Halloween 2008 notes

El Día de los Muertos, 2008. Dada, Thursday, up on the roof, honoring the dead.

Joke of the Day: A headline on the computer this morning comes from the 'Queen of glittering generalities' herself: It reads, "Palin says Obama infomercial short on specifics." (This from someone who wouldn't know a specific if it snuck up behind her and slapped her up side the head.)

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Another Halloween in which we honor the dead by OD'ing our kids on high fructose corn-syrup laced goodies.

I think I prefer the Mexican version, El Día de los Muertos, where food is served up to the departed on little altars, the irony being, high fructose corn syrup - which poses no health dangers to the deceased - is mostly absent from their treats. It's the living whose health gets endangered with the HFCS junk.

Another nice thing about El Día de los Muertos is it can be celebrated for more than one day (from October 28 to November 4) which, if you think about it, seems better. In that they are now dead forever, dead for eternity, I think it's nice more than one chintzy day can be devoted to their memories.

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There's a story in this morning's paper about a man who committed suicide yesterday by jumping to his death onto the freeway from atop the "Spaghetti Bowl." That's the interchange between U.S. 54 and Interstate 10 here in the city. Personally, I think it's a shame how thousands of motorists were inconvenienced, delayed, as two lanes of the interstate rush hour traffic were closed down for a couple of hours, but then good high places in the city that don't overlook the streets and highways of commerce are hard to find, I suppose.

The victim was a 52 year old male. He left a note. While it's entire contents weren't revealed, we do know from a person at the scene it said in part, "Obama take care of my family." Not to mention he's going to miss this year's El Día de los Muertos celebrations. Or is he?

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Yesterday I watched the movie Body of War about "Tomas Young ... a gung-ho soldier (who) returned home paralyzed, struggling to deal with his phisical limitations and his changing feelings about the war."

This was an excellent flick I wish everyone could see, especially high school kids before signing a recruiter's military contract, not that it might change many minds of immortal adolescents. With a plot that was real-life, it left me with watery eyes a number of times.

I was extremely moved by this young man's story and the way he chose to manifest his post Iraq experience most positively despite his extreme limitations and struggles. And while injuries and fatalities in Iraq have declined in recent months, this movie will remain very pertinent, it appears, as our role in Afghanistan increases under whichever president we elect, just as its relevance for all future wars will be retained.

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Finally, I received the following e-mail from a relative in Oregon re early voting.

I voted early as well.  Maybe, I thought that if I voted early
the election would just end that much sooner, and this nightmare
could all be over. ... I went back and forth about if I were going
to vote for one of them or not, but in the end I just couldn't
bring myself to vote that way.  I am just counting down the days
that this will be all over.  Although I know that it won't be over,
it will just be the beginning of another 4 years.

I guess all I can do is just hope that it ends up being better than
the last 8 years, but that isn't really saying a whole lot.  But,
even though I didn't vote for a popular candidate, I rest in knowing
that I voted for who I thought would have been the best, and that I
did not have any part in voting for what could be another ugly chapter
in our nation's history.

Wow. This is someone who, as a baby, I held in my lap and fed Cheezits to (against "Mom's" wishes). I guess there's something to be said for genetics maybe.