The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.... They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God....

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln, 1863

Thanksgiving is here again, which mean it must be time-on cue-to bash America and our history.

At least this is what the Seattle School District did recently with its spin that declared the national holiday is a day of mourning for Native American students.

Therefore, argue those educators whose minds are filled with the mush of political correctness, the rest of us should subdue our celebration that, according to tradition, we trace back to early colonial history.

Almost 400 years ago a small band of Pilgrims, whose tiny ship had sailed far off course, set foot near present-day Boston. There, despite great hardship, they established a colony in the wilderness-a home where they were free to worship according to their beliefs.

Following a bountiful harvest of the crops they had planted and tilled the next year, the Mayflower Pilgrims celebrated with a three-day feast. Their invited guests were neighboring Native Americans, some of whom had befriended them.

And (like many non-natives) I am grateful to trace one branch of my family tree back to Elder William Brewster, who was one of those Pilgrims. For this I make no apology, despite the annual rants against Thanksgiving and our American heritage.

But I do harbor a real concern for the future of our country if public school students continue to be inculcated with this politically correct anti-American rhetoric.

Two antidotes are readily available at most bookstores and online: A History of the American People by Paul Johnson, and A Patriot's History of the United States by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen.

Both works paint with accuracy a picture of our country's past that accounts for the wrongs along with all that is good. These histories provide a firm foundation from which to move forward with a better understanding of this nation-for which we will give thanks again tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

BURIEN CITY COUNCIL members recently were squeezed between "a rock and a hard place" as they considered a settlement to the Lora Lake controversy.

They probably did the right thing in accepting the "compromise" agreement with the King County Housing Authority and the Port of Seattle, which promises the city $3 million in exchange for allowing the so-called affordable housing complex to re-open.

But that doesn't mean the choice they faced was good. It wasn't. It deprived the city of land that long was considered the cornerstone for commercial development in Burien's Northeast Redevelopment Area.

Commercial activity at that location would not have been a choice for evil over good, which essentially is how many homeless and low-income housing advocates framed the debate.

Instead, it was the ideal starting point for development that can increase city revenues through new business activity.

The legal reality facing the city, however, was that it doesn't own the Lora Lake property. There is serious doubt that Burien could prevail in court.

So council members settled for something rather than nothing.

State Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines, whose 33d Legislative District includes part of Burien, is to be commended for his role in brokering a deal. He was able to make a little lemonade from this lemon.

But that doesn't offset a lack of good faith by the King County Housing Authority, which refused to compromise with Burien on the location of affordable housing units, and the autocratic management of King County Executive Ron Sims in the background.

It appears that the housing authority pulled a con job on all parties at the table by playing the "affordable housing" card-standard rental prices at the Lora Lake Apartments were market rate before the complex was closed last spring.

Burien leaders now must insist that, when Lora Lake reopens, all units are "affordable" and "low-income," since that's why the housing authority said they should stay open.

Council members also must act immediately so Burien, and not King County, buys the land adjacent to the apartment complex for commercial development with a local benefit.

The views of Ralph Nichols are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Robinson Newspapers. He can be reached at ralphn@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1857.