Turkey Time Videos

Happy Thanksgiving to EVERYONE!

I'm thankful for whoever created this!

Thanksgiving 2013

I hope everyone reading this has much to be thankful for! I am thankful for my family, my friends, for having a roof over my head and a turkey in the oven. I'm thankful that our city government is about to be transformed. But, unfortunately for too many in America, this is the reality:

In the U.S. 49.7 Million Are Now Poor, and 80% of the Total Population Is Near Poverty

Evidence mounting that poverty causes lasting physical and mental health problems for children  

More Than 600,000 Americans Are Homeless On Any Given Night  

Food Banks Plead for Piece of a Diminishing Federal Funding Pie

Walmart asks its workers to donate food...to their fellow workers

McDonald's advises its workers to break up their food into smaller pieces to try to satisfy their hunger and to sell their Christmas gifts on eBay for much-needed cash 

A Galveston medical student describes life and death in the so-called safety net 

The Nation details how "Inequality Is (Literally) Killing America" 

And,  Linda Tirado explains "...Why Poor People's Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense"

May you be one of the lucky ones!

The Thanksgiving Socialism Hoax (UPDATED TWICE)

And you all know what that means.  Besides the traditional traditions like Turkey, the newer traditions like Turducken, and the localized traditions like Alice's Restaurant, we're now seeing a new political narrative explaining how "first Thanksgiving was a celebration of abundance after a period of socialism and starvation."

Capitalist abundance (of course) after a period of (of course) failed socialism.  We're told by the very smart conservatives in our midst that it's one of the many truths we're not being taught about our Christian nation's capitalist beginnings by the godless liberal elite running (and ruining) our education system.

It goes at least as far back as this piece from 1999.

And it's total bunk, of course.

But let's start from that piece in 1999.  The writer, Richard J Maybury, contrasts the "official story":

...the pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America and establishing the Plymouth colony in the winter of 1620-21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The Pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.

The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after

With "what really happened":

The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.

In his 'History of Plymouth Plantation,' the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years, because they refused to work in the fields. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with "corruption," and with "confusion and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."

In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, "all had their hungry bellies filled," but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first "Thanksgiving" was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.

But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, "instead of famine now God gave them plenty," Bradford wrote, "and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God." Thereafter, he wrote, "any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day." In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.

Now let's look at some real historians.  First about how the property was communally held.  From the NYTimes:

Historians say that the settlers in Plymouth, and their supporters in England, did indeed agree to hold their property in common — William Bradford, the governor, referred to it in his writings as the “common course.” But the plan was in the interest of realizing a profit sooner, and was only intended for the short term; historians say the Pilgrims were more like shareholders in an early corporation than subjects of socialism.

“It was directed ultimately to private profit,” said Richard Pickering, a historian of early America and the deputy director of Plimoth Plantation, a museum devoted to keeping the Pilgrims’ story alive.

The arrangement did not produce famine. If it had, Bradford would not have declared the three days of sport and feasting in 1621 that became known as the first Thanksgiving. “The celebration would never have happened if the harvest was going to be less than enough to get them by,” Mr. Pickering said. “They would have saved it and rationed it to get by.”[Emphasis added.]

And about that laziness?  The real historians have the context:

But Mr. Pickering said this grumbling had more to do with the fact that the Plymouth colony was bringing together settlers from all over England, at a time when most people never moved more than 10 miles from home. They spoke different dialects and had different methods of farming, and looked upon each other with great wariness.

“One man’s laziness is another man’s industry, based on the agricultural methods they’ve learned as young people,” he said.

Bradford did get rid of the common course — but it was in 1623, after the first Thanksgiving, and not because the system wasn’t working. The Pilgrims just didn’t like it.[Emphasis added.]

In any event, let's look at it another way.  There's this from the Teaparty:

The original colony at Plymouth Bay had been founded by Puritans who hoped to emulate the early Christians by keeping all their worldly goods in common.

So they lived a communal life to live in accordance with their faith.  The governor saw that it was a failure (or so their story goes) and then intervenes and imposes a more secular system on them.

And this is the story of Amurika they support?

Happy Thanksgiving.  You can go with the experts and their context or the political partisans looking to reinvent the past in order to see themselves.

UPDATE: Joseph Farah, founder, editor and CEO of Birther Central (aka World Net Daily), does the honors.

SECOND UPDATE: Local conservative writer Jerry Bowyer refloats this myth every year in one form or another.  Seems like one of those floaters was translated into Italian.  Congratulazioni, Jerry! Ora sei sbagliato in due lingue e due continenti!

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I was a boy in New England (where you can find the best pizza on the planet) every year on Thanksgiving day it was a tradition for at least one New York radio station to play one particular 18 minute piece of music - some time around noon.

This piece of music.

Lyrics are here.

You can buy a copy here.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! (from U.C. Davis police officer John Pike)

(Click to enlarge. Based on this Photoshop.)

Today: One Turkey Pardoned and One Turkey Convicted

One Turkey Pardoned:

And

One Turkey Convicted:


Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at 2pj!
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We're thankful for our readers

Hope you had a good one!




And for the very last time on 2pj:


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I need you to pardon another one

(h/t to Shakesville)
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Part One:




And Part Two:




And the text.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Early Thanksgiving Greetings (card)

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at 2pj!.

Obama Family Volunteers at Food Bank

From HuffPo:

CHICAGO - President-elect Barack Obama and his wife took their daughters to work at a food bank on the day before Thanksgiving, saying they wanted to show the girls the meaning of the holiday, especially when so many people are struggling.

(More photos and video here.)

Their visit comes at a time when:

[T]he number of Americans needing assistance from the Simplified Nutrition Assistance Program (i.e., food stamps) will reach its highest level ever this month. This comes on the heels of the USDA reporting last week that 12.2% of all Americans struggled with hunger in 2007...

And:

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims: 4-Week Moving Average at 25 Year High

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Sarah Palin: What A Turkey!

Former vice presidential Republican nominee Gov. Sarah Palin did the traditional, cutesy pardoning of a turkey for Thanksgiving yesterday.

First, the turkey was pretty filthy and she declined to hold it and while she read the proclamation in the turkey pen it got a little noisy (and, honestly, a Pittsburgh City Council staffer could have written a less leaden proclamation). Then things took a turn for the truly bizarre.

After the pardoning ceremony, she was interviewed by KTUU channel 2 Anchorage -- fine and dandy -- except that the interview was conducted right in front of some guy slaughtering turkeys.

Eeeeew! You can watch the turkey fighting for it's life behind her.

At one point the interviewer asks her about budget items that might be "on the chopping block." (OK, that was pretty funny.)

At another point Palin looks back and laughs.

While watching it on MSNBC I kept thinking things like:

Doesn't she have advance people? ...A PR person? Couldn't a staff person have stopped the interview?? Someone needs to be fired over this!

But, according to MSNBC (as reported here by E&P):

...a Palin aide later explained that she had signed off on the backdrop. "No worries," Palin advised.

WTF?

Is there nothing that Palin can't screw up?

This is a woman without a single clue.

No clue.

C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S

MSNBC pixeled out the turkey's death kicks, but here's the uncensored video:


Next Up: Sarah Palin's heartwarming Christmas Eve interview -- where she hunts down, kills and field-dresses Rudolph.


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Happy Thanksgiving!

Blogging from an undisclosed location somewhere on the East Coast...

I've seen a couple of these things around the local blogs and so I thought I'd try my hand.

Six Things I am thankful for:

1 - Family and fiancee. No need to elaborate here, is there?

2 - Friends. I can't tell you how good it feels to get an unexpected e-mail that says just the right thing at just the right time (especially in the last month or so). In return it's pushing me to work harder to be a better friend to those around me. A HUGE thank you to you all.

3 - Jack Kelly's weekly screed. It's a tradition here at 2PJ. Sunday morning, sleep in until 8am or so and then tackle the P-G's conservative bloward. I have to admit, some weeks are easier than others to deconstruct the well-armed J-Kel. Sources my blog posts have absolutely no effect on the man himself. Which is good, in a way, as it guarantees me a new stream of raw sewage material every seven days.

4 - Whole Foods. I'm only a few minutes away from good cheap sushi.

5 - Our Trolls old and new. I don't see Braden posting much anymore and Heir to the Throne is almost as silent, but John K is a continuing source of unintentional humor. The rhetorical methodology of each is different but it all seems to have the same goal - say anything to distract from dubya's many many failures. With Braden, it was to scream "Hypocrisy!" anytime someone disagreed with him (for liberals are supposed to embrace diversity, doncha know) and then change the subject to Bill Clinton's penis or Sandy Berger's socks. For John K, the methology is much cruder. He just changes the subject. Needless to say, it's all very funny.

6 - The Bush Administration. Don't get me wrong. I'd much rather have an administration that obeys the law, doesn't claim the authority to spy on its own citizens, doesn't start completely unecessary wars under obviously false pretenses, doesn't seek to shred the Constitution at every decision it makes, and doesn't out, of sheer incompentence, let an entire city drown. For that matter, I'd also much rather have a Congress that took its Constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities much more seriously. But hey, it all gives me something to write about every single frickin day.

I'm also thankful for Maria, the OPJ - if she didn't start this blog, I'd still be writing about Fred Honsberger.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few years back I had a boss who was an immigrant from Latin America. Many of my coworkers were also immigrants from all around the world.

While the boss was widely regarded as a real SOB, he always made a big deal of celebrating Thanksgiving at the company. We'd have a party and do a turkey raffle where everyone would end up with a turkey or ham.

But, the nicest thing would be the speech he made.

He would say that Thanksgiving was a special holiday to him because he thought of it as being uniquely American. Unlike most, it was a holiday that did not commemorate a battle or a leader, nor was it based in a particular religion's tenets.

It was simply a day in which Americans gave thanks for what we have.

In a time when we clamor to build walls to keep people out or rush headlong into giving up long cherished rights out of fear, it's sometimes nice to step back and hear the perspective of someone not born here who can see this country with fresh eyes and be thankful for what it still offers.




(OK, this is 2pj and I cannot dwell completely inthe sentimental. I am also thankful for the snark!).

Alice's Restaurant - A Thanksgiving Tradition

I'm originally from New England, born in the same city as our Great And Glorious Leader, George W. Bush - New Haven Ct.

And when I was a boy, every year about this time it was a tradition for the New York radio stations to play one particular 18 minute piece of music.

This one.

Lyrics are here.

You can buy a copy here.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Happy Thanksgiving!