What I Am Truly Thankful For....

HAPPEE THANKSGIVING EVERYBODEE!!!

Here is the list of what I am truly giving thanks for at this moment in my life:
1. The blog that saved my life FourFreedoms.com - Thank you Raine, BobR, Livin, Mondo, Star, Velveeta, Tri, Mala and all others 4Fers - I am so glad that you came along when you did, you truly saved my life :-).
2. My job, my house, my boyz (Tulsey & Dylan) - they are all in Tulsa, Oklahoma (the only state that went totally and completely red in this latest election - :-( ) Never-the-less, OK is where I live and I have chosen to stay and fight (for the time being).
3. The Collins Fitness Center at TU (and their recently added three, count 'em, three rowing machines). I have been working out like a fiend, and I do feel much better for it. I, however, have not stopped drinking so the weight is coming off slowly, but it is coming off - and I don't drink as much as I used to :-).
4. The Stephanie Miller Show still starts each and every morning in my world and continues to rock my world - thank you mucho Steph, Jim, Chris, & Rebekah!!!
5. Mi familia - I am lucky that both of my parents are alive, healthy and are enjoying their retirement years, mi hermanas y mi hermano, mi sobrinas y my sobrino (not sure why I felt compelled to report my family in Espanol - perhaps a nod to Sanchez from Montebello, CA).
6. The reality that I have come out of a very dark, dismal place and have hope along with a new president (Barack Obama), and I am so thrilled that I can stay in my house, my job, and keep my boys.
7. My sister and her family driving all the way from North Liberty, Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with her older and single sister - Thanks mucho Neankie and crew :-).
8. I am thankful that Tulsa, OK - the town in which I live - now has a Bark Park - a place where I can take my boyz (Tulsey & Dylan) to try to wear them out so that they won't wake me up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. Way to go Tulsa - you've got the right idea !!!
9. I am more than grateful for the friends who inhabit my life, my workplace and my world. I won't embarrass any of them by mentioning them by name here, but I am sure that they know who they are and I hope that they all know how important they are to me and what a huge difference they all make in my world.

10. I am thankful to be alive in this the winter of 2008, after our country elected the first president of color in the history of this nation. Viva Obama, Obamanos, si se puede, Yes we can and yes we did :-)
11. And finally, I am thrilled to say a big good riddance to George W. Bush and the shadow president, Dick Cheney, who have visited more harm on this country and the rest of the world that we heretofore ever thought possible. Congratulations you two - it will likely take us decades to try to clean up the huge mess that you have left us - thanks, thanks for nothing, you insipid jerks.

That's about it, that's almost all I can think of that I am thankful for this year, I would be remiss if I didn't thank my therapist (HHK), my shrink (KWH) , and the facilitator (IW) of the support group that I attend twice a month. I am grateful that I've lived, or survived, this life. I will go on.... Thank you so mucho. Thanks again. Have a very relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving, everyone!
Cheers,
mfaye

For an alternative take on Thanksgiving, please see Robert Jensen's No Thanks to Thanksgiving. Remember that the history that you learned in school, bears little resemblance to what actually happened, especially when the history involves Indigenous people.

Oh the Damage W. Can Do in Just 57 Days...

"If you thought the first 100 days of the Bush administration were bad, just wait and see what the last 100 could bring,” Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

Oh, can January 20, 2009 come soon enough? Those of us who have tried valiantly to chronicle the disasters that have been perpetrated on the American citizenry by the Bush/Cheney fiasco since that infamous day in December of 2000 when the Supreme Court handed the presidency to George W. Bush, are holding our collective breath and hoping against hope that W. doesn't succeed in implementing any more disastrous policies before the door hits his ass (not to be confused with his face :) ) on his way back to Crawford, Texas. But if wishes were stocks we'd all be retiring tomorrow. Alas, Bush has plans to give seriously dangerous breaks to his base (the haves and the have-mores) in the form of altering laws that impact not just our already strained environment, but also families, workers, and energy resources. All are among targets of Bush's scheme of deregulating the bejesus out of any law that protects our National Parks, Workers' Safety, and the highly successful and popular Family and Medical Leave Act.

"With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste."
President for 60 more days, Bush tearing apart protection for America's wilderness

Imagine visiting the Grand Canyon in Arizona or Arches National Park in Utah and instead of seeing the natural grandeur of these awesome places, your eyes would meet the visage of open mining pits or your nose might notice the stench of coal-fired power plants spewing more particulate matter into the skies above our planet, thanks to the gutting of environmental regulations by Bush/Cheney in their last act of giving the old middle finger to the tree-huggers and others who appreciate clean air and water and an unspoiled view of nature and all of its inhabitants.

Fortunately, Congress is well-aware of Bush's diabolical plans and may employ a rarely utilized act, The Congressional Review Act of 1996. The act has been exercised just once in the past 12 years, but it could become a sweeping tool for Democrats to nullify the late regulatory changes made by the Bush presidency. Environmental activists are compiling lists of regulations they believe Congress should target, including ones covering water pollution at huge farms, pollution control equipment at older power plants, and hazardous waste restrictions.

See “Past is Prologue: For Energy and the Environment, the Bush Administration’s Last 100 Days Could Rival the First 100”

Check out this great animated cartoon by Ann Telnaes (WashPo, Nov. 24, 2008).