TheScroogeReport

California fires, terror, and Little Bo Peep 

What will I be doing this evening? Going out among them! Them, you know the ones…them. The ones that…oh, my gosh…celebrate Halloween.

As I cruise town on the way to my church’s Harvest Festival to man the Jungle Jump bounce house as a volunteer, I will probably see a few revelers. Even at the community outreach event, which is expected to draw about 10,000 people, I’ll have a chance to gawk at the costumed.

Will I think that the guy who made himself look like he is carrying his own bloody, severed arm is ingenious? Probably not. Or that the kid dressed as a skeleton is oh, so, cute? Well, maybe, but I’ll still wonder what’s the fascination with dressing “spooky.”

There’s been a few open forums about Halloween in the blogosphere, including at TheScroogeReport. I’ve learned a lot. But it hasn’t been so much through the blogs that I’ve pondered, but on memories, including those of last week in California.

One lesson, such as I learned during the first Halloween after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., is that celebrating terror or “having fun” with evil, makes less sense to me.

Now, just one week after huge chunks of Southern California burned and several hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed, once again, the pinnings of Halloween make less sense.

So, do we get rid of Halloween? That ain’t happening. Do I preach about the “horrors” of following close to occult practices and placing any real worth on gore, gouls, and ghosts? Not from me.

My answer is to go out among them. Whether someone is immersed in fake blood or dressed up as a precious Little Bo Peep, I’ll be hanging out with them tonight.

I think I’m called to.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child and had him stand among them.

And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

“Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

- Matthew 18:1-6

Be blessed today!

- Alexander, TheScroogeReport

Reaction to flag-folding recitation ban comes strong and swift 

The flag-folding recitation ban issued by the National Cemetery Administration to halt the ceremony in the state’s 125 national cemeteries has raised some strong reaction by U.S. war veterans and other groups.

This morning, I’m asking what is the proper response to yet another attempt to extract the mention of God in public?

I’ve come to the conclusion that this is about more than the separation of church and state. It’s about the desire to distance oneself from anything remotely associated with God. It is a spiritual battle between belief and non-belief within ourselves…individually and socially.

So what is the proper response to a threat to your belief in Jesus?

Perhaps the answer is to simply pray and act accordingly.

Here’s two actions right here:

American Legion
Charlie Waters, parliamentarian for the American Legion of California, said he’s advising memorial honor details to ignore the edict.

“This is nuts,” Waters told the Press-Enterprise by telephone from Fresno. “There are 26 million veterans in this country and they’re not going to take us all to prison.”

American Family Association
Sign the petition to President Bush asking him to rescind the action to ban the recitation now in use. It will immediately go to the White House.

Please forward this to your friends and family and urge them to sign the petition.

Petition link: Email form to President Bush

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Related: American Legion To Defy “Meaning of Each Fold” Ban

Church and State

California American Legion has drawn a line in the sand in regards to a recent ban on reciting the meaning of the 13 folds during veterans’ funerals.

The group is calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to reconsider the ban that effectively removes “God” from honor guard flag folding ceremonies at veterans’ funerals, as reported in WorldNetDaily.

As first reported in Riverside’s Press-Enterprise, a single complaint lodged against the words for the 11th fold during flag-folding recitations recently prompted the National Cemetery Administration to ban the entire recital at all 125 national cemeteries

The 11th fold celebrates Jewish war veterans and “glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

Several legion leaders say the ban might as well be rescinded, because it will be ignored anyway.

This from WorldNetDaily:

A memo from Steve Muro, director of the Veterans Affairs’ office of field programs, bans use of a recitation about the meaning of the 13 folds of the flag, which produce the famous star-covered triangle. The recitation references God several times.

“Effective immediately all national cemeteries are to refrain from distributing any handouts on ‘The Meaning of Each Fold of an Honor Guard Funeral Flag,’ remove any postings from all cemetery buildings and discontinue our VA-Sponsored Volunteer Honor Guards from using the handout as a script at a committal service during the folding of the flag,” the directive said.

Outrageous ban

“We in the California American Legion have called on the VA to reconsider and rescind its outrageous ban and allow the families of the deceased veterans to determine what will or will not be included in the military funeral service,” said Rees Lloyd, director of the Defense of Veterans Memorials Project for the American Legion Department of California.

“Our American Legion Riverside Post 79 MHD Team 12 has also stated we will defy the ban and follow the wishes of the families,” he said. “Such issues should be decided by the veterans’ families, not by bureaucrats and lawyers in Washington, D.C., covering their own behinds in [fear] of lawsuits by the ACLU and others of its ilk on behalf of disgruntled atheists, agnostics, liberal secular-cleansing fanatics, or Islamist jihadists who are offended by references to God.

“We will defy them and the VA itself and conduct the military services as the families dictate, not as government bureaucrats and bureaucratic lawyers dictate,” he said.

The folds, they say, represent:

1. Symbol of life

2, Symbol of our belief in eternal life

3. In honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of his life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world

4. Our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance

5. A tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, ‘Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong’

6. Where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

7. A tribute to our armed forces.

8. A tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on Mother’s Day.

9. A tribute to womanhood

10. A tribute to father

11. In the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

12. In the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.

13. When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, ‘In God We Trust’”

It was No. 11 that caused the problem, according to Muro’s memo.

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Related: Flag-folding Recitation Banned at Veterans Cemeteries Nationwide

Update: Legion leader: ‘There are 26 million veterans…they’re not going to take us all to prison’

CHURCH AND STATE

I forfeit my comment on this story and let this one represent my feelings:

“That the actions of one disgruntled, whining, narcissistic and intolerant individual is preventing veterans from getting the honors they deserve is truly an outrage,” said Rees Lloyd, 59, a Vietnam-era veteran and Memorial Honor Detail volunteer. “This is another attempt by secularist fanatics to cleanse any reference to God.”

This from the Press-Enterprise:

After complaint in Riverside, flag-folding recitation banned at veterans cemeteries nationwide

By JOE VARGO
The Press-Enterprise

Through thousands of military burials, Memorial Honor Detail volunteers at Riverside National Cemetery have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors of those being laid to rest.

The first fold, a narrator tells relatives, represents life, the second a belief in eternal life.

The 11th fold celebrates Jewish war veterans and “glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

A single complaint lodged against the words for the 11th fold recently prompted the National Cemetery Administration to ban the entire recital at all 125 national cemeteries.

A spokesman in Washington said the complaint originated from someone who witnessed the ceremony at Riverside National but would provide no other details and declined to release the directive banning the flag-folding recital, saying it was “an internal working document not meant for public distribution.”

Veterans are furious.

Read Full Story

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Related Update: American Legion To Defy “Meaning of Each Fold” Ban 

While fires were still scorching vast amounts of land and lives were still in the balace in Southern California, the state’s Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi had time to politicize the relief effort and throw darts at President George Bush.

This Week’s Top Scrooge - October 26, 2007

By ALEXANDER

Garamendi also had time to appear on several news shows earlier this week to erroneously say that the war in Iraq was to blame for a limited amount of National Guard troops able to fight the fires in California.

Without missing a beat, he also said the president’s visit to the disaster scene Thursday was a distraction.

In one interview the Democrat said, “OK, President Bush comes out, we’ll be polite. But frankly, that’s not the solution. How about sending our National Guard back from Iraq so that we have those people available here to help us?”

Savvy reporters were able to dispute Garamendi in a heartbeat with these facts from the Pentagon:

Some 1,500 Army National Guard and Air National Guardsmen are helping firefighters, not on the fire lines, but doing other tasks to free up the firefighters.

About 100 defense employees, including active duty military personnel and civilians, are fighting fires. That’s 12 firefighting teams, mostly civilian, and their 12 fire engines.

550 Marine Corps personnel at Camp Pendleton were prepared for possible firefighting duty and did help with the fire right on base.

Another 17,301 National Guardsmen are available in California, if needed.

Six C-130 aircraft fitted with firefighting systems were sent to Point Mugu, two from the Air Force Reserve at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs and four from the Air National Guard in Wyoming and North Carolina. They arrived in California in time to begin flying missions Wednesday morning.

11 Pentagon helicopters equipped with water buckets are available to help in fire suppression.

Local bases, under emergency assistance authority, provided some 10,000 cots to local evacuation sites.

There are about 300,000 uniformed and civilian defense employees and dependents living in the San Diego area.

Also, a former White House adviser, confirmed that another 1,500 National Guard troops were available in a moments notice and more could be pulled from other states.

Shame on you, Lieutenant Governor Garamendi for picking such a critical time to spit out such useless garbage. You should have taken a cue from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and our president, showing compassion for the victims and the relief workers.

However, you chose to be a political arsonist instead of a leader amongst Californians needing quenching relief.

Shame on you, This Week’s Top Scrooge.

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We’re certainly not saying, ‘Turn or burn.’ Forced faith is no faith at all. - Volunteer at ScareMare, a horror house with Jesus at the end.

These many attempts to transform Halloween into opportunities for Christian outreach really have some dicey efforts. Take for example this haunted house in Virginia. The “process” involves quenching the thirst to be scared with some realistic gore and fright, then giving Jesus and His message at the other end. Well, it seems kinda cool, but on the other hand it still appears to lift up the whole undead thing a little high.

I still give the effort a thumbs up….God’s church works in more ways than we can ever comprehend. About 20,000 people a year visit the ScareMare with many professions of faith. Just don’t get me in that horror house!

This from The Roanoke Times:

ScareMare’s holy horror house
This Halloween experience isn’t about scaring the bejesus out of visitors. Instead, it’s about scaring them and leading them to Jesus.

By ERINN HUTKIN

LYNCHBURG — Lighted torches glow on each side of the fogged-over entry gate. Then comes the graveyard marked with crooked tombstones leading to the house — weather-beaten, windows boarded, two stories tall and creepy.

The pre-Halloween sky is blue-black. A half moon is visible through the trees.

Shortly before showtime, a young man — a stage manager type — stands among the headstones and makes an announcement to the lost soul crouched beside an open grave, to the pale-faced guy carrying a severed arm and the young girl sitting upright in her burial plot, hair littered with dirt and dead leaves.

“You’re amazing, and I love you guys, and we’ve got a group coming pretty soon,” he says, exuberant.

Inside this empty house rumored to have been a day care center, an orphanage and the site of at least one death, nearly 200 students and volunteers from Liberty University gather on October weekends to run ScareMare, a haunted house.

This Halloween marks ScareMare’s 35th anniversary, drawing more than 300,000 visitors since 1972. Although those who operate the house that attracts roughly 20,000 visitors each fall from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and as far away as New Jersey and Canada attend a campus founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, there’s no shortage of blood.

Freddy Kruger is here with razor-blade fingers. As is the ghoul from “Scream.” Outside, anticipating the night’s first group and sporting bloody gashes across his face, Jesus waits on the cross.

“It’s really an evangelistic event,” said robe-clad Jesus — 22-year-old Liberty senior Douglas Slachter. “The majority of it is reaching out to those who don’t know Christ.”

Although some conservative Christians view Halloween as a pagan holiday and promote harvest festivals instead, ScareMare feeds people’s appetites for being freaked by the undead. After drawing people to the house, volunteers hope to lead them to Christ.

Although it’s not the only Christian-themed house — some that followed nationwide include anti-abortion scenes — ScareMare was perhaps the original.

Read Full Story
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Related - Halloween: History of the Dead, Fun, and Christian Angst 

Thoroughbred named Montimiero runs in a corral on the 6,000 acre Rancho Temescal in Piru, Calif. (AP)

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Online giving information for the Southern California fires can be found at Network for Good.

There are plenty of blogs out there dealing with the California fires. Two I wanted to mention right now are Fox News correspondent Adam Housley’s blog, Housley in the House. You’ll find video postings from Malibu and Lake Arrowhead along with some life-as-a-reporter, covering fires posts. I left a comment for him to head San Diego way.

I’m sure there are more help fire victims blogs, but one that has got to be central to San Diego is the San Diego Union-Tribunes blog, http://helpsandiego.blogspot.com/. You’ll find some really good interaction between those needing help and those looking to help others…real specific as well.

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“This is what is left of my home,” Larry Himmel, a reporter for San Diego’s Channel 8, said yesterday during a broadcast while standing in front of his house in flames. “This is what I came home to.”

The Witch Creek fire still burning already has left a grim toll: 500 homes destroyed and 250 damaged; 100 commercial buildings destroyed and 75 damaged; 50 outbuildings destroyed and 50 more damaged. At least 145,000 acres burn.

“I think there’s a very good possibility it will reach the coast before it’s finished,” said Bill Metcalf, chief of the North County Fire Protection District.

Source: SD Union-Tribune

Photo:  Poway, Firemen run as the heat intensifies as Homes along Twisted Branch Road fully engulfed. California, Mandatory Credit: photo Sean M Hafffey/San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Press