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I, like so many of us, have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving 2011. I have the love of my family, even when we may not see each other for years at a time. I have my friends from all the times of my life, both “real” time and digital.

But for all the things we have to be thankful for, there are an equal number or more of things for which we cannot be thankful. Or at least, I cannot be thankful.

For example, while I can be thankful that the EPA may be willing to take a stand on fracking, I cannot be thankful that there will probably be gigantic loopholes in the rules that will mostly render them useless.

I can be thankful for FDL members helping out with #OccupySupply as well as being thankful for a District Attorney who knows how wasteful it is to arrest people for exercising their first amendment rights while not being at all thankful that we have elected officials so thin skinned as to demand an apology from a teenager speaking her mind.

I can be thankful for the sacrifice of a Bradley Manning while wondering how many folks who do not support Manning are in full support of people stealing emails from scientists because the scientists believe humans are causing climate change.

I can be thankful that US officials condemn Egypt for using excessive violence on protestors in Tahrir Square while wondering about the deafening silence from so many officials about the excessive force used to evict protestors in the US.

I can be thankful for the failure of the “super” committee to reach an agreement to further eviscerate the social safety net while being not at all thankful that so many of the Beltway Village Idiots Pundits and Politicians seem to think that people need the safety net because of some personal failings.

I can be thankful that some news outlets finally are reporting on the millions of working poor along with the millions of long term un and underemployed even while I try to not be thankful that Wall St wannabe MOTUs are joining the ranks as well. (It is difficult sometimes to not be as ungracious to them as they have been to us although I do try to keep from sending out to many negative thoughts as my karma does not need the bad reflections)

So yes, I am thankful for much this year as I am most every year at Thanksgiving. But there is as much to be unthankful for as there is to be thankful.

And because I can:

Cross posted from Just A Small Town Country Boy by Richard Taylor