From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Among the things I'm thankful for: that 80-something bloggers and "best friends for sixty years and counting" Margaret (the Mainer) and Helen (The Texan) are still at it. Helen is having the clan over for turkey again, and setting out some rules. Some snips from her annual letter:
Dear Family,
This will be my first Thanksgiving without my gallbladder. And I just learned that we have one more special needs eater in the family. I’ll tell you what, this year I will meet you all halfway. I’ll make the same meal I make every year and those of you with vegitarian, vegan and gluten issues can stop eating halfway through the meal. Problem solved.
The other rules around the house will be a little lax this year as well. What can I say? I’m feeling generous.
1. I have new floors. If it’s raining outside, leave your shoes outside. If it’s not raining, leave your shoes outside. Molly, those spikes you call heels better not come near my floors. Leave them at home because if you leave them outside the kids might use them for lawn darts.
2. If you have children, then you are called a parent which means you should be parenting. Just because you don’t care what your house looks like, doesn’t mean I don’t care about mine. Keep an eye on your kids so I don’t have to keep an eye on my things. […]
5. Upon arriving at my house look for the basket on the entry table. Deposit all cell phones in that basket. Upon departure, you can take the damn thing with you, but in the meantime maybe you can try having an actual relationship with your loved ones. […]
8. Unlike the Trumps' table, everyone is welcome at mine. Just let me know in advance if you are bringing guests so I can make sure we have enough food to go around.
10. If you want to talk politics come sit next to me. There’s a good chance I’ll either convince you to change your politics or change your desire to talk about politics. And if neither happens, I can always turn off my hearing aids.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I am thankful to still be here. I mean it really.
Read the whole letter here. As usual, I'm disappointed there won’t be any livestreaming.
Happy Gobble Gobble, everyone (and Happy Birthday, Sir Meteor Blades). A few more goodies, including a Molly Ivins Thanksgiving mini-feast, below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Note: Here's the schedule for the rest of the week. No C&J tomorrow due to time-travel obligations (some roughhousing in the Bronze Age I gotta take care of). We'll return on Monday for the final sprint to 2016. After that? I dunno, history---surprise me.
-
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Lighting of the National Christmas Tree with Tori Kelly, Aloe Blacc, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Miss Piggy: 7
Date of Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation: 10/3/1863
Cost of a turkey dinner for ten with all the trimmings this year: $50.11
(Source: American Farm Bureau Federation)
Percent of Parade readers who believe there are no calories on Thanksgiving: 69%
Minimum number of presidents who have called the Butterball hotline: 1
(Source: The West Wing)
Number of NFL games today: 3
Population of Turkey, Texas (hometown of Bob Wills): 410
-
Your Turkey Day Molly Ivins Moment:
This being the season, let us give thanks for freedom. As President Bush said in London: "Freedom is beautiful. It is a fantastic thing to come to a country where people are able to express their views." Indeed, freedom is so beautiful, so precious that one needs to be zealous, to be watchful, lest this priceless beauty come to harm.
Imagine my surprise to see in the headlines this Thanksgiving week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is "targeting peace groups." Operation Cointelpro is back. Now, of the various menaces faced by our republic, I must admit peace groups are not high on my list. A motley assortment of vegetarians, Unitarians, Quakers, miscellaneous pacifists, unclassified idealists, sweet damn fools, followers of Gandhi and Dr. King, and some others I suspect are far ahead of the rest of us both morally and politically. [...]
In a repeated pattern---Phoenix; Evansville, Ind.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; St. Louis; Trenton, N.J.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Neville Island, Pa.; Columbia, S.C.; Houston; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, D.C.---protesters holding anti-Bush signs or antiwar signs have been either arrested or segregated further away, often into so-called "free speech zones," while demonstrators with pro-Bush signs are allowed within hollering distance of the president.
Since when have one's constitutional rights depended on one's political opinions? I have news for the Bush administration: This country is a free speech zone. There are no zoning ordinances that apply to our rights. Freedom is a beautiful thing, and it is fantastic to come to a country where people are free to express their views. Let us give thanks.
---Thanksgiving, 2003
-
Puppy Pic of the Day. The classic:
-
Things For Which I Am Thankful: 2015 Edition
The abbreviated list:
That the first and middle name of our 44th president is Barack Hussein and not John Sidney or Willard Mitt
Joe Biden
Michelle and the kids
Our soldiers over here and over there
All the indigenous people of North America
Bill McKibben and all the activists who continue beating the drum against tar-sands oil,,,and succeeding!!!
Whatever the Pope's smokin'
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
Elizabeth Warren Democrats
That our presidential candidates are Hillary, Bernie and Martin instead of Donald, Ben and Huckleberry
John Bel Edwards, who kicked David Vitter’s ass in the Louisiana governor’s race
Maine Senator Angus King (I), for proving to be a voice of sanity in the upper chamber
The Congressional Black, Hispanic and Progressive Caucus
Notorious RBG
Paris
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
Marriage equality in all 50 states
The growing transgender rights movement
The expansion of legal recreational use of marijuana
Campaign volunteers and polling place workers
Walmart and fast-food-worker protesters
Employers who gave their employees the day off
Minimum-wage hike supporters
Gun-safety advocates
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
Maddow, O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Steve Kornacki and Melissa Harris-Perry
Larry Wilmore , Stephen Colbert and John Oliver
E.J. Dionne, Eugene Robinson, Paul Begala, Frank Rich
Naomi Klein, Joan Walsh, Marcy Wheeler, Glenn Greenwald, Robert Greenwald, Eleanor Clift, Joy Reid, Matt Taibbi, John Nichols
Atrios, Digby, Americablog, John Cole, Dan Savage
Think Progress, Media Matters, The Southern Poverty Law Center, PFAW, 350.org, Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood and IAVA
The ghosts of Molly Ivins and Ted Kennedy
Krugman! Krugman! Krugman!
Dean! Dean! Dean!
Malala
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter!
-
My partner, Michael, for growing old with me
All of my bosses at Daily Kos
The front-pagers and diarists here, for explaining stuff I don't know boo about
The rest of the progressive blogosphere, for having the wisdom to follow all the orders issued by Keyboard Kingpin Markos
Netroots Nation and its organizers
Sara R's quilts
Dirty Fucking Hippies
M'doggie. M'pootie.
Righty blogs, an endless source of unintentional humor (bless their hearts)
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
This shiny object! No, wait...that shiny object over there! No no no...that other shiny object! And that one! And that one! And---ooh ooh---that one!
-
Wineries
Distilleries
Breweries
The GREAT STATE OF MAINE
Clam chowder
Excedrin Migraine
Lucky Charms
Odwalla Mango Tango
Candy corn
Snow!!!!!
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
Evolution
Electric cars
High-speed rail
Unions
Diversity
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
-
Peace. (Yeah, it's a word. Really. I looked it up.)
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
And, as ever, that magic moment every day at 6am when the Bacardi 151 crosses the blood-brain barrier.
And Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
How 'bout you?
-