Each country values its traditions. Tradition gives us values with which we can identify. It also gives us a sense of community; a sense that for all our differences we are essentially human beings, trying to survive in, and make sense of, the bewildering cosmos in which we find ourselves. We have our myths, our religions, and our customs that help to give us that shared identity; something for us to cling to, and give meaning to our lives; something that defines us. And that is good. One tradition that I greatly admire, which we don't observe in Oz, is Thanksgiving. That is one custom that I think we could well borrow from our American cousins, without fear of our Australian identity being compromised.

Some would say, with some justification, that Christmas fulfils the same function here in Oz. That is a time when families get together, forget their differences (or paper over them) and take a break from the onerous daily grind of survival. But it is first and foremost a Christian religious festival. And for people like me who aren't religious, it feels a bit like cheating. I suppose the American Thanksgiving has religious connotations too, although, from my understanding, it is not a Christian festival. It's a day to give thanks to whomever you want to for all those things for which we feel we should be thankful. I like that.

And as I sit here in good health, safe in my shelter from the elements, with no fear of where my next meal (or drink) is coming from, secure in the love of my family, and, through the miracle of technology, enjoying the company of my many friends both here in Oz, and around the world, I know that I have much to be thankful for. I marvel at the fortitude of my ancestors who gathered up their family and belongings, and embarked on a perilous voyage to the other side of the world, knowing full well that they would never again see the relatives and friends left behind. Then again, maybe that's why they left. God knows, the Pilgrims were happy enough to leave. I was fortunate to see the stepping off point for the Pilgrims in Plymouth. I wondered at the time if my relatives also began their great adventure from that point as well. The voluntary ones that is. It is true that at least one of my ancestors left Mother England involuntarily. Something to do with misappropriating an anchor of all things. But we won't dwell on that, will we.

I like the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty in New York. I want to see it, and hopefully, will do so next year. I like to think of the millions who entered the New World under the watchful eye of that imposing lady holding the torch of Freedom. Nothing as grand as that greets new arrivals in this country. I suppose we do have a bridge, and a funny looking building that looks like copulating turtles. I guess that's symbolic of Oz. We're an unimaginative lot. And we're happy that way.

So it is that we'll probably never have an official Thanksgiving Day, which is a pity. Then again, I suppose every day is a day for thanksgiving, isn't it. Maybe we have it right, after all.
 

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Tomorrow, many of us will gather around the table with family and friends to give thanks over a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy -- and let’s not forget pumpkin pie! But for some in this country, the feast will not be as bountiful.  In fact, it won’t be much of a feast at all.  Hunger is on the rise in America -- hitting its highest levels in nearly 15 years.  A recent report released by the USDA reveals that in 2008 an estimated 1.1 million children were living in households that experienced hunger multiple times over the past year. To combat hunger this winter, we’re launching, in coordination with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United We Serve: Feed a Neighbor initiative -- a program that empowers you with all the resources you need to mobilize against the hunger crisis in your community.  Learn how you can get started today: Barack and I are committed to doing all we can to end hunger by making food programs more accessible to eligible families.  But government can only do so much -- it will take all of us working together to put an end to hunger in America. That’s why we’ve made it easy for you to get involved at Serve.gov. Find local volunteer opportunities like delivering meals to homebound seniors, offering your professional skills at a food pantry, or planting a community garden and sharing produce with your neighbors.  You can also create your own volunteer opportunity using our anti-hunger toolkit. This holiday season let’s recommit to serving our communities and working together to feed American families.  Get started giving back today. Thank you, Michelle First Lady Michelle Obama The White House Fight flu with facts! • Visit Flu.gov • Call 800-232-4636 • Text FLU2 to 87000   The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

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http://www.alternet.org/story/144181/conservative_%22purity_test%22_too_right_wing_for_ronald_reagan?page=entire

Conservative "Purity Test" Too Right Wing for Ronald Reagan

By John Nichols, The Nation. Posted November 25, 2009.

The most rigidly conservative members of the Republican National Committee are circulating a proposal to establish a purity test for the party's candidates.

If adopted, the party would withhold money from any contender who disagreed with conservative principles on more than two of 10 essential issues identified by the right-wingers.

"The problem is that conservatives have lost trust in the Republican Party that we will govern as conservatives," argues James Bopp Jr., an RNC member from Indiana who has spearheaded the purity-test push. "I think that loss of trust is warranted to a certain extent because of the fact that we in the final several years of the Bush administration were supporting increased government, earmarks and, ultimately, bailouts."

Earlier this year, Bopp and his compatriots pressured RNC chair Michael Steele to declare President Obama to be a "socialist." The conservative crusaders were rebuffed then, but if they win approval for their purity test at the committee's winter meeting in January, the party will officially express: "Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama's socialist agenda is necessary to preserve the security of our country, our economic and political freedoms, and our way of life."

With Orwellian irony, Bopp and his buddies have labeled their proposal: "Reagan's Unity Principle for Support of Candidates. "The relevant portion of the resolution reads:

WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee shares President Ronald Reagan's belief that the Republican Party should espouse conservative principles and public policies and welcome persons of diverse views; and   WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee desires to implement President Reagan's Unity Principle for Support of Candidates; and WHEREAS, in addition to supporting candidates, the Republican National Committee provides financial support for Republican state and local parties for party building and federal election activities, which benefits all candidates and is not affected by this resolution; and THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee identifies ten (10) key public policy positions for the 2010 election cycle, which the Republican National Committee expects its public officials and candidates to support:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's "stimulus" bill;

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

(4) We support workers' right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing, denial of health care and government funding of abortion;

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;

and be further RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public policy positions of the Republican National Committee, as identified by the voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee; and be further RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall deliver a copy of this resolution to each of Republican members of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, as they become known, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.

Fair enough.

So here's a question: Applying the standard established in the resolution – review of the candidate's official record, public statements and answers to questions – would Ronald Reagan pass the purity test?

Let's see:

(1) Deficit spending soared during Reagan's presidency.Strike one.

(2) As governor of California, Reagan oversaw the development of Medi-Cal, the nation's largest Medicaid program – expanding it to cover long-term care and developed massive new managed care systems. Strike two.

(3) As governor of California, Reagan Reagan established the Air Resources Board to battle California's smog problems and supported aggressive government intervention where the market had failed to protect the environment. As president, Reagan signed more wilderness protections laws – which restrict private-sector exploitation of natural resources – than any president in history. Strike three.

(4) Reagan was a former union president who campaigned against the Taft-Hartley Act and other restrictions of the right of unions to organize. Strike four.

(5) Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted amnesty to most undocumented workers who could prove they had been in the country continuously for the previous five years. After he finished his presidency, Reagan continues to speak out forcefully for immigration rights. Strike five.

(6) After the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, Reagan was urged by some to surge more troops into the region. Instead, he ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. Strike six.

(7) Reagan acknowledged that during his presidency the U.S.sold weapons to Iran. Strike seven.

(8) Reagan was the first president to invite an openly gay couple to spend the night in the White House and he famously argued that gays and lesbians should not be discriminated against in a 1978 television advertising campaign. Strike eight.

(9) Shortly after his inauguration as governor of California, Reagan signed into law the most liberal abortion statute of its day". Strike nine.

(10) Here's Reagan, in 1991, on gun control: "I support the Brady Bill, and I urge the Congress to enact it without further delay." Strike ten.

Of course it is true that Reagan, like John Kerry, was for some ideas before he was against them.

Reasonable people might debate the proper point at which to try and pin Reagan down.

But no reasonable person can suggest that Ronald Reagan would have met the eight out ten test the RNC right-wingers seek to apply – especially on hot-button issues such as gun control, gay rights and immigration.

Indeed, one of the favorites of the RNC's extreme conservatives, Florida U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio, recently declared that Reagan was wrong to support amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

And it is probably worth noting that, when Reagan was seeking the Republican nomination in 1980, conservatives Phil Crane and John Connolly suggested that "the Gipper" was an amiable fellow but just not pure enough. Crane positioned himself that year as as a pure conservative alternative to Reagan.

Crane, the purist, won 1.8 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire Republican primary and exited stage right.

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As Max Erhmann would say in his lovely Desiderata:

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

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In a former life I used to be an electrician. And like in any tradies home, odd jobs requiring trade skills seem to get left until last, or forever. I have a 90cm/36in ceiling fan in the computer/junk/ grog store room. Quite a few years ago a thing called a capacitor blew up, and the fan no longer worked. So, I needed to buy another capacitor and replace the dud one. Somehow, I never did get around to replacing that capacitor. Until a couple of weeks ago. I removed a capacitor from a fluorescent light and replaced dud one with it. I won't go into the technical details of this, but I'd be grateful if you didn't tell the electricity supply company about this. Ta.

Having replaced said capacitor, and congratulating myself on my cleverness, I switched on the fan and....nothing happened. So, instead of checking further, I assumed the fan motor had suffered damage, and that I would have to replace the fan with a new one. So, I bought said new fan last week. Yes, you know where this is heading, don't you.

After much procrastinating, I finally decided to replace fan today. But first, I thought I should disconnect live wire at switch so that I didn't get fried. There's enough CO2 in the atmosphere now, I'm told. So, I removed the cover....and discovered that wire had already been disconnected. I must have done it all those years ago to stop anyone from accidentally turning on the fan which could have damaged it. Two minutes later, wire was reconnected, and fan was running merrily. And I was cursing myself for my laziness, stupidity or whatever. To say nothing of the embarrassment of explaining all this to Mrs Snowy.

I wish it was Friday night.
 

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