An historical tidbit for your Thanksgiving enjoyment.

Ft Hood servicemembers and their families are already subject to enough right-wing posturing and conclusion-jumping without having Caribou Barbie come and trash their Commander-in-Chief with her simple-minded parables and pablum.

I have to admit it. Last year's Thanksgiving column was a lot easier to write. Riding high on the victories of the season, my list included things such as "Jesse Jackson's tears in Grant Park," and "the election of the first post-modern president."

Not everyone has grown up in a huge family. I would like to share a little bit of my memories of Thanksgiving with those who don't have this experience.

You remember Joe Szakos, right? He's the courageous head of the Virginia Organizing Project, our affiliate in VA. He's also an Anthem Blue Cross customer, and his rates just increased 14%. The same week, he received an email from Blue Cross bashing a public health insurance option.

Despite what you may have read, a bunch of illegally hacked emails does not actually change the fact that the climate is changing. As a prelude to the Copenhagen Conference next month, a group of scientists has updated the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s 2007 report. The jist? Things are worse than predicted.

What's a job? Have you ever thought much about that question?

There was a phone call today with farm leaders from the National Farmers Union and affiliated groups. Their message to those Senators who are not on board yet with a public health insurance option? Rural America needs a public health insurance option most.

There is an important case in the Supreme Court which will decide if the standard of "material support" for terrorist groups is contitutional or is too vague to pass that test. Today briefs have been filed by Black List survivors urging the High Court to strike down this vague and overly broad criminalization of association.