11/23  A Thanksgiving prayer by WSB:
        Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to
        be shit out through wholesome American guts.
        Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.
        Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.
        Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the
        carcasses to rot.
        Thanks for the American dream, To vulgarize and to falsify until
        the bare lies shine through.
        Thanks for the KKK.
        For nigger-killin' lawmen, feelin' their notches.
        For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter,
        evil faces.
        Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.
        Thanks for laboratory AIDS.
        Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.
        Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind the own business.
        Thanks for a nation of finks.
        Yes, thanks for all the memories-- all right let's see your arms!
        You always were a headache and you always were a bore.
        Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and
        greatest of human dreams.
        \_ Yes there have been and still are a lot of problems in
           this country, but there are also a lot of things to be
           thankful for.  I am thankful to be in America.  If you
           dislike it so much, you are free to leave, or work
           to make it better.  Whining about it on Thanksgiving is
           just stupid, though.  -immigrant
        \_ I'm thinking that maybe we have the immigration concept all wrong in
           this country.
           We should throw open the borders to people like the immigrant above
           and _kick out_ those who have no clue how good it is here.
           I've been to third world countries (most of Western Europe) and I
           swear one of the best days in my life was coming back here and
           setting foot on American soil again.  Love it, leave it, or change
           it, but don't whine about it.
           \_ you are missing the point of the poem.  Burroughs wrote this
             at a time when most americans didn't realize that there were
             problems with our "Perfect Society".  Note how we're headed into
             quite possibly a republican era - where the little guy can be
             stomped on - it's really easy to categorize people into "the
             lazy" and "the hard working" and to believe in self-righteouness.
                \_ Really?  Burroughs wrote that AIDS came out of a lab? Also,
                   you really think the Democrats are out there "fight fight
                   fighting!" for the little guy?  Where can I buy some?
                   I'm not a blind pro-anything psycho.  Please recognise that
                   politics is about power, not people.  Don't ever let some
                   politico from _any_ party fool you into thinking he gives
                   a crap about you.  They only care about the next election
                   and pork.  And none of this has anything to do with the
                   poem.  I repeat: love it, leave it, change it, but don't
                   just whine about it.  Lucky for you this is a country where
                   you can say such a thing and not worry about getting shot,
                   run over by a tank in a public square or hauled off to an
                   icy Siberian slave labor camp.  This isn't a utopia and
                   whining about it won't make it one.  I got the point.