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Thanksgiving Day is a particularly appropriate time to reflect on the meaning and value of profit. The settlers at Plymouth colony who started the holiday tradition nearly wiped themselves out early on when they set up a communal, socialistic economy. Each person was producing for everybody else and received an equal share of the total production. In the absence of a strong profit motive, the settlers starved until Gov. Bradford altered the arrangement. Thereafter, men and women produced for profit and the result was bountiful harvests with full Thanksgiving tables. The people who don't like profit prefer to extol the...

Andrew Klavan talks turkey

Just like clockwork, the Obama administration never misses an opportunity to unload thousands of records it hopes no one will ever bother sifting through during the holidays. On Black Friday, the White House released more visitor log info — trumpeting disclosures it has fought tooth and nail. I’ve started looking through the data. And you can, too, right here:

Are we to thank God - or government - for the gifts we receive?November 1621: Governor Obama of Plymouth Colony prepares for the first Thanksgiving with his scribe, the boy Jay. “How are preparations for our Thanksgiving Day feast proceeding, young Jay? I am eager to share the blessings wrought by hope and change, and the bounty that I have brought to this needy land and its humble yet dignified people.” “Yes, Governor, about the feast. I’m afraid we don’t have much in the way of food.” “But I decreed a feast.” “Yes, I remember the speech. One of your...

The White House President Obama’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation November 24, 2011 From my family to yours, I’d like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving! Like millions of Americans, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I will spend the day eating great food, watching a little football, and reflecting on how grateful we are that my administration’s policies are beginning to take effect. We are especially thankful for your support that has made our achievements possible. But, there are many other blessings we share today. We’re grateful that men and women defending our country overseas can now freely love others of the same...

THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING There was a time long ago when Americans were sad and unhappy, when the world hated us, people were forced to work for a living and there were no inspiring leaders. But today in this wonderful age of free health care, free mobs and freedom for Islamists, there is so much for us to be thankful for. Like that new age of freedom and democracy breaking out like a rash across the Middle East. Sure women keep being sexually assaulted in the new liberated Egypt, but that's democracy for you. Or a democracy of...

Obama Leaves God out of Thanksgiving Speech, Riles CriticsBy JOEL SIEGEL | ABC News – 6 hours ago Critics of President Obama felt little holiday cheer after the president did not thank God in his Thanksgiving-themed weekly Internet address. They immediately took to Twitter and the Internet to voice anger and disbelief. "Holy cow! Is that one screwed up or what?" columnist Sherman Frederick of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote in a Thanksgiving-morning blog post. "Somebody ought to remind Obama (and his speechwriter) that when Americans sit down around a meal today and give thanks, they give thanks to God."...

Critics of President Obama felt little holiday cheer after the president did not thank God in his Thanksgiving-themed weekly Internet address. They immediately took to Twitter and the Internet to voice anger and disbelief. "Holy cow! Is that one screwed up or what?" columnist Sherman Frederick of the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote in a Thanksgiving-morning blog post. "Somebody ought to remind Obama (and his speechwriter) that when Americans sit down around a meal today and give thanks, they give thanks to God." Over on the website of Fox News Radio, radio host Todd Starnes also took issue. "His remarks were...

Forget what you read on the signs at the local Occupy Whatever City rally. The so-called “99 percent” have never had it so good. Living standards for poor and middle-class Americans have improved steadily since 1980. Much of this improvement can be credited to the economic growth and tax reforms that provide incentives to invest and work. In a study for the American Enterprise Institute last month, Bruce Meyer of the University of Chicago and James X. Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame examined survey-level data to determine changes in what they call the “material well-being” of the poor...

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness": Now, therefore, I do...

This is my traditional Thanksgiving essay from The War on Guns. Attacks by roving flocks of wild turkeys are on the increase around suburban Boston--AP Time was, the turkey was considered a game bird. The Pilgrims at Plymouth feasted on them. Generations later, Ben Franklin considered it such a useful fowl that he nominated it for the national bird. Of course, this was in the days when the right to bear arms was taken for granted, when free people hunted turkeys for sustenance, all the while honing marksmanship that would serve them well in time of need. Fast-forward to present-day...

Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, November 24, 2011, 10:17 PM In his Thanksgiving message this year, Barack Obama reminded us that the economy still sucks and that we are our brother’s keeper. We’re also grateful for the Americans who are taking time out of their holiday to serve in soup kitchens and shelters, making sure their neighbors have a hot meal and a place to stay. This sense of mutual responsibility – the idea that I am my brother’s keeper; that I am my sister’s keeper – has always been a part of what makes our country special. And...

Forget the turkey, the silly Pilgrim hats and the buckles. Forget Plymouth Rock and 1621. If you want to know about the real first Thanksgiving on American soil, travel 1,200 miles south and more than 50 years earlier to a grassy spot on the Matanzas River in North Florida. This is where Spanish Adm. Pedro Menendez de Aviles came ashore on Sept. 8, 1565. This is where he, 500 soldiers, 200 sailors, 100 civilian families and artisans, and the Timucuan Indians who occupied the village of Seloy gathered at a makeshift altar and said the first Christian Mass. And afterward,...

Those who still think that it's a good idea for government to "spread the wealth around" must think they're "wiser than God." That's what Plymouth Governor William Bradford concluded nearly 400 years ago after one of America's first socialist experiments led not to shared wealth, but pooled poverty. The Pilgrims, whom we remember at Thanksgiving, started life in the New World with a system of common ownership forced on them by Plymouth colony investors. That quasi-socialist arrangement proved disastrous, and had to be scrapped for one which gave these first Americans the right to keep the fruits of their labor...

It seems that there was a time in this country when Thanksgiving was a benign and festive stand-alone celebration. Schoolchildren dressed up as Pilgrims, Indians and turkeys in pageants observing the 1621 feast that served as a gesture of friendship toward the Indians who helped save the infant Plymouth Bay colony from starvation. The pageants have begun to disappear. Our new political correctness toward Native Americans seems to consist of erasing public acknowledgement of their existence, by outlawing Indian nicknames for schools. It seemed a harmless conceit. The young scholars would learn soon enough that that early display of amity...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops As We Enjoy Thanksgiving!! ~ ZABUL MEDIC U.S. Air Force Senior Airman David Cummings wraps an elder's injured foot in Mizan, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Oct. 25, 2011. Cummings, a medic assigned to Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, is deployed from the 59th Medical Squadron based on Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FLYING FINISH...

Planned Parenthood Gives Tips to Promote Abortion at Thanksgiving by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | 11/24/11 1:57 PM The New York affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business is giving out tips today for its supporters in terms of how they can push abortion on their guests at the Thanksgiving dinner table. The website is sure to upset millions of pro-life advocates who are busy spending the day thanking God for the gifts and blessings they’ve been given, especially the gift of human life that has been snuffed out more than 54 million times since the Roe v. Wade decision...

for McCain losing the last presidential election! If the backstabber McCain had been elected president in 2008, there would be NO Tea Party and little to NO resistance to his treasonous, un-American, left-wing statism in the form of... Carbon taxes (McCain-Lieberman) Campaign finance "reform" (McCain-Feingold) Amnesty for illegal aliens (McCain-Kennedy) Obama is "a decent person and a person you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States". Hillary Clinton is an "international star" Wars of aggression (e.g., Kosovo, Libya) Fighting with the families of POWs and MIAs Lindsey Graham Mark Kirk Taking bribes from Big...

Happy Thankssgiving to the entire Frerepublic Community. I for one, am thankful for such a great group of people with similiar interests, and a forum to voice our opinions and discuss topics.

Happy Thankssgiving to the entore Frerepublic Community. I for one, am thankful for such a great group of people with similiar interests, and a forum to voice our opinions and discuss topics.

Thanksgiving is upon us. I once loved this holiday above all others — but no more. The day was an excuse for a gathering of the clan, without religious significance or pressure to buy everybody a useless present. It was essentially a festival of food. In my family, the menfolk would assemble in the living room to argue politics or football. Meanwhile, the women, supervised by the oldest among them, would engineer the meal in the kitchen. We’d all meet at the dining room table, representing as many as four generations, and conduct the ritual of the turkey. Oh yes,...

Where Turkey Is The Guest, Not The Entree (Isabella Colbdorf feeds salad to a turkey at this year's Feeding of the Turkeys ceremony in Watkins Glen, in upstate New York, on Nov. 20, 2011.) Most people think of turkeys as the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. But at one farm, the turkeys are the guests. At the 26th annual Feeding of the Turkeys ceremony in Watkins Glen, in upstate New York, a line of turkeys come walking out the door of the barn. They stroll towards long low tables set up on the lawn, with scarlet tablecloths and seasonal squash...

PUT IN THEIR PLACE! Texas Aggies humiliate Texas University at their last game, winning 31-6! Today Texas A&M controlled both the air and the ground games as their blitzkrieg offense cut short the University of Texas Longhorns this evening at Kyle Field in College Station. ATM went out on top in the series, winning most of the gams played in the last 25 years.

Psychiatrist Karl Menninger, founder of the Menninger Clinic, raised the question, “Whatever became of sin?” in his 1973 book title. There was a time when U.S. presidents made certain that our sin didn’t fade from our national conscience. Not this year. The Huffington Post reviewed the Thanksgiving Proclamations of 26 U.S. Presidents from Washington to Barack Obama, and concluded that they’re “strikingly the same”: "Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor..." With these words,...

The first "official" Thanksgiving was celebrated 212 years ago. President George Washington's first presidential proclamation designated the 26th day of November to be set aside for giving thanks. "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God and to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor," he wrote. Washington did not ask the nation's citizens to demand more from God or to question why the Revolutionary War had lasted eight years, nor to reflect on the damage that occurred during the war. Instead, he asked...

On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation declaring Thursday, November 26 of that year as a national day of Thanksgiving and prayer. Various states continued to hold their own Thanksgiving celebrations on various fall dates until President Lincoln standardized it as the fourth Thursday in November (with one brief hiccup during the days of FDR, when he moved it up a week and then changed it back)… but it is good to consider that the Thanksgiving tradition that began unofficially with the earliest colonists – at St. Augustine, at Charles City County, at Plymouth – has been...

In late 1620, Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower reached the New World to found what would become Plymouth Colony. Governed by the Mayflower Compact—the representative government established through it—they thanked God for their safe voyage and disembarked the vessel with a cold winter before them. The winter of 1620-1621 was a brutal one for the Pilgrims. Almost half of the Pilgrims died from disease so that by winter’s end, there were just over 50 left to keep the colony viable. When the “first Thanksgiving” was celebrated after harvest time in November of 1621, the survivors were grateful for life and limb,...

Throughout our history, Americans have benefited from the extraordinary riches and resources of the wealthy land in which we live. Compared to any other country on earth, Americans enjoy more fertile farmland, better internal communications by water, rich and diverse mineral resources, a more favorable climate, a more favorable position in the world’s commerce, and friendlier neighbors: our home truly flows with milk and honey. On this Thanksgiving Day we should reflect in gratitude for the abundance that shaped us as a people and still flows for us today, and see how yet again we are poised to enjoy new...

That “first” Thanksgiving in the autumn of 1621 involving the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag Confederacy under Massasoit occurred with many signs of God´s providence. That three day festival of meals including 5 deer (provided by the some 90 Indians attending); abundant wild game (probably waterfowl and wild turkey); fish, corn and bread was undoubtedly not the very first of celebrations giving thanks to God in the New World as these were a feature of the great Christian piety of the Europeans who came to the Western hemisphere after Columbus. But the Plymouth culinary event was the celebration most...

Kevin “Coach” Collins Today is a day for pausing to remember how blessed we are to be here in America the greatest country under the watchful eye of God. Think of your advantages; love your family and let this day renew your resolve to fight to keep the blessings our Founding Fathers gave us. Doug Book Those who have spent the last decade or two listening to Rush know that he is adamant about presenting his audience with the true story of Thanksgiving. “We ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the...

President Obama did not include any reference to God during his weekly address titled, “On Thanksgiving, Grateful for the Men and Women Who Defend Our Country.” His remarks were void of any religious references although Thanksgiving is a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God. The president said his family was “reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.” For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are. But nowhere in the 11-paragraph address does he mention the Almighty. Instead, he references the Civil War, two World Wars, and...

When the Pilgrims landed in 1620, they established a system of communal property. Within three years they had scrapped it, instituting private property instead. Hoover media fellow Tom Bethell tells the story. There are three configurations of property rights: state, communal, and private property. Within a family, many goods are in effect communally owned. But when the number of communal members exceeds normal family size, as happens in tribes and communes, serious and intractable problems arise. It becomes costly to police the activities of the members, all of whom are entitled to their share of the total product of the...

On Veteran’s Day my radio show featured interviews with more than a dozen seriously wounded Marines and Navy personnel who are beneficiaries of the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund (www.SemperFiFund.org.) Since its founding in 2003, the Semper Fi Fund has raised more than $55 million to help more than 6,000 service members wounded in the wars of the past decade. Take a quick look at their board of directors and you will quickly see why this organization is so effective and also why you need have no concern over its integrity or the efficiency of its operations. There are many,...

While thanksgiving days are as old as history, e.g., King David dancing with all his might in a loincloth before the returning Ark of the Covenant, 2 Kings 6: 13-16, it is Thanksgiving Days in American history that concern Noman today. I. THE "FIRST" THANKSGIVING (1621) • The Historical Context 1492 - Columbus discovers America 1492 - First Christmas celebrated in America when Columbus's ship, the Santa Maria, is grounded on a reef off Haiti. 1511 - Spanish settle Cuba 1517 - Reformation begins in Europe 1528 - Fray Suarez, first Catholic bishop in present day U.S., arrives in Florida...

This Thanksgiving, millions of Americans will sit down at the table and gawk over all the goodies they are planning to cram in their gullet. The holiday might seem as familiar as singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the “Seventh Inning Stretch” or packing a finger in ice that was blown off by a firework on the Fourth of July. However, like all traditions based on history and passed down through the ages, its genesis and story has been morphed and changed to fit the times. In fact, just about every major, hallowed tradition and belief behind...

For more than half my life I was a 99-percenter. I kept my first pay stubs in the news business to remind me where I came from and what was necessary in order to get where I am today. In 1975, while working at a TV station in Houston, I wrote a letter to a friend in Washington complaining about my stalled career and low salary. "I will probably die here with my boots on, boots bought on a revolving charge and not fully paid for," I griped. My memory is not that good. He kept the letter and showed...

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the people responsible for the American Thanksgiving tradition. Contrary to popular opinion, the Pilgrims didn't wear buckles on their shoes or hats. They weren't teetotalers, either. They smoked tobacco and drank beer. And, most importantly, their first harvest festival and subsequent "thanksgivings" weren't held to thank the local natives for saving their lives. Do you know there are public schools in America today actually teaching that? Some textbooks, in their discomfort with open discussions of Christianity, say as much. I dare suggest most parents today know little more about this history than their...

A reassuring 96 percent of Americans are still thankful for their lot in life, despite claims from moody pundits and much of the alarmist press that the U.S. has seen “better days.”... There is a partisan divide in one pertinent query, though. Who are the bigger “turkeys” — Washington politicians or Wall Street executives?

347 days....until November 6, 2012...

click on link and sing

AUTHOR’S NOTE #1: I’m running a review of this film today because the film is a Thanksgiving tradition in the New York Tri-State area where I grew up and still live. WPIX Channel 11 has run this film almost every year on Thanksgiving for the past 40 or so years (a notable exception was two years ago, which led to the station receiving many protests – and lo and behold the film was back the very next year, and is on the air again this year, from 9AM to 11AM Thanksgiving morning). -snip REVIEW: Testament to the role this film...

Just a vanity to thank JimRob for Free Republic and the Religion Forum, to thank the Religion Moderator for all the hard work, to thank God for the freedom of religion we have, and to offer a community prayer for all FReepers for health, safety, prosperity, joy, and God's blessings throughout the coming year.

I'll get the turkey in a bit ... right now though, just a little pause and reflection ...

Sarah Palin has sent The Brody File some personal Thanksgiving reflections. She talks movingly about her young son Trig. It is truly a heartfelt letter that gives God all the glory. As for Trig, Palin is showing that while there are some people who just talk the talk when it comes to being pro-life she actually walks the walk too. Enjoy! A Personal Thanksgiving Reflection by Sarah Palin: On Thanksgiving, my family's traditions will reflect the loyal, active, robust, big family life that shaped me. We're so fortunate to be together to share the making of another year's memory. In...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has been set straight on Thanksgiving comfort food. "The 700 Club" founder showed a clip of Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday. Robertson's host, Kristi Watts, asked what dish the former secretary of state had to have on Thanksgiving. Rice replied macaroni and cheese. Watts reacted enthusiastically, adding "Sister, that is my dish..." Appearing perplexed, Robertson asked Watts, who is black, of the women's shared enthusiasm for mac 'n' cheese, "Is that a black thing?"

It is clearly evident that we are in a culture of loss. Whether that loss is triggered by anger, blind loyalty and devotion towards the personality causing it, or whether that loss is centered on greed, I think that all of what is going on in America and the world can be summed up within one word; loss. In the midst of all the loss that comes our way, is the Holiday known as Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to look back, take inventory, and appreciate the things God has given us, and is doing for us in our daily...

“Unexpected Thanksgiving” (Luke 17:11-19)It was an unexpected thanksgiving. I mean the thanksgiving recorded in today’s reading from Luke 17, the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. The thanksgiving that we find there was quite unexpected. And that may give us some guidance and inspiration for the rest of our day today, that we too may do some “Unexpected Thanksgiving.” Oh, now you would expect people to give thanks to the person who healed them, when they had just been healed of a dreaded disease like leprosy. It was a kind of a walking death, in a way. It ostracized...

I am thankful for my health and that of my family. I am thankful for a husband and son who love me and I love them. I am thankful we all have jobs and are self sufficient. I am thankful for the Lord and all the blessings he has given me. I am thankful that I still have a country that allows me to work hard and enjoy the fruits of my labor. God Bless the USA!

President George Washington proclaimed Thursday November 26, 1789 as a day of national thanksgiving to God "for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degreee of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;...

RUSH: Now time for a tradition, an annual tradition, and that is The Real Story of Thanksgiving from my book that I wrote back in the early nineties. I wrote two of them, actually. In one of the books I wrote, The Real Story of Thanksgiving. And reading from it has become something we do every year on the program because it's still not taught. The myth of Thanksgiving is still what is taught, and that myth is basically that a bunch of thieves from Europe arrived quite by accident at Plymouth Rock, and if it weren't for the Indians...