We don’t want to scare the kiddies, so the pic is after the jump. Prepare yourself, for you may actually JUMP when you see this.

But wait, there’s more…

Have you chosen your Pumpkin Carols and cut up a bedsheet for your ghost costume?

I want to do my part to help poor Linus welcome The Great Pumpkin by making my pumpkin patch the most sincere ever.  To help celebrate, I’m including a clip from a holiday staple around my house.  We quote this every time we carve a pumpkin.

It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown – Pumpkin – video powered by Metacafe

And just because we have yet another football game tonight (which means I don’t get to hand out candy…arrrrrgh, the dilemma!), this one’s for all the gridiron giants who will celebrate Halloween this year by dressing up as high school football players, and the parents who dress up like mummies just to cheer them on.

It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown – Football – video powered by Metacafe

Let this be a lesson to you…always get your documents notarized.

Watch out for little kiddoes wandering the streets tonight.  Have a safe, great, wonderful, happy, candy-filled Halloween, everybody, and I hope you don’t get any rocks…I am outta here!

Just in case you were still undecided on who to vote for in the upcoming American Presidential election, and you’re confused by all the contradictory “facts” and mudslinging coming out of Washington, here’s a site which purports to cut through the crap and bring you the real story on both sides of the political coin.  Called FactCheck.org, it claims to show people what’s really going on behind those political ads, speeches, electomercials, spin, and rumors.  Best of all, it doesn’t seem to be to favor one political party or ideology over another, because it features all sides of the political spectrum.  At least, the articles I’ve read seem to fairly cover both liberal and conservative politicians and points of view.

Among some stories I found that might be of interest:

• An anti-Obama group said that he would give a driver’s license to someone like terrorist Mohammed Atta:

An upstart group calling itself the “National Republican Trust PAC” mixes a pile of false claims and the image of 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta to create one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign.

• The spot falsely claims Obama has a “plan” to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. In fact, Obama has said quite specifically, “I am not proposing that that’s what we do.”
• The ad implies such licenses would enable terrorist attacks. In fact, Atta wouldn’t have needed one to carry out his attacks.

• It claims that Obama’s health care plan will apply to illegal immigrants. But Obama has stated quite clearly that his plan “does not” cover illegal immigrants.

• The ad falsely claims that Obama’s plan “gives illegals Social Security benefits,” which is also flatly untrue. [...]

Despite its name, the National Republican Trust has no formal connection to the Republican Party. [k's note:  People forget, or just don't know, that the word "republican", lower-case "r", did not originally describe one political party.] It is an independent group with ties to the conservative Web site Newsmax. It sprang into being barely a month ago and has reported spending more than $900,000 to attack Obama through e-mail messages and, now, TV ads.

Its TV spot first showed up on the air in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 26, and it has also received considerable circulation on the Web. It attempts to link Sen. Barack Obama to the 9/11 hijackers. The link? A spurious claim that Obama plans to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. NRT PAC, which is headed by a former writer for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Insight magazine, says it plans to air the ad in other swing states.

• An Obama ad says McCain is going to cut meemaw and peepaw’s medical benefits:

In a TV ad and in speeches, Obama is making bogus claims that McCain plans to cut $880 billion from Medicare spending and to reduce benefits.

• A TV spot says McCain’s plan requires “cuts in benefits, eligibility or both.”

• Obama said in a speech that McCain plans “cuts” that would force seniors to “pay more for your drugs, receive fewer services, and get lower quality care.”
• Update, Oct. 21: A second Obama ad claims that McCain’s plan would bring about a 22 percent cut in benefits, “higher premiums and co-pays,” and more expensive prescription drugs.

These claims are false, and based on a single newspaper report that says no such thing. McCain’s policy director states unequivocally that no benefit cuts are envisioned. McCain does propose substantial “savings” through such means as cutting fraud, increased use of information technology in medicine and better handling of expensive chronic diseases. Obama himself proposes some of the same cost-saving measures. We’re skeptical that either candidate can deliver the savings they promise, but that’s no basis for Obama to accuse McCain of planning huge benefit cuts.

• McCain attacks Obama’s tax plan yet again…second verse, same as the first:

The McCain-Palin campaign has released a new ad that once again distorts Obama’s tax plans.

• The ad claims Obama will raise taxes on electricity. He hasn’t proposed any such tax. Obama does support a cap-and-trade policy that would raise the costs of electricity, but so does McCain.

• It falsely claims he would tax home heating oil. Actually, Obama proposed a rebate of up to $1,000 per family to defray increased heating oil costs, funded by what he calls a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

• The ad claims that Obama will tax “life savings.” In fact, he would increase capital gains and dividends taxes only for couples earning more than $250,000 per year, or singles making $200,000. For the rest, taxes on investments would remain unchanged.

The McCain campaign argues in its documentation for this ad that, whatever Obama says he would do, he will eventually be forced to break his promise and raise taxes more broadly to pay for his promised spending programs. That’s an opinion they are certainly entitled to express, and to argue for. But their ad doesn’t do that. Instead, it simply presents the McCain camp’s opinion as a fact, and it fails to alert viewers that its claims are based on what the campaign thinks might happen in the future.

• And just where do we start with the mud thrown at Sarah Palin?

We’ve been flooded for the past few days with queries about dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages making claims about McCain’s running mate, Gov. Palin. We find that many are completely false, or misleading.

• Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she increased funding and signed a bill that will triple per-pupil funding over three years for special needs students with high-cost requirements.
• She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a “What if?” question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin’s first term.
• She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982.
• Palin never endorsed or supported Pat Buchanan for president. She once wore a Buchanan button as a “courtesy” when he visited Wasilla, but shortly afterward she was appointed to co-chair of the campaign of Steve Forbes in the state.
• Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in Alaska’s schools. She has said that students should be allowed to “debate both sides” of the evolution question, but she also said creationism “doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”

For more on each story, click the links…what I’ve provided is a summary only.  And there is much more there about both political parties.  They don’t appear to play favorites.

Basically, it comes down to this…if you’re vehemently anti-Obama or anti-McCain, wholeheartedly anti-Republican or anti-Democrat, nothing is going to change your mind.  However, if you approach these things with an open mind and a willingness to look beyond the whitewash applied by slick professional political fence-painters, you might find out some interesting facts.  My dad always taught me to “vote your conscience, not the party,” and I’ve found that to be good advice.

The important things are that you become informed, that you get the information you need to make your decision, and then that you get out there and vote next Tuesday!

[I guess I need to say it...the above opinions are k's alone, and don't necessarily reflect the views of everyone at GlossLip, Blogcritics, Technorati, my house, the interwebs, or anyone else on the third rock from the sun.]

UPDATE:  For everybody flipping out and wetting themselves because of the name Annenberg Foundation (which I knew about before writing the article, and which is on the top of the site in question), here is an article from the Huffington Post:

On Wednesday morning, John McCain’s campaign released a list of 100 former ambassadors endorsing the GOP presidential nominee.

Second on the list, though her name is misspelled, is Leonore Annenberg, currently the president and chairman of the Annenberg Foundation and widow of ambassador and philanthropist Walter Annenberg. Ms. Annenberg was herself the “chief of protocol” at the State Department under President Reagan.

If the last name sounds familiar, it’s because it also graces the name of the Chicago education board where Barack Obama and William Ayers sat in the room six times together.

In recent days, the McCain-Palin ticket (and particularly Palin) has faulted Obama for having served on that board with Ayers, who was a founding member of the radical 60’s Weather Underground group when Obama was in grade school.

Since then, however, Ayers has been rehabilitated in Chicago society, carving out a niche in education circles. As a former Republican representative in Illinois told NPR on Monday, smearing Obama for his board association with Ayers is “nonsensical.”

“It was never a concern by any of us in the Chicago school reform movement that he had led a fugitive life years earlier … It’s ridiculous,” Republican Rep. Diana Nelson said. “There is no reason at all to smear Barack Obama with this association. It’s nonsensical, and it just makes me crazy. It’s so silly.”

Separate calls to the Pennsylvania and California offices of the Annenberg Foundation were not immediately returned Wednesday morning.

Like I said, if you’re vehemently one way or the other, this site won’t make a bit of difference.  This is for people who like to educate themselves on the issues.

It’s official.  Armageddon is officially on the way.  Yes, the rumors are true…the rolling trainwreck known as Denise Richards’ reality show has definitely been renewed for another season:

Her E! reality series, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, has been picked up for a second season, the network confirmed Wednesday.

An official network nod comes more than a month after Richards herself told Usmagazine.com the show would return.

“We start filming in a few months,” Richards revealed to Us Sept. 16 at the Panasonic Lounge at the Passion for Pink luxury suite in L.A.

Averaging nearly 1.1 million viewers in its early episodes last spring, It’s Complicated followed Richards, 37, as she lived the L.A. life of a single mom to daughters Sam, 4, and Lola, 3.

Fabulous.  I wrote about this last month, but I was hoping it was just Denise blowing smoke.  Wonder if she’ll use that money to pay for her little girls’ therapy sessons?  After all, I’m sure that using your little girls to try and recapture what tiny bit of fame you once had can’t be good for their psyches.  Well, then there’s that whole “Mommy and Daddy acting like total morons even though they’ve been divorced for forever now” thing.  When all else fails, blame it on Charlie…after all, he’s the reason why she’s in the poorhouse and has to whore out her little girls to start with.

I’m sorry, but I can’t possibly believe that Denise has 1.1 million households watching her show just because they love Denise.  They probably watch for the same reasons people watch a train wreck, or slow down when they go around a cop who has somebody spread-eagle on the ground…it’s ugly, it’s gruesome, and it’s not very pretty, but you just can’t help but stop and take a peek.

Oh, and for all you haterz, I ain’t the only one who feels that Denise is doing nothing but prostituting her daughters to the television johns.

Save Sam and Lola!  Boycott!

Shauna Sand hits what appears to be the only pumpkin patch in California, while her daughter wonders why she can’t have a “normal” mommy.  In related news, Michael K from dlisted self-combusted over the news of two pumpkin patch visits in two weeks – Bitten & Bound

Jenna Elfman opens her mouth about some Scientology stuff, a voice comes out, sounds are made, nobody cares – Deceiver

Katie Holmes looks older than me (and that’s pretty stinkin’ old) – IDLYITW

Pink says that John Mayer told her that he only beds stupid women, which very well could have been a come-on and she missed her opportunity - ICYDK

Katy Perry throws a “Show Up As A Dead Celebrity Or As A Celebrity Who’s Career Is Dead”-themed Halloween party.  No word as of yet if anyone dressed up as her – Janet Charlton’s Hollywood

Just when you thought rock and roll had died, was buried and gone to hell, it is miraculously resurrected by none other than those old, grizzled rock vets AC/DC.

In recent years, Disney’s manufactured goo by-products have been topping the charts, either by way of former Mousketeers like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, or more recently, off-shoots of newer shows like “Hannah Montana” and made-for-tv movies like High School Musical. Don’t get me wrong, this type of music has its place in society, specifically for the tween listener who has yet to develop any real taste in music, but still, does it even belong on the music charts?

Well, not this week anyway. CNN is reporting that AC/DC’s rock dinosaurs from the late 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and now, in 2008 are back on top, debuting the charts at No.1 with their latest album “Black Ice”, knocking out the soundtrack for “High School Musical 3: Senior Year to No. 2.” Sorry Zac

AC/DC sold 784,000 copies of the album, despite a Wal-Mart-only distribution deal they signed with the retail giant.

All I can say is: for those about to rock, we salute you. And now, a blast from my distant rocking past. At least I know k will appreciate this!

*bangs head repeatedly*

It’s nice to know Hulk Hogan has his priorities straight concerning his vehicles.  His soon-to-be-ex-wife’s boytoy Hulkalike wants to drive one of Hulk’s cars, and the big man is having a fit about it:

The Rolls-Royce in question was to sit in storage until their marital assets were divided — because the car loses value if driven. But Linda recently wanted to take it on a joy ride anyway.

Once Hulk’s counsel got word Linda was having the car prepped to drive, they had the Rolls moved to an undisclosed location.

Sources tell us the car’s insurance was “woefully inadequate,” and Hulk had fears Linda’s 19-year-old boyfriend Charley Hill would drive it — which could have put the extremely expensive car at risk.

Maybe if he would have taken the same approach to his kids as he did his vehicles, perhaps that whole accident thing concerning his son Nick would not have happened.  But, at least he knows what is important, right?

Terry, a piece of advice.  If I were you, I’d make sure any insurance on any car I had was totally paid up and adequate.  You know, since she’s so fond of street racing and outrunning the cops.  After all, if Linda Bollea wants to take any car for a joyride, it’s hard to tell just what she’ll be doing while she’s out there:

At one point in the documentary, [Linda] was asked how she feels about street racing.

Her answer: “Oh, I love it. I love it. The rush, the speed on the road, stereo blasting, heart-pounding, racing in between all the cars, dodging the cops. It’s awesome.”

Anybody know what zero to sixty is in a Rolls?

This should be enough incentive to get even the most apathetic voter up out of his La-Z-Boy recliner and into the voting booth.  Krispy Kreme, that golden shining star of donuts, will be giving away free (yes, free!) donuts to anyone who votes:

On Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008, participating Krispy Kreme stores will offer one free star-shaped doughnut with red, white and blue sprinkles to each customer wearing an “I Voted” sticker. While voters may not always agree on the best candidate, voters can agree on one thing: Celebrating one of America’s most coveted constitutional rights can be oh-so sweet.

“We can’t guarantee that your candidate of preference will win on November 4, but we can guarantee that your right to voice your choice will be rewarded with a patriotic doughnut that will remind you just how tasty freedom really is,” said Krispy Kreme’s Chef Ron Rupocinski. “Krispy Kreme encourages everyone to take part in this historical election and vote.”

The star-shaped treats are made from Krispy Kreme’s signature, yeast-raised dough and available only on Nov. 4. The promotion is good for one doughnut per customer. Select stores may be offering yeast-raised doughnuts in the standard circle shape, but decorated with red, white and blue sprinkles.

The nearest Krispy Kreme store to me is about forty miles away, but by golly it just might be worth the drive for a free donut.  I mean, come on…they’re donuts!  And they’re Krispy Kremes!  And they have SPRINKLES!

However, maybe you’d like one of these?

Since I have a son who both plays the set and who rots out his brains playing video games, I’m pretty much forced to keep up on all things relating to both.  News in the gamer’s universe is that after a summer of wondering will they or won’t they, Guitar Hero or Rock Band, it turns out that the latter could be moar win than the former:

MTV is set to announce Thursday what it promises is an “unprecedented global music project” with Apple Corp., administrator of the Beatles catalog.

Videogame industryites are widely speculating that at least part of the project will involve getting Beatles songs for MTV’s music videogame “Rock Band.” The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that just such a partnership will be announced.

Both MTV and its primary competitor, “Guitar Hero” publisher Activision, have hotly pursued the rights to include Beatles songs in their games.

Online music providers such as Apple (the one that makes iPods) have also thus far unsuccessfully tried to get rights to the Beatles catalog, and it’s possible MTV’s deal includes some sort of digital distribution component.

It’s not clear exactly which Beatles songs MTV will get access to and how they’ll be integrated into “Rock Band,” though it will most likely be in the form of an expansion like the upcoming “Rock Band: AC/DC Track Pack” and June’s “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.”

Personally, I would rather hear Beatles music played over and over at my local Walmart than AC/DC (can’t stand ‘em), but who am I?  Oh yeah…I’m the pretty lady with the checkbook.  (family in-joke)  But I do hope they use generic rock singers for the songs…I think it would be pretty creepy to see a computerized John Lennon rocking out, but that’s just me.

On a related note, my son gets quite the little crowd around him when he plays Rock Band at the store.  I don’t even have to see him to know he’s the one taking a turn this time…white boy has rhythm.

I know that sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but let me explain:  The judge in the case keeps extending and extending dad Jamie’s conservatorship over Britney Spears’ affairs, so they decided to make it permanent until such time as it doesn’t need to be permanent:

Lawyers in the Britney Spears conservatorship case have just asked the court commissioner to make her conservatorship permanent. And the judge said she would grant the request.

The conservatorship was scheduled to end on December 31.

Sources say one reason why Brit & Co. wanted to extend the conservatorship is that it makes it easier for her to regain custody of her kids — the family law commissioner will feel more comfortable giving her added face time if there is a safety net.

The conservators will now also be responsible for handling her business affairs and career opportunities.

As for why they suddenly asked for a permanent conservatorship — we’re told the commish doesn’t want to keep extending temporary power…that it makes more sense to make the conservatorship permanent and then just lift it when Brit is safe and sound.

Under the permanent conservatorship a medical team will oversee Britney’s career to make sure what she does will not compromise her mental health.

The commish said, “The conservatorship is necessary and appropriate for the complexity of financial and business entities and her being susceptible to undue influence.”

That makes perfect sense.  This way, she can concentrate on her kids and her performing, and leave all the legal schtuff to the pros.  Obviously, Brit still isn’t well enough mentally to handle any more than is on her plate now, which is to be expected, considering the severity of her illness.  More pressure could give her a setback, and nobody wants that to happen:

[Lawyer Michael] Flanagan recalled how Spears told him: “I can’t face all those people. I don’t want to deal with all the people.” He adds, “She is not very strong. She is still very fragile. I had to explain things to her.”

And don’t forget that dad Jamie isn’t the only conservator, there is a lawyer on the case as well, so poo-poo to all yous who think Jamie is just out for her mucho dinero.