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Trick or Treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat!

On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
Quotation from Halloween: Ancient Origins (History.com)

It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the Thin Veil between the worlds is lifted. Communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is easy at this time, for they journey through this world on their way to the Summerlands.
Quotation about Samhain or Halloween (Wicca.com)

Systems change. Cultures change. And remember: what’s important to you today might not be important to you tomorrow. Insofar as it’s possible to innovate, motivate, change and grow, it’s possible to improve your expectation of the mean.

Quality of Life: What’s Important (Craig Hospital) “How can everything seem so good when compared to others, things are so bad?”

Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
Quotation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Another quotation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, same speech

Make no bones about it… It’s a bone of contention.
Those are idioms, not to be confused with idiots. An idiom is a group of words which, when used together, has a different meaning from the one which the individual words have, while an idiot is all too clear, to everyone but himself/herself.

It’s interesting to do a Google search for “Who is an Idiot?” I suspect that over time, the search results will change. There seems to be no shortage of idiots in the world.

DISCLAIMER: If you are an idiot, I did not mean you. Idiots are always the other people.
Wink wink, nod nod.

I’m pretty sure they weren’t weather balloons or airplane lights.
They were real live turkeys–FLYING! Which brings me to
Political Rule #1: Always believe your lies. It shows integrity.

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.
Quotation from American President George W. Bush

When I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale and never tried it again.
Quotation from Former American President Bill Clinton

I want to say this to the American people. I want you to listen to me… I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
Another Quotation from Bill Clinton

Wall Street Sex Scandals, A Partial History (Wall Street Journal)

I may not have been the greatest president, but I’ve had the most fun eight years.
Another Quotation from Bill Clinton

I’m curious. I love America. It’s a wonderful country.
But raise your hand if you thought “Global Economy”
meant that the rest of the world would have to bail
America out of trouble because it’s “too big to fail.”
Yeah, that surprised me too. We’re all in this together.

Is America Too Big to Fail? (International Herald Tribune)

I’m a failure as a woman. My men expect so much of me, because of the image they’ve made of me—and that I’ve made of myself—as a sex symbol. They expect bells to ring and whistles to whistle, but my anatomy is the same as any other woman’s and I can’t live up to it.
Quotation from Marilyn Monroe

The art of being a politician includes the ability to respond
with a Great Answer without ever satisfying The Question.

The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors and produces debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates.

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.
Quotation from Margaret Thatcher

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
Quotation from Martin Luther King, Jr.

The problem with having perspective is
I will no longer enjoy the illusion
of being larger than life, will I?

If you don’t take your earrings out periodically,
the backing can become embedded in your earlobe.
Government spending has similar embedded characteristics.

What is an Earmark (Office of Management and Budget)

We can have tax cuts, but when we have tax cuts and do not have a surplus, the amount of the tax cut goes straight to the bottom line, adds to the deficit, and the deficit adds to the national debt, and sooner or later, the debt has to be paid.
Quotation from John Spratt

I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
Quotation from Ronald Reagan

September was the first time Encore Seraphine recorded
over 10,000 visits in one month. Thank you, awesome readers.

I used to drink tequila. I drank everything I ever owned.
Quotation from Costa Rica-born Chavela Vargas, also known as “La Chabela”

When you like something, you should do it all night long.
Another quotation from vocalist Chavela Vargas

I am a friend of life. At 80, life tells me to behave like a woman and not like an old woman.
Another quotation from Chavela Vargas, who publicly came out as a lesbian
at the age of 81. La Chabela made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 83.

Crossing the Border with Chabela Vargas: A Chicana Femme’s Tribute by Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, Associate Professor of Spanish at Stanford University (Lola Press)