Bush Cites Thanksgiving as U.S. Tradition Rooted in Religion

[kurth]

Bush Cites Thanksgiving as U.S. Tradition Rooted in Religion
By Roger Runningen

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush paused from the tumult of the Iraq and Afghan wars this holiday weekend to mark an American tradition he sees as rooted in religion. ``Thanksgiving is a time when we acknowledge that all of these things, and life itself, come not from the hand of man, but from almighty God,'' Bush said in a post-Thanksgiving radio address to the nation.

The first celebration came when English settlers sailed up the James River to Berkeley Plantation in Virginia in 1619, Bush said. Grateful for their safe arrival, the 38 settlers fell to their knees in prayer and decreed it be ``kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to almighty God,'' the president said.

Bush also referred to the more famous 1621 New England Thanksgiving that is rooted in popular culture, when Pilgrim colonists shared a harvest feast with the Wampanoag Indians in Plymouth, Massachusetts. ``Throughout our history, Americans have always taken time to give thanks for all those whose sacrifices protect and strengthen our nation,'' Bush said of the holiday, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, which fell this year on Nov. 22.

Bush thanked ``all our men and women in uniform who are spending this holiday weekend far from their families.'' Police, firefighters, emergency responders and faith-based and community volunteers are among the ``many other Americans who serve a cause larger than themselves,'' Bush said. ``We are grateful to the author of life who blessed our nation's first days, who strengthened America in times of trial and war, and who watches over us today,'' the president said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=axaR2aCNTAZs&refer=us

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What a pious fraud.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Hell, we'd been doing Thanksgiving ceremonies for thousands of years

Before we were "discovered" (invaded)...

Sheesh, the nerve...

Here's a Connecticut yankee preppy cheerleader who deserted his National Guard Unit, and has made up shit about being a tough-guy competent Texan war hero since he and his homelander cronies stole the election. Now he's trying to re-write ancient history about Thanksgiving...

Pathetic. Typical republiconism...shameful

[Warpy]

12. If it's a celebration of anything, it's of hospitality and tolerance

since the first European colonists would have died out completely had a few tribespeople not taken pity on them and showed them how to tell their thumbs from their bums and survive in a place they were totally unprepared to cope with.

Right wing religious bullies will always miss the point. Getting the point might mean they'd have to practice hospitality and tolerance, too, and we know those are the last things on their minds.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

2. RE-WRITING HISTORY AGAIN

BS TO YOU GEORGE.
THIS VIRGINIA THING IS PROPAGANDA.

IT IS PLYMOUTH ALL THE WAY.

[Breeze54]

3. He's stretching it as usual but

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

http://wilstar.com/holidays/wash_thanks.html

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

[Bonobo]

4. I agree.

[shadowknows69]

5. George is rightt for a change

Just about every pagan religion since the dawn of time.

[Botany]

6. I really loath that man

[DFW]

7. Big deal

Bush would classify eating pistachios out of the shell as a tradition rooted in religion.

That is, he would, if he knew what a pistachio was.

[Botany]

8. BWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

[gulliver]

9. Someone should do a version of "The Omen" ...

... where Damien fakes Christianity, kind of like the Freepers only not stupid or inbred. That would be a more plausible version of the movie. The real Antichrist would never be far from a cross, never without scripture to quote. In a sense, the Antichrist is alive and well as a profile if not as an actual human. The profile requires church attendance ...or church TV watching...or churchy talk... whatever is the minimum.

[happyslug]

14. And he will know Scripture.

Christ himself pointed that out to his follows, merely knowing Scripture is NOT enough how is the person LIVING HIS OR HER LIFE? Is he or she helping her fellow man, or merely praying? One of my favorite statement from Ben Franklin was his paraphrase of an observation made by Cotton Mather.

The observation of Cotton Mather:
"In an exhortation on service to the kingdom of God, Mather said that it means redressing "the miseries under which mankind is languishing."

Ben Franklin's paraphrase:
"Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service, and therefore more generally chosen."

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1611.htm

[yella_dawg]

10. Makes sense.

It's a celebration of genocide. That's Bush's religion.

[porphyrian]

11. Bush fucking stupid, people still surprised. -n/t

[peacetalksforall]

13. I'm exploding. This is the end of any hope that radical christains can

think straight.

God made man.
Man makes things to be thanful for.
But, skip man when giving thanks?
And don't thank God for making man?

Exactly which bible did that come out of?

And no radical christian will come forth to counter their beloved leader.

[laylah]

15. What a *dumba$$ nt