Last Call - THANKSGIVING COMES FIRST

You folks always buoy my spirits during this time of year, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Let's get to the good stuff - your writings!

But, before that, here's the most important thing you can do today to help the cause - sign this petition and share it with as many people as possible. It was started by a Target employee. Her heartfelt plea may be found at the link. We can make a difference, folks.

Change.org|Make Your Own Petition

Thank You. As of my writing, signatures are approaching the 150,000 mark. You might also alert your local news people to it. I sent an e-mail to my local papers, as well as to the leading TV and radio news outlets. Those folks are always looking for interesting stories to fill space. This will probably be something they'll do a story about.

There is also talk of a general strike by Walmart workers on Black Friday.


"Lots and lots of Walmart workers are going to be forced to not have Thanksgiving because they're going to be preparing all day for the busiest shopping day of the year," Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, said. "This essentially cancels Thanksgiving for hundreds of thousands of workers. It's not like Walmart is financially hurting. It's not like they're not making unbelievable sums of money. The price of this is really decimating an important family day in our country."

Read more about it HERE. I would be willing to join workers on the picket line if the strike is because of having to work on Thanksgiving. If someone in my area wishes to contact me with details, please do so. If they decide to strike because of their treatment on Thanksgiving that is the ONLY thing that could possibly drag me away from football and leftovers that day and get me out of the house.

And now, your newest entries:

J. Timothy King alerts us to mistreatment of pumpkins!

Toonman, at Out And About In New York City graced us with a mention in his weekly cartoon strip.

My very good friend, Lime (who, despite the name, is not a small green citrus fruit), has this to say.

Mariann Simms, who does business at Blogged Down At The Moment, had some thoughts concerning Thanksgiving, Christmas, and (gulp) Doomsday.

J. Timothy King, AGAIN! Double-Duty! He should get some sort of TCF medal.

Silly Rabbit (who, in reality, is neither) contributes her thoughts HERE.


Joe Hagy is The Cranky Old Man. He's also one funny son of a bitch. And he thinks he has a way to make Thanksgiving more palatable to retailers. But, uh, Joe... Isn't that sort of what we're fighting here, and... Oh, never mind. Go. Read. Then read his other stuff, too. He's a hoot.

Carrie, at The Slow-Dripped Life, found us via The Cranky Old Man, so I have Joe to thank for that. I take back everything bad I've ever said about him. Read Carrie's piece HERE.

(Oh. You mean Joe didn't know I'd been saying bad things about him? Shoot. I guess I blew that one!)

(That's just a joke. Joe is magnificent. You should buy his book, too. It's hilarious, nostalgic, and entirely un-PC. As a bonus, there are spelling errors.)

(Well, there are. But his writing is so good, I just plowed right through them. Seriously. Great read. Buy it.)

Kitty (I guess, since I changed my avatar to a LOL cat, I'm attracting people with names like this) added her very wonderful thoughts.

Last minute addition! Judi Fitzpatrick joins the chorus!

And now, to prove it pays to be first in line, here are the links I previously published in the first round-up this year. If you didn't read them then, you should now.

First up is our Facebook page. The person with the brilliant idea to set it up was Matt Conlon (may his tribe increase!) If you haven't been to the Facebook page yet, go there NOW. I see no reason for you not to like it, so LIKE it, please.

IT is one heck of a nice guy, and I appreciate his being the first blog to kick it off this year.

Messy Mimi may be just that, but if you ever want to know what you should be celebrating on any given day, visit her. She makes lists. So, if anybody knows which holiday belongs where, it's her. And she says THANKSGIVING COMES FIRST!

One of my favorite folks on teh intertubes (and one I've actually had the pleasure of meeting because he was fool enough to come to one of my softball games) is (not my uncle, but he may be yours) Skip. Go to his place and join him in growling!

Warmtears93 did a YouTube vid.

My Swell Pal, Cricket, has re-posted his most excellent piece. This is not meant as a slight toward any of the other fine folk here, but his is one of the best pieces of writing, concerning Thanksgiving, EVER. It deserves way more praise than I can give it here.

Kat says even her kids know it's wrong!

Tilting At Windmills (how appropriate!) reminds us that we have things to be thankful for all the time.

My good buddy, Buck (who is the nicest retired Master Sergeant in New Mexico, despite his protestations whenever I say that), has re-posted his piece from years past. He makes his own allusions to Don Q and Panza.

The absolutely wonderful Hilary, at The Smitten Image, named us her Post Of The Week! Woo-Hoo!

Life On The Funny Farm asks us to slow it down a bit and remember our blessings. I couldn't agree more.

The Old AF Sarge, at Chant du Depart, says funny things and pithy things. He also compares me to a Brazilian soccer star (Come on! Go there! You know you want to know why!)

The wonderful Barbara Shallue (there may be other Barbara Shallue's out there, so I need to be specific) has written about our cause in her inimitable grace-filled style.

Kaz, a friendly sparring partner of mine from Universal Hub, sent this cookie:

(Apparently, a woman who works in a cookie store, in a mall that starts playing Christmas music way too early, had enough. She made the cookie in protest.)

Three Hundred Sixty Five, a nice follower of ours for a long time, added her two cents.

Joan, at Grandma's Recipe Box, gave links to this blog and to Cricket. Well done!

And Lisa Johnson, of Anali's First Amendment, mentioned both the Facebook page and this blog in her blog! Yay!

One person I must mention is Jeni, at Down River Drivel. She has had the "logo" on her sidebar for ages.

And Lisa McColgan has filled a niche by composing a Thanksgiving Comes First POEM! Woo-Hoo!

My Darker Grey Friend - Michelle Hickman - has her post up!

And that will do it for now. If I missed your post, please let me know ASAP and I'll add it. Don't forget to SIGN THE PETITION, please. I think it's our best chance at really making something meaningful happen.

Soon, with more better stuff.