4 runs to tie it, and although anything can happen, I don't think this is going to be their year). But congratulations to Philadelphia too for being the National League Pennant winners.

Just wait'll next year when the Dodgers and Yankees are in the World Series -- now that will be some baseball.

Democrats Lose Elections. Wake Up Little Susie, The Party's Over.

Imagine working in the media right now. Every single time they check their e-mail, they're wondering if they'll find a pink-slip with their name on it. The entire profession is being thrown out of work, replaced by pornographic-spewing paranoid schizophrenic rent-boys working at Rupert Murdoch's whore house. No wonder the media is so desperate to try to increase public interest that they resort to whatever worked last: Elections!

So we've seen much coverage in recent weeks about these "critical" elections taking place "around the country" (not really) and pundits talking endlessly about whether the election results will signal whether Obama and the Democrats are succeeding or failing in keeping the public's loyalty. Much like the daily polls that we are fed telling us how much the public has been deceived and manipulated by the corporations. Example: do you favor affordable healthcare? 67% say no. Then the politicians say: Well, what can we do, the public doesn't want it. What a con they've got going between the corporate PR system, Rupert Murdoch's whorehouse, and the other one in D.C.

What elections were being held? Pardon everyone if you failed to notice. A dog catcher here, commissioner of elections there, school superintendent in some other place. Do any of these people have the power or authority to get a national healthcare system for Americans, to end these illegal wars, to invest in our own country and create good paying jobs? No. Not at all. But we see the governor of Virginia and New Jersey moved from the D column to the R column. Is this significant? Who knows. Who cares?

I suspect the Democrats will claim that because of these "disappointing" election results, they will have to do even less than they have already done, and since they've done nothing, that's a real challenge. You know, bi-partisanship and all. They pretend that they want the Republicans' support, but only 20% of the public is Republican. The Democratic leadership is ignoring the Democratic voters, their own voters, the progressives, the people who elected them.

Here's my advice to the Democrats: Wake up little Susie, the party's over.

We already heard one of the Democratic leaders in Congress say that a vote on a healthcare system is unlikely by the end of the year. Why? Just vote on the pending proposals for medicare for all. Or just implement the same type of system they have for national healthcare in Israel. Get a xerox copy of it and vote "yes." They don't even have to do any real work, because other countries already have the blueprint for how to make it work.

Take Israel, for example. Doesn't everyone in Congress love Israel, or at least love all the money they get from Aipac, love the Israeli program of genocide against the Palestinians? If Congress loves Israel so much, why don't they just adopt for Americans the same national healthcare program that Israel provides to its own people? Which, by the way, includes dental for the kids. I think we should have dental for everyone, since it now is being shown that dental care is related to many serious health issues such as heart disease and diabetes.

But let's just start with free flu shots. Do you understand that there is a deadly pandemic that could kill millions of people, and our own government refuses to get vaccines and provide them free of charge to all American citizens? Why do they hate us so much?

The Democrats should not only lose the next election, they should be disbanded, their leadership thrown into prison or at least have their heads shaved and be sent into exile. Honestly, what else do they deserve? They had a huge percentage of the public out raising money, donating, campaigning to get them in charge. Then we have a strong majority in the Senate and House, control of the white house and many of the States. The Republicans are down to 20% of the population.

What have the Democrats done with this overwhelming public mandate for change? They’ve used their dominance to solicit bribes from the big corporations, wall street, and all the rich people in the country, to enrich themselves and ensure that they can continue to buy their position in future elections. They have conducted what can only be described as shake-down operations of every major financial organization involved in healthcare. Obama holds secret meetings with the insurance companies, promises not to pass single-payer or medicare for all, and in return the insurance companies pay huge bribes to the Democratic party. Repeat the same scenario with the doctors’ groups, the drug dealers, the hospital owners.

What have the Democrats done for the public to “reform” healthcare? If they compel 40 million Americans to buy health insurance, that will be another $50 Billion a year (per Kucinich) or up to $200 Billion a year (my calculations) stolen from the public and given to the Medical Industry, to the insurance companies, to the doctors, to the hospitals. What do I get out of this “reform?” Not a thing.

What have the Democrats done to create jobs for the unemployed? Nothing. What have they done to end these illegal wars in the middle east? Nothing. What have they done to rescind the Bush/Cheney evisceration of the Constitution? Nothing. What have they done to bring to justice those who started these illegal wars, those who have engaged in a program of kidnapping, torture, and murder? Nothing. Any efforts to indict, prosecute, imprison the Wall Street criminals who have stolen our money, to seize their assets and really save the country and the world? Nope. The Democrats are too busy collecting “donations” from Wall Street to enforce any laws.

As far as I’m concerned, a lifelong Democrat, I will not vote Democrat next year, or maybe ever again. I would never vote for a Republican, but I’ll either vote for a progressive independent or not vote at all. Something I’ve never done in my life. But these Democrats have convinced me there is no point in voting, the parties are essentially the same. Corrupt.

Day Of The Dead: Pere Lachaise, Paris.

Paris has a beautiful cemetery named Pere Lachaise. It's like an amazing park, vast, so large that its sections are divided up by cobble-stoned streets with street signs on poles. It is beautifully maintained with green grass, flowers.


Quite astonishing sculptures dot the landscape. But it's a park in which the best tables, the sunnier spots on the lawn, the exactly right seat to see the sunset or rise or smell the blooming flowers is reserved for the dead.

The dead who reside in Pere Lachaise include such notable Parisians and Lovers of Paris as Edith Piaf, Chopin, Bizet, Balzac, Rossini, James de Rothschild and Oscar Wilde. Because of the oddity of modern times, the best-known plot holds the body of Jim Morrison of the rock group, The Doors. It's so beautiful, in such an odd way.

It makes me wonder why France, a relatively small nation, can create such wonderful public spaces for their residents, while our own corporate-controlled government at best begrudgingly forces a tract home developer to set aside a piece of dirt with some sod, and call that a "park." Oh well -- we could learn a thing or two from the French about life.

Evidence In Support Of The Theory That Men Don't Mature, They Just Get Older. Halloween Costumes. And Speaking Of The Catholic Decency League....

I saw some guy named Ed something, Ed The Catholic, on a TV show. There was a panel discussing a bit from Larry David's show where Larry is urinating and accidentally splashes on a picture of Jesus, then the devout believe Larry's urine is actually the picture-Jesus weeping.

Anyway, this Ed guy was from the Catholic League, or the Catholic Decency League, one of those groups that patrols the world looking out for people who defame the Catholics, or attacking books and movies that they (in their esteemed talentless ignorance) deem unworthy, or inappropriate for viewing or reading. A censorship squad manned by the institution world-renowned for protecting pedophiles, sacrificing generations of young children to the sickness of some of their sexually-deviant priests, and instilling generations of men with a hatred and fear of everything associated with the female body. Them.

I couldn't help but wonder why Ed The Catholic didn't take the opportunity of being on national TV to warn the world that One Billion People are now starving because of the money stolen by the Wall Street Criminals, why Ed The Catholic didn't stand up and chant the name and address of institutions to whom people should send money to help feed the starving people of the world, why Ed The Catholic didn't demand that our government arrest, indict, prosecute, imprison the Wall Street criminals and seize their assets, redistribute them to the poor.

Why didn't Ed The Catholic talk about something that mattered, instead of just whining about Larry David's urine joke? Actually Ed The Catholic is a good example of why the Catholic Church is completely irrelevant in today's world. They obsess about sex and bodily functions, waffle on issues like pedophilia, pretend a big percentage of their priests aren't gay when they are, and everyone knows it, and most people don't care, and remain silent on the significant issues of poverty, inequality, theft, and the criminal silence of the world in the face of the starvation of One Billion People. Call me, Ed, next time you're going to be on TV. I'll give you a list of some important things that you should discuss.

Below are quite a few Halloween costumes in very bad taste (and a few that are just funny).
I dedicate the priest/pedophile-costume to Ed so he has something else to whine about on TV:

(Former Hooters Workers):



(Siamese Twins):

Miscellaneous Friday: Movies I Wouldn't Watch; Creamed Spinach and SheMales.

When daylight savings ends, I always feel like I'm in my coffin and somebody is lowering the lid. With that cheerful thought, I have only scattered last comments before the light goes away -- perhaps forever.

Movies I Would Never Watch

With two broken bones, I had the unfortunate experience of spending months laying on the sofa unable to do much of anything except be pissed off at the world. So I would read in the morning until my eyes gave out. And then: TV.

I realized that even in my desperate hours, incapable of reading, no one around to talk with, nothing but my foul mood for company, even then there were some movies on TV that I would never watch.

For example, I would never watch any movie that is described in the on-line listings with the following words:

"A heartfelt true story...."

"This third sequel..."

"Tom Cruise ...."


"Sincere but ambitious tale..."

"Inspiring story of ...."

"Tepid re-make of...."

"Scene-for-scene remake of...."

"Star vehicle for Madonna...."

"Gruesome and brutal...."

"Epic war story..."

"Cautionary tale ..."


Food That You Shouldn't Eat

Creamed spinach. What's the point? Assuming the green vegetable is good for you, what do you really think happens when you smother it in butter and cream?



And if you like cream, why waste it by putting it on spinach? Keep it separate, fill it with sugar and whip it then eat it on top of the pecan-chocolate pie that you sneak at night after everyone else has gone to bed.


Anchovies on pizza. I mean come on already with the pizza-schmeetza stuff. Pizza should be dough baked in the oven with red sauce on it with mozzarella cheese, maybe some pepperoni. Black olives if you really like extra-salt. Everybody used to know what pizza was. In fact, it was so simple, you could just say "Let's get some pizza," and the only question anyone would ask was "do you want pepperoni on half of it?" That was it. Simple, quick, no confusion, no democratic debate, no heart-healthy low-sodium California Cuisine bull. Pizza.


No more. Now it's complicated, cute, and expensive. When you say pizza, who knows what it means? Sometimes it's dough without any sauce. Plain dough. Sometimes they bar-be-que the dough, so it comes to the table with grill marks on it. That costs extra. Lots extra. Don't bother asking for a coke-and-a-slice because nobody knows what it means. Bar-be-qued dough with some chicken pieces scattered on top of it, over the grill marks, then a green salad dumped on top of the whole thing. Excuse me, but that's not pizza. Is everyone so stupid that they don't know what pizza is anymore?

Boxed vegetables. Think about it. The benefit of vegetables is that they are full of vitamins and anti-oxidents. If you eat them, you can live longer without cancer. That's the pretty well-established fact. They grow in dirt, in what is known as a "garden." They do not grow in cardboard. They don't belong in cardboard. You might as well store them in the toilet tank, then pull them out and slap them on a plate right before dinner. Vegetables belong in a garden, or fresh in the produce market. You can keep them in the refrigerator for awhile. Not inside cardboard on a shelf. Crackers go inside cardboard. Sometimes cereal does. But not vegetables.

And just because they say it's "vegetables," you shouldn't be so stupid to believe it's true. When they say 3-5 per day, then some corporation puts commercials on TV telling you to hook your kids up to an IV drip of sugar water because it's "full" of vegetables -- don't believe them. It's sugar water, and it's not good. Vegetables do not come from an IV drip. Wait till your kids are sick from their terrible diets of sugar water and bar-be-qued dough, then they can have the IV drip. For now, feed them real vegetables. Real fruit. The kind you have to chew.


Oh yeah, and catsup isn't a vegetable. That's just something Ronald Reagan said because the Republicans didn't want taxes used to feed poor kids vegetables. So they said a plastic pack of catsup was a "vegetable" when it comes to poor kids. That was a lie. Republicans are so stupid as a rule, and Reagan had dementia, but even if they wanted to argue the point, catsup is made from tomato, and tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable, F-ing morons. Even if they wanted to go into that level of stupidity. Maybe they could have said pickle relish was a vegetable because it's made from cucumbers.

Gender Reassignment


"Gender Reassignment." Ain't no such thing.

There's been a lot of press coverage this week of Chastity Bono, a girl, daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono. Chastity feels that she should have been born a man. But she wasn't. And the American medical and drug-dealing establishment is selling her, and others like her, on the false belief that they can actually change her gender. But she can't. It's just a deadly illusion.

What actually happens in gender reassignment is that people spend a fortune, often every extra penny they earn for decades, paying the medical industry to perform surgery that will allow them to pretend that they are a different gender. Chastity, a female, just had her breasts removed. I don't know if there is a surgery available to create a penis on a woman, but if there is, I'm sure it costs a lot. I know men who believe they should have been born female can have breast implants, hormone injections to make them "look" more female, laser treatments to get rid of their facial hair, surgery to remove their penis and even surgically construct a vagina.

They all take massive quantities of hormones in an effort to trick their bodies into appearing more like the opposite gender. Chastity is taking hormones which are lowering her voice and creating male growth-pattern facial hair. Hormones have been tied to heart attacks, stroke, death, and cancer. The idea of the medical industry selling this illusion that people actually can change their gender, when it is premised on a lifetime of injecting massive quantities of hormones, and people spending every penny they earn on medical procedures, so the doctors and drug dealers can get even richer still, is criminal.

How many transvestites or transgenders even fool the public, assuming that may be a goal? Most people realize that the 6' person with long hairy arms and the dress on isn't really a female, it's just a male who is wearing a dress.

Wouldn't the healthier move be to just say that if a woman wants to dress and act like a man, she can, and she doesn't have to mutilate her body and subject herself to these gruesome medical experiments that will likely kill her?

All women are pushed to take hormones to fool their bodies, trick their bodies into believing they are younger. They are encouraged to have repeated surgeries, breast implants, nose reduction, cheek implants (top and bottom), lipo suction, fat removed from one place then injected into another, plastic tubes injected into their lips to make them look "sexy."

But here's the thing. Why is it that the powerless segments of society are targeted by the medical industry and the centers of power to encourage them to turn themselves into medical experiments to try to look a certain way, to try to fool everyone about who it is they really are and what it is they really look like? Why shouldn't a 60 year old woman have wrinkles and be happy about it?

Why shouldn't a woman like Chastity Bono, or anyone else with gender conflicts, just go ahead and dress like a man, take a man's name if she wants, date women, marry a woman, do whatever she wants in her life, as she is and who she is, without having to participate in this gruesome process of medically changing every single part of herself? Who is it she's fooling? She believes that once all these procedures are completed she will "really" be a man? But she won't. She was born a woman, and she will die a woman. The question is, why isn't she allowed, as a woman, to choose to dress and act and date and love and marry whoever she wants? Why does she require surgery and drugs? As if that makes it okay, instead of making it just disgusting and possibly deadly.

I have never known a person who had plastic surgery who wasn't ultimately hoping that it would make them be loved, be accepted by others in general, and by someone special. That if only they could get rid of the big nose, or the fat, or have big cheeks or lips or large breasts or a smaller waist or flatter stomach, then they would finally be loved, finally be accepted, and not have to spend every day of their lives feeling bad, sometimes humiliated about themselves, believing themselves to be so inadequate that it would be impossible for anyone to ever really love them.

The solution to this is not surgery and drugs. That's just typical capitalist bull: buy more and you'll feel better. The solution is maybe being honest, addressing the feelings, good friends, perhaps a loving family, and a decent and accepting community.

What happens when they find out that the same people in the public who hated and detested them before, still do? Will anyone do studies to find out how young the transgenders die because of the hormones they take? Or how many commit suicide because they eventually realize that you can never really "change" your gender? Does anyone care?

The same hormones and "growth" formulas that kill the athletes will end up killing these transgenders. The illusion of "really" changing gender is mostly a sales pitch made up by the medical establishment to make them even richer.

Is Chastity Bono really any different from the gruesome "Catwoman" that is shown on TV entertainment shows as a cautionary example of someone who's had too much plastic surgery? Or the anorexics who look in the mirror and hate their bodies? Is this really any different? Except that the medical industry saw a way to make a ton of money by using these people?

If Chastity wants to dress in men's clothes and date women, or love and marry a woman, it's perfectly okay with me. But I don't think she should be having surgery and injecting herself with hormones, because she's going to kill herself by doing that. I think she should go ahead and live her life as she really is. Which apparently is as a woman who likes to dress in men's clothes, act like a man. Which is fine and probably within the range of normal human behavior. Probably every country has people who feel like this. Why should they be expected to surgically alter themselves? Why doesn't everyone else just learn to be more tolerant?

Did You Know That Halloween Comes From An Irish Holiday? Happy Samhain.

In ancient Ireland, the year was divided by the Celtic calendar into two parts: the dark, and the light. The festival of Samhain took place at the end of the harvest, right at the beginning of winter, when the dark came. It was marked by a three-day festival in which people would celebrate the end of the harvest and prepare for the winter by making sure they had enough food put away. A bonfire was lit in the community, everyone extinguished their home fires, and during the festival all members of the community would bring a torch and get a "new" fire to bring to their homes for the winter. This was said to bind the members of the community together.


Samhain is also related to the ancient festival of the dead. Monday, November 1, is the day of the dead this year.

(The five-point star around the cat's neck, the Pentagram, was considered a connection to God, a symbol of protection)

The Irish believed that during Samhain, the barrier between this world (of the living) and the other world (of the dead) became thin and penetrable, and the dead could return to the living world during that holiday. People would set places at the table for their dead relatives to join them for a meal. It is believed that the habit of creating scary masks and costumes originated because it was supposed to fool any evil spirits who might come from the dead world into the living, and make them think that people were themselves evil spirits and should not be touched.

In modern America, the end of the harvest time is celebrated in most communities by Halloween when children dress up as monsters and ghosts, and go door to door asking for candy. "Trick or treat" is what the children say to the homeowners when they open their front door. The question is this: would you rather that we children play some "trick" on you? Or would you rather give us a "treat," usually candy. In Ireland, the children during this holiday sometimes went door to door performing songs and dances for their neighbors.


The term "Halloween" is derived from an old English term which meant "eve of" All Saints Day. All Saints Day is a Christian Holiday which used to be celebrated in the spring. In around 700-800 A.D., the Catholic Church wanted to eliminate the "Pagan" holidays and rituals of the Irish, and moved All Saints Day from the spring to November 1 in the hopes of substituting it for the Irish festival of Samhain. It didn't work, and eventually Samhain, the modern Halloween (or "eve of All Saints Day), and All Saints Day (sometimes called the Day of the Dead) all became merged and occurred around the same time, at the end of October and early November. All Saints Day is November 1.

Among the current symbols of Halloween which come from Ireland are the practice of lighting candles and displaying them in the front of the house (which was done to recognize the people who were departed from this life), and carving lanterns with faces from vegetables (usually turnips). The term "jack-o-lantern" comes from an Irish tale of an old farmer named Jack who fooled the devil by chasing him up a tree, then carving a cross at the base of the tree. The devil cursed Jack and forced him to wander the earth forever with one candle inside a carved turnip.

In the U.S., the Halloween masks and costumes have been heavily influenced by the movie industry, so that modern monsters such as Frankenstein and Dracula replaced the more traditional Irish masks of vague "spirits." How many Michael Jackson "Thriller" costumes will be sold this year?