Turkey Day update

... just a quotation from a friend:

"Family isn't always blood. It's the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what." Anonymous

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
It's secular - religious overtones are secondary.
It's American - the rest of world goes on happily without us.

Most of all, for me the basic premise - giving thanks - is a good thing. Yes, I am thankful for my family, for my undeserved good-fortune in life, for friends.

Whew!

This is a really good time to not be blogging.

Petraeus.
"Fiscal Cliff".
Syria.
Gaza.
"GOP implodes".
... and, oh yeah, Benghazi "scandal".

Petraeus: men (I'm one) are idiots.

"Fiscal Cliff": hey, maybe Intel will actually pay 35% tax rate (as opposed to 24% reported for their 3rd fiscal quarter).

Syria: I view this as just one consequence of W's effort to "stabilize" the Mid-East by invading Iraq for no reason whatsoever. (Tho' I recognize there's more to it than just that)

Gaza: wish I had the answer... Not the time to vacation in Israel.

"GOP implodes": Yeah, right. There's always hand-wringing after a loss - usually to no effect.

Benghazi "scandal": Huh???

VERY brief reflections on the election

1. NM1 went to Dem Michelle Lujan-Grisham... only the 2nd Dem to represent the district since its establishment in 1969. Martin Heinrich first won the district for Dems in 2008.

2. Martin Heinrich defeated Heather Wilson for Senate, replacing retiring Dem Senator Jeff Bingaman. It was close, with Heinrich garnering just 51% - BUT: close or not, NM now has two (2) Dem Senators (Tom Udall is the other), neither facing re-election for another four (4) years.

3. I don't understand why NM and AZ - neighboring Southwest states - have such different politics. Immigration - legal or otherwise - is NOT a hot button in NM politics... and, bad as she is, Republican Governor Susana Martinez is no where near as repulsive as AZ's Jan Brewer.

4. Surprisingly, the Democratic party looked pretty well ORGANIZED this time out. For a fun read, see A Vast Left-Wing Competency at Slate.com.

5. I'm convinced that if Obama had been a white guy named Steve, he would have won re-election in a landslide... and believe the only reason the race was close was because significant numbers of GOPers just wanted to get rid of "that nigger in the White House".

6. I'm hoping a re-elected Obama is up for just a little extortion, letting Congressional Republicans know in no uncertain terms that he will use the President's "bully pulpit" to crucify them in 2014 if they attempt to hijack his agenda.

7. Congrats to the GOP: they will almost certainly succeed in making Obama just a two-term president!