Dome is taking it slow today. We have a lot to be thankful for and figure that our politicians do, too.

 

We invite you to add to our list of what politicians, bureaucrats and others might be thankful for this Thanksgiving.Some examples from our list:

 

* The state's public schools, thankful that Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens ordered former House Speaker Jim Black to pay a $1 million fine or face additional jail time on top of his five-year federal prison sentence. It appears that Black is selling land to pay the fine, which will go into a North Carolina schools fund.

 

* Bridgestone Firestone in Wilson County, thankful for the pull Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Fayetteville has in the legislature. If Goodyear hadn't gotten an incentives bill passed, Bridgestone probably wouldn't have had an incentives deal to get in on.

 

* The N.C. Highway Patrol, thankful that a year full of bad publicity involving troopers having extramarital sex on duty and other problems is almost over.

 

* U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, thankful for the immigration debate that has given her so much press and some red meat to toss to the base going into her re-election race next year. Dole was one of the senators who helped derail the immigration reform bill this summer, and she pushed North Carolina sheriffs -- themselves elected officials -- to sign up for a federal program that allows them to jail suspected illegal immigrants.