A tale of two turkeys

Yuck.

OK, so it’s not the best word to lead a Thanksgiving Day post. It is nonetheless a perfectly concise response to today’s weather. Walking Ilsa the wonder dog along Beekman Avenue here in Sleepy Hollow this morning, an insistent frigid sprinkle slowly dampened any notion I’d be driving into Manhattan to photograph the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.

Picking up today’s paper and plopping some loose change into the dish that sits alongside rows of lottery tickets at the corner newspaper/ magazine/coffee/Lotto/used VHS film shop, I felt like I’d just woke up after a night in a cold clammy sleeping bag. None of the early morning regulars -- all men nearly or clearly retired -- puffed away on smokes outside the corner shop today. Instead they all gathered by the fountain counter, more animated in talk and gesture than I could ever be at that hour.

A Nor’easter continues to creep up on us and at the parade this year the city has taken precautions -- lest any of 13 balloons decide to get frisky under potential high winds. CBS just showed Scooby Doo, his inflated nose close to the rain-slicked Broadway pavement, oblivious to the hearty and intrepid souls cheering from the sidelines. Now Humpty Dumpty floats by upside down, appearing frozen in the moment of his great fall, a mere second from his destined crack-up.

Watching that old careless egghead I think of Michael Richards, the first time I saw his uncensored racist tirade this week on You Tube, and my very first reaction to it -- there goes the franchise. Yes it was that bad. But enough on that. This is Thanksgiving after all.

This Thanksgiving I’m grateful for my health, my crazy family, Ilsa the wonder dog, polite neighbors, and the US military that protects our freedom. I’m grateful for the cursed stubbornness of George W. Bush, and the hint he gave this week that bold, nose-to-the ground idealism may yet prevail in our approach to the crisis in Iraq:

“We strongly condemn the assassination today in Lebanon of Pierre Gemayel.

"We support the Siniora government and its democracy and we support the Lebanese people's desire to live in peace and we support their efforts to defend their democracy against attempts by Syria, Iran and allies to foment instability and violence in that important country.”

The Internet news item reporting those remarks, which Bush made to soldiers in Hawaii during a stopover on his way back from Asia, also noted that “Bush did not apportion direct blame but called for an investigation into ‘those people and those forces’ behind the killing of the anti-Syrian Christian leader."

Reading those words, I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe -- all chattering in the blogosphere to the contrary -- Dubya may be fixing to get tough in Iraq rather than succumb to the wishes of flavor-of-the- month pragmatists whose realpolitik approach also took a Humpty-Dumpty tumble this week.

Gobble gobble, and all best wishes to my readers for a happy and festive day. Remember the troops!