Time to Give Thanks

TIME TO GIVE THANKS

This Thanksgiving season, I’ve taken stock of the many things for which I may be grateful.

I’m thankful that I’m not poor. For the 13% of Americans living below the federal poverty level, the prospect of food stamp cuts approved by the House “will make Thanksgiving bleaker for hundreds of thousands of hard-working families,” according to Bread for the World, an anti-hunger group. Over 38 million Americans live in “food insecure” households that have trouble affording food. If you say a prayer at Thanksgiving, ask that Congressional leaders restore funds for food stamps when they hammer out a compromise budget.

I’m grateful that I am not a farmer or a college student, since Congress also wielded a budget axe to farm supports and loans for low-income students. Congress gave itself a raise, however – just in time for the holiday shopping season.

I give thanks that I am not among the million or more people left homeless by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, since the Republican-controlled Congress has stalled on providing vital relief funding or money to protect New Orleans from another storm.

I’m thankful that I don’t live in Iraq, where the U.S. army now admits it has used white phosophorous—a chemical weapon banned by international law. This unconscionable assault has left civilians horribly burned, foreign news sources confirm. Iraq is also contaminated by depleted uranium from U.S. weapons – a radioactive substance believed to be the cause of high rates of birth deformities and cancer in Iraq.

I’m extremely thankful that I’m not Scooter Libby, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Tom Noe or any of the other Bush cronies or officials now under indictment for corruption or other serious charges. I’m also grateful that my name is not Dick Cheney or Karl Rove, who must be squirming at prosecutor Patrick Fitgerald’s announcement that he plans to convene a second grand jury to continue his investigation into the Valerie Plame spy-leak—a scandal that could result in charges of treason once the leaker is revealed.

Most of all, I’m thankful that I’m not George W. Bush, who will no doubt go down in history as the most corrupt and inept U.S. president ever. He may ultimately face impeachment as his lies come crashing down around him. He deserves to be tried for war crimes. At the very least, he’ll have some mighty tough explaining to do whenever he meets his maker.

If you’re a person of faith, consider asking the Almighty this Thanksgiving to reserve an appropriate eternal “reward” for the turkeys in this administration, to grant relief for our country from the uncompassionate conservatives in charge -- and to bestow some blessings upon the many who have suffered at their hands.

-- Liberty Belle

(originally published in the Liberty Belle Log. For a free subscription, e-mail writerink@cox.net)

But the corporatist and theocrats loved him. He held an utter elitist snobbishness against the working class.

lowly worker in the Gulf Coast earning a pittance because Bush tossed out the Davis-Bacon Act. I'd also be thankful to Democrats for forcing Bush to restore prevailing wages for those working to rebuild the Gulf Coast.