My wife transformed herself into a witch; I became a cat burglar. The image of a skull glowed through the glass of our front door, flanked by jack-o-lanterns carved by our spawns, and a life-size skeleton hung from the soffit.Cobwebs and caution tape criss-crossed the porch. A boom-box blaring Bach organ preludes and fugues was a last-minute touch (and my idea).
Only four trick-or-treaters came a-calling, and two of those were from next door. Mrs. KintlaLake and I had a ball anyway, trading stories about going door-to-door when we were kids. We remembered coming home with candied and caramel-dipped apples, popcorn balls, cookies and brownies, all homemade.
Sadly, now everything has to be store-bought and sealed for your protection. It is what is is.
Despite the poor turnout at our door last night, we plan to do it up bigger and better next year. When it comes to holiday displays, in some ways skulls and ghosts really are more our style than Santa Claus and baby Jesus...
Pulse check: Campaign 2010
An Ohio Elections Commission panel ruled yesterday that an ad for incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland, pointing out that challenger John Kasich earned an "F" from the National Rifle Association, is indeed accurate. The NRA has endorsed Strickland, grading him "A+."
The Kasich campaign continues to run radio spots touting an "A" grade from the NRA. The ads air in rural areas, of course.
It's that kind of year.
I was pleased to see that the same panel ruled that Josh Mandel, Republican candidate for state treasurer, lied in a TV spot and two direct-mail ads that portrayed incumbent Kevin Boyce as a Muslim. Boyce, an African-American Democrat, is a Christian.
Sound familiar?
Mandel's latest TV spot ends with this line:
"For an honest treasurer with integrity: Josh Mandel."My ass.
The OEC rulings, along with the facts they illuminate, probably come too late to do what they should -- buoy Strickland and sink Mandel. Besides, Americans don't seem to be big on facts these days.
Over in Delaware, the incurably insubstantial Christine O'Donnell is demonstrating that nutjob and nutcase can coexist in the same troubled head.Recently, for example, O'Donnell admitted to paying half the rent on her townhouse with campaign funds. She says it's all perfectly legal. As it turns out, it's not.
In this political climate, it's hard to say how many votes (if any) that'll cost her. She still has a lock on paranoiacs and conspiracy junkies:
"[My opponents] are following me. They follow me home at night. I make sure that I come back to the townhouse and then we have our team come out and check all the bushes and check all the cars to make sure that -- they follow me."That's what she told The Weekly Standard in September. What's more, she claims to have been the target of threats, vandalism and black-bag break-ins since her 2008 campaign (at least). I'm not sure that I believe a word of it, considering the source.
Like I said, it's that kind of year.
Same blog, new look
I used a pre-fab template when I launched KintlaLake Blog back in March of 2008. Although I've tweaked it slightly from time to time, you've been seeing pretty much the same layout for about two years.
A couple of weeks ago I began to freshen things up around here -- colors and graphics, certainly, along with new information in the right-hand column.Under the Links heading you'll find some of my favorite destinations on the Web, sites that I find useful. The Library section is a bookshelf of sorts -- links to words, images, videos, music and other works of significance or worth.
This is a dynamic place, not a static one, so KintlaLake Blog won't stay this way forever. I simply decided that it was time for a change.
