Laurie and Debbie say:
Welcome to our annual “take advantage of the American Thanksgiving holiday to list some things in the world to be thankful for” post. This year it’s a lot easier than last year!
For those of you who’ve tuned in in the last year, because of our commitment to social change we spend a lot of time blogging about what makes us angry, unhappy, or dispirited. That’s why it’s important to spend a moment looking at what’s worth being thankful for. Here’s another random, off-the-top-of-our-heads list, this year with links. Please help us add to it.
We have a sane man coming in to the American presidency. We have a smart man coming into the American presidency. We have the first African-American to come into the American presidency. (And they’re all the same person!)
Gay marriage is now legal in Connecticut, the second U.S. state that currently recognizes full marriage between two people of the same sex. Also, the Florida law banning gay people from adopting children was overturned this week.
The Federal Communications Commission decided on Election Day to open up the “white space” freed when television goes digital to unlicensed, free internet usage, such as wireless usage. This will be especially important in rural areas, The National Association of Broadcasters is mounting a congressional challenge, but they’ll probably have a hard time with the new Congress.
Silverton, Oregon has elected a man who is believed to be the first transgender mayor in America.
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a smart and thoughtful man with an ecological bent, won the Nobel prize in Economics.
Serena Williams won the U.S. Women’s Open championship. (We’d have been just as happy if her sister had won.)
Debbie’s representative in Congress, Barbara Lee, is the new chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Rep. Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against George Bush’s militaristic response immediately after the September 11 attacks.
Right-wing senator Lindsey Graham made an unfortunate promise before the election. “I’ll beat Michael Phelps in swimming before Barack Obama wins North Carolina.” We’re looking forward to the swim meet.
Everyone’s favorite adolescent wanker, John Updike, has won the lifetime achievement award for bad sex writing. Here’s one sample:
“Faye leaned back on the blanket, arranging her legs in an M of receptivity, and he knelt between them like the most abject and craven supplicant who ever exposed his bare ass to the eagle eyes of a bunch of crows.”
And just last week, a medical team in Barcelona and Great Britain completed the first successful organ transplant of a partial windpipe grown from the patient’s own stem cells!
Have a great holiday; we’ll be back early next week.
