Here are our Jack O’ Lanterns for Halloween 2007.

Cute, eh?

This sums up my problems with today’s conservatives in such a succinct way:

What’s happening, presumably, is that modern movement conservatism attracts a certain personality type. If you identify with the downtrodden, even a little, you don’t belong. If you think ridicule is an appropriate response to other peoples’ woes, you fit right in.

And Republican disillusionment with Mr. Bush does not appear to signal any change in that regard. On the contrary, the leading candidates for the Republican nomination have gone out of their way to condemn “socialism,” which is G.O.P.-speak for any attempt to help the less fortunate.

Here’s a link to the whole article:
Conservatives Are Such Jokers, by Paul Krugman. NY Times, October 5, 2007

I’m conservative by nature. And yet I do think it’s our business to help others. You might say it’s our obligation to do so as God’s children. You can even find imperatives to help others right in the Bible, the book by which many conservatives supposedly turn to for guidance — that is, when they’re not too busy laughing at the weakest among us.