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Thanks for the Heritage

Thanksgiving Proclamation
President George Washington
City of New York, October 3, 1789

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 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, which we experienced 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 enabled 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 hath 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 unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease 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.

Have a great day, all!

64 Replies to “Thanks for the Heritage”

  1. Drumwaster says:

    Yet more proof that while the Founders didn’t want a Church of (New) England Redux, they were not in the least afraid of government acknowledging religion and its place in our society.

    We don’t have to be a theocracy to allow public displays of the creche, or a cross at a place of remembrance. If only atheists would stop bringing God into everything they see…

  2. McGehee says:

    The “god” atheists bring into everything is their personal butthurt over not having been given the job instead of the Big Invisible Guy in the Sky.

  3. LBascom says:

    I’m kinda mad I’ve never seen this before. I feel like my grade school teachers did me a grave disservice making me cut out construction paper turkey’s instead of reading this to the class.

    Can you imagine a modern day politician speaking so feely about God and public prayer, much less about a national “duty” to acknowledge His providence?

    No wonder we’re in such a mess.

  4. A very Happy Thanksgiving, Jeff, to you and yours – I hope everyone is feeling better.

  5. LBascom says:

    Yeah, ol’ George would never have made it on The Voice

  6. palaeomerus says:

    “I feel like my grade school teachers did me a grave disservice ”

    I’m going to do someone a gravy disservice this afternoon if my usual lack luck with flour and hot fat holds up.

  7. palaeomerus says:

    I have backup chicken gravy in jars as a backup. I suspect that all good gravy is made by alchemists using mysterious secrets. Slowly adding small amounts of flour and mixing the hell out of it as soon as it hits the meat juices sure isnt working. Lump city.

  8. sdferr says:

    Hot/warm roue, cold/cool broth (liquid of choice), or in the alternative, cold roue, warm broth = lumpless

  9. leigh says:

    You’re doing it wrong, is all. Make a slurry of flour with a little cold water in a measuring cup by mixing them together until there are no lumps (just use a fork). THEN add it to the pan and cook for about five minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Then add all your hot stock at once and whisk until it thickens up. Taste and correct for salt and pepper and pour it into a heated (fill it with hot water while you’re making the gravy, then dump it out) gravy boat.

    People will praise your gravy throughout the state of Texas and you will be Legend.

  10. sdferr says:

    heh, x for e — sorry, my foggy bad.

    However, sticking with that erroneous e and chucking the whisk to go with the rake for the sake of the gravy, keeping lumpless is merely a question of knowing when to flee the scene.

  11. leigh says:

    Oh la la!

  12. Pablo says:

    Mister, we could use a man like George Washington again.

  13. Blake says:

    palaeomerus, leigh, going to disagree just slightly. Take flour and cold water, put them in a jar and make sure the lid is on very tight. (You can imagine why I include this instruction) and shake the living bejezuss of the jar. Then slowly pour the contents into the simmering turkey drippings.

  14. Blake says:

    *out of the jar

  15. leigh says:

    That works too, Blake. Wondra flour is great if it still isn’t thick enough to suit. It’s instant and superfine so it can be added without mixing with water.

  16. Drumwaster says:

    I know it’s old fashioned, but sifting with one hand while whisking with the other produces good results…

    JMHO.

  17. palaeomerus says:

    I’m tempted to buy one of those battery operated party blenders that were popular about five years ago and see if THAT can bust the lumps.

    Or maybe I can find a special Dremel attachment…

  18. newrouter says:

    nah put the flour/corn starch in a little water 1st and mix well with a fork

  19. leigh says:

    What nr said. I’ve been making gravy for 45 hears that way and it’s textbook.

  20. leigh says:

    palaeo, a tea strainer will take out the lumps.

  21. SBP says:

    1) Open packet of gravy mix.
    2) Add water.
    3) Stir.
    4) Microwave.

  22. newrouter says:

    oh to be honest i brined the turkey breast for 18 hours(very tastey) and bought john eff’ heinz turkey gravy.

  23. leigh says:

    I don’t do brining. I use a compound butter under the skin on the breast and baste frequently.

    Spectacular results.

  24. newrouter says:

    lazy peeps brine;)

  25. palaeomerus says:

    I just put the 11 pound turkey in the oven at 325 in a shallow disposable roaster and did the 13 minutes per pound rule and didn’t mess with it despite all temptation to the contrary. I tented the turkey in foil as it cooked and did not bother with browning since everyone just pulls their turkey skin off anyway. So I got a nice moist and very evenly cooked bird but it had a grilled/boiled like skin which I removed before carving.

    Everybody went in for the white meat this year (no kids to want to the drumstick, no oldsters who want the thy and side meat) attended so I left the dark meat on the bone when I dismantled the carcass and will make drumstick and thy soup,

    I served brown chicken gravy made by machines in a factory in a gravy boat and did some Texas toast points this year. I made cream gravy with the turkey drippings and thus the lumps were hidden in opaqueness.

    Green beans w/ bacon,

    out of box store brand “instant” corn bread stuffing prepared in a sauce pan I did not add bell peppers eggs, onions, or apple chunks. Just butter.

    Yams (chunks) n a brown sugar, cinnamon, and orange juice “sauce” that was essentially a candied glaze (I’m going to buy some ready to go next year. They took up valuable oven time while “reducing” and the baking dish is a mess to clean.

    Steamed Wild Rice w/ teeny chopped up frozen vegetables (carrots and broccoli) added for the stuffing haters (and I added wee pinch of the ‘ol oyster sauce for flava).

    Corn bread in a twinkie-like loafs/ingots.

    Cranberry sauce from can(grocery store house brand).

    We still have pie(pecan and pumpkin this year) and yams and a little bit of the white meat left. Stuffing hater ate the heck out of the rice. Toast points are gone. Green beans are gone. Corn bread got taken home.

    I ave it all rammed into the fridge somehow.

  26. palaeomerus says:

    thigh

    not thy

  27. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I’m with sdferr on the roux thing. brown the flower in a little fat skimmed off the top of the reserved drippings.

    I’m not against tossing in some minced shallot or onion, either.

    Corn starch as a thickener is a last resort for me, because I tend to be impatient and use too much of it.

    Ruined a pretty good pan sauce that way earlier this week.

  28. leigh says:

    Wondra flour is the white man’s cornstarch: it thickens a sauce without making it glossy if you didn’t make enough roux : stock ratio to suit.

    I made a turkey breast with compound butter, nicely browned and then rested for 20 minutes (tent with foil) while I whipped the potatoes and made the gravy.

    Yams with real maple syrup and spices, bread dressing with celery and onions and fresh herbs (since the Yankees here don’t like cornbread), Brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips, cranberry sauce. Homemade rolls with butter.

    One pumpkin pie with a butter crust. One fruit and nut “Sugar Plum” bundt cake. One bowl of whipped heavy cream.

    As God is my witness, I’m not cooking for the rest of the week.

  29. McGehee says:

    As God is my witness, I’m not cooking for the rest of the week.

    I always thought that was part of the reason for the feast.

  30. leigh says:

    Same here. Sometimes the family gets other ideas and must be dissuaded.

    Forcefully.

  31. hellomynameissteve says:

    Happy thanksgiving y’all. Sounds like much deliciousness ensued. I had pumpkin pie and whipped cream for breakfast this morning, purely out of respect for tradition, I assure you.

  32. TaiChiWawa says:

    I think even atheists, at least thoughtful ones, realize that there are truths that have nothing whatsoever to do with a cosmos consisting of just “atoms and the void” and which, though recognized by human consciousness, do not originate there.

  33. leigh says:

    I think it’s awfully conceited to think that one can know the mind of God.

  34. Celtic Dragon says:

    Meh, no home cooking for me this year, I’m out on the road for Thanksgiving this year. Stopped and got a hotel room last night, and the casino/dog track next door had a pretty good buffet, so I did get Turkey. And prime rib. And ham… ;-)

  35. hellomynameissteve says:

    A fireplace in a home is immensely irrational. That’s not stopping me from sitting next to one though.

  36. Drumwaster says:

    A fireplace in a home is immensely irrational

    This is what is known as a “First World Problem”. Until about 200 years ago, there wasn’t a separate room where cooking took place and a different one for the heating of the home. Get over yourself.

  37. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Be nice if you’d apply that experience to some other things you find immensely irrational.

    Like, you know, markets.

  38. leigh says:

    Where I live a fireplace is a necessity if one wishes not to become a human popsicle. Heat pumps don’t work when it is below freezing.

    Some of my well-heeled pals on the East Coast have fireplaces that can be used for cooking in the kitchens of their mansions. My old Victorian home in Pittsburgh boasted four fireplaces, but none in the kitchen.

    How are things on the tundra, Ernst?

  39. Ernst Schreiber says:

    That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

  40. palaeomerus says:

    Except polio. Flesh Eating bacteria. Widespread burns. Head trauma. Parasites. Cardio pulminary disease. Stuff like that.

  41. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Crom in his mountain laughs at your puny logic!

  42. hellomynameissteve says:

    Where I live a fireplace is a necessity if one wishes not to become a human popsicle. Heat pumps don’t work when it is below freezing. – See more at: https://proteinwisdom.com/?p=52045#comment-1037841

    I have one word for you. Forced Air Gas Heat. :)

  43. Mueller says:

    hellomynameissteve says November 29, 2013 at 1:29 pm
    A fireplace in a home is immensely irrational. That’s not stopping me from sitting next to one though.
    – See more at: https://proteinwisdom.com/?p=52045#comments

    Belief in the largess and and efficiency in the state is also irrational.
    You enjoy a lot of irrationality.

  44. leigh says:

    There is no natural gas available here. Stuck with electric heat, we are.

    I’ll send you two and the kinder some thick scarves, Ernst.

  45. McGehee says:

    My breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs and bacon and pumpkin bread (which we had because our Thanksgiving dinner guests brought food instead of political haranguage). The eggs were in honor of last night’s Egg Bowl, in which Mississippi State defeated Ole Miss in overtime — making Wife of Slog and the rest of us very happy indeed.

    We save the pumpkin pie for dessert, because we’re unthinking slaves to conformity that way.

  46. palaeomerus says:

    I did a bowl of raison bran crunch(it has oat clusters in it) and whole milk. Thought about maybe eating an orange but…nah.

  47. palaeomerus says:

    Raisin not raison. I had breakfast without any reason much less a French one.

  48. leigh says:

    Raisin is French. Raisin sec is what we think of as raisins.

    I also ate raisin bran and whole milk.

  49. Ernst Schreiber says:

    scarves are for sissies who can’t grow luxuriant back hair

  50. leigh says:

    I was thinking of your frau and fraulein. Unless . . .

    Never mind.

  51. Ernst Schreiber says:

    hair like wolf
    by Crom

  52. palaeomerus says:

    “scarves are for sissies who can’t grow luxuriant back hair”

    They hide goiters and neck acne well too. Or crappy tattoos.

  53. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Fatten up your liberals before you send ’em our way

    the last ones were delicious, but too many bones

  54. palaeomerus says:

    I saw Dr Who trip a sea devil with a scarf once.

  55. Drumwaster says:

    I have one word for you. Forced Air Gas Heat.

    This explains why you don’t understand math.

  56. leigh says:

    That one was too easy. I saved it for you, Drum.

  57. James Notcott says:

    I scarf up entire smörgåsbords.

  58. SBP says:

    “I have one word for you. Forced Air Gas Heat. :)”

    Too bad Van “Green Jobs, Red Murder” Jones hates fracking, innit?

    By the way, how come Obama gets a pass on appointing even one Communist? Does this also apply to, say, Nazis, Fascists, or a genuinel old school “Deus lo vult.”, “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.” Crusader?

    Just curious as to why some mass-murdering philosophies are more equal than others.

  59. newrouter says:

    2 anita “mao” dunn

  60. SBP says:

    Oh, there are hundreds of them, NR. Slaphead was claiming that Van was an isolated case.

    I’m asking why that would matter even if it were true.

  61. Pablo says:

    By the way, how come Obama gets a pass on appointing even one Communist?

    How does he get away with firing without a word of explanation as to how or why he got hired? Lapdog media, of course, which is currently rehabilitating Jones.

  62. leigh says:

    Hell, he launched a whole war in Libya and no one bitched.

    Dead ambassador? I guess he was an egg that got broken.

  63. LBascom says:

    “By the way, how come Obama gets a pass on appointing even one Communist?

    Umm, because one was elected POTUS…twice.

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