Well, August is almost over and it's time to start thinking about Halloween.

Apparently.

Yesterday - August 29, '05 - I saw the first signs of Halloween around the city - in the form of a whole aisle of Halloween candy and novelty kitsch at Walgreens and two or more signs around town advertising the imminent openings of dueling Halloween superstores.

August 29 and already the commercial frenzy for a holiday more than two months away has begun. Halloween is small pumpkins, though, compared to the annual commercial orgy that is Christmas. I predict (in my best Criswell voice) that it will begin to look a lot like Christmas around here before September is out.

Ugh. Enough already. We're waging wars on drugs and terror - how about a war on the crass commercialism which robs us of meaning and vitality even as it clutters our minds and homes with junk.