Can you imagine...

This is the Fourth Thanksgiving I've posted this picture, and I'm wondering if it's been a good luck charm.

Because on a warm night in May of 2007, I was told a casino was inevitable, a "done deal" and given a conservative date of only 18 months from shovel to slot machine.

And yet, here we are, on the brink of 2011, and there are still no slot machines, no casinos, and no Indian land in trust in Massachusetts.

You may believe that this been due to fortune, fluke or fate, or merely the unpredictable path of politics.

But rest assured, at it's heart, at it's center, has been the constant efforts of activists, experts, senators, representatives and concerned citizens providing the Commonwealth with a conscience and a reality check these past three and a half years.  Chipping away at myths and lies and the damage done by millions of dollars in influence.  Making differences in ways even they might find hard to imagine.

Because real success in America comes from hard work, not a roll of the dice.

And so, for all those who've done so much to keep Massachusetts slot machine and casino free, let's give thanks.

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And if three people do it - three - can you imagine - three people walking in,

singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out...  They may think it's an

organization.  And can you... can you imagine fifty people a day - I said

fifty people a day - walking in singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and

walking out. And friends... they may think it's a movement.

- Arlo Guthrie