Bob's Blog

Quote I
“Remember God’s bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!”
– Henry Ward Beecher

Quote II
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
– Henry Van Dyke

Quote III
“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” Cicero

Quote IV
“Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive. This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks.” President Ronald Reagan

For those who are hurting this Thanksgiving, I want to offer an encouragement. Try thanking God for both the obvious and the less-obvious blessings. Talk about your “fleas,” your struggles with mental illness, your loneliness, your unemployment. Then fight your way to gratitude. The apostle Paul describes believers as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Thanksgiving is how earthly suffering is transformed, one broken heart at a time.

...I typically look forward to Thanksgiving gatherings because it gives me a chance to deploy the arsenal of intellectual firepower I have honed and wielded with considerable force in online comments sections. My nephew, Brayden, is a feckless millennial, raised on a ruinous "cerebral" diet of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Rachel Maddow. His feeble mind steeped in the noxious cauldron of "elite higher education." His frail body molded by his generation's supine deference to beta culture, and the dainty fashion standards of the hipster derelíct. Naturally, I revel at the opportunity to own his scrawny left-wing ass with punishing truth bombs that make Fat Man and Little Boy look like farts in the wind.

Violence raged in gun-controlled Chicago over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with 62 people shot and wounded, another eight people shot and killed.

...According to the Chicago Tribune, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend violence brings Chicago to nearly 4,000 shooting victims for the year. That figure includes fatal and non-fatal shootings.

...Chicago has long been a gun control experiment gone awry. The city enacted a ban on handgun ownership in 1982 and the Tribune reported that the next 10 years witnessed “murders [jump] by 41 percent, compared with an 18 percent rise in the entire United States.” And this jump made sense. After all, when bans are enacted only the criminals remain armed.

The ban was overturned in 2010 via the Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v Chicago, but city leaders have worked diligently to preserve the vestiges of the ban at every turn in road. And municipal and county limits on the number of gun stores allowed in Chicago, together with rules on the locations of those stores and a ridiculous amount of regulation on acquiring and carrying guns for self-defense, have coalesced to guarantee that criminals maintain an advantage similar to what they enjoyed when the ban was in place.

The latest proposed requirement for Chicago is to mandate serial numbers be placed on all bullets and bullet casings. This is being pushed by state representative Sonya Harper (D-6th) as way to combat crime. In the real world such a requirement will not do anything to stop crime, but it will drive up the cost of ammunition, thereby making it even more difficult for law-abiding citizens to acquire the tools they need to defend themselves and their families.

The pilgrims, led by Governor William Bradford, and the Wampanoags, led by chief Massasoit, developed a warm relationship. In November 1621, after the successful corn harvest, they celebrated with a feast now remembered as “America’s First Thanksgiving.”

Thanksgiving has been celebrated annually since then, and in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made it a national holiday.

the middle of a week that moves directly from the tradition of Giving Thanks to God —- to the tradition of Advent and Wanting and Waiting for More of God.

Recently I have excerpted articles by Peggy Noonan and Fred Reed. Noonan writes in that (former?) bastion of capitalism, the Wall Street Journal, lamenting the fact that Black Friday now begins for many large retailers at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Fred Reed laments the impact of advertisers on families and individuals.

As I look back on the events of the last two days, I would like to write something counter to their criticisms. I work in one of those big box stores. What I saw last night and today were many, many people who were very happy with the bargains they were able to obtain. Our store was well organized, customers were very orderly, and people were able to find great bargains.

Personally, I am in agreement with Fred Reed that advertisers have way too much impact on our society. Like I imagine Fred would do, I can and do turn off talk radio during the ads, rarely watch t.v., and avoid print newspapers. The newspapers are biased, and they sensationalize. If there were disorderly crowds in five Walmarts nationwide, what about the other one thousand Walmarts? Not newsworthy.

Peggy Noonan laments the fading away of religious and patriotic aspects of Thanksgiving. I have news for you, Peggy. as soon as the meal is eaten and the dishes washed, people have been watching football or movies on t.v., or playing video games for the last several years. Now mom and dad can actually do something fun and adventurous together, and save money on Christmas presents. It's a win-win. Retailers and their employees are better able to meet their financial obligations after this day and one-half of sales. Customers had a fun night, and are proud and happy with the bargains they obtained.

Peggy felt it was unfair that employees had to come in to work on Thanksgiving. She doesn't mention the bonuses and increases in wages paid during the two day sale. I don't need the sympathy of Peggy Noonan or any other bleeding heart liberal. What I need, and what I have, is a job!

Why did so many retailers move the beginning of Black Friday back to 6 p.m. on Thursday? Because the old system, requiring customers to get up at 4 a.m. to come in for the best bargains, was not convenient for either customers or employees. Under the scenario we saw this weekend, people could finish their meals and come out for some fun and adventure at the 6 or 8 p.m. sales. Shoppers who had saved money and planned their purchases by reading ads came away delighted at what they had purchased.

Peggy Noonan remembers when Thanksgiving was

a national day of commonality, solidarity and respect.

Doesn't she realize Thanksgiving is the beginning of Black Friday? Yes, she does.

At least shoppers have a choice. They can decide whether or not they want to leave and go somewhere else. But the workers who are going to have to haul in to work the floor don't have a choice. They've been scheduled. They've got jobs they want to keep.

It's not right. The idea that Thanksgiving doesn't demand special honor marks another erosion of tradition, of ceremony, of a national sense. And this country doesn't really need more erosion in those areas, does it?

The rationale for the opening is that this year there are fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and since big retailers make a lot of their profits during that time something must be done. I suppose something should. But blowing up Thanksgiving isn't it.

Black Friday—that creepy sales bacchanal in which the lost, the lonely, the stupid and the compulsive line up before midnight Friday to crash through the doors, trampling children and frightening clerks along the way—is bad enough, enough of a blight on the holiday.

But Thanksgiving itself? It is the day the Pilgrims invented to thank God to live in such a place as this, the day Abe Lincoln formally put aside as a national time of gratitude for the sheer fact of our continuance. It's more important than anyone's bottom line. That's a hopelessly corny thing to say, isn't it? Too bad. It's true.

Oh, I hope people don't go. I hope it's a big flop.

Stay home, America.

You thought tomorrow was Thanksgiving day? How did we get to this point? Let Fred Reed explain.

Who is going to buy all the junk? Used to be, “production” meant making stuff that people needed. You know: food, clothes, hovels, corn whiskey. There was more demand than supply. Then production in these things, agriculture for example, caught up and everybody had enough to eat. Consequently production went into things people didn´t so much need as want: refrigerators, telephones, Model Ts. Of course pretty soon they came to think that they needed the things they wanted, but never mind. Still, there was more demand than supply. For a while.

Then production again caught up with demand, chiefly through automation. Since people now had everything they needed or wanted, the economy needed to sell them things they didn´t want. There was now more supply than demand, so industry demanded more demand, and advertising stepped in to supply the demand for more demand, the demand for advertising supplying…(this sentence may be getting out of control, but you see what I mean).

The main product of the economy soon became advertising. Twenty minutes of every television hour hosannahed the virtues of indistinguishable shampoos and miraculous toilet paper. Ads turned radio insufferable. Billboards made the big roads hideous. Computers groaned under the weight of spam and pop-ups and buses carried ads on three sides. Buy, buy, buy.

Guest post by Suzann Darnall

At this time of year my thoughts naturally turn to thoughts of gratitude, religion, and patriotism. I guess it is because one thing I am most grateful for is that America was founded upon the idea of religious freedom. I cherish this. In part because I am a Mormon . . . and let's face it, we haven't always been the most tolerated of church-going communities in the world. But, now Christianity has become a target for intolerance throughout the world. Even within the borders of our own country!

I am also thankful for freedom of speech, although I sometimes fear that is slowly being leeched away with government and societal intrusion into our lives with ever-increasing political correctness.

I am grateful for the right to bear arms. I look at history and realize that an armed citizen is a free citizen. Those nations which have taken away the right to bear arms are those countries which eventually have people without rights. Gun control is nothing more than a way to enslave a population bit by bit.

I am grateful for freedom of the press. It allows me to learn what is happening throughout my country and the world. It allows me to have WoolyMammoth.Org and express my opinions in a way that can spread across multiple states and even the world, if people choose to access the website. But, I fear, that like so many rights, it too is being eroded. Censorship is becoming more prevalent. The liberal press has become chained to the Left as is a dog on a leash, seemingly doing what its Progressive masters want, without any real thoughts of telling either the truth or both sides of the story.

So, while I am extremely grateful for much about our country, I am also extremely concerned for those same blessings. The blessing of liberty comes with an obligation. An obligation to be vigilant. Ever vigilant. Lest our liberty be stolen away by the despotism of greed. Greed for political power. The kind of power that does not allow anyone to live outside the box of what is deemed best for the greater good. The sort of greater good that has been tried over and over in places like France during their bloody revolution, Russia under the Communists, Germany under the Nazis, Iran under the Mullahs, and far too many other places and dictatorships to list.

I am afraid my gratitude has become increasing tinged with an attitude of skepticism and concern. Concern for what the future holds for me, my family, my neighbors, and my country. Concern that far too many of the things I am grateful for will disappear into the giant abyss where the Liberals are throwing all those freedoms of which they do not approve. Let us make preparations not just for tomorrow's feast and celebration, but for the coming fight to save our rights. Rights important enough for the Pilgrims and pioneers to leave their homes, travel across the seas and the land, and eventually establish communities and a country all across what became a great nation. A nation we must not allow to fade into the obscurity of the failure of socialism.

So, on this most American of holidays, please let us give thanks for what we have, while making a promise to both defend and regain those rights which have allowed us to prosper. As we celebrate this November, let us prepare for all the Novembers to come, when we must vote to oust those who would oppress us and deny us the liberties that some of our forefathers came to America to achieve. As November 2013 winds down, we are facing many trials that will be forced upon us by those who misuse their power, ignore our laws, and deride our traditions. Let us be strong, band together, and find strength in the Lord. God bless America and may all y'all have a happy Thanksgiving!

© Suzann C. Darnall, NOVEMBER 2011 UPDATED © Suzann C. Darnall, NOVEMBER 2013

Are you getting ready for Black Friday, which is now on Thursday? Matt Walsh has some things to say about this new trend:

A holiday created by our ancestors as an occasion to give thanks for what they had, now morphs into a frenzied consumerist ritual where we descend upon shopping malls to accumulate more things we don’t need. Our great grandparents enjoyed a meal and praised the Lord for the food on the table and the friends and family gathered around it. We, having slightly altered the tradition, instead elect to bum-rush elderly women and trample over children to get our hands on cheap TVs.

For a while, Black Friday and Thanksgiving coexisted. We thanked God for His blessings on Thursday, and then jumped into the consumer mosh pit at Best Buy on Friday. But this Black Friday-Thanksgiving marriage was tenuous and rocky from the start. It was doomed to fail. Thanksgiving offers tradition, family and contentment; Black Friday offers smart phones at drastically reduced prices. In America, we all know who wins that battle. So Black Friday, like a black hole, violently expanded; it absorbed the light that surrounded it and sucked everything into its terrifying abyss, where all substance is torn to shreds and obliterated. Black Friday could not be contained to a mere 24 hours. It is Consumerism. It wants more. It always wants more. Nothing is sacred to it; nothing is valuable. So, now, Black Friday has eaten Thanksgiving alive. Thanksgiving let out a desperate cry as Black Friday devoured its soul, but we barely noticed. It’s hard to hear anything when you’re wrestling 4,000 other people for buy one get one free cargo shorts at Old Navy.

Why give thanks for what you have when there’s so much you don’t have? That’s the new meaning of Thanksgiving: count your blessings, and then buy some more blessings and count them again.