Among the things we’re thankful for?

• The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which reports, as part of a wide range of useful information related to the preparation of the traditional Thanksgiving main dish, that “All turkeys found in retail stores are either inspected by the USDA or by State systems which have standards equivalent to the federal government. Each turkey and its internal organs are inspected for evidence of disease. The ‘Inspected for wholesomeness by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’ seal ensures that it is wholesome, properly labeled and not adulterated.”
• The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, which offers a helpful, if a bit terrifying, video of the dangers of deep-frying a turkey in their valuable series of videos related to holiday cooking safety.
• First responders, who will come to your house if one of those cooking mishaps happen, or if an over-eager eater gets ill.
• The public servants who will help facilitate your holiday travel, whether the air traffic controllers who are now back on the payroll, or the snow-plow drivers clearing the way.
• The public parks—national, state, and local—that you might want to consider visiting to walk off that post-meal drowsiness and regulate your blood-sugar levels.
• The Rhode Island judge who issued an injunction against the dismantling the Institute of Museum & Library Services, so you can spend Black Friday at your local library, and maybe even pick up a copy of my book, The Privatization of Everything.
• And, finally, you, our readers and supporters, and those activists across the nation fighting the good fight to keep public things in public hands. (By the way, feel free to join our supporters with a donation!) Thank you for all you do.

Enjoy the meal with your family, and may lactose and gluten be the only intolerance expressed at the dinner table.

Donald Cohen
Executive Director

IMAGE: From USDA’s “Four Steps for a Food Safe Thanksgiving Feast”