I know I will be tarred and feathered for this, BUT …. I am not thankful to live in the USA today. There, I said it. There are many reasons, but most of all (and this explains the rest) — the total ignorance of most Americans.

Yeah, yeah, I keep hearing it is only “20%”. To that, I say BS. If that were true:

o Fox would not be the number 1 rated TV network

o Lieberman, Lincoln, etc. would not be in the Senate

o Roughly 50% would not have voted for Bush

o Obama would actually be DOING SOMETHING worthwhile

o The talking heads would be kicked off the TV in 2 seconds

Oh, I have many more, but this is enough to start with

As for my family, I spend holidays with my adult children, so there isn’t the drama — they are liberals, too.

I’m thankful McCain was not elected, that NIH funding has increased, that we have a free press (even though there are a lot of ads), for the Intertubes. Both of them.

And much much more.

Not grateful is relative; I am so not grateful for that 20% who identify themselves as right wing. Still, I am really, really grateful that it’s a diminishing number, increasingly pushed into the crazy rabble category.

Like so many here, I will have to spend some time in the company of a crazee today, but while I will suffer the idiocy I will hear, am ever so grateful that fact based information is available and I avoided the infection of winger ideology – along with the larger part of my family, and the society as a whole.

After the turkey, I will gratefully repair to my own place and enjoy a private toast to the growing community of those who are informed, responsible and sane.

I am thankful Sarah was not elected VP given McCain’s age. I am thankful that I am a tortured genius I just don’t care to apply myself:). I am thankful for the lake friends and family.

Sorry things I am not Thankful for short sighted Greed its what motivates the Corporate GOP anything for profits.
What really makes me not Thankful is the need for big corporations to lie about all the good they do.
They try and make you like evil they try and justify themselves. What ever happened to the real villains we used to have the ones who were proud of Evil.
I am not thankful for fear the fear of being different the fear of standing out and risk being laughed at I am not thankful for Authoritarian Conformity based on fear.
Still if the world were not a mess just what would we do? This is the Other Problem of Evil that never gets talked about no Evil then boredom? Does Man and God after all we are created in his/her image need to fight do we need Evil to fight against?
Sure there are pacifists but notice our Judeo/Christian culture is really not producing many of them.

Gov. Don Siegelman (D), who was convicted in trial rife with evidence of politicization and prosecutorial misconduct, with a lot of at least circumstantial (probably more) evidence of Karl Rove’s involvement hovering in the background. Siegelman was ordered released pending appeal in March 2008 and this month the Obama Justice Department argued that in a new legal filing that the Supreme Court should not consider Siegelman’s appeal.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

I am not thankful about this! I am very disappointed.

I am NOT thankful for poverty in America. It is a national shame. If smeone is kind enogh to donate a turkey, the next challenge for a poor family is affording the electrcity/gas to cook it ~ if they have anywhere at all to sit down and eat it.

Cat in Seattle

I’m thankful I can wake up to read a tortured genius, however I don’t know If I can still consider you a tortured genius attaturk, you should have never admitted you haven’t been tortured

European government bonds rose as a proposal by Dubai to delay debt payments spurred investors to seek the safety of assets perceived to be lower risk.

The gain pushed the German 10-year bund yield to a three- week low after government-controlled Dubai World, with $59 billion of liabilities, sought a “standstill” agreement from creditors.

Credit-default swaps across the region rose yesterday, with Saudi Arabia climbing 11.5 basis points to 86.5 and Qatar rising 5.5 basis points to 99, according to London-based CMA. Contracts linked to Abu Dhabi rose 34.5 basis points to 134.5.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aMcz4MND2dlc

I am no expert on Credit Default swaps but when oil producers can’t cover their debts and oil prices are high people bet that someone will default on their debt .

Now then tell me if everyone bets that everyone else will fail assuming they win the bet where will the banks and insurance companies get the cash to pay off those bets?
I am not Thankful our banks are still playing with Credit Default Swaps.
I am not Thankful we don’t have bank transparency yet we have no idea which banks have exposure to the Middle East or how much exposure.
I am not Thankful I have to wonder with 8 years of higher oil prices just what did the oil countries spend their money on?

Future Tortured Genius? If Darth has his way and runs in 3 years!

oh, I am also thankful I can pimp my latest diary about how Blair was informed incessantly that the information to invade Iraq was inadequate

I am so thankful because I really wanted action on that one

he will run with palin as his running mate, at that time they will stop feeding him blood and palin will be the new president

I’ve been told tney leave their rolls royces at the airport, abandon family to avoid the punishment for defaulting on loans

I’m not at all thankful that the one campaign promise Mr. Transparency has decided to keep is the one I’d hoped he’d break…the insanity in Afghanistan. I hope Congress removes it’s head from it’s ass and doesn’t allow this. And I’m downrught pissed the Obama administration has decided to join China and Myanmar in not signing the treaty to ban landmines. WTF I thought Bush left the White House.

Crap they put you in Prison for that down there. So if people are defaulting its not like our system where the bankers retire with millions and investors lose it all. It means they really have lost the money.
Maybe they invested in our banks?

Thankfulness the bushies are out. Thanklessness includes 2 wars, congress not getting single payer on the table, wall street still raping us, and no jobs being created. Otherwise, the turkey is in the oven…

The latest internal government estimates place the cost of adding 40,000 American troops and sharply expanding the Afghan security forces, as favored by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, at $40 billion to $54 billion a year, the officials said.
Even if fewer troops are sent, or their mission is modified, the rough formula used by the White House, of about $1 million per soldier a year, appears almost constant.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/cost-of-keeping-one-u-s-soldier-in-afghanistan-per-year-one-million-dollars.html

I was hoping that when the costs to keep troops in Afghanistan came out it would be over.

I am not thankful for the inability of more and more Americans to distinguish between reality television (I include broadcast network news and most talk shows in this category, except for Keith Rachel) and life. Who are these people, the watchers and watched, and why are their insufferable psychological disorders so fascinating to so many people. The stupid, it hurts!

I am thankful for FDL and the platform it has provided to so many intelligent, rational, thoughtful people? I am thankful for smart women who won’t be Stepfordized, marginalized or silenced. You know who you are! Thank you for all that you do!

I am thankful to be working, for my kids working and happy with their life and, of course, for my sweet grandkids.

I am not thankful for having a president with almost no life experience, who is indifferent to millions unemployed (although talks a good game about them). I am not thankful to live in a country with two parties where one of the parties terrorizes the political system, the union workers, the unemployed and the not very rich.

I resent the lack of health care for all as a basic human right. I resent a penal system with millions of incarcerated most of whom are black and did nothing to deserve the jail time. Finally, I resent a legal system where the rich tend to win and the poor pay the price.

Right on woman, keep the fire alive. Reality is what you make it. The revolution will not be televised…

were you a pumper? I used to keep the records and compute production, to report to TX RR commission, on wells.

And Jane is on WashJournal this a.m.

Good morning all and thanks for the unthankfull post, Attaturk. (and the Wild Turkey)
Strange to see some of you pups here this early.

Not thankfull here for far too many still in the legislative branch of our government that clearly need serious help just finding their way to work, let alone understanding complex issues and problems. How so many, who are so stupid, can get themselves elected (and re-elected!) is truly a mystery to me.

Am very thamkfull for the youngest home from college for the holiday and a very fine handmade local vodka named Tito’s.

And what oldoilfieldhand said.

Time for some sweet potatos to hit the oven.

Any idea what time?

ET 8:20
http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=WJE&ShowVidNum=6&Rot_Cat_CD=WJ&Rot_HT=205

Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I’ve never been more thankful for having been more thankful still about all the things we’ve both been thankless about in exposing the lies that came with the Obama campaign promises.

But thankfully there is still plenty of time left for him to be thankful all the more that others have never thought to be less thankful for all the things the folks on Wall Steet are even more thankful for still.

Next up: Afghanistan.

Thanks for nothing, Mr. President.

What a turkey….

It’s the same damn story with different actors. Plenty of money to kill people but none for healthcare. I’m so disgusted with the Obama Administra-tion, the “Democratic” congress, and the whole damn corrupt system. I’m to the point I’d like to see the whole damn country collapse, except that the super-rich have ba-zillions in overseas banks and would still control every fucking thing.

Not thankful for the pissant “health reform”
Not thankful for Demo. “leadership”
Not thankful for Oh Bummer
Not thankful for incessant wars, poverty, organized religion, homelessness and corporate greed.

Very thankful for everyone in my family, my friends, my education but most of all my incredible spouse of, in two weeks, thirty three wonderful years.

PS Also thankful for the genius of Attaturk every morning.

No money for Real Healthcare No cash for war.

I am un-thankful for a president who will accept the Nobel Peace Prize while authorizing more troops for Afghanistan, even after two very prominent men involved in the situation say that it is un-winnable and we need to pull out.

I am very thankful for all my blessings–the little ones that get me through the day and the big ones that knock me off my feet.

Good Morning All and happy Turkeyday.
I am not thankful for religious leaders that fester hate and promote the greed in this world.

Back just long enuff to say that caller on CSpan is telling Beckmann the pres. of Bread for the World about how letting us feed kids thru the schools is ruining his day, i mean, their character. Gotta be thankful I am not spending a few hours across the table from that sort.

now off to do the Thanksgiving for my disabled mom. have a good one.

Good morning, pups. It’s Collins and Kristof this morning. Ms. Collins, in “A Tale of Two Turkeys,” says turkey-pardoning is supposed to be a long-running tradition, but it officially only goes back to George (the Good One) Bush. Mr. Kristof, in “The Religious Wars,” says traditionally, religious wars were fought with swords and sieges; today, they often are fought with books.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got apple walnut muffins to start the day. What am I not grateful for? The Pasty Little Putz, Bobo, Lieberman, people dying for lack of health care, unemployment, and on and on and on I could go. Off to give the birds their Thanksgiving chow and grab a second cup of tea. Have a great day.

I am not thankful that Gilad Shalit hasn’t come home yet.

I’ve never seen what the problem was with cursing the darkness: Fuck you, darkness!

I’m not very thankful that several major news organizations are run by a gaggle of wankers, who will lie, smear, and deceive many people, including some of the ones I’ll be stuck with today.

“Wankers” is not strong enough. People like Dowd and Stephanopolous and Mika and Cece Connolly and Chris Matthews and Cokie Roberts are hired to wank, but they’re just doing their jobs. Ashleigh Banfield, quite a mainstream person but a Canadian unfamiliar with American ways, failed to wank and her career was ended. Even Dan Rather was not wanky enough, and that’s saying something

And you can’t call Hannity, Dobb, Limbaugh, Beck, and O’Reilly wankers. They are active agents disseminating disinformation and viciousness.

I’ve been saying this all along and have convinced nobody, but the problem is at the upper levels. Everybody agrees with me about Murdoch, Scaife, and Rev. Moon, but all the other owners are a malign influence too. Most of the networks are controlled by the faceless leaders of huge conglomerates, but it’s a mistake to think that Graham at the Post and Sulzburger at the times are not doing this deliberately. If their newspapers are shallow, dishonest and slanted center-right, that’s their choice, not the result staff wankery.

The issues they’re committed to are low taxes (especially inheritance taxes), permanent war, and the weakening or dismantling of the welfare state. They don’t care about the other issues and for that reason can seem moderate or liberal at times.

MSNBC and Bill Moyer are almost the only exceptions in the broadcast media, and Moyers is only weekly and barely major. The Times and Post have a few good people, but most of their supposed liberals, except for Krugman, are very weak. And while Krugman writes strongly, he’s really on the NAFTA right wing of the Democratic Party.

The center-right / right domination of the big media isn’t absolute, but it’s overwhelming. Krugman and Olbermann were probably hiring mistakes (Olberman is an ex-sportswriter, and Krugman was a NAFTA cheerleader and Nader-hater) and Moyer is an eminent relic of better days who they’d really like to squeeze out.

Before 2003 when Olbermann came on there was literally nothing to watch on major TV or cable, and Olbermann himself is only very mildly center left. The leftmost 30% or so of the spectrum is still completely unrepresented, whereas the rightmost 30% gets more than its share of air time.

As an addendum, I am absolutely, positively NOT thankful that the Christmas season is upon us in all its glory.

I was trying to think how to phrase this. I am not thankful that the wheels of justice for Bush admin criminality in general are grinding more slowly than they could be expected to.

I’m not thankful that I’m going to spend the next 6hrs cooking food I really don’t like.

And! I am not thankful that the Giants got stuck on the NFL Network for tonight so I will have to bring the radio to my mother-in-law’s house.

Jane is coming up next on WJ (after the commercials)

How’s this for phrasing:
I’m not thankful that the fucking-no-good-corrupt-greedy-bastards who destroyed this nation, shredded the constitution, bankrupted this nation, stole from the poor to give to the rich, ruined science, divided the citizenry, promoted ignorance, started 2 unwinnable wars… are not rotting in jail.

Jane’s on CSPAN now

My first husband loathed turkey, so we had untraditional Thanksgivings with anything but turkey. A number of people came out of the woodwork and confessed they hated turkey too, so we would up with a lively group of heretics!

I am not thankful for the loss of reason across our country. The existence of the “Low Information” voter is a national disgrace.

It’s going to be OK when it gets here. It will be a peaceful Friday for once, because you CAN”T go grocery shopping.

Good!

Huzzah! Couldn’t have said it better myself if I tried with both hands for 2 weeks.

I’ve been saying this all along and have convinced nobody,

I think everyone here is convinced already:)

Whats Jane saying on TV? I gave up tv.

I guess there were always low information voters, but the ways most people get information have become stupider.

Things for which I am not thankful:
-Democrats who act like Republicans (that’s you Bayh, Conrad, Lincoln et.al.).
-Republicans who act like spoiled children (pretty much all of them).
-The continuing lies and bribery designed to ensure that Americans don’t have a choice in healthcare.
-The Catholic church becoming a lobbying arm for the “pro-life” (what a load of crap that is) movement.
-Ever having to see Mitch McConnell on camera.

However, a nice dinner with friends and a good single-malt scotch await me later today…so I am thankful for that.

WTF is going on with these commercials all of a sudden coming on and that can’t be turned off.

Happy Thanxgiver, Attaturk an’ all y’all firepups

When we are young and again when we are old, we depend heavily on the affection of others. Between these stages we usually feel that we can do everything without help from others and that other people’s affection is simply not important. But at this stage I think it is very important to keep deep human affection. The Dalai Lama

Ditto. Choir, preaching…no argument that ownership and control of media is highly problematic and has contributed substantively to the problems we now face.

NBC may actually have to earn its way now instead of being a mere tax-policy mouthpiece for GE; if it serves the portion of the public which NewsCorp, CNN, and the rest of the commercial marketplace don’t serve, they’ll make money.

The question, though, is whether NBC’s potential new owner Comcast will see this the same way, or if they’ll revert to GE’s role model of using NBC as a kind of loss leader.

[BTW, don't worry about seeing Jane on CSPAN. I bet you'll see her here soon. ;-) ]

Are you kidding??? Comcast??? Isn’t that the company that put MSNBC on a tier that would cost extra to view (while foxnews was on basic)?

Hmm, my first post here.

Okay. I am unthankful that the Cheney-Bush administration DITHERED in Afghanistan so more of our young men and women can get killed by religious nationalistic nutjobs. I am also unthankful that we started a rogue war in Iraq which not only killed and maimed thousands of ours but killed over 100,000 Iraqis of which most were innocents. Its one thing to take down a dictatorship for humane reasons but another to go in on false pretenses.

I am unthankful that we now have another Bush mess being cleaned up by a team with another Clinton on it. Its the mess part.

I am terribly unthankful for Joe Lieberman and Dick Armey. Remember Dick said the Clinton economic policy would ruin the nation in 93.

I am unthankful for jingoist and religious nutjobs that declare all others are anti-American. I am unthankful that most of the yahoos who screech while waiving the constitution haven’t a clue what it says. The illiteracy and blind dogmatism of the far right slows the nation down. I feel very thankless on that.

New post upstairs…

Not thankful for reality teevee shows. If balloon boy’s parents are prosecuted, then throw the book at the White House party crashers, too.

Oh, and maybe they all could profit with actually reading a book instead of obsessing about vanity television.

Welcome thales!

Happy Thanksgiving, pups, and good morning from Indianapolis (visiting for Thanksgiving).

WTF is going on with these commercials all of a sudden coming on and that can’t be turned off.

Use AdBlock Plus plugin in Firefox and the commercials/ads don’t appear to terrorize us!!

Welcome to the lake, Thales! Have you been lurking?

After they spend the same number of hours they would have spent on a reality teevee show doing community service at a Washington DC homeless shelter.

Welcome to the Lake, thales. Happy Thanxgiver.

The piece on CNN.com said the crashers were “polo playing socialites” from northern VA. My daddy wanted me to be a Virginia Gentleman but where horses were concerned all I was interested in was riding. Didn’t want to get hit by one of those mallets, either. Sure watched a lot of polo when I was a kid, though.

The piece also said they could be charged with lying to the SS.

Happy Thanksgiving. Remember the best revenge is living well. I intend to continue to live well among friends who care for the world and its critters; friends who love and create beauty, and friends who can discover a gourmet meal in backyard herbs and produce.

I mourn a country that in the face of national disaster leaves dying and the dead to the streets of one of the great cities of the world. I believe it is true Katrina will prove to be the days the facade was ripped off revealing for all to see what has become..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4NSMd7v2y4&feature=related

I am not thankful for the republican party and what they have become.
Their actions, tactics have put them on the path of becoming our
countries most dangerous domestic terrorists.
Have a nice Thanksgiving everyone.

Okay, I’m not at all thankful to either the reality shows or John McCain for imposing a lot of shallow trashy people on us who cling like barnacles to every shred of undeserved attention.

Calling Snow

Otter Medicine

I have posted my long comment on my own blog here, and also as an Open Left Diary.

People still grumble about the hirelings though, as though they make some kind of difference. They’re not stupid; they’re paid liars, and they know they’re replaceable.

Some of them are narcissistic and detached enough from reality enough to believe what they’re saying (Beck, Limbaugh, O’Reilly, and Matthews) but most of them are pure opportunists.

I am thankful for FDL and all the great posts and comments found there. And especially for Jane Hamsher and her tireless efforts put forth toward health care reform.

Happy Thanksgiving all !

I am not thankful for the recent Catholic Bishop’s Directive which pressures Catholic hospitals to ignore the advance directives of the patients in order to promote the Catholic dogma: ‘suffering brings you closer to Christ‘ MY ASS! My 91 year old Mom is ill right now, has a DNR order and advanced directive, and god help St. Joseph Hospital if they try and overrule her directive. They left her in bed motionless in late March and gave her a huge Stage 4 bedsore, so very ‘Christian’ of them. I’m so fucking sick of these ‘Hypo-Christians’ and their righteousness, padding their coffers instead of helping the poor and sick. I hope when they die god appears to them in the form of their worst nightmare.
I am also not thankful for Fred the Asshole Phelps.
I am however, thankful we live in a country where church and state is somewhat separate, much to the dismay of the C Street bunch.

I could be even more thankful if Dick the Prick Cheney went back into his underground dungeon to live out the rest of his waning years.

Fat chance.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Heartland!

Namaste SD !

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone !

I’m thankful there are still literate people not afraid to face reality and they congregate here and elsewhere on the digital deity.

“For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man’s spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.”

Robert F. Kennedy, April 1968

While I am thankful that RFK got this concept clearly, 41 years later the meaning of this speech seems to be utterly lost on many of our politicians. More often than not, public service for them is a useful tool for self promotion and personal gain instead of the real intention—of other centered public service and promoting justice and equity for all. That the Pharmas and insurance giants can effectively silence opposition and meaningful reform through payola is a perfect example, though not the only one, of this corruption.

In the meantime, 120 more people died today because of apathy, self absorption, and obsession with money. It’s not like we don’t know what to do—our politicians simply don’t have the courage or will to act affirmatively and in the higher public interest.

I’m not thankful for 6000 years of patriarchal religious insanity…hopefully, the changing of the Age will put paid to using the word “MAN” for humankind and we can start incorporating some of the best of the species which wimmin have to offer.

I’m NOT thankful for the CHANGE I can’t believe in, brought to US by the democratic party.

I wish I’d learned French or Spanish and emigrated years ago, then I might have had a chance to be recognized for the artistic genius that I am :0)

I’m thankful that “C” street has lost their tax exemption..maybe this will eventually lead to all of them losing theirs if they so much as squeak about policy in this country

I am NOT Thankful that this president, that I and so many others worked so hard for, has turned out to be such a major disappointment, and on SO many different fronts.

I am NOT Thankful that the failure of his presidency will make it so much more difficult to get real change in the areas he’s failed to address [and those which he shows no sign of addressing], that he drew large numbers of people into the political process who cling to him like a personality cult, who brook no dissent.

I am really, really, REALLY Not Thankful for Rahm Emanuel, and about 50% of that Not Thankful for the President who chose him, and who continues to listen to him.

But I am thankful that the White House gate-crashers called him “Ron” in the Facebook write-up. That’s gotta burn.

I AM thankful for getting to spend Thanksgiving with both my young-adult kids [liberals both] and no other relatives, because we have none. I’m thankful my kids have good values, and that although these are tough economic times, they are keeping their heads above water. [I am NOT thankful that because I live on Maui and there are NO jobs there, it wouldn't be feasible for either of them to come live with us if they hit a rough patch.]

What everyone else said above about war, poverty, health care, lack of attention to the environment, lack of fairness for our LGTB siblings.

Thankfulness for the Lake, and especially for Jane, Marcy & Christie. Wishing I had won the lottery so I could fund this and hundreds of other good causes.

I am not thankful at all that Obama has, so far, turned out to be such a royal wanker.

I’m not thankful we have the highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression. Even though I have a degree in journalism and over 10 years work experience in various fields (journalism, business, cust service, sales, non-profit fundraising, etc.) and lots of good volunteer experience I can’t find a decent job.

I’m not thankful President Obama ran on “change” and “hope,” but yet he’s stocked his cabinet full of Wall Street economic hitmen (Geithner, Summers, Emanuel, etc.) and kept shuffling around billions in tapayer bailout money and golden parachutes to bankster flunkies who should be the ones standing in the unemployment line.

I’m not thankful we continue to extend unemployment benefits up to a record 2 years while failing to pass into legislation monumental new infrastructure and federal jobs program. In the media everywhere last year, we read tales of Obama’s fascination with FDR. (who institutes public works programs and infrastructure projects the likes of which the nation had never seen to spur a collapsed economy) Yet here we are…almost a year into his first term and all they’ve done is pass a weak stimulus package that seems to not be working. It certainly hasn’t done much to create jobs.

I’m not thankful we’ve been bickering over a convuluted, costly healthcare program in the United States for at least 60+ years since Harry S. Truman was in office. I’m not thankful the party of universal healthcare (the Democrats) have a “supermajority” yet they still can’t get their own Senators to pass a weak, crappy public option amidst an incredibly poor hands-off (pass the buck) form of non-leadership from the White House to fix what eats up 1/6 of our economy as Americans pay twice as much for healthcare as citizens of any other rich civilized country and yet, shamefully, at least 50 million Americans still have no health coverage whatsoever in what the U.K. has dubbed “the land of the fee.”

I am thankful to at least have a roof over my head after having to move back in with family this summer amidst not being able to afford rent and living expenses in Seattle anymore.

I’ll be even more thankful when Americans start caring again to the extent we realize we can’t change our government without looking back at the great people’s movements in our history (Civil Rights, Progressive movement, Labor Movement, Abolitionists, Independance movement during our “revolutionary” period, etc.) and channeling the greatness of those social movements. We can’t just talk the talk or blog all day – we have to “walk the walk.”

Eventually, we’ll have to take on our government with large widespread protests in the streets, at insurance company headquarters and at our congressman and Senator’s offices.

Yes fellow progressives…wisen up. This kind of broadbased American people’s movement for economic justice is what it’ll take. President Obama and our lame duck congress isn’t going to give us the “Change We Believe In.” And the next congress will be even more recalcitrant than this one as economic conditions (unfortunately, but likely) worsen for the average American.

“We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang seperately.” – Ben Franklin

I’m not thankful that since I’ve been 7 years old and Nixon was elected after they killed Bobby Kennedy, I’ve been subjected to right wing rule and the slow destruction of a once great nation.

I am not thankful for the simple matter that I cannot live in the United States. I have PTSD. Me and god parted company within two weeks of my arrival in Vietnam. No god that I would deal with would have let what I saw happen.

I simply cannot deal with americans. It freaks out my neighbors who cannot conceive that I really DO NOT want to talk to any americans. I can not speak the language where I am and I have not suffered for it. My neighbors worry about me. If they have not seen me for a couple of days, they will call my interpreter and make sure that I am all right. Try living like that in an american neighborhood.

I walk into one of the big mercados and when I can not find what I want, I call my interpreter and hand the cell phone to one of the market women, who then passes the word and they all point to the stall I need to go to.

I can not understand the money system so I just hold out a fistful of coins and they carefully show me and the women on each side how much they have taken as payment.

I have five or six doctors. All but one speak excellent English. They all do house calls for less than $30 per hour plus cab fare. They have taken the better care of me than any other doctors I have used.

Now, if I just was not crazy and could focus long enough to read something that is longer than five paragraphs before forgetting what I am reading about. I used to read 3 to 5 books a day.

I am coming up on my fortieth anniversary of my stupid acceptance of doing my patriotic duty. This is not going to be a good time.