Happy Turkey Genocide Day Freedom!!!!

Where this little 'history lesson' may be regarded as me complaining in some fashion, fear not, as I find great humor in this crazy holiday.

We are brought up to think that the Native Americans and Pilgrims had a wonderful feast together, and ate turkey, squash, corn, etc. and everyone got along happily.

Oh how wrong our elementary schools tell us.

Sit back, and enjoy a delicious slice of pumpkin pie with your Cool Whip on top of it, and read the fun times of the 1600's. After all, this is the day where we are allowed to slaughter turkeys, and eat like gluttons. (And boy is my belly nice and full of good old fashioned home cookin'.)

By the time the Mayflower pulled up at Plymouth Rock in 1620, Native Americans in that part of the country already had a rich tradition of marking the fall harvest with a major fiesta. The day wasn't recognized nationally until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared it a holiday. He had an entirely different motive than honoring the Pilgrims: Morale during the bloody Civil War. America needed a warm fuzzy holiday to make it feel good about itself again.

The Pilgrims were latecomers to the legend, not getting added to the mix until the 1890s.

Of course, some major revisions had to be done to make heroes of those guys. The truth is: When the Pilgrims arrived on the coast of Massachusetts, they found a deserted Native American settlement. Unburied human bodies were scattered everywhere. The survivors had vanished. The villagers had been wiped out by a plague, brought to the "new world" years before by the Europeans. The immune system of the native peoples had no defense against those diseases. Many in Europe couldn't be happier.

Good Christian that he was, King James of England called the death of millions of Native Americans "this wonderful plague." He thanked God for sending it. Other preachers of the day echoed this same sentiment. They believed that God had aided the conquest of the new land by sending disease to ravage the native populations, so that the English could have it. How convenient for them that God was on their side.

The Pilgrims, who were ill-equipped to survive in the harsh environment they found themselves in, immediately took advantage of the situation. They proceeded to rob food (including corn and squash) and pottery from the deserted Native village. They also stole from Indian graves. Within about 50 years of arriving, they had slaughtered most of the native population in the area that wasn't already killed by the plague.

Not the touchy-feelie story you'll see on TV this week.

I totally stole this article from here: http://storiesinamerica.blogspot.com...nksgiving.html and thought I would share it with all of you because it made me giggle in the wake of my turkey nap.

I guess its a good thing I don't celebrate your holiday. I woke up and made Mac & Cheese, played Call of Duty, then played CoH for a couple hours, went out to see the movie Due Date (against my better judgement), and now I'm home to take a quick rest before going out and waiting for some great Black Friday deals.