I am thankful for the election results. I have no illusions that the Democrats will be saviors, but even if they just find a little backbone to take on the Republicans, and especially the Bush administration, that will be a good thing. It's not a matter of partisanship, it's a matter of accountability.

I am thankful for the renewed interest people in media seem to have found in actually reporting what's going on with a critical eye. In too many ways, they're a few years too late, but we need a press that is skeptical of government claims. Even with the gutting of newsrooms by profiteers and the jailing of journalists, I try to remain hopeful. After all, what constitutes the press is changing.

I am thankful that the the Republican Party's values of denial and culture of corruption have been delivered a rebuke by the citizens. Iraq is a mess. The federal deficit is a mess. Healthcare is a mess. The environment is a mess. Washington is a real mess. Maybe we can change these awful trends, while there still might be time.

I am thankful for the rejection of the values of hate and intolerance. While hate amendments passed in some states, the issues that so-called "social conservatives" pop blood vessels about seem so trivial compared with the real problems of the world, and so offensive given that they want government regulation of love, sex and even the most private and personal of medical decisions.

I am thankful for the voters of South Dakota.

I am thankful that some liberals are starting to realize what's at stake here, if only enough to question assumptions without dismissing the issue as a pet cause.

I am thankful that John McCain is revealing his true colors on the heels of brown-nosing for Bush. Endorsing Bush, caving on torture, calling for yet more Americans to go to Iraq, and now a Constitutional Amendment to establish forced preganancy and state-controlled breeding. Some conservative.

I am thankful for my health and that of my friends and family.

I am thankful that we all have another day to try to make the world a better place.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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media girl also blogs at other places.