What Happened??

I'm at a total loss - so much so that it took me a week to dare tap out this entry.  Something unheard of occurred, it might be a trick though, but either way, my siblings and I all had a wonderful, raucous, musical, VERY happy and grateful Thanksgiving!  A few mishaps (my sister Karen sat on the dog's head, he's a tiny thing poor guy) then she slipped in the dip and flopped on the floor (wine?).  We celebrate Thanksgiving at my brother Chris' house, he has the room and the fortitude.  He'd just finished repairing both bathrooms, they were stunning, but the flush was one of those super-sonic things.  My other brother Sean came running out screaming the toilet ate his shoe.  My sister Marianne said it tore the fuzz off her arse.  My other sister Linda thought it was magic (she lives in Maine) and by the way she has saline implants and was the victim of such ribbing about how silly it was, so after her 5th beer she flashed us all.  It was interesting and shut my brothers up real fast, but somewhere in my mind I kept hearing "fake, not healthy".  The oldest Marianne, who moved back here after almost 40 years in Canada (to preserve her sanity) attempted the usual "Let me give you my foolproof advice here" with that "alpha female" thing she has.  It can be annoying after you've already grown up and learned about life long ago, all done without her presence.  So when she started to lecture Linda (the boob girl from Maine) well, it was no-go.  Linda shot back with some great retorts, and Marianne realized something - she had an epiphany.  She could relax now!  No more "eldest child syndrome".  I really think our family is finally discovering their places in life.   

The table GROANED with food, courtesy of my SIL Penny, and as is tradition we digested by jamming out a few good tunes - me on piano, Chris on violin, my brother John on guitar, Sean on drums, Linda on maracas and her bluesy voice, Marianne with the tambourine, and poor Karen just spouting wine-induced nonsense, it was a riot and we had a blast.  We rocked, Karen rolled, did R & B stuff and of course all the oldies from the 50s my Dad taught me.  I can't remember a Thanksgiving this perfect.

There's just one catch:  We have no parents now, and I could sense those silent sighs of relief because we'd realized long before that we wouldn't be tearing out our few hairs trying to care for aging, prolongingly-ill parents.  No child is really up to it, besides you want your most loved ones to get their arses back to God asap, if it's their time. 

So with thoughts of Mom and Dad, we celebrated like nothing else, and there was no guilt whatsoever that they weren't there.  We know we'll never see them as they once were, but they're always with us and it's time to make a tradition of our own now.  Even with all that wine.  We allowed ourselves to let go, something we never could do together before (we hid on Holidays), and to our happy surprise, it was a memorable experience, a keepsake time.

I think I'm finally feelling grateful for Thanksgiving. 

      

A Very Happy Thanksgiving!!

To all the brave souls getting ready to overdose on tryptophane and cranberries, I salute as I join you, and personally express my gratitude to each and every one of the irreplaceable friends I've made here in this new Land.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

They Know Where You've Been

I always knew hackers had ways to "follow your online footprints" but this one is different:  Did you know the government has a contract with the largest search engines, Google and Yahoo, to KEEP and SAVE their records (records of where you've been on the net) for use in government concerns?  I can understand certain "concerns" i.e., an IP address that continually searches for bomb-making materials and instructions, or child-porn sites, but there's an air of "commerce" I sense.  This is for advertisement advancement, I'd say.  The large companies who lobby in Washington like Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, etc., all the giants who want even larger profits, are logging where we've been on the net and noting this information for use in sending us the spam that drives us nuts. 

As legal as it may be, there's something sinister lurking in all this to my mind.  It's not the excess adverts that bother me, it's the privacy we lose, the right to it which is yours the moment you're born in this country.  What a laugh haha.  The Fed has contracted to have your web prints catalogued and examined, all to better bombard you with spam?  It's got to be much more than that, and though I'm pro-security when it involves the excess of information available on the net, does anyone really think our government knows where to draw the line, when to pull in the reins?  I don't, I think they go way too far in "watching over our needs" huh it's more like just plain spying. 

Maybe they miss the cold war atmosphere - I don't.    

Perfectly Useful Bumper Stickers

By now you've heard of my friend Jerry.  He'd like me to laugh even more, so I thought I'd share the yuks.  These are great bumper stickers, take a read:

I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

WANTED:  Meaningful overnight relationship.

You're just jealous because the voices only talk to MEEE!

Beer - not just for breakfast anymore.

And beauty is still in the eye of the beer-holder.

All men are idiots and I married the king.

The longer you complain, the longer God makes you live.

Hard work has future payoff.  Laziness pays off NOW.

Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs.

As long as there are tests, there'll be prayer in public schools.

Hang up and drive!

God must love stupid people - look at them all!

I said "no" to drugs, they didn't listen.

Smile, it's the 2nd best thing you can do with your lips.

I took an I.Q. test, the results were negative.  Whew!

Where there's a Will . . . . . .  I want to be in it.

Consciousness:  that annoying time between naps.

Always remember you're unique - just like everybody else.

I don't have a license to kill, only a learner's permit.

Alcohol and calculous don't mix:  never drink and derive.

If we are what we eat, I'm cheap, fast and easy.

My wife keeps complaining I never listen - or something.

Jack Kervorkian for White House physician!

If you can read this, I can hit my brakes and sue you.

EARTH FIRST!  We'll strip-mine the other planets later.

Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.

Who were the testers for Preparations A thru G?

Keep honking so I can re-load.

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

         and the worst, most rude of all:

Have a nice day! 

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Reaping What You Sow

How truly nice of you who worried for my safety!  Thank you!   But of course as you may know, the tornado got "wind" of New Jersey and decided to fade out, never visiting my State, I should be more grateful somehow.  Speaking of things that go awry, the FDA has lifted the ban on silicone breast implants.  Remember the class action suit against Dow Chemical which bankrupted that particular chemical giant?  What's changed?  If anything it's the introduction of more research results showing the harmful effects on the auto-immune system not the mention cancer due to leaking implants. They leak.  My sister went ahead a few years ago and had saline implaints stuffed into her perfect body (which had already won awards for fitness in Maine).  She just felt under-"something", less than "something" I don't know.  If larger breasts would somehow instill more self-assurance well then, who am I to criticize?  She felt she was being safe, even though I explained how the bags they insert are constructed of silicone, even though they pump saline into them once placed.  (Is this turning off any male-type persons?  Beg pardon, but whatever affects women will eventually sit at your doorstep - and sometimes wallet).  

Why do we need these back?  After all that exhaustive research, double blind testing, and the victims themselves completely scarred - need anyone be reminded of Jenny Jones, the talk-show hostess?  She was brave enough to show the world what leakage has done to her body, how it was cut into horrifying edges.  A woman has curves of every sort, and is hopefully comfortable in her body, yet those curves are not what she sees in the media so her measure of what is beautiful becomes malleable, changeable - after all, remember Twiggy?  The opposite?  A woman couldn't get herself flat-chested fast enough, and so be it for that time - it was the rage and it was dutifully followed.  Anerexia nervosa was born.  Bulemia came into vogue.

So why do they do it - why do women insist on pumping their streched skin to its limits, now filled with dangerous silicone once again,and by the way, has any man reading this ever been fooled when he sees overly sized breasts?  None of my male friends even have.  Men always seem to know right away, and they're looking but not really caring - because they're false.  I could go into detail here but something on a woman's body which is supposed to move when she walks, but doesn't, to me looks as false as it is. 

How dare I talk this way?  I know better.  Woman scarred and diminished from having one or both breasts removed need the cosmetic surgery to help them reclaim their personage, their "womanliness" I understand and applaud that.  I AM PRO THAT.  I AM FOR THAT.  My own aunt HAD that procedure after a masectomy.  Those procedures aren't in sizes too far into the alphabet, they're natural-looking as were meant to be, and desired by the patient.  But when a healthy woman has implants pumped under her breast tissue in sizes like double H (with lips to match) isn't it a bit, well, what are we trying to tell woman anyway?  And when the pendulum swings as it inevitably does, it may be too late for those whose bodies had been ruined and scarred and sickened by leaking silicone into every inch of a once-healthy person.  Men are getting pectoral implants, penile implaints, cheeks, lips, foreheads, just every part of the human body is being carved and re-sculpted to look like ... what?  Women bring pictures of several media stars to the doctor.  "I want Angolina's lips, Demi's cheeckbones, Jennifer's nose ..." and they're being obliged.  There should be some kind of limit here, no?  Should it just be anyone's right and leave it be?  I don't know, I just feel conflicted for the health of these women.   

I'm confused, I really don't know.       

Tornado!

This is your on-the-spot reporter, "Not-So-Cowardly Cathy" coming to you from the east coast of New Jersey, here in the United Colonies.  There's a tornado under me.

It's raging up the coast and sadly, caused a dozen deaths in North Carolina.  At the moment there's a strict flood warning in effect, beeping into the TV news continually and advising people not to drive. 

Can you imagine this, a tornado in New Jersey?

My usual bent would be to cooly, scientifically discuss the genesis of tornadoes, what feeds and sustains them, ad nauseum, but I'm just too excited watching the water rise in our parking lot.  It's up to the white-walls on the tires.  Holy moley this is exciting! 

When I was growing up and trying to be seen amongst several others busy doing the same thing, my brother Chris and I used to love hurricanes and thunderstorms, running out in them in our Dr. Dentons sans everything else.  It was thrilling!  The teeming rain, God angrily bowling up in the great clouds, pounding our bare feet happily into the pools of rising water, the lake forming at the end of our street where our house sat because we lived on a downward incline, laughing like loons.  Fabulous!  More please!  We'd no idea about lightening and its dangers, nor did we care about the even greater danger of the neighbors who envariably threatened to call the police if we didn't get inside and where are your parents anyway you children?  LOL we really had a time - and where were our parents, well, God bless and forgive them, they couldn't have stopped us anyway.

So thank you Mom and Dad, for allowing me to stay out there against all better judgment giving me these wondrous, sweet memories of another time, another place, another life.

Tornado on the way!     

Lies and Truth: Hidden and Obvious (c/o Kate)

Thought I'd follow Kate's lead (bobandkate) and spout a few beliefs about truth.  Or rather, Lying, as I think the topic was.  As I said, I think we tend to lie more by omission than by actual provarication in the face of having to make a decision one way or the other.  Under the banner of "best interests" and "too young to know that" or "don't want to hurt feelings", we manage to twist, color, turn and contort the truth until it fits the situation at hand, which may be perfectly valid.  I truly don't see how humans could survive in a communal way without the ability to flavor the truth - but is this lying?  That's pretty much an opinion, and in mine if something is untrue it must be false.  But there is, as always, that happy, forgiving middle ground, the ever-present gray area, the inexorable "fence" we straddle, most times with all good intentions and feelings.

Isn't it odd how sincerely we strive to say something insincere? I'm thinking of false compliments (which serve their purpose and make our sister feel she looks  just great in those jeans lol).  The favor we may've done her, or the disservice we may've inflicted, is all related to the persons involved and what they're accustomed to, I'd say.  It's all quite different from listening to someone you expect to be less than truthful (read politicians)  Lying is almost their job. 

I don't expect and certainly hope my true friends don't lie to me, at least in important matters where I ask for their input in a discussion, for instance.  But tell me I don't look my age and I'll be happy, even if I look older, and know it - and know they know it lol.  I don't have to be aware that they're not being honest - I see their intent as sincerely friendly, loyal and an attempt at bringing a good feeling to the table.  In the main, I can't see a thing "dishonest" about it.  Their "truth" is to accomplish something of merit, and they've done that.  Call it what you will, words are only our interpretations of them, not their definition, I believe.    

Are We Truly Prepared?

As most people know, tens of millions of people around the world died in 1918 of the Avian Flu. It has become part of our structure of viral infections and appears under certain conditions. Every baby who is inoculated and has that vaccine boosted owes the list of infectious, fatal diseases to the time when, in our ancient past, humans started to domesticate and live in close proximity with animals. Over many millennium, the virus made its "species leap" to humans, and eventually it became a human to human airborne pandemic. Many remember the influenza of the early 20th century which took millions from the world, especially the inner cities like New York where people lived in filthy, cramped cubicles and, of course, their chickens, who'd been infected by wild birds. Diphtheria, whopping cough, tuberculosis, even poliomyelitis, the paralytic virus - they all owe their origins to wild birds. Their droppings fall upon other birds, ducks, geese, and infect them. When killed and eaten, they sicken a human, almost always fatally. The DNA of the disease would presently make this very difficult, however. There have been rare cases in Asia and China, which found an occasion of the virus in a small porcine population, which is highly important since pigs are mammals, still avian flu has yet to once again become a pandemic. But it will, of course. This is fact, say virologists, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, any and everyone who knows about flu and its ancient origins in humans.

This virus can break out into the population anywhere from one month to ten years from now, there is no accurate predictor of time, since it is still confined to one species.

When we discovered the only virus to cause AIDS, the HI-1 virus, or HIV as it's commonly called, we used a pharmaceutical maintenance program to bring it under some control. HIV-1 is still the pandemic it always was, but it's managed. My exasperation comes from the H5N1 avian virus to come. When it hits our shores we will not be prepared. As of now, there is no real vaccine for H5N1 except a drug called tamivir or tamiflu. In an investigation into our reserves of this medicine, we presently have enough for every man, woman and child in the country - for one month. That's all. I heard rumors about 3 months ago about how the CDC was contracting with a large pharmaceutical firm to start immediate, high priority, mass manufacturing of tamivir, this coming from Washington, and I believe it's true. It was brought home to the Secretary of Health, head virologists and pandemic experts at about the same time in 2003-2005 when Indonesia started experiencing these viral deaths in humans who had very direct contact with, or had eaten, infected ducks and chicken.

The cause of all influenza has its origin with the avian virus. H5N1 is an offshoot of this strain, and highly pathogenic. I do believe that, without fanfare, the world is preparing the only vaccine known to date, while continuing research into other workable vaccines.

There exists only one known case of a human dying of avian flu after exposure to an infected animal. It is highly rare. It must be "leaped" into the human population and spread human to human. But it is inevitable, according to experts, and though ordered to kill all domestic fowl, many small villages in places like Vietnam and Cambodia have hidden their only source of survival, not understanding the dangers. So it will come.

I have to believe we'll be prepared.

"Free Hugs"

Sick Puppies :Headphone Injuries :'Free Hugs'  This is so wonderful to watch, a little video I found it at Brainwhispers, who got it from Amy122389. 

                                 ((((( EVERYONE )))))

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld just resigned, and the House is now in the hands of democrats.  Bush isn't very happy, he's talking about "injecting" additional troops and reasoned this by proclaiming it will get us out of Iraq sooner.  In answer to a question from the Washington Post, he statly flated, "I have two years left.  America isn't going anywhere"  He's more right than he knows.  Talk about sour grapes!

Just happy to hear Donny-boy decided to get out quick. 

We're Getting There

Over across the pond they're doing some exciting work in stem cell research.  Dr. Lyle Armstrong of Newcastle University is directing the program wherein they've already inserted a piece of rodent DNA into a bovine egg.  They used a mouse since obviously they can't use human DNA in experimentation of this kind.

What they accomplished was, as the cells divided (outside the nucleus) they were able to use the 99.9% DNA harvested, throwing out the eggs.  By continuing this method they're able to extract the growing stem cells, their true goal.  I should mention I'm very much in favor of embrionic stem cell research.  If it were as morally questionable as some believe, why do we just toss it away?  So!  This is how far we've come and, to me, it's most exciting.

Good luck, Dr. Armstong of the UK, keep working! 

More Death

Unlike a person in this country, Saddam must now be hanged within 30 days.  His right to appeal exists, but will no doubt be ignored.  Now that he's been convicted of war crimes in the death in 1982 of over 100 people, the one crime he's being condemned for, he will hang.

In the streets, his admirers are shouting they will redeem his death in their own blood.  Suicide killers.  Bush has called this ruling of hanging "an achievement".

Why can't we find a place of TRUE SECURITY where killers are locked away for their natural lives?  Why do we always see death as the solution to killing? 

Note:  I just want to be clear, this is about a solution as to an alternative to death as punishment.  Where Saddam is concerned I'd like to rip his skin off, slowly.  Just to be clear.

 

 

He Actually Did This

I want to relate a little story about something my brother, Ricky, did.  He was the first-born male after 3 girls, 8 of us total, and he always got preferential treatment no matter how many times we heard "We love you kids all the same."  I think it made him a bit lopsided in his view of the world, the way he thought about things, processed information.  Anyway, poor Prince Richard had poison ivy once, and asked another brother, Chris, what he should do.

"Oatmeal is really great for rashes, poison, ivy, try oatmeal."  says Chris. 

So a few days later, Chris gets this phone call from Ricky, who's iching and scratching and just plain miserable.  He says: 

"The oatmeal didn't do a thing, Chris - I ate 6 bowls and nothing happened."

This is a true story in the continuing saga of my incredible family. 

The Scream Returns

Shame on me for not knowing this sooner!  It seems that both versions of Edvard Munch's greatest work, "The Scream", have been returned, intact but for a small pull in the canvas of the darker version most of us know.  This is such great news!  I could never comprehend why anyone would steal a well-known priceless work of art execpt perhaps for ransom.  I don't think the local pawn shop would be interested.

Munch has always been one of my favorite fellows, not only for his talent but for being able to survive a most hideous early life.  Until his early death, Edvard's father raised the Munch children with such fierce paranoia and rage it frightened some of them into mental illness.  Edvard first looses his mother to TB, then his most beloved older sister, then his father died young, then he looses a brother, followed by his two remaining sisters.  Many feel he was a victim of bipolarism.  But he poured his demons into each canvas, painting several versions of the same piece.  His figures were more symbolic than impressionistic, and indeed they seem stifled yet overflowing with emotional energy.  I admire him much for the same reasons I admire Beethoven, these men of genius both dealt a cruel affliction in life.  It's what they did with those lives regardless that inspires me. 

"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity."    Edvard Munch  1864-1944   

J-Land Convention Chat

Time for another chat about the Convention.  Gina has gone to the trouble of scheduling it for us:

When:  SUNDAY, NOV. 12, 2006

Time:  FIRST SESSION - 3 pm EST

                                     12 noon PST

                                         8 pm UK

       SECOND SESSION - 7 pm EST

                                         4 pm PST

                                12 midnight UK

Please stay tuned to http://journals.aol.com/motoxmom72/j-land-convention/ for all details.  There may be a change in time, as well.  Thanks everyone, looking forward to seeing you all!

Comments About Comments About Cannibis

I'd just like to go on record to say how pleased I was to see that others hold a firm stand against marijuana, and all illicit use of drugs for that matter.  It's so far past discussion as to how harmful and destructive this inevitably is.  It wasn't so much the pot that bothered me, that just seemed silly.  It was the ease with which a person can form a cult and call it a religion.  Yet it's part of our freedoms, like it or not.  

An aside to Sugar, with due respect:  There appear to be many gods and goddesses worshipped on this earth.  When one believes in a monotheistic religion, such as the Judeo-Christian faith, they are practicing their right to worship the God they chose in the manner procribed by its tenets.  To flatly state "there is only ONE GOD period!" truly frightens me in that someone as bright as yourself could close off that mind to the existence for others of a different god than our own.  I, too, believe in one God, proferring my respect by capitalizing His name.  But it is my personal opinion, not written in stone, just as it is your opinion that the God you worship is the "One True God".  He is your One True God, He is not for many others, and their religions are as valid as ours.  Hinduism, Native American nature worship, would you not call these religions as truthful and sincere as our own?  We all make a personal choice, and in the Catholic faith, reciting the well-known "Apostles Creed" the very first words are:  "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."  It does not say "There is only one true God" it says "I BELIEVE in one God" and two words were never as plain.  WE BELIEVE, just as OTHERS BELIEVE as they do in their religions.  Neither side is wrong, meaning neither is absolutely right.   

You also say you have "no trouble with any true religion except when they worship more than one God".  I assume then, you have "trouble" with the ancient religion of Hinduism, for example.  Also, could you explain what comprises a "true religion" as you state?  I don't mean pot-smoking either, I'm serious.  The words you used are powerful.     

Sugar, when you dismiss all religions that are not your own, I feel you're saying "Believe as I do or you're doomed."  Surely you can't mean that.  I respect and welcome your opinions, would you explain their meaning?  Anyone who cares to add their views, please do.       

     

Yes? No? Maybe...

A religion exists which is peaceful, prayerful and loving.  They worship their deity with love and full belief, they harm no one, and make no loud proclamations toward conversion.  They honor their faith every day, unfailingly and faithfully.  They sound incredibly happy, at peace.

Now I'll tell you the name of their god:  cannibis sativa which to those born after the 60s is marijuana.  They are in Arizona, have 50 members and are called the Church of Consciousness.

I was thinking - a crafty tax dodge?  A test of our right to worship as we please no matter the deity?  Could it be some method of using pot legally, by having their religion taken through the Courts for what Judge Scalia always called "a yellow line of distinction in the law"?  ARE the marijuana laws outdated, when during Reagan's terms in office he had so many pot smokers locked away for years, leaving little room for the poor killers? 

What do you dare to think? 

 

The Feast Of All Saints

Today, as most Catholics know, is a Holy Day of Obligation, one of the more important ones, the Feast of All Saints.  Many people don't know the origin of this day, though it's been celebrated since pagan times.  It is sometimes called the Feast of Sawein in a far more ancient religion.  But for Catholics, a fairly new religion, this day literally obligates them to perform certain well-honed sacred rituals. 

It requires no belief in "saints" or people of extraordinary faith, i.e. martyrs and the shaman of this world.  The true origins of this day suggest it is more a celebration of God's Church on earth, and all those both known and unknown who died for their belief in that Church.  In the year 610, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon (the temple of all the gods) to the service of all Christians.  He dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin and to all saints, commanding this feast be celebrated every year in Rome.  Later, in 840, Pope Gregory IV extended it to include the whole Roman Catholic Church and changed the feast day to November 1st. 

Therefore, the most basic ritual performed is the attendance at a Catholic Church and participation in the reenactment of The Last Supper of Jesus.  There is a very explicit rule that no separation exists between belief in God and the participation in the Mass, that to honor God is to honor His Church.  The people who gave their lives for this belief are considered saints, which is the highest state of holiness a human can reach while still on earth.  This is the day we honor their intercession between us and the Almighty.   

Unless one is obligated to the rites and rituals of their religion, they cannot truly be considered a member of that faith.  This used to frustrate many, myself included, as we seek to "custom make" our methods of worshipping whichever god or gods we choose.  The Catholic Church makes no such distinction.  The rituals ARE the belief, and belief in the Holy Church is all.  It can make it disruptive to the soul when one cannot reconcile the two, hence the fluctuations in the amount of Catholics, like a pendulum sometimes flocking to the faith, other times leaving in droves.  The present direction is away from these ancient rites because they don't seem to speak to the populace.  But they were never meant to.  If one thing can describe this day and all days of Obligation, it is the unflinching loyalty to blind faith.  Catholics live by the authority of the Papal See in Rome, and as religions go, though conflicted, it is not that difficult to respect.      

Hitler's Hallowe'en

Oh dear, Cathy's getting serious again.  But I really need to, I want to share something and get your input.

On this morning's news I heard how a high school across the river in New York allowed its students to come to school in costume yesterday.  Mostly pirates, a few Gene Simmons' and one in particular which gave the principal another 100 gray hairs.  A senior came as Hitler.  The whole get-up, Chaplin moustache, swastikas all over his sharply pressed uniform, riding crop in hand, high leather boots ... the teachers were in cardiac hyper-mode, many fellow students duly outraged and of course, it made the news.  The young man explained he was a "parody" of a famous person from history, what's the problem?  And indeed, after pow-wowing this matter a bit, the principal could not get the boy to please either change or leave, he was being "offensive and disruptive".  They asked if his parents knew; he proudly exclaimed they knew and supported his "courage" in exercising his right to free speech, freedom of expression, all those good "frees".  So they were stymied - they left it as it was and tried to keep the atmosphere quiet, watching the clock and praying for it all to end. 

But I heard something at the end of the broadcast which made me think (sorry, I dared myself).  At the end of the day, the young man took off his gear, put on a large coat and made his way to the subway which he used to get home.  Isn't that odd?  Every other kid went home in costume, since that's how they arrived.  But this one didn't, something inside him KNEW he couldn't get on that subway, with adults instead of teens, with real people he didn't know, dressed as "a person of history" responsible for so much anguish and blood-letting and pain that it hurts just to think about.  He KNEW someone on that train might even be one of the slowly dying-out survivors of the holocaust, exactly what would he say to THAT person?  So he KNEW.

If I were involved in this mess in some authoritative way, I think I know what I would've done and I really want to hear what, if any, action YOU would've taken: 

I would've gotten comfy with the kid and talked about his parents a bit, he seemed to get along with them and they sounded like latter-day hippies (as an original, I can say that's not a good thing).  I would've told him I planned on wearing a costume myself, a "parody" of someone to use his wording.  I would've asked to see a picture of his mother, asked about her mannerisms, how she walked and talked, every detail he could think of.  I'd explain it was because I planned to go out dressed as a "parody" of his Mom.  My right, right?  Freedom of expression, of speech.  And perhaps to add to the fun I'd dress in the latest hooker gear, smoke and curse and go house to house offering the tricks a treat.  Something along those lines.  I'd ask him how this would make him feel, would he mind?  Any problem there?  Because God knows I wouldn't want to offend.  And I'd do it this way because if you ORDER this young work in progress to change his clothes, he'd never have the chance to find that place in his heart which told him the difference between a cursed act and just plain cruelty.     

When a teen does something outrageous like this, I think he's really just being young, and with the arrogance of that youth, doesn't see the hideousness of parading as Hitler for a laugh.  He knew he'd cause a stir, he did, and I really think that's all he wanted, nothing about the First Amendment was on his mind at all.  That was his parents, and therein is where I'd lay blame.  Blame and hopefully instill shame, that the people responsible for the formation of a decent human being could get things so mixed up and permit such a caustic, cruel act - worse, using their own son to do it.  He, of course, was happy to oblige as most teens are where causing a mess among order is concerned.  That's nothing.  I really would want to hear how these Constitutionally-minded  parents would explain it all to just one Jewish person, just one.  

But talk about scary, I pulled this thread out further and found a monster I couldn't talk away:  the monster of the future.  Right now, a kid could dress up as Alexander the Great and gets kudos and candy, no one would think twice and in fact cheer on his or her originality.  The millions who died at the orders of Alexander, again during times of war, surely have descendents living all over the world.  Maybe in New York.  I know there's no comparison to the two men, yet both were adored in their time by the people they killed for, those who demanded the death of others.  My real point is that no one would take offense today at a "parody" of Alexander the Great.  So could it happen, then, that someday in the future another kid would look forward to Hallowe'en with his HITLER costume, go out in public, get candy and kudos and no one is offended or outraged?  THAT'S the monster that would keep me awake at night, because it's happened already and will happen again - where humans allow the healing balm of time to dull memory, even historical fact, and on we go none the wiser for the lessons of the past.