I wanted to share these two families’ best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving. I think their very simple wishes for this holiday illustrate how all families are the same: our hopes and dreams, and our rights and responsibilities.

More than two and a half million Americans slipped into poverty this year bringing the total number of Americans in poverty to 46.2 million. There are millions more Americans near or in danger of going into poverty because they could lose their job, their home to bank foreclosure, or contract a disease or illness that leads to a medical bill they will be unable to pay.

I, like so many of us, have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving 2011. I have the love of my family, even when we may not see each other for years at a time. I have my friends from all the times of my life, both “real” time and digital.

But for all the things we have to be thankful for, there are an equal number or more of things for which we cannot be thankful. Or at least, I cannot be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving

When 700 Club host Kristi Watts interviewed Condi Rice about her holiday dishes, both agreed that mac and cheese was their favorite item on the menu. This baffled the out-to-lunch fundamentalist, apocalypse-predicting Robertson, who didn’t mince words – after all, Condi’s black, Watts is black, therefore mac and cheese=”black food”.

As depressing as it has been to learn that one American clothing manufacturer after another is now defunct, it’s also been a great experience to discover and support those manufacturers that are still here and making great products. If you can help source any of the above items, we’d certainly love the help. Let us know what you find in the comments, or drop us a line at fdlmembers DOT gmail DOT com.

So let’s assume you’re part of a very-well-funded corporate stooge cabal with the job of making sure nothing stands in between your well-heeled bosses and their desire to squeeze every last bit of profit out of the earth without having to give a rip about the long-term effects this might have, particularly on the masses.

Your problem, lately, is that some of your most valuable operatives — the bought-and-paid-for academics who your bosses pay to trash the scientific evidence showing the grievous bodily harm the bosses have inflicted and are inflicting on the planet — have, for whatever reason (such as growing spines, brains, or consciences), decided they don’t want to be denialists anymore.

Equal Rights Washington is asking supporters to “Talk turkey with your legislators about why marriage matters” over the Thanksgiving Day holiday by e-mailing their legislators a note and by forwarding on the same request to friends and family.

During the holiday season, it gets really depressing to hear conventional wisdom demanding ever-increasing levels of austerity from those who can least afford it.  The Occupy Wall Street movement has been a beacon of hope to many of us, and it has been a truly remarkable experience to work together with liaisons across the country not only to get supplies to them, but to do so in a way that expresses our values and develops a model of economic sustainability.

When we were through the first exit door, and approaching the outside door, Kevin and I heard behind us, “Ma’am! Sir!” It was the woman employee with the wonderful smile. She’d followed us out to wish us both a happy Thanksgiving. Had the young man told her why we’d bought all those batteries? Was it the “Occupy Albany effect”?