From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE
Before the Football Game Starts...
In a break from our usual format, today we're treating you to our traditional C&J hymn---BiPM Opus 5.0. In observance of Thanksgiving, we've added some new stanzas to the classic holiday piece, We Gather Together. (Click here and watch a talented dude play it on his magic organ.) As the holiday unfolds, may your feast be bountiful, your cockroaches be few, and your couch time be adequately cushioned.
Thanksong in the Key of Billeh
We gather together to count all our blessings;
The big ones, the small ones, the ones in between.
Today there's no stressing, now please pass the dressing,
For four and twenty hours, I'm an eating machine.
A big "Wah" goes out to the Senate Repub'cans
Their conduct to obstruct made them look like fools.
But Dems did some kung fu, now judges can get through
Well, hey, imagine that! The majority rules.
Let's boot up and visit the healthcare-dot-gov site.
Less hitches! Less gitches! Great plans---take your pick!
Insurance for millions, and savings in the billions
And they can’t boot you now just because you get sick.
Now let's show some love for our organized labor
We praise eight-hour days and the weekends they brung
Sometimes we must picket, tell bosses where to stick it
You're heroes one and all, and too often unsung.
And here's a "hey ho!" to our NSA peepers
They hack us and track us from when we are born
Phone calls they are scooping, in files they are snooping
Especially the ones where we stash all our porn.
Now quoting Ann Romney here: "I love you WOMEN!!!"
I'm lovin' Ms. Warren and Gillibrand's keen
Mikulski and Pingree and Duckworth and Murray
And maybe You-Know-Who in November '16.
And holy cow what's going on with Pope Francis?
The poors he adores and the rich he tut-tuts
The gays he won't begrudge, says "Who am I to judge?"
The left thinks he's a star, and the right thinks he's nuts.
Oh let's take some pity on Mother Earth's ice caps
I'm thinking they're shrinking and that means we'll fry.
Our planet's an oven, it needs big-time lovin'
If we don’t change our ways, we can kiss our home "Bye."
Now here's what I have to say 'bout unemployment:
Jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs
Jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs, jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs
And one more thought I'll add: jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs.
And how 'bout a scritch for our pooties and woozles
They're fuzzy, they're wuzzy, they're goofy and shrewd
I bet if they could talk then they would no doubt squawk:
"Stop singing this dumb song, and start dropping me food."
Ahhhh...men.
Happy
Gobble Gobble, everyone. A few more goodies, including a Molly Ivins Thanksgiving bon mot, below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, November 28, 2013
Note: Here's the schedule for the rest of my life: A management-authorized "Unauthorized Ask Me Anything" west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers will appear tomorrow around 4:30PT/7:30ET. We'll be off Monday due to time-travel obligations (some roughhousing in the Bronze Age I gotta take care of). We'll return on Tuesday for the final sprint to 2014. After that? I dunno---surprise me.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Lighting of the National Christmas Tree with Aretha Franklin and Joshua Bell: 8
Date of Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation: 10/3/1863
Cost of a turkey dinner for ten with all the trimmings, down 44 cents from last year: $49.04
(Source: Washington Post)
Minimum number of presidents who have called the Butterball hotline: 1
(Source: The West Wing)
Number of NFL games today: 3
Population of Turkey, Texas: 421
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Your Turkey Day Molly Ivins Moment:
Dan Green of New York City says of the election results, "You can't be depressed now, the worst is yet to come." Following that good advice, I intended to keep my indignation dry and save the outrage for when it is really needed, kind of like saving room for the pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving dinner. If we're going to get through the next four years, we have to pace ourselves, I concluded.
But here it is, not even three weeks into the new Bush regime, and already I'm jaw-dropped, you've-got-to-be-kidding mad. […]
As though things on the legislative side weren't bad enough, Bush and Cheney are moving to make the executive branch all-powerful. You can already see several of the unfortunate characteristics of the first term being intensified in the second. The emphasis on secrecy is already more pronounced, as is the selection of people for loyalty rather than competence.
But we have to save some room for when it gets worse, so I'd like wish absolutely everybody, including the Bush administration, a swell Thanksgiving.
---Thanksgiving, 2004
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Puppy Pic of the Day: The classic
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Things For Which I Am Thankful: 2013 Edition
The abbreviated list:
That the first and middle name of our 44th president is Barack Hussein and not Willard Mitt
Joe Biden
Michelle and the kids
Our soldiers over here and over there
Bill McKibben and all the activists who continue beating the drum against tar-sands oil
Bill and Hillary You-Know-Who
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Elizabeth Warren Democrats
Virginia Governor-elect Terry MacAuliffe and Attorney General-elect Mark Herring
Maine Senator Angus King (I), for proving to be a voice of sanity in the upper chamber
The Congressional Progressive Caucus
Barney Frank, for fulfilling his promise to stay in the post-Congress spotlight.
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Marriage equality in Rhode Island, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii, Illinois and Delaware
Portland Maine's voters, who approved the recreational indoor use of marijuana
Judges who strike down Republican voter suppression and anti-abortion efforts
Republicans who hand elections to Democrats by saying what they really think
Campaign volunteers and polling place workers
Walmart and fast-food worker protesters
Employers who gave their employees the day off
Minimum-wage hike supporters
Responsible gun ownership advocates
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Maddow, Schultz, O'Donnell, Rev. Al, Stewart, Colbert, Maher
Chris Hayes, Ezra Klein, Melissa Harris-Perry
Keith Olbermann's new ESPN2 show
E.J. Dionne, Eugene Robinson, Frank Rich, Bob Herbert, Paul Begala
Naomi Klein, Joan Walsh, Marcy Wheeler, Glenn Greenwald, Robert Greenwald, Eleanor Clift, Joy Reid
Atrios, Digby, Americablog, Pam Spaulding, John Cole, Dan Savage
Dahlia Lithwick
Think Progress, Media Matters
The ghosts of Molly Ivins and Ted Kennedy
Krugman! Krugman! Krugman!
Dean! Dean! Dean!
Malala
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U.N. chemical-weapons inspectors and removers
Secretary of State John Kerry: the Force is strong with this one
Thawing relations between the U.S. and Iran
The Senate, for going nuclear to stop GOP filibuster abuse on judicial nominees
The Senate, for passing immigration reform
The Senate, for passing ENDA
Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Extraterrestrials. Unless they plan to eat us.
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My partner, Michael, for growing old with me
All of my bosses at Daily Kos
The front-pagers and diarists here, for explaining stuff I don't know boo about
The rest of the progressive blogosphere, for having the wisdom to follow all the orders issued by Kingmaker Markos
Netroots Nation and its organizers
Netroots for the Troops
SaraR's quilts
Dirty Fucking Hippies
M'doggie. M'pootie.
Righty blogs, an endless source of unintentional humor (bless their hearts)
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Wineries
Distilleries
Breweries
Pepcid AC
Advil
Cereal that gives me 800% of my daily fiber needs in one bowl
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Evolution
Electric cars
High-speed rail…and high speed rail trains
Unions
Onions
Funions
Twinkies
Candy corn
Diversity
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Peace. (Yeah, it's a real word. I looked it up.)
And, as ever, that magic moment at 6am when the Bacardi 151 crosses the blood-brain barrier.
How 'bout you?
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