Last week, a soldier from Iowa named Salvatore Giunta was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for risking his life under enemy fire to save wounded comrades in Afghanistan. Most Americans shared Barack Obama's open admiration for Giunta ("I really like this guy," Obama said during the ceremony, departing from the script). But in America, in 2010, no conversation seems complete without the nuttiest viewpoints being included.

So a guy named Bryan Fischer from a conservative group called the American Family Association denounced Giunta's award, saying the Medal of Honor had become "sissified" by being presented for saving lives, not for taking them. "When are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night," he asked.

I would like to point out that Staff Sgt. Giunta was not just strolling through Afghanistan looking for a cup of tea at the time he acted like a sissy and dragged his friends to safety under a hail of bullets. But it's people like Bryan Fischer who have helped us be wary of a Muslim president who was born in Kenya and has jammed through death panels to make us pull the plug on Grandpa and has bankrupted our children by bailing out the tycoons during the Bush administration and wants our soldiers to bring ice cold lemonade to Al-Qaida all the while forcing us to listen to Nazi propaganda on National Public Radio while we should be out there buying gold and subscribing to Glenn Beck's food insurance against the coming inflation/famine.

Wait: That next to last chestnut about the Nazis at NPR came from an actual smart person, Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, who -- this is a case of the kettle calling the jackboots black -- said public radio only permits one point of view, Der Führer's view. Which certainly seems unfair, since I thought only Bill O'Reilly is permitted to broadcast from the Reichstag. The reason to remember Ailes here is to remind ourselves that the stupidity serves a purpose: An ongoing campaign to make Obama into a Socialist, Democrats into Communists, and any competing outlets of news, information and culture into the enemy -- even if it's a really old enemy that hasn't been around since the days when men only won medals for killing.

So, yes, there's going to be some tough turkey on Thursday, and not just for liberals. The economy is a wreck, unemployment is stuck at double-digits, Washington is still in head-in-the-sand mode (Congress failed to extend unemployment benefits last week) and if you want to get on an airplane and go someplace to forget our troubles, you're likely to get your private parts squeezed hard by the tough, new People Squeezers of the TSA. And they won't even say, "Thank you."

I will not even bother to talk today about the rump group of Minnesota Republicans who are waging a never-ending campaign to turn back the clock and elect Tom Emmer governor just as if those extra 8,755 votes Mark Dayton got never existed. Maybe they can get a DeLorean, a flux capacitor and Marty McFly back together to see if they can go back in time to keep Dayton's parents from meeting back in 1945.

So, no, I don't see a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Except for the important stuff: Family, friends, the bounty of the harvest, the gifts of God -- however you understand him, or her -- and our ability, despite everything, to hold onto hope.

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic," said Howard Zinn, the historian, activist, author of "A People's History of the United States" and World War II bombardier, who died last winter. "It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness...

"If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something... If we remember the time and places...where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction...To live now, as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

No, it's not the worst of times. And it certainly is not the best of times. But gratitude and thankfulness keep hope alive. So here's a Thanksgiving toast, for those of like mind, or those who see things differently: Happy Thanksgiving.

And thank you, Lord, for men, and women, like Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta.

Nick Coleman is at nickcolemanmn@gmail.com.