Thanksgiving Proclamations are, for the most part, pretty routine. Namecheck settlers, Washington, Lincoln, God, and our Troops. Encourage people to give thanks. The end. But there are some key differences between a Bush declaration and an Obama declaration!

Rihanna and Chris Brown continue to use domestic violence to sell things, the Hoff beats up old people, Clinton and Bush refuse to savage each other for money, Madonna may or may not be a bad girlfriend, and more!

An Italian court has convicted 22 CIA operatives and one Air Force colonel of kidnapping. The CIA grabbed Egyptian imam Abu Omar in Milan and flew him to Egypt to be tortured. This is "illegal" under Italian "law."

Dubya has mainly been writing a book in crayon since leaving the Oval Office, with his tongue stuck out to help him concentrate. But, perhaps upset that Michael Steele is the only person regularly gaffe-ing, he's back and giving speeches!

Next Monday, George W. Bush will begin his career as a motivational speaker, because he is obviously a very motivational man who is quite good a public speaking.

Do you remember the bloody battle between Dubya and Kerry? Phyllis Nefler does. So do the NYT's bitchy Weddings & Celebrations editors, who love a juicy broadsheet when they can make one. The battle royale continues. Also, look: meerkats!

Oh, amusement! A reporter at the White House today used a Saturday Night Live-born term while asking Robert Gibbs a question. But, sadly, it wasn't "fuck."

Oh, look, Jenna "Jenna Bush" Hager is on a morning television show, performing "journalism," for Americans. Finally!

Bush speechwriters keep writing books, as if in an attempt to convince us that despite their former job, they are indeed able to read and write above a fourth-grade level. The latest: Matt Latimer says Bush didn't like Palin!

On this day eight years ago, four commercial airplanes were hijacked and crashed into buildings and a field. Thousands died. This is the first anniversary of that terrible day, though, that the Terrorists will not still be winning.

Remember that shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist who tossed one at Dubya in December? Muntadhar al-Zeidi's being released from prison early, for good behavior. Meanwhile, don't know about newspaper economics in Iraq, but the Baghdad Expos: still need a good splitter. [MSNBC]

No, 9/11 was not an inside job (but BUSH KNEW!), but inaugural Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge just wrote a bitchy tell-all, and he makes some crazy claims.

In November of 2000, if you'd have bet your life against the fact that the man representing Bush in the case of Bush v. Gore would one day lead the fight to legalize gay marriage, you'd be dead now.

Recently it came to light that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush aren't exactly chums. Now the full extent of the contempt Cheney developed for what he saw as Bush's lack of resolve is being exposed, and it's ugly.

Surely you've sat around in the midst of your recessionary squalor and thought, "Gee, I'd really love an unpaid internship at the consulting/lobbying firm started by the former head of Homeland Security under President Bush." Well, today's your lucky day!

Tonight, New York's channel 21 will broadcast the Watergate portion of the David Frost interviews of Richard Nixon. This seems as good a time as any to ask if we'll ever get the equivalent from George W. Bush.

Time has a great piece out today on the last days of the George W. Bush presidency, focusing on the nasty infighting between Bush and Dick Cheney over Bush's unwillingness to pardon Scooter Libby on his way out the door.

The U.S. government has released the results of a new study that found dramatic increases in teen pregnancy, as well as instances of various sexually transmitted diseases, during the latter years of George W. Bush's presidency.

World Savior, Futuristic Superhero, and pioneer in the field of Mononames, Bono, dished last night on a BBC show a nice little anecdote: he dodged a hug from George W. Bush, once, and Obama was there to congratulate him.

Tonight Barack Obama threw out the first pitch at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star game. Gambling websites have been taking bets on whether or not he would bounce the pitch to home plate! So how did he do?