President's Thanksgiving Message
Proclamation by the President: Thanksgiving Day, 2003

Each year on Thanksgiving, we gather with family and friends to thank God for the many blessings He has given us, and we ask God to continue to guide and watch over our country.

Almost 400 years ago, after surviving their first winter at Plymouth, the Pilgrims celebrated a harvest feast to give thanks. George Washington proclaimed the first National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, and Abraham Lincoln revived the tradition during the Civil War. Since that time, our citizens have paused to express thanks for the bounty of blessings we enjoy and to spend time with family and friends. In want or in plenty, in times of challenge or times of calm, we always have reasons to be thankful.

America is a land of abundance, prosperity, and hope. We must never take for granted the things that make our country great: a firm foundation of freedom, justice, and equality; a belief in democracy and the rule of law; and our fundamental rights to gather, speak, and worship freely.

These liberties do not come without cost. Throughout history, many have sacrificed to preserve our freedoms and to defend peace around the world. Today, the brave men and women of our military continue this noble tradition. These heroes and their loved ones have the gratitude of our Nation.

On this day, we also remember those less fortunate among us. They are our neighbors and our fellow citizens, and we are committed to reaching out to them and to all of those in need in our communities.

This Thanksgiving, we again give thanks for all of our blessings and for the freedoms we enjoy every day. Our Founders thanked the Almighty and humbly sought His wisdom and blessing. May we always live by that same trust, and may God continue to watch over and bless the United States of America.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 27, 2003, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage Americans to gather in their homes, places of worship, and community centers to share the spirit of understanding and prayer and to reinforce ties of family and community.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-eighth.

GEORGE W. BUSH

From NewsMax comes a slice of Americana, served hypocrite style:

"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno on Jesse Jackson's holier-than-thou attitude toward radio king Rush Limbaugh:

"Jesse Jackson attacked Rush Limbaugh regarding Rush's drug addiction after he came out against drugs, that Rush can’t have it both ways. You know, like being a 'minister' while nailing your secretary."

Jackson is a minister? What church?

Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, has finally come clean with precisely what he thinks of Mel Gibson's movie THE PASSION OF CHRIST and finds Mr. Gibson "infected" with anti-Semitic views. And he doesn't stop there. He also admits to believing that Passion plays about the crucifixion of Christ have historically reinforced notions of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus. In a fit of logical fallacy (guilt by association) Foxman cited Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's praise of a Passion play from the 1930s to illustrate his point. He then rolled out the unfounded chestnut that even discussing the crucifixion of Christ in Church services has had a deleterious effect on Jews worldwide, claiming that "hate crimes [against Jews] go up Easter week worldwide" because in many Christian churches, "the sermon is given about the passion (the suffering of Christ)." Lastly, Mr. Foxman distastefully conflates his own paranoid thoughts about this motion picture with the ethnic genocide of the Jews during WWII: "After [the] Holocaust, I don't have the luxury to keep quiet about concerns about anti-Semitism."

To paraphrase a Catholic theologian, If you find the Gospels anti-Semitic, Mr. Foxman, you will find this film anti-Semitic.

Old Story, News To Me

Last week while listening to NPR report on the Senate passage of the partial-birth abortion bill the national announcer introduced the segment with a smidge of Orwellian Newspeak. He stated that abortion language is too loaded and in the interest of neutrality, clarity and objectivity NPR has a standard of referring to pro-life as "anti-abortion activists" or "abortion foes/opponents" and pro-choice as "abortion rights proponents or advocates." Huh? Apparently clarity means something different to NPR than it is commonly accepted because labeling one group as "anti" and "foes" and "opponents" while labeling the other as "rights proponents" and "advocates" is to weight common language. In a simple Google search I found this policy officially stated by one Peggy Girshman, deputy managing editor of NPR News, during the time of Roe v. Wade's 30th anniversary.