Witches, Halloween have Satanic roots

To casually use witches as amusing depictions celebrating Halloween is not proper or right.

First, witches would have you believe that witchcraft is different from Satanism. A practicing witch put it this way -- Satanism is basically a reversion and perversion of Christian symbolism.

The Pilgrims knew of Halloween's occult roots and banned celebrating it. Halloween was not celebrated in this country until 1845 with the flood of Irish emigrants into the United States. They brought with them the old Druid holiday of Samhain. Gradually, celebrating this day spread throughout the rest of the country.

Since there are so many social vices to deal with today, we should focus on positive and socially redeeming holidays such as Thanksgiving, St Patrick's Day, St. Valentine's Day and Christmas instead.

-- Wayne Alden, McFarland

Don't let kids' fun ruin your day

Sunday Forum columnist Erika Mailman seems like an intelligent woman. So how does a little Halloween fun ruin her day and hurt her feelings?

She doesn't say that her ancestor was a practicing witch, nor could she really know, or is that revealed in the book?

There are people who claim their relatives are ghosts, but you don't see them getting ruffled over kids dressing up as ghosts on Halloween. Did she boycott the viewing of "The Wizard of Oz" because of the depiction of an ugly witch?

She should get over it.

-- Gerald M. Poss Jr., Black Earth

Abortion decides the issue

Barack Obama has declared that his first act as president would be to pass the Freedom of Choice Act, Senate Bill 1173.

This would automatically wipe out most state and federal laws limiting abortion, such as parental notification laws. From the other side of his mouth, Obama claims that he is the candidate to unite America and reach across party lines.

He would show such extreme disrespect for so many who have labored on behalf of the common good. He has to prove his point in the most extreme way possible.

Let's not give into all of the bloodshed that Obama's presidency would bring, because if you think about what actually is happening in an abortion, bloodshed and dismemberment is the best way to describe it. That's the "choice" we have to make on Tuesday.

-- Brian Dulli, Sun Prairie

Obama-Biden strong ticket

Obama and Biden offer the best promise for a fair tax system including tax cuts for average families, tax increases for the wealthy, tax breaks for businesses that work in America.

They offer the best promise for producing renewable energy and reducing foreign oil dependence, for an education system that invests in early childhood education, for creating affordable and accessible health care for everyone.

They offer the best promise for securing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, getting us out of Iraq with dignity and honor and preventing future wars.

Biden serves as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Obama's overseas trip demonstrates he's respected internationally. Both men are thoughtful and have temperaments that make war the last option, used only after dialog, negotiation and sanctions fail.

Most important, Obama and Biden offer the best promise for healing our nation. They bring a respectful tone and a commitment to involve diverse perspectives in problem-solving.

John McCain is no change agent. After 26 years in Congress and supporting President Bush 90 percent of the time, he's the establishment that needs to be changed.

-- Roger Williams, Cottage Grove

Can pro-war be pro-life?

Some voters consider supporting Barack Obama, except for his pro-choice position. But John McCain, like President Bush, is pro-war, and that is the opposite of pro-life.

These leaders have sent more than 4,000 Americans to their deaths in Iraq. Tens of thousands more have been horribly wounded. And for what? Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or al-Qaida.

McCain is in no hurry to end the war in Iraq, and he's talked of bombing Iran. As president, he will condemn more of America's sons and daughters, fathers and mothers in uniform to die in the Middle East. This is pro-life?

And what about the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi children who have been killed, orphaned and maimed in this war? Bush may call himself pro-life, but in choosing to wage this war, he and all who supported him, including McCain, have become the real "baby-killers."

McCain declares he would continue this approach to problem-solving in the Middle East. You can argue its merits as foreign policy, but you cannot call it pro-life. Obama opposed this war from the beginning. As president, he will seek to end it as soon as possible.

-- Jennifer Hirsch, Cross Plains

Deja vu to Nazi Germany

As the presidential election approaches, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party appear to advocate the following policies.

Implement free government health care, provide betterment of the working man and guarantee jobs, redistribute the wealth, increase government spending on education, purge the church from public policy, support abortion and gun control, loathe the free trade market and insert the authority of the state into daily life.

These policies are actually from a different time -- they represent the policies of Germany's National Socialist Party, or Nazis, of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. (See Jonah Goldberg's book, "Liberal Fascism").

The similarities cannot be denied and are most troubling.

-- Jim Brandenburg, Madison