Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

"...We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have grown in number, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

" But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all those blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace--too proud to pray to the God that made us.

"It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.

"I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our benevolent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

-- Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863

Note, y'all, that similar sentiments were held on the other wide of the War Between the States, as well. Note further that ol' ER is NOT a real fan of Lincoln. Note finally, however, that Truth will out -- whether from the mouths of babes, or a damnedyankee. Happy Thanksiving eve, y'all. :-)
--ER