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Anyone who thinks Alan Grayson is going back to congress neutered after his loss in 2010 would be sadly mistaken. If anything his activities over Thanksgiving seem to indicate he's more ready to fight than ever.

Video and text by WKMG, Orlando.

ORLANDO, Fla. -U.S. Rep.-elect Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) joined a Walmart worker as she walked off her job in St. Cloud as part of a nationwide protest against the country's largest employer.

Grayson joined Walmart associate Lisa Lopez on Thanksgiving night to protest what employees says is the store's retaliation against workers who speak out for better job conditions.

On "Black Friday," Grayson also joined a walkout at a Walmart in Orlando.

Union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Wal-Mart, along with watchdog group Corporate Action Network, are calling on the retailer to end what they call retaliation against employees who speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.

Photo of @alangrayson with #WalmartStriker Lisa as she walked out of the store in Orlando, FL tonight. twitter.com/ForRespect/sta…

— ForRespect (@ForRespect) November 23, 2012

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From The Late Show With David Letterman, Dave's Top Ten from this Wednesday evening: Fun Facts About Thanksgiving.

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Here's a rerun of a little blast from the past for your amusement this turkey day -- Sarah Palin's turkey pardoning fiasco from back in 2009.

The best to you and yours from all of us at C&L. Have a great day!

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Ah yes... somebody's got to look out for those poor, oppressed millionaires and billionaires and stand up to those evil union thugs and Occupy protesters: Malkin Reacts to Union Protests: ‘People Need to Understand That Big Labor Thugs Don’t Have Workers Best Interests at Heart’:

Unions are now flexing their muscle, targeting ports, airlines, and stores just as holiday travel and the shopping season kick into high gear. Adding to that, billionaire George Soros is reportedly urging people to join anti-Walmart protests on Black Friday, even if they don’t work for Walmart. Critics claim it’s all part of a massive effort to unionize Walmart’s 1.4 million employees nationwide, which could bring in billions in union dues.

According to Michelle Malkin, these strikes aren’t about protecting workers, but are about protecting entrenched big labor power. During an appearance on Your World, Malkin called the protests a “toxic combination of these left-wing activist groups funded by George Soros … along with a rag tag group of Occupiers across the country who’ve been fomenting this kind of agitation for agitation’s sake for more than a year now.”

She stressed, “People really need to understand that these big labor thugs do not have workers interests at heart.”

How many people think this hateful woman would ever put up with the conditions or the wages of those who are working these jobs at Walmart? She's got that wingnut welfare coming in which pays quite a bit more than those minimum wage workers make and she's more than happy to help Fox attack them in yet another day in upside down land on GOPTV.

Media Matters has more on their latest Soros conspiracy theory -- Fox Brings Soros Paranoia To Walmart Labor Protests:

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If there's one thing you can say about Fox "news," it's that they're really not subtle. That was definitely the case here where Stuart Varney, filling in for Neil Cavuto this Monday, brought in the spokesman for Walmart to attack the Black Friday strikers where the segment was literally sponsored by Walmart.

Fox's Fawning Pro-Walmart Segment "Brought To You By Walmart" :

Fox News ran a segment sponsored by Walmart that defended that company from workers who are planning a Black Friday strike.

In an interview with a Walmart spokesperson about the planned strike, Fox News' Stuart Varney did not mention the concerns of the company's workers, instead praising the company for "taking on" unions, asking if they planned to fire striking workers, and plugging the company's charitable efforts following Hurricane Sandy. Following the segment, Fox News ran a banner ad explaining that "this program is brought to you by Walmart," followed by an advertisement for the company's Black Friday promotion. [...]

Walmart has responded to the protests by filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the strikes are illegally being led by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

At no point in the November 19 segment on Fox's Your World did Varney mention the purpose of the strikes, instead asking only the following questions of guest David Tovar, the company's vice president of communications:

• "David, you've taken on the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, I believe. You've filed this complaint against them. Is that enough to stop any walkout the day after Thanksgiving? Our viewers, maybe some Walmart shoppers, they want to know, are they gonna hit these roadblocks?"
• "Now you've filed a complaint against the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. You said 'hey, stop messing around with our business.' Can you sue them? Can you take them for any money if your complaint is valid?"
• "Yeah, David, I got it. I know you're out there doing your best for Walmart. But look, can you stop these protests? Will this complaint, this labor complaint, will it stop the protests?"
• "David, I want to know how sharp-edged you're going to be. You've got a fight on your hands. I want to know how rough Walmart's gonna be. For example, if some of your workers walk out, walk off the job on Black Friday, will you fire them?"
• "Would you agree with me that you're in for four tough years, because this administration is no friend to Walmart?"
• "One last one: the storm, Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast area, New York in particular. You're not allowed to do business in New York City and yet, I believe, you were handing out a lot of stuff to the victims of Sandy. Is that correct?"

Varney has an extensive record of attacks on unions, asking in January 2011 if American workers would resort to "violence in the streets" in response to potential service cuts in California.

On Saturday, MSNBC's Up with Chris Hayes ran extensive reports on the planned strike. According to Hayes, Walmart had informed the program that the company had no one available to appear on-air.

You can read more about the Black Friday strikes here -- Support Walmart Black Friday Strikers.

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It's not even Thanksgiving but televangelist Pat Robertson is warning that the "War on Christmas" is back and this time the "miserable" atheists won't stop until no one can enjoy the holiday.

The 700 Club on Monday reported that the city of Santa Monica had decided to prohibit churches from setting up nativity displays in a public park because atheists also set up their own display with an anti-religion message.

"The Grinch is trying to steal our holiday," Robertson complained. "It's been so beautiful, the nation comes together, we sing Christmas carols, we give gifts to each other, we have lighted trees and it's just a beautiful thing."

He added: "Atheists don't like our happiness. They don't want you to be happy. They want you to be miserable. They're miserable so they want you to be miserable. So they want to steal your holiday away from you."

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)

Stephen Colbert takes a shot at the talking heads at Fox complaining that President Obama supposedly left Jesus out of the Thanksgiving holiday and at Mitt Romney for his lying campaign ad which took President Obama's words out of context as only he can.

"Recorded from backstage at I am Herman Cain, the Musical!, it's the Professional Left with Driftglass and Blue Gal."

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone and enjoy the podcast.

You can listen to the archives at The Professional Left Podcast and you can make a donation there if you'd like to help keep their podcasts going. You can also follow them on Facebook at The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal.

Open thread below...

Light posting day here as we had a funeral to attend for my husband's dear uncle who passed away just before the holiday and we've got a birthday party to pop by for a while tonight. For anyone that didn't already see this post over at Cesca's place, here's one of my all time favorite episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati -- Season 1, Episode 7 - "Turkeys Away".

I remember watching this back when it first aired and I laughed so hard I almost cried.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you didn't have to spend any time arguing with your right-wing relatives about this nonsense.

Right Wing Continues to Push “Socialist Pilgrims” Myth:

Despite a comprehensive repudiation by historians of the belief that the original Pilgrims were socialists who only began to succeed and prosper once they turned to capitalism, on this Thanksgiving conservative leaders and writers continue to spread the urban legend that the settlers were almost doomed by their socialist-ways.

Some background: according to real historians, the Pilgrims held their land in common “in the interest of realizing a profit sooner, and was only intended for the short term; historians say the Pilgrims were more like shareholders in an early corporation than subjects of socialism.” But the settlers, who came from different part of England, “spoke different dialects and had different methods of farming, and looked upon each other with great wariness.” Because of such difficulties, the colony scrapped the land arrangements in 1623, yet the colony held the first Thanksgiving in 1621 and the original “arrangement did not produce famine.”

But that hasn’t stopped the Right from propagating the myth that the failures of “socialism” forced them to embrace capitalism. In order to make the myth seem true, Fox News commentator John Stossel simply moves the date of the first Thanksgiving from 1621 to 1623.

And Rep. Todd Akin continued to embarrass the state of Missouri with some similar nonsense as well.

Rep. Todd Akin: The Pilgrims Came To America To Flee ‘Unbiblical’ Socialism In The 1620′s :

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