Tenth day of Thanksgiving

…or T-minus 18 and counting.

Today I'm grateful for the freedoms we take for granted here in the U.S. of A. I'm free to spout whatever nonsense I please, including the harshest criticism of any elected officials, and to try and persuade everybody else to agree with me, as long as I don't place anyone in danger by doing so. I can vote, I can walk about freely wherever I want (ditto about putting anyone in danger), I can count on law enforcement not being able to just bust in and haul me off (or plunder through all my belongings) without a good reason, one that they've gotten a judge to agree with. And if I am arrested, they can't keep me confined just because they don't like me (and I promise you, they wouldn't). All those are very good things.*

And, like everything else, they have a price.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. Buy a vet a cup of coffee, make a donation to the USO, do something to let the people who have served know that we understand the cost, and realize that—for most of us—we're not the ones who had to pay it.

If you are or were in the military, thank you for your service. Let us know if there's anything we can do for you.

The rest of us…just be thankful. I certainly am.


*Do you know what the Bill of Rights says? It came up recently, and I was surprised to realize that I know a few of them (1st amendment, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th), but I was fairly clueless about the rest. Quick, name them!