This year's Thanksgiving list

Today, November 22, is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S.

In addition to overeating and putting up with family, it is customary on this day to reflect on the things that we are grateful for.

This year, these are some of the things I am grateful for:

I am grateful that Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and Alberto Gonzales are no longer getting paid with my tax dollars.

I am grateful that we finally have a Democratic majority back in Congress. It's not enough of a majority to turn things around as much as I'd like them to, but it's a start.

I am grateful that the American people are finally waking themselves out of their six-year coma and realizing that the Bush administration doesn't have their best interests at heart. So now maybe we can increase that Democratic majority with next year's Congressional elections.

I am grateful to all the individuals and organizations who have been working around the clock to save this country as it's been sliding rapidly towards fascism: Air America Radio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Amnesty International, Sen. Barbara Boxer, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Rep. John Conyers, Sen. Russ Feingold, MoveOn.org, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Women's Law Center, Keith Olbermann, People for the American Way, Jon Stewart, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Rep. Henry Waxman, and thousands of other people and groups too numerous to mention.

And I am grateful that we still have freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press, so that I can openly share these sentiments.

Happy Thanksgiving. And may we all have many more things to be grateful for this time next year.