Snakes alive, Halloween has become a much bigger deal than it was in my own days of trick-or-treating. Not that it needed a lot of help, but zombie-fever’s added another kick to the festival. Last weekend I was in Reno, and a reported 20,000 folks participated in a “Zombie Crawl” through the bars that lasted until 6:00 AM. Probably a sign of the End Times, eh?
Here are some final news items of the day:
* Senate Republicans block vote on first of three D.C. Court of Appeals nominees, apparently happy to provoke another “nuclear threat” crisis.
* Study shows “Cash for Clunkers” wasn’t the best stimulus idea around.
* NYC raises minimum tobacco purchase age to 21.
* At Ten Miles Square, Jonathan Bernstein warns that trickle of House Republicans favoring vote on comprehensive immigration reform not enough to make the bill “undead” just yet.
* At College Guide, Seth Masket suggests new models for higher education won’t take off so long as people doing the country’s hiring are products of the old models.
And in sorta-non-political news:
* Stumbled across a fascinating account from 2010 of a conservative evangelical Halloween “Hellhouse” in my home state of Georgia. Seems the Antichrist sounds a lot like Barack Obama.
So that’s it for Halloween 2013. The day isn’t complete without a tribute to our pointy-hatted witchy friends (no offense to genuine Wiccans, who mostly have a good sense of humor about it all). So here’s Donovan with “Season of the Witch.”
Ah well, let’s have dessert: David Bowie performing “Scary Monsters.”
Selah.
