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So far, two costume companies that had claimed success in picking the winning candidate in years past both have Sen. Barack Obama ahead of Sen. John McCain nationally, while the competition in Indiana is said to be neck and neck. However, there might be a wrinkle in the longstanding logic this year with what has been dubbed the Palin factor. Because she was picked too late for retailers to make masks, they said they've been fielding a lot of requests for brown wigs and glasses. That might make a dent in McCain's mask numbers, but wouldn't show up in the...

McCain or Obama for Halloween?Posted: Oct 7, 2008 01:15 PM EDT While the polls are saying the candidates are in a dead heat, it looks like one man is definitely in the lead. That is if you base it off the number of Halloween masks that are selling. The owner of Fun F/X Victor Cao says Obama masks are selling 4 to 1 McCain mask. **SNIP** Cao says, "Based on mask sales, Obama is in the lead, but also this is a historical event so the people are going to want to get them no matter the outcome." Other favorite...

Another way to show your support for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Right-Click on the image, and select "Save Picture As" to download the graphic to your computer. Open the image in your graphics viewer program and print. Next, cut out the black sections with an x-acto knife. Put the resulting template on your pumpkin, and you can trace through the openings with a felt pen to put the pumpkin carving pattern on your pumpkin.

New York, Oct 3: Sarah Palin has become such a huge name that costume stores are getting deluged with requests for Halloween masks of the Republican vice presidential nominee. However, owners of costume stores say that they are facing a problem in fulfilling the customer's demand, because of Plain's relatively late announcement as a vice-presidential candidate. "The Sarah Palin is going to be huge," the New York Daily News quoted James Gleason, 26, a manager at Halloween Adventures downtown, as saying. Gleason, who say that five to 10 customers a day ask for her costume, has put in a rush...

...Good luck. Stores are scrambling for latex likenesses of McCain's running mate. And forget Joe Biden, Obama's second fiddle. The Delaware senator has run for president himself, but his mug hasn't been immortalized. ...Mask artist/filmmaker Larry Torro, though, has created a grinning Alaska guv he's displaying on YouTube and selling on eBay. Latest bid, for mask No. 21, was at $177.50 at 8:30 this morning. Other copies have much lower bids, but have failed to meet the reserve, a minimum price.

NEW YORK — The method is far from scientific, but Halloween stores are predicting the winner in the U.S. presidential election, and there's no exit polling needed - only political mask sales. Halloween suppliers say sales of masks of presidential candidates have predicted the winner in the last several campaigns. So far, that's good news for Barack Obama, whose mask was outselling John McCain's in Spirit Halloween and iParty stores and online at Amazon and BuyCostumes.com. But this year's Halloween campaign has a dark horse: Sarah Palin. Because of her relatively late announcement as a vice-presidential candidate, costume suppliers were...

New Yorkers who want a Sarah Palin Halloween mask just may have to settle for a pig wearing lipstick. Costume store owners, who say they're getting deluged with requests for masks of the GOP vice presidential nominee - have had to get creative since she wasn't even nominated when they put in their orders. "The Sarah Palin is going to be huge," said James Gleason, 26, a manager at Halloween Adventures downtown. He said five to 10 customers a day ask for a Sarah costume. He put in a rush order for rubber Palin masks from Rubie's Costume Co. in...

Church of England claims Hallowe'en is 'similar' to Christmas Eve Hallowe'en is a special religious festival just like Christmas Eve, according to the Church of England. By Martin Beckford Religious Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:52PM BST 18 Sep 2008 A website created by the Church claims that the event, which is based on a pagan celebration and has no Biblical basis, represents "light coming in the darkness" similar to the arrival on Earth of Jesus Christ. It is part of a campaign by clergy to stop the spread of the secular American interpretation of Hallowe'en that sees children dress in...

Students Rebuked Over Virginia Tech Shooting Victim Halloween CostumesSaturday, December 08, 2007 STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Photos of two Penn State students dressed up as victims of the Virginia Tech massacre for Halloween prompted a rebuke from the university this week. The pictures, which show the students wearing Virginia Tech shirts covered in bullet holes and fake blood, recently surfaced on Facebook.com, a social networking site. The students were not disciplined, but Penn State condemned the actions in a letter sent to Virginia Tech officials. "We're appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity and lack of common...

All it took were a couple of pictures posted on the Internet. Mere hours after a Virginia television station reported that Penn State students had uploaded pictures of Halloween partygoers dressing as Virginia Tech shooting victims, criticism exploded from both campuses, with one Facebook.com group denouncing the costumes reaching 4,100 members as of 2 a.m. this morning. The only publicly accessible picture, uploaded after Halloween, shows a woman wearing an orange Virginia Tech T-shirt smeared with blood and a bullet wound, posing jauntily. According to television station WSLS in Roanoke, Va., several other pictures showed a similarly attired man. For...

Wasilla women indicted on Halloween theft charges HALLOWEEN CRIME: Eight children who were robbed testify. By ANDREW WELLNER PALMER -- Eight children whose candy was taken from them at gunpoint by two women on Halloween in Talkeetna, according to Alaska State Troopers, testified Thursday before a grand jury. Two women -- Kendra Grace Butts, 18, and Amber Marie Martin, 20, both of Wasilla -- were indicted Friday on seven counts of robbery, one of attempted robbery and eight of assault. If convicted, they face a maximum of 180 years each in prison. The minimum sentence for robbery with a gun...

Alameda police have arrested three male juveniles in connection with the slaying of a 15-year-old girl on Halloween as she gathered with friends at the city's Washington Park. But it was not immeditaley clear whether one of the boys was the actual shooter. Ichinkhorloo Bayarsaikhan, who was a junior at Alameda High School, suffered a single gunshot wound to the back in what police said was an attempted robbery. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Highland Hospital in Oakland. The shooter was among a group of about six boys who confronted Bayarsaikhan and her friends, police said....

As the plastic of the "holi-daze" emerges from retail storage, let me be the first to wish everyone a "happy Hallowthankmass." This is the annual two-month binge of self-centeredness, self-indulgence and self-satisfaction. This is the season to be sinister, to be stuffed, and to squander. On Oct. 31, we'll celebrate ugliness, horror and fear! We again will teach our little ones to be extortionists! Trick or treat is extortion. We sensationalized terror and glorify fear. Why is there so much horror in our world? We celebrate it every Halloween. Then on the fourth Thursday of November, we celebrate gluttony. On...

My boss's Sister In Law put this on eBay.

The story isn't that the Democrats finally took on Hillary Clinton. Nor is it that they were gentlemanly to the point of gingerly and tentative. There was an air of "Please, somebody kill her for me so I can jump in and show high minded compassion at her plight!" Barack Obama, with his elegance and verbal fluency really did seem like that great and famous political figure from his home state of Illinois--Adlai Sevenson, who was not at all hungry, not at all mean, and operated at a step removed from the grubby game. Mr. Obama is like someone who...

Art Bell returns to do his annual Halloween Ghost to Ghost special. Lock your doors, turn off the lights and listen if you dare!

ABC News' Jennifer Duck Reports: The Vice President's dogs may beat the President's dogs in the best dressed category this Halloween. Late night TV shows have ridiculed and compared Vice President Dick Cheney to Darth Vader. So in a wicked response, Cheney dressed one of his dogs, Jackson, as the famous Star Wars character. Cheney's other Labrador retriever, Dave, is dressed up as superman. The canine costume may also be a jab at Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. In September after the Democratic-led Congress failed to persuade congressional Republicans to force the President to change course in Iraq...

It's easy to forget that Halloween isn't the same carefree holiday for every child in our community.In the central city, some neighborhoods can be scary places all year round. These are not places where you feel comfortable allowing young children to go from house to house accepting treats.In areas where drug dealing, gunfire and other negative elements exist, you think twice before allowing young kids to knock on every door. Mac Weddle, executive director of Northcott Neighborhood House, 2460 N. 6th St., thinks some of today's children will never get to know about the kind of Halloween fun their parents...

Halloween and Harry PotterMany have asked me my opinion about Harry Potter. There is, among good Catholics, a general unease about the series, but the sense of disquiet is very, very difficult to define. I am at a bit of a disadvantage to comment on any particulars of the books since I have not read any of them or seen the movies, nor do I intend to—I have an aversion to adolescent fads and not enough time to spend on questionable materials when there is so much excellent fare for the soul out there. I do, however, feel it...

The hundreds of thousands of people who usually flock to an annual Halloween street party here are being warned to stay home or go elsewhere after several episodes of violence in recent years. City officials have advised would-be revelers through fliers, public service announcements and juvenile probation officers that they won't find many treats in the Castro District, home in past years to the largest Halloween happening in the San Francisco Bay area. What they will find are hundreds of extra police officers, shuttered restaurants, stepped up sobriety checks and no bus or train service after 8:30 p.m. "This is...

Let's start getting those creepy stories going!

When I was growing up, most of the kids in my neighborhood were fairly uncreative. Instead of thinking long and hard about what you wanted to be for Halloween, you'd run with your parent to the store at the last minute, and grab a prepackaged costume made by Ben Cooper or Collegeville of some famous character. Superheroes, Monsters, and Star Wars characters were usually the favorites, but every now and then you came across a few gems that really made you scratch your head.

10. You get winded from knocking on the door. 9. You have to have another kid chew the candy for you. 8. You ask for high fiber candy only. 7. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your Balance and fall over. 6. People say: "Great Boris Karloff Mask," And you're not wearing a mask. 5. When the door opens you yell, "Trick or .".....And can't remember the rest. 4. By the end of the night, you have a bag full of restraining orders. 3. You have to carefully choose a costume that won't dislodge your...

This Halloween night Capital Research Center wants to remind you that scary organizations like The Center for Science in the Public Interest don’t want you or your children to enjoy a night of sugar-filled fun. Instead CSPI (website: www.cspi.org), a non-profit food watchdog group, wants you to hand out “spooky plastic rings” and “temporary tattoos” in lieu of Baby Ruths or Crunch Bars thereby ensuring the arrival of some fresh toilet paper in your tree by tomorrow morning. (See CSPI’s press release in PDF form at http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/halloween.pdf.) The creepy CSPI recommends that parents have their children “save 5 treats to...

It is Halloween again, and to be frank, I really don’t look forward to talking about it on “BreakPoint” every year. At best, Halloween has become an excuse to ask total strangers for candy. At worst, it is a celebration of the mindless paganism our ancestors wisely turned their backs on. So this year, I would like to turn your attention to the often-overlooked celebration that Halloween calls to mind. In case you have missed it before, the name Halloween is a shortening of All Hallow’s Eve and signifies the night before All Saints’ Day. For centuries on All Saints’...

Happy Halloween! It's an all Halloween edition with lots of funny/scary cartoons, a montage of poor pets costumed by their owners and some people costumes as well. Plus some more miscellany including Bill Cosby's book excerpt, food ads versus the reality with appropriate pics and other this-and-that including some reverie on the ugliest but most comfortable of shoes.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

Wednesday is Halloween, the one day each year when it's good to be bad -- or at least grotesque and frightening.That doesn't mean goblins and tramps should leave their manners behind.Etiquette experts and Halloween lovers say there are rules to follow, even on the scariest day of the year, for kids and adults alike.Rules for kidsHow old is too old to trick or treat?Teenagers should leave the trick or treating to younger children. By the time they're 13, many teens would rather spend Halloween at a party with their friends than go door to door, anyway.There are exceptions: Teens trick...

Stories tell of haunted places on U.S. bases American military powerless against screams, bumps, spirits in the night Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 It’s not your imagination — maybe that sound in the night really was a moan. Stories of spirits and unexplained phenomena have persisted on U.S. military bases in the Pacific for years. Doors slam, shadows creep and voices shout in the night. Could it be spirits of the dead reaching out? As costumed ghosts and ghouls hit the streets for Halloween, Stars and Stripes has compiled some accounts of allegedly real ghosts and...

I don't know how to link or post a photo, if I did this would be more effective. If you have a wide stance this is a great costume. http://www.ep.tc/larrycraigmask/

ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2007) — People believe in magic for all sorts of reasons, Anne-Maria Makhulu said, including a deep-seated human desire for equality. Halloween is a time for children to dress up as witches, ghouls and goblins, but historically witchcraft was serious business, according to a Duke University professor. Though people today might view witchcraft as mere superstition, it’s evident from anthropological literature that, for some people, the practice has served a basic human need, said Anne-Maria Makhulu, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology who studies the ongoing practice of witchcraft in Africa. "We live in a bewildering world...

A drunken Halloween reveller in Germany found his costume was a little too realistic when he fell asleep on a train and was mistaken for a corpse. Fellow passengers thought the man, who was dressed as a gore-covered zombie, had been murdered and called the police. Police in the northern town of Bad Segeberg revealed how the 24-year-old had fallen into a drunken slumber on his way home from a Halloween party in Hamburg. Believing his hands and face were smeared with blood, passengers alerted officers after getting no response from him. A first aid team which was called to...

ATLANTA, GA - An alliance of several minority groups announced a major campaign to secure Halloween candy subsidies for children in low-income and minority neighborhoods. The action comes on the heels of a recent survey that revealed the sobering fact that parents in these neighborhoods were less likely to send their children trick-or-treating. The groups claim the subsidies are necessary to bring justice to children with little or no opportunity to collect Halloween candy...

Gabby Cirenza wanted to be a referee for Halloween. The outfit she liked had a micro-mini black skirt and a form-fitting black and white-striped spandex top held together with black laces running up the flesh-exposing sides. She looked admiringly at the thigh-high black go-go boots that could be bought as an accessory. And she thought the little bunny on the chest was cute. "Absolutely not," said her mother, Cheryl. "That is so not happening." Gabby is 11. And the Playboy Racy Referee costume was only the latest that her mother had vetoed one pre-Halloween-crazed afternoon at Party City in Baileys...

Night of the living Democrats See movie here

TRICK OR TREAT FOR UNICEF ... PLEASE DON'T Yesterday we had a caller tell us that her government school was promoting a "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" program for Halloween. She asked me what I though. I told her that UNICEF was definitely NOT one of my favorite charities. Now I'm certainly not an expert on charities, though there are several that I personally support. My wife, however, has made herself somewhat of an expert through her own tax-exempt charitable foundation. Not meaning to brag, but Donna is so serious about the ethics of charitable giving that she personally shoulders...

Poll: Hillary Clinton's Face Still the Spookiest as Top-Selling Candidate Halloween Mask Monday , October 29, 2007 AP Once again, Hillary Rodham Clinton leads in a poll. This time, she was top choice when people were asked which major 2008 presidential candidate would make the scariest Halloween costume. Asked about costume choices, 37 percent in an Associated Press-Ipsos survey this month chose New York Sen. Clinton, the front-runner among Democratic presidential contenders. Fourteen percent selected former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who leads Republicans in national polls. No other candidate exceeded 6 percent. Clinton was the choice of four in...

Once again, Hillary Rodham Clinton leads in a poll. This time, she was top choice when people were asked which major 2008 presidential candidate would make the scariest Halloween costume. Asked about costume choices, 37 percent in an Associated Press-Ipsos survey this month chose New York Sen. Clinton, the front-runner among Democratic presidential contenders. Fourteen percent selected former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who leads Republicans in national polls.

Once again, Hillary Rodham Clinton leads in a poll. This time, she was top choice when people were asked which major 2008 presidential candidate would make the scariest Halloween costume. Asked about costume choices, 37 percent in an Associated Press-Ipsos survey this month chose New York Sen. Clinton, the front-runner among Democratic presidential contenders. Fourteen percent selected former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who leads Republicans in national polls. No other candidate exceeded 6 percent. Clinton was the choice of four in 10 men and one-third of women. While a predictable two-thirds of Republicans picked her, she also was the...

City Officials Tell Resident Decorations Must GoPOSTED: 7:52 am EDT October 25, 2007 UPDATED: 8:38 am EDT October 25, 2007 LIVONIA, Mich. -- A Livonia man said he is being targeted by Livonia city officials for his Halloween decorations. Mike Kinney, 42, has over $10,000 worth of decorations, from gargoyles and vampires and even a large video screen. His display spans his lawn and his roof and the entire area in front of his house. Livonia city officials said the makeshift graveyard is in the public right of way and it needs to be removed. Officials said they have recieved...

"The survey found that 73 percent of whites versus 56 percent of minorities said their children will trick-or-treat on Wednesday. That disparity in the survey is similar to the difference in how people view the safety of their neighborhoods, according to the poll by The Associated Press and Ipsos. Lower-income people and minorities are more likely to worry that it might not be safe to send their children out on Halloween night."

October 26, 2007, 0:00 p.m. Tricked by UNICEFFinancing of Palestinian terrorism makes for one scary Halloween. By Dave Kopel Americans mostly know UNICEF through the “trick or treat for UNICEF� campaigns. The “trick� is on the donors who think that UNICEF is all about helping poor children. UNICEF has been a major financier of Palestinian “summer camps� which encourage children to become suicide bombers. One such camp is named for Wafa Idris, a female suicide bomber. During the late 1990s, UNICEF served as a propaganda organ of the Saddam Hussein regime. Relying solely on Iraqi government statistics, UNICEF and...

Indianapolis - Law enforcement in Marion County are giving parents one less thing to worry about when they send out their trick or treaters this Halloween. Parents are still going to have to go through their kids' candy stash and make sure they're sending them out in bright colored costumes, but concerns over sex offenders should be off the radar this Halloween. The Marion County Probation Department is holding a mandatory meeting Wednesday night for registered sex offenders. It's the courts way of getting them off the streets during trick-or-treat hours. They have to report Wednesday evening and will be...

Potentially dangerous candy is making rounds in Hennepin County. Certain chocolates and caramels found by the Southwest Hennepin Drug Task Force contain Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the active ingredient in Marijuana. The THC is boiled from the plant, then used in cooking the treats “With Halloween this week, it’s important to warn parents of this potentially dangerous candy,” said Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek. “If a child eats a small amount of this candy, it’s equivalent to smoking four very potent marijuana cigarettes.” The chocolates are thick and heavy, and can be found molded into various shapes like hearts, stars, lips...

For the freepers who enjoyed previous Sonic Moodswing shows (each show features different personalitiy in music (ie The Soldier and The Drummer to name 2) ... tonight's featured personality is "the Haunted" they're playing the original Amityville Horror trailer from 1979, the weirdest version of Bad Moon Rising I've ever heard and some other twisted treats Winamp or iTunes: ListenWindows Media: Listen

LONG BEACH, N.Y. - Call it the Misadventure of Captain Underpants and the Peeved Principal. A high school in suburban Long Island has banned all Halloween costumes after three senior girls showed up last year dressed as the underwear-baring subject of a series of best-selling children's books. Long Beach High School Principal Nicholas Restivo, who sent the three seniors home to change, said the episode solidified his sense that the school's costume tradition was disruptive. For the Captain Underpants costumes, the girls donned beige leotards and nude stockings under white briefs and red capes to portray the superhero, who has...

Scottish festival bans 'American' Hallowe'en By Tom Chivers Last Updated: 3:31pm BST 26/10/2007 A Scottish Hallowe'en festival is banning "consumerist" pumpkins in favour of turnips. Jack O'Lantern: persona non grata north of the border The spooky celebration, at Scone Palace, Perthshire, is being organised by Scottish firm Herald Events as a riposte to the Americanisation of the traditional autumn festival, based on the ancient Celtic ritual of Samhain and co-opted by the Church. Speaking to the BBC, Jock Ferguson from the company said: "We will be having none of that pumpkin or trick-or-treat rubbish. "Pumpkins are banned and will not...

I was making up trick or treat bags, when my inquisitive-and very hungry friend hopped up...