. . . or so some would have it.

S. 1852 is entitled the Native American Heritage Day Act of 2007. It would designate the Friday after Thanksgiving of each year as “Native American Heritage Day” in honor of the achievements and contributions of Native Americans to the United States.

Were it to pass, Native Americans would be forever associated with Christmas shopping . . . .

All the same, whether it’s official or not, Happy Native American Heritage Day!

Here’s the current vote on S. 1852, the Native American Heritage Day Act of 2007. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill.

It’s probably a little late in the day here on Thanksgiving for you to use this recipe - but it’s darn good, mainly because of the cream cheese (which is also why they call it the “sinful” mashed potatoes recipe.)

“Sinful” Mashed Potatoes
(serves 6-8)
2 C hot or cold mashed potatoes
1 large package (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temp
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
2 T flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 can 3.5 oz. French-fried onion rings

Put potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add cream cheese, chopped onion, egg, and flour. Beat at medium speed until ingredients are blended, then high speed until light and fluffy. Taste, add salt and pepper if needed.

Spoon into greased 9-inch-square baking dish. Distribute canned onions evenly over the top. Bake, uncovered, 300 degrees, for about 35 minutes.

Delicious! But wait! Before we eat, let’s think briefly of others less fortunate than ourselves.

Members of Congress do so on your behalf, and there are several bills in Congress intended to alleviate hunger. Would they succeed? Finding solutions to hunger and poverty is obviously more easily said than done.

There’s S. 1172 and its House counterpart, H.R. 1938. Both are called the “Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2007.” The brief legislative summaries of these bills say they would “reduce hunger in the United States.” (Oy. Grand claims like that put these bills in the “and a pony” category.) Basically, the bills would make grants to various anti-hunger organizations and programs.

H.R. 206, the Anti-hunger Empowerment Act of 2007, would reduce red tape in the food stamp program and give grants to nonprofit anti-hunger groups for a “Beyond the Soup Kitchen” pilot program.

S. 3108 and H.R. 6127 are both called the “White House Conference on Food and Nutrition Act.” They would require the president to call a White House Conference on Food and Nutrition. (Well named bills, don’t you think?)

S. 1575 is the FEED Act of 2007. It would give grants to public agencies and nonprofit institutions “to encourage the use of community resources to combat hunger and the root causes of hunger by creating opportunity through food recovery and job training.”

Finally, there’s H.R. 2129, the Feeding America’s Families Act of 2007. It would “strengthen” the Food Stamp Act of 1977 in various ways. Take a look at the wiki article for the bill to see them all.

It may not be that you want to support these programs, but it is a day to be thankful and to think of those who have less bounty than we do.

And do keep in mind the old saying, amended for this day, “Give a man a turkey and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to turkey and you - no, wait . . . teach a man to fish - yeah, that’s it, fish - and you feed him for a lifetime.”

H.R. 178 is the Justice for the Unprotected Against Sexually Transmitted Infections among the Confined and Exposed Act of 2007.

Gimme a J! Gimme a U! (Ignore the A!) Gimme an A! Gimme an S! Gimme a T! Gimme an I! Gimme a C! Gimme an E! (Ignore the A!)

What’s that spell?!

JUASTICEA!

I said to ignore the A’s!! What’s that spell!?

JUSTICE!

Yayyyyy! The bill passes!

Less than an hour ago, U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech at the Federalist Society’s annual dinner.

According to spectators, Mukasey began slurring his words, then failed to speak, finally collapsing to the floor of the dais. A spectator guessed that the Attorney General suffered a stroke. The speech was occurring at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in northwest Washington, D.C.

After a short prayer by former congressman and Federalist Society founder David McIntosh (R-IN), the event was dismissed. Mukasey was transported by ambulance from the Wardman Park at 10:35 pm Eastern time.

Our thoughts are with Mukasey and his family.

A new bill in the Senate would outlaw the selling and counterfeiting of tickets to the inauguration.

D’ya actually think it was legal before? No, counterfeiting and selling tickets to an event like that is common law fraud, which is illegal everywhere.

But it’s nice to see some new bills after so many weeks off. We were already past 10,000 bills before Congress went home to campaign. I never thought I would want to see another bill introduced.

But here’s the fresh new crop. Along with the inauguration ticket counterfeiting bill, there’s a couple on the financial crisis/bailout, a couple economic stimulus/unemployment, and the usual randoms:

S. 3683
A bill to amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to require approval by the Congress for certain expenditures for the Troubled Asset Relief Program

S. 3684
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow an above-the-line deduction against individual income tax for interest in indebtedness and for State sales and excise taxes with respect to the purchase of certain motor vehicles

S. 3685
A bill to prohibit the selling and counterfeiting of tickets for a Presidential inaugural ceremony

S. 3686
A bill to establish an Office of Foreclosure Evaluation to coordinate the responsibilities of the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and other Federal Government entities regarding foreclosure prevention, and for other purposes

S. 3687
A bill to prohibit the admission of an alien who was detained as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba unless the President determines that such admission is consistent with the national security of the United States, and for other purposes

S. 3688
A bill to provide for additional emergency unemployment compensation, to amend the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to authorize loans to automobile manufacturers and component suppliers, and for other purposes

S. 3689
A bill making supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation, infrastructure investment, and economic and energy assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes

S. 3690
A bill to help struggling families stay in their homes and to ensure that taxpayers are protected when the Secretary of the Treasury purchases equity shares in financial situations

You can always see the most recently introduced bills and the most recently updated by clicking on the “Newest” tab on the homepage.

It’s always interesting to watch the comment boards, and a visitor who simply identifies him or herself as “.” is making the most of them.

“.” is going from bill to bill saying whatever he or she can to rile up other visitors and get them outraged.

On S. 505 and H.R. 549, the tax relief bills for teachers that I wrote about ealier, “.” is calling teachers “whiners.” Sure to annoy any teacher, whiner or not.

Likewise with S. 3507, one of the more prominent bills to extend unemployment benefits. “.” is calling people whiners and telling them to go get a job. That capitalizes on the frustrations of many other visitors and brings out harsh reactions.

On H.R. 6798, “.” calls a group (or person) identified as Agent Orange Legacy “uninformed idiots.” Here again we have an example of behavior that is not conducive to a good discussion of the legislation at hand.

To be sure there are meritorious arguments on both sides of any bill. The comment threads are really meant for people to air those out. It’s not helpful to go insulting people and picking fights, but it’s a free country. To the victims of .’s insults, I recommend a no-response policy. I suspect that he or she sees your outrage as some kind of reward.

So says the Washington Post.

Plenty of folks will happily take your money.

Update: More on inauguration subletting from DCist.

Here’s a bad rap video about a bad dance that’s so bad - and it’s combined with such a ridiculous hucksterish money-making scheme - that I just had to share it with you.

What really makes it preposterous is that the producer of the video - a nobody named Bob Brown (not Bobby Brown) - is trying to get YOU to sell it to Obama supporters for him.

Friends, I have the right product at the right time, and I could have made a deal with a Distribution company to distribute my DVD and life would still be fine for me. But I’m cutting you in on this deal.

I SINCERELY WANT TO HELP AT LEAST ONE THOUSAND FAMILIES MAKE AN EXTRA $3,000 OF INCOME THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. I am a single father of a 23-month old son. I know what it means to need extra money to provide the best Holiday Season for your family.

I am offering you the opportunity to buy a master copy of my “Can you do THE OBAMA DANCE” DVD with the RESELL RIGHTS!!!!!!!!

It’s $14.95 - an 80% discount from what he ordinarily would charge you. So, that’s, like, almost free! And you can make $3,000!

It’s all part of the circus that is election season. I suppose this guy has a chance of making money off this scheme. After all, people believe what politicians tell them. Why shouldn’t they believe Bob the Rapper? This huckster would be as good as anyone to take care of the investment banking crisis.

A couple of months ago, we reviewed the legislative priorities of the candidates in the presidential race.

Here are the posts on Senator McCain, Senator Obama, and Senator Biden.

Since then, more legislation introduced by the Democratic candidates has passed into law.

Two bills introduced by Senator Biden are now law.

Public Law 110-401, the Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2007, is intended to make children safer from online predation in particular. It cost a little over $5.00 per U.S. family.

Another Biden bill is Public Law 110-408, the Criminal History Background Checks Pilot Extension Act of 2008. It extends a pilot program for volunteer groups to obtain criminal history background checks. No cost estimate yet.

While Senator Biden makes the world safe from criminals, Senator Obama has seen to it that we’re safe from . . . elemental mercury?

An Obama-introduced bill has become Public Law 110-477. It’s the Mercury Market Minimization Act, and it prohibits any federal agency from conveying, selling, or distributing elemental mercury; it prohibits the export of elemental mercury from the United States effective January 1, 2010; it requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to report to Congress on mercury compounds that may currently be used in products or processes; and it establish the Excess Mercury Storage Advisory Committee. Cost: about $0.04 per U.S. family.

Can’t wait to read the reports of the Excess Mercury Storage Advisory Committee!