May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

And a nice website for Thanksgiving.
http://www.sgtstrader.org/msg/2006tdm1.html

EXCELLENT!
Thanks Bill, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!


Calif Bill wrote:
May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

And a nice website for Thanksgiving.
http://www.sgtstrader.org/msg/2006tdm1.html

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:29:56 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:

May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

And a nice website for Thanksgiving.
http://www.sgtstrader.org/msg/2006tdm1.html


Thanks, Bill. You too! And anyone else who happens to read this.

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
nk.net...
May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.


Thanks Bill. Same to you and your family.




And a nice website for Thanksgiving.
http://www.sgtstrader.org/msg/2006tdm1.html

Calif Bill wrote:
May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

And a nice website for Thanksgiving.
http://www.sgtstrader.org/msg/2006tdm1.html

Same to you.

We like to think of the "Pilgrims" as this very reserved, prayerful
bunch of folks.
Did you know the first Thanksgiving Feast went on for *three days!*?
Heck, I thought that sitting down to a dinner that takes an hour to eat
was quite the deal.
Those pilgrims knew how to party.

There was a tremendous gap between the "first Thanksgiving" and the
modern celebrations.

When George Washington announced he was going to declare a national
holiday for thanksgiving, he was ridiculed by people who claimed the
holiday would "cause a loss of a day's production" (but he declared
Thanksgiving one year, anyway).

Thomas Jefferson refused to declare a day of Thanksgiving at all.

In the first half of the 19th Century, Thanksgiving was not regularly
celebrated. It was up to the POTUS to designate a day for giving
thanks, and some presidents proclaimed a Thanksgiving day (some years)
and others did not. Some states would have a state-wide Thanksgiving
Day, others would not, and the state Thanksgivings were not always on
the same days.

A woman newspaper editor campaigned for 30-40 years to get Thanksgiving
established as an annual, national holiday. She never really did
succeed, although Abraham Lincoln was finally persuaded to declare a
day of Thanksgiving in the 1860's, and every president thereafter
declared a Thanksgiving day until the 1940's. In the 40's Thanksgiving
was finally established as a National Holiday, just about 300 years
after the Pilgrims held their initial feast.

Even once established as a national holiday, poor old Thanksgiving was
still a political football. It was moved to its present place on the
calendar as a result of pressure from
major retailers hoping to "extend" the Christmas Shopping season.

There's more than you really wanted to know about Thanksgiving.
Everybody have a happy one. :-)

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 22 Nov 2006 10:13:32 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

Thomas Jefferson refused to declare a day of Thanksgiving at all.

Contrary to popular belief, Jefferson was a Communist way ahead of his
time. :)

Now, now. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are two of my favorite
characters from that era. Jefferson was more of a progressive free
thinker, and not so much really a communist.Franklin had a brilliant
mind and a gift for diplomacy. The common thread that most of our
Founders shared is that most were active Masons, and back when it was
taken more seriously than most people have done for the last century or
so Masonry was exceptionally radical. Our dollar bill, the Great Seal
of the United States, even the street grid of Washington DC are all
slathered with Masonic symbolism. Interesting to note that
of the small minority of Colonists who actively revolted against the
Crown in the 1700's, (the vast majority were apathetic and some were
loyalists) a staggering percentage of the daring and free thinking
leaders were Masons.

Jefferson always struggled with his spirituality. He even rewrote the
Bible. I think he was torn between his critical mind failing to see any
evidence of God and his intuitive sense that Man was unlikely to be the
most profound entity in the cosmos. It would have been like Jefferson
not to declare a day of Thanksgiving because it was very important to
him to keep
church and state separate. After all, if you're going to give thanks,
there's at least an implication that you are thanking a diety.
Jefferson would have been appalled at the notion of an official,
government designated day for an activity with such obvious religious
overtones.

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 22 Nov 2006 21:58:56 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:


Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 22 Nov 2006 10:13:32 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

Thomas Jefferson refused to declare a day of Thanksgiving at all.

Contrary to popular belief, Jefferson was a Communist way ahead of his
time. :)

Now, now. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are two of my favorite
characters from that era. Jefferson was more of a progressive free
thinker, and not so much really a communist.Franklin had a brilliant
mind and a gift for diplomacy. The common thread that most of our
Founders shared is that most were active Masons, and back when it was
taken more seriously than most people have done for the last century or
so Masonry was exceptionally radical. Our dollar bill, the Great Seal
of the United States, even the street grid of Washington DC are all
slathered with Masonic symbolism. Interesting to note that
of the small minority of Colonists who actively revolted against the
Crown in the 1700's, (the vast majority were apathetic and some were
loyalists) a staggering percentage of the daring and free thinking
leaders were Masons.

Hmmmm - well - um....

Yes, symbols of Freemasonry are rampant in the founding symbolism of
the United States.

No, that most of the Founders were Free and Accepted Masons.

I'm not a Masonic scholar by any means, but while common belief has
that "most" of the Founders were Masons, I believe that only nine of
the original 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were active
or enrolled members of a lodge. To say that Freemasons influenced or
controlled the American Revolution is an exaggeration. For example,
Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Sam Adams and Patrick
Henry were not Freemasons. And while an enrolled Mason, George
Washington held Freemasonry in some disdain and as being childish and
unfulfilled in nature - at one point, Washington expressed his
displeasure about the base tenants of Freemasonry according to several
of his biographies.


Washington kept some strong opinions rather closely held. He attended
Episcopal curch every Sunday, but always sat in the back row and would
leave, discreetly, when it was time to take communion.

Of the 40 singers of the Constitution, just under 1/4 (nine) were known
Masons. Another 13 were considered probable or possible, and 6 more
joined the Masonic order soon after the constitutional convention. With
28 out of 40 signers of the Constitution either known or suspected to
have Masonic sympathies, it is accurate to say that Freemasonry was a
very large influence in the founding of the US.