Thankful

As predicted, health care reform goes into the next round. It will now, allegedly be debated by the Senate.

If you missed the vote, which allowed it to go forward, it’s OK. No one really saw it. The vote passed so quickly, there were probably members of Congress with their jet planes idling on the tarmac, waiting for the speeding limo to deliver their fat butts to the very steps of their personal aircraft. Why? So they can get back home for Thanksgiving break, of course.

Thanksgiving – the holiday which celebrates the survival of a colony, which would eventually take-root as a country named America. A colony that was begun by people fleeing repression – a country, that was formed and developed by a people united in a dream of freedom and the hopes of a new republic. This is a dream that so many have sacrificed for. It is a dream which has survived the near eradication of America’s indigenous people, the horrors of slavery, the blights of disease, war and inequality.

But our leadership is selling the dream to China. They are giving our hope away to fat-cat bankers and cronies while they steal away our rights and opportunities. They are destroying us – but you can be certain that each and every one of them will be enjoying a big, fancy dinner in their big, fancy houses this holiday break.

Meanwhile, somewhere, someone is returning home with bad news – they lost their job. Their family is in trouble. I suppose universal health care will be nice, because the one segment of the population, which will be expanding is the homeless. They may not have a home, but they’ll allegedly be covered medically - just not as well as their fat-cat Congressmen and women. Makes you hope those shovel-ready jobs are actually producing some bridges, because we’re going to need that real estate for people to live under.

Of course, there are no shovel-ready jobs. Not really. There’s no job-creation, there is only continued job loss. We are now firmly into double-digit unemployment figures and with the government just printing money, it means that those of us who are hanging on, will have money which is worth less and less and inflation which will mean prices for everything will explode.

We are in danger of a real Western-World apocalypse.

What are we thankful for, then?

I am thankful that our troops are holding the line, even though our political leadership is appearing worse than impotent. I am thankful that the Fort Hood terrorist attack - the only successful terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, wasn’t even more horrible. I am thankful that the government seems to have been wrong - or perhaps just deceitful about the overwhelming danger of the Swine Flu. I am thankful that the administration seems to be consistent in their lies – at least we don’t have to worry that they may be telling the truth on anything.

I am thankful that there are still brave people who will keep us safe – and that there are others who would relinquish their safety to keep the public informed and fight for truth. I am thankful that Iran hasn’t finished developing their nuclear weapons – or don’t have the guts yet to use them. I am thankful we have the capability to eliminate that government’s opportunity to use those weapons on innocent people or our soldiers, in-theater and I’m thankful that our country can still offer some measure of security in the world.

I am thankful that despite our continued executive branch’s idiot protocol mistakes and dopey foreign policy, we still have a few allies in the world. I am thankful that we haven’t just thrown open the gates at Guantanamo and let all those creatures loose. I am thankful that not everyone is a lawyer, or there would be no children in the world. I am thankful Al Gore is wrong, because it may mean I can keep that last quart of Ice Cream cold enough to enjoy it, when the rest of the world collapses in some other kind of messy end. I am thankful that some of the great people in the world have become doctors and nurses – because some of them have saved my life – and the lives of so many others.

I am thankful for people of charity. They make the world better for those who have nothing, or almost nothing.

I am thankful for my friends, because I can be thoughtless, foolish and irritating. I am thankful that I can still express my opinions here and elsewhere and I am thankful God has seen fit to give us each another day to live and love and try to be better people.

But most of all, I am thankful for the regular people I see everywhere – folks who have not given up, and are willing to stand up for the ideals of that first colony and the idea of the struggling, early republic.

I am thankful for the living, breathing America that is you.