With a week off to celebrate Thanksgiving, Jon Stewart returned tonight with some orders of business to discuss– among them President Obama’s Thanksgiving address, which irritated some on Fox News for having omitted mention of God. Looking at the coverage of it, Stewart found that Fox even turned to a priest to discuss the matter, while only mentioning in passing that other Presidents had done so in the past, and that the President actually did mention God in his written address.

This year’s Black Friday was marred by isolated incidents involving pepper spray and near-tramplings over waffles. In West Virginia, a man died in the middle of shopping and eyewitnesses claim that everyone else around him continued to shop, walking around and over his body. So it’s perhaps no surprise that every year, a good number of people opt not to be part of the unruly masses and end up looking for good deals online.

“Time for the traditional, true story of Thanksgiving,” Rush Limbaugh announced. “Written by me!” In other words: TIME FOR A MOTHERF$%#ING TREAT!

Limbaugh recounted the story of religious separatists who journeyed to the New World in search of the freedom to worship as they saw fit without fear of persecution. They faced many challenges and hardships in their new home, but eventually benefited from agricultural practices shared by local Indians.

Takeru Kobayashi rose to fame as the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating champion from 2001 to 2006. He currently holds world eating records for bratwursts, cow brains, lobster rolls, and the unofficial hot dog eating record. On Thanksgiving Eve, Kobayashi will be putting on a live show from Turtle Bay, a bar in New York [...]

Not much is known about the mysterious 1991 White Castle Cookoff — maybe it’s better that way. But one element of its legacy remains, proving to be just as relevant today as it was two decades ago: the White Castle Turkey Stuffing Recipe, which won the competition.

The official pardoning of a turkey in celebration of Thanksgiving is perhaps the most absurd ritual in a year’s worth of White House events. That’s sort of why it’s so awesome. Earlier today, President Obama pardoned his third turkey (THAT WE KNOW OF) and had some fun with the goofy tradition by gesticulating towards the big bird in a papal fashion — that is certain to anger someone somewhere — before officially declaring “you are here by pardoned.”

Michele Bachmann appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Monday night, and hit on everything from her Thanksgiving traditions to how to properly do a Minnesota accent. She also took a dig at President Obama that elicited some boos from the audience, and proved herself to be kind of stale when cracking jokes about her fellow GOP candidates.

As the Occupy Wall Street protests continue, undeterred by their eviction this week from Zuccotti Park, one New York chef is showing his thanks for the protestors by preparing all of them a large Thanksgiving dinner.

President Obama’s wildly distorted version of Thanksgiving– where the pilgrims and Native Americans traded food and wealth during a cold winter– has greatly upset Rush Limbaugh. In fact, Limbaugh was so shocked the president would thank Native Americans for their “rich culture,” he thought the White House’s official Thanksgiving declaration was a hoax.

It just wouldn’t be the holidays without someone on TV reminding us of the hazards of dropping a massive turkey into a vat of boiling oil–right?

Akin to the exploding watermelons around the 4th of July and the reminders in some places not to open fire inside the city limits at New Year’s, the classic “be careful deep frying your bird” story seldom fails to deliver. This year, ABC’s Bill Weir takes us into his backyard–and runs his own camera effortlessly–to show off the recipe he uncovered in New Orleans fifteen years ago that he says “changed my life.”

Sam Sifton’s Thanksgiving Help Desk over at the NYT.com may be the best thing you will read on the Internet today. Particularly if you don’t happen to be the one in the kitchen cooking. Also, apparently there are some jokester West Wing fans out there.

President Obama did his inaugural turn at the turkey pardoning stand today and appeared to take it all in stride: “Is there an official gesture?” He asked, before sending Courage the Turkey on his happy way. The White House website also had some fun with the high noon turkey pardon.

What’s not to love about Thanksgiving? For one day in the middle of the week (a fact which used to fascinate and confuse me as a child growing up in Canada) an entire country of 300,000 million people stops everything they are doing to sit down, stuff themselves with food and drink, and watch football [...]

Here’s a fun game called spot the President. Obama makes a guest appearance in a PSA for volunteerism and exercise (Sarah Palin’s not the only fit pol out there) which will air during the Thanksgiving football games. Two things to note about this ad.

Remember that Robin Hood Food For Good campaign? Using social media to help raise money and awarness via the handy iFed page? Of course you do, and I bet you’re pleased at this timely reminder to donate. Well anyway, part of any self-respecting social media campaign is a viral video guaranteed to be passed along [...]

Thanksgiving is a relatively new tradition for me. Being a Canadian, ours comes a month earlier — with the 10 cm sheet of ice that blankets the country from October to May — and we never had much of a tradition other than sawing ice blocks off for the igloo or wrestling bears to the [...]