From Drudge” MILFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut school district is banning Halloween in an effort to be inclusive.
Victoria Johannsen, a mother of a third-grader at Live Oaks School in Milford Public Schools, says she received a letter stating the school’s decision to no longer recognize Halloween “arose out of numerous incidents of children being excluded from activities due to religion, cultural beliefs, etc.,” the Connecticut Post reports.
They will also likely ban Thanksgiving because not everyone is Thankful, and ban Christmas in deference to Muslims and Jews.
I, personally, don’t care about Halloween, but I detest the reasoning behind the decision
Chas, I see your point, I really do. But as a person who greatly dislikes Halloween (I’m not sure why), I would love that decision. A company I used to work for had a big to-do about it every year, with decorations, dressing up, awards, an inter-office parade, and general partying all day. I always took PTO on that day.
I have just finished reading a book called “Shariah, The Threat to America. It is a report by “Team B-II. These are a panel of experts in various fields concerning foreign affairs. It was produced by the Center for Security Policy.It is not a pleasant read. But every person in a position of authority should read it.
If you have an interest in Islam, it’s practices, and plans, you should read this. They are gaining influence and positions in many areas in the US. Especially the Muslim Brotherhood.
Not a pleasant, nor easy, read. But I highly recommend it.
Linda, I also get your point. But I have successfully ignored Halloween for many years. However, I think banning the kids from having fun is a bit much.
I hate to say it but I like Halloween. It was one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. Candy, cool costumes, roaming the neighborhood after dark. As a kid what’s not to like.
Chas, there are quite a few Christians who object to Halloween on religious grounds (for the record, I think their arguments about why Halloween are nonsense). However, the decision of the school does demonstrate how complicated things can get in religious accommodations. Rather sad when people start turning what is just good fun into some kind of discrimination test.
Mumsee, like Ezra Levant, I think the school will probably win this. The Supreme Court of Canada is strangely contradictory, but their decisions also are frequently very sound legally. That ruling about no prayer opening up town hall meetings was based on Quebec’s Charter of Rights. Remember how I said a few weeks ago that Quebec had gone in a very short space of time from firmly Catholic to firmly secular? Well, that case was a clash between old and new. I’ve mixed feelings about the opening prayers. On the one hand, God awards no brownie points for meaningless prayers, so it doesn’t really mean anything if they stop them; on the other, I’m reluctant to see that the kind of lawsuits that atheist groups pull in the U.S. are making their way up here. Publicly funded organizations here use church buildings for public services like voting booths, Royal Conservatory music examinations, etc. all the time. It would be awful and destructive if people started bringing lawsuits against such uses like the cases in the U.S. that I’ve read of (e.g. where else are you going to find a piano for the exam students to play?).
Now, about that constitutional thing. This is where Levant seems to just shoot off his mouth. There are two Constitution Acts, one from 1867 which he seemed to reference, the other from 1982. The 1982 Act contains the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, upon which Quebec’s Charter of Rights is based. The federal Charter is nothing revolutionary – it simply protects the basic freedoms like freedom of religion and conscience; but, that also applies to the atheist’s conscience who complained about the prayers. The 1867 Act doesn’t say anything specific about public prayers. The only thing I could find in the Act about religion was a guarantee of equal funding to schools of different denominations. In those days, Ontario was very Protestant and Quebec was very Catholic, and Atlantic Canada was either Presbyterian or Methodist, and if you were of the wrong denomination in any province, you weren’t going to get very far. The Act’s provision for equal opportunity for denominational schools was a very fair-minded proposition, and to this day in Ontario both public (formerly Protestant) and Catholic schools are funded.
Which brings us to the public school in Toronto that allows Muslim students to pray. It could be argued that there is a historical precedent for such religious accommodation within the 1867 Constitution Act. Before anyone thinks we are about to be governed by Sharia, I would point out that this is one school in a city with a population of over 2 and a half million people from nearly every corner of the earth. The Muslims may be a large minority, but they aren’t the only large minority. Levant should also be more measured in his criticism. First of all, it isn’t just radical Islam which segregates the women – that is the way nearly all mosques work – there was nothing radical about the Islam I saw in West Africa, but they did segregate. Secondly, Levant should remember his own Jewish heritage – there was a reason there was a Court of the Women in Herod’s Temple and women could not serve as priests. I’ve seen atheists argue that Christians degrade women because of those laws of impurity in the Old Testament.
The federal Bureau of Prisons has banned pork products from being served in the 122 prisons it runs nationwide, The Washington Post reports.
The ban started with the new fiscal year, which began October 1, and is attributed by the bureau to prisoners not liking pork. Surveys over recent years have found prisoners like pork least of all meats, and it is too costly, prison bureau spokesman Edmond Ross told the Post.
The National Pork Producers Council was skeptical.
If you think about the logical implications of these shifts, today’s behavior makes more sense. A Republican Party that is more populist, conservative and Southern is likely to reject what such voters see as elitist establishment leaders and their moneyed interests. A Democratic Party that has grown younger and more liberal isn’t as likely to embrace a Hillary Clinton as it was her centrist, Southern governor husband, Bill. What seems crazy, in short, is in some ways perfectly logical.
____________________________________________
Big debate tomorrow night. The stakes are especially high for Hillary.
My take is that it can’t help her a lot, even if she performs flawlessly & does well (as her poll numbers are nevertheless tanking and I suspect the “thrill is gone”); it would, however, keep her viable and in the game as the (tentative) front-runner.
But a poor or lackluster performance — even a single stumble — could possibly break her prospects, especially with what seems now to be a tepid, at best, embrace by the liberal wing (which is the predominant wing now) of the Democratic party (see party landscape analysis above).
Wandering Views 
From Drudge”
MILFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut school district is banning Halloween in an effort to be inclusive.
Victoria Johannsen, a mother of a third-grader at Live Oaks School in Milford Public Schools, says she received a letter stating the school’s decision to no longer recognize Halloween “arose out of numerous incidents of children being excluded from activities due to religion, cultural beliefs, etc.,” the Connecticut Post reports.
They will also likely ban Thanksgiving because not everyone is Thankful, and ban Christmas in deference to Muslims and Jews.
I, personally, don’t care about Halloween, but I detest the reasoning behind the decision
LikeLike
Chas, I see your point, I really do. But as a person who greatly dislikes Halloween (I’m not sure why), I would love that decision. A company I used to work for had a big to-do about it every year, with decorations, dressing up, awards, an inter-office parade, and general partying all day. I always took PTO on that day.
LikeLike
I have just finished reading a book called “Shariah, The Threat to America. It is a report by “Team B-II. These are a panel of experts in various fields concerning foreign affairs. It was produced by the Center for Security Policy.It is not a pleasant read. But every person in a position of authority should read it.
If you have an interest in Islam, it’s practices, and plans, you should read this. They are gaining influence and positions in many areas in the US. Especially the Muslim Brotherhood.
Not a pleasant, nor easy, read. But I highly recommend it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda, I also get your point. But I have successfully ignored Halloween for many years. However, I think banning the kids from having fun is a bit much.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I hate to say it but I like Halloween. It was one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. Candy, cool costumes, roaming the neighborhood after dark. As a kid what’s not to like.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well? What do we expect?
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Hmmm-it seems very wrong to hit like for that. 😦 Thanks for sharing, though.
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It’s no wonder that President Putin has little respect for President Obama.
https://mrconservative.com/2015/10/65135-breaking-putin-exposes-obamas-disturbing-connection-to-isis/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Chas, there are quite a few Christians who object to Halloween on religious grounds (for the record, I think their arguments about why Halloween are nonsense). However, the decision of the school does demonstrate how complicated things can get in religious accommodations. Rather sad when people start turning what is just good fun into some kind of discrimination test.
Mumsee, like Ezra Levant, I think the school will probably win this. The Supreme Court of Canada is strangely contradictory, but their decisions also are frequently very sound legally. That ruling about no prayer opening up town hall meetings was based on Quebec’s Charter of Rights. Remember how I said a few weeks ago that Quebec had gone in a very short space of time from firmly Catholic to firmly secular? Well, that case was a clash between old and new. I’ve mixed feelings about the opening prayers. On the one hand, God awards no brownie points for meaningless prayers, so it doesn’t really mean anything if they stop them; on the other, I’m reluctant to see that the kind of lawsuits that atheist groups pull in the U.S. are making their way up here. Publicly funded organizations here use church buildings for public services like voting booths, Royal Conservatory music examinations, etc. all the time. It would be awful and destructive if people started bringing lawsuits against such uses like the cases in the U.S. that I’ve read of (e.g. where else are you going to find a piano for the exam students to play?).
Now, about that constitutional thing. This is where Levant seems to just shoot off his mouth. There are two Constitution Acts, one from 1867 which he seemed to reference, the other from 1982. The 1982 Act contains the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, upon which Quebec’s Charter of Rights is based. The federal Charter is nothing revolutionary – it simply protects the basic freedoms like freedom of religion and conscience; but, that also applies to the atheist’s conscience who complained about the prayers. The 1867 Act doesn’t say anything specific about public prayers. The only thing I could find in the Act about religion was a guarantee of equal funding to schools of different denominations. In those days, Ontario was very Protestant and Quebec was very Catholic, and Atlantic Canada was either Presbyterian or Methodist, and if you were of the wrong denomination in any province, you weren’t going to get very far. The Act’s provision for equal opportunity for denominational schools was a very fair-minded proposition, and to this day in Ontario both public (formerly Protestant) and Catholic schools are funded.
Which brings us to the public school in Toronto that allows Muslim students to pray. It could be argued that there is a historical precedent for such religious accommodation within the 1867 Constitution Act. Before anyone thinks we are about to be governed by Sharia, I would point out that this is one school in a city with a population of over 2 and a half million people from nearly every corner of the earth. The Muslims may be a large minority, but they aren’t the only large minority. Levant should also be more measured in his criticism. First of all, it isn’t just radical Islam which segregates the women – that is the way nearly all mosques work – there was nothing radical about the Islam I saw in West Africa, but they did segregate. Secondly, Levant should remember his own Jewish heritage – there was a reason there was a Court of the Women in Herod’s Temple and women could not serve as priests. I’ve seen atheists argue that Christians degrade women because of those laws of impurity in the Old Testament.
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From Newsmax
The federal Bureau of Prisons has banned pork products from being served in the 122 prisons it runs nationwide, The Washington Post reports.
The ban started with the new fiscal year, which began October 1, and is attributed by the bureau to prisoners not liking pork. Surveys over recent years have found prisoners like pork least of all meats, and it is too costly, prison bureau spokesman Edmond Ross told the Post.
The National Pork Producers Council was skeptical.
LikeLike
I think if you are in prison, you ought to be a vegetarian.
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Interesting analysis on how both political parties have shifted and changed in the past 25 years. It’s not our imaginations
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-two-parties-arent-crazy-just-changed-1444673977
___________________________________________
If you think about the logical implications of these shifts, today’s behavior makes more sense. A Republican Party that is more populist, conservative and Southern is likely to reject what such voters see as elitist establishment leaders and their moneyed interests. A Democratic Party that has grown younger and more liberal isn’t as likely to embrace a Hillary Clinton as it was her centrist, Southern governor husband, Bill. What seems crazy, in short, is in some ways perfectly logical.
____________________________________________
LikeLiked by 1 person
Big debate tomorrow night. The stakes are especially high for Hillary.
My take is that it can’t help her a lot, even if she performs flawlessly & does well (as her poll numbers are nevertheless tanking and I suspect the “thrill is gone”); it would, however, keep her viable and in the game as the (tentative) front-runner.
But a poor or lackluster performance — even a single stumble — could possibly break her prospects, especially with what seems now to be a tepid, at best, embrace by the liberal wing (which is the predominant wing now) of the Democratic party (see party landscape analysis above).
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The Milford, Conn. school district has reversed itself, & will have the Halloween parades anyway.
LikeLiked by 2 people