Giving thanks

Happy thanksgiving, America! I love that as dysfunctional as our society can be, we have enough sense of humor and cheer to all take a day off and gorge ourselves with delicious food.

I appreciate being alive.

I appreciate my health, and that I'm recovered from the foot injury that had me on crtuches this time last year.

I appreciate having a fun job in an economy where that feels like a luxury.

I appreciate my friends, who are busy planning everything from road trips to weddings to backpacking adventures to volleyball victories to interior decorating and more.

I appreciate my family, which is extraordinarily loving, affectionate and easygoing.

I appreciate my girlfriend, with whom I fall in love each day.

I appreciate coming home to a stock I own doing this, though I suspect it's too good to be true. I'll find out tomorrow.

I appreciate music, the listening and the playing and the beauty and joy it brings.

I appreciate volleyball, for being a game within which I can challenge myself and let the addictive parts of personality flow relatively harmlessly.

I appreciate the developers who created the free and inexpensive software which I use every day to be creative.

I appreciate the year since last Thanksgiving, for bringing more perspective and more joy to my life than I could have guessed.

If you're reading this, take a second to add a comment and tell me one thing you appreciate. Happy Thanksgiving!

You Could Be Like Einstein

I happened upon the FBI file on Albert Einstein this afternoon.

The 1,427 page file particularly interested me because of a few conversations I've had recently about the return to our nation of spying on its own citizens. Some people say, "What would I care if the government collects information on me. I have nothing to hide." People who feel strongly about civil liberties and the constitutional freedoms afforded to Americans might argue that it's the principle of the matter. But the pragmatic argument (which is why the principle exists) is that there may be cases where you don't feel like you've done anything wrong, but government officials feel like you have.

Consider that Einstein's file has a section on his participation in "The American Crusade to End Lynching." Sound like a cause you could support?

The FBI includes his activities in this organization (he was co-chair with Paul Robeson [FBI file]) as evidence of his communist activities. His file cites a "reliable source" as follows: "in view of some of the endorsers, this crusade had all the ear marks of another Communist attempt to instill racial agitation." It further supports the theory by noting that a Washington DC protest staged by the group was mentioned in Communist friendly newspapers.

So what kind of file will you have at the FBI? How about in the Department of Homeland Security?

You may never have the satisfaction of knowing, because the same bill that established the Homeland Security Act significantly weakened the Freedom of Information Act that enabled Einstein's file to be made public.