The past weekend has been a great celebration of the many wonderful things we have in life. As in too many years past this year saw the marking of Thanksgiving with our troops in harm's way around the globe. While debate continues about the reasons for the current conflicts and their intended goals the inescapable conclusion that oil plays a major role in many of the conflicts around the world.

Beyond being a source of conflict the consumption of fossil fuels is contributing to unprecedented changes in thin outer layer of the planet, our atmosphere. With this time of year providing a great opportunity for reflection, thought and contemplation, and with new-year's resolutions just around the corner it is time for each of us to ask what we might do to help end the conflicts around the globe and make sure our planet is fit for generations to come.

In other words take a few minutes and look at changes you can make today that will have large impacts on our quality of life. Also very important is that folks take a look the facts about the costs. For too many years we've been told that it is "too expensive" for polluting businesses to clean up. The reality is that running cleaner businesses can not only be better for the future, but cheaper and more profitable for the business owners (stockholders) today.

This afternoon an old friend called and we had a nice chat. Then on the way home I had the wonderful experience of seeing a bobcat in the wild. Not the landscaping tool sort of bobcat that is prevalent in the city, but the solitary feline sort that is so beautiful to see in the wild. A very nice end to a day in a week full of not-so-great days.

Senator Rick Santorum introduced the National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005 earlier this year. The bill would have several troubling effects. These impacts may mark the first time the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association have had occasion to be allied on an issue.

The bill, which Santourm says was crafted with the "jobs of Pennsylvanians in mind," would limit the National Weather Service's ability to provide information to the public. Instead the agency would use its tax-payer funding to create "a set of data portals designed for volume access by commercial providers of products or services." These services, such as Santorum campaign donor AccuWeather, would then provided to consumers through commercial services.

Limiting access to commercial providers would eliminate the provision of data for so much of rural America. Everybody from search and rescue teams to farmers and small town fire-fighters would be at the mercy of these commercial providers for critical, sometimes life-or-death, situations. With the recent fires in Southern Nevada for example, the large weather services didn't have information available. Residents of the farms and rural residences would have had no information to make decisions. In truth we need more information not less.

There are so many thing that we forget from one day to the next to be thankful for. How about the thousands of times today your heart contracted and sent blood through your body?

Last night just after the start of an exam a gentleman came into the school looking for a bankruptcy seminar. The seminar, often held on Thursday evenings is not being held because of the semester break. So here's a very frustrated person who is looking for a clinic on how to file for bankruptcy around the holidays and even the clinic doesn't go right. There are so many things that we each have to be thankful for. Even someone so down on their luck has a lot going for them.

In the commercial age the corporate oligarchy would have us focus on the things that are supposed to make life good instead of the people and shared experiences that truly make it memorable.