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President Pardons the National Turkey!
As is customary, the President of the United States pardoned a turkey...
named Biscuits, and the runner up Gravy, one week before the eve of Thanksgiving at a White House ceremony. The presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey dates back over 50 years to Harry Truman and has until this day been a custom of the Whitehouse executive. As in previous years, this year's turkey will be given to Kidwell Farm at Frying Pan Park, in Herndon, Virginia. Kidwell Farm is a petting farm which recreates a farm era from 1920 to 1940. Frying Pan Park preserves a piece of Fairfax County's rural heritage with it's working demonstration of a family farm to more than 150,000 visitors every year. Visitation hours are from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
The residents there include draft horses, chickens, peacocks, rabbits, sheep, goats, pigs, cows and other livestock common to the early farms of Fairfax County. 
Visitors can pet the friendly farm animals, watch the farm hands at work, enjoy a picnic, hop on a hay ride, or take a walk through the country. 
Fresh from a last minute pardon, the official "National Thanksgiving Turkeys" will soon arrive at Frying Pan Park and be ushered to their new home at the Turkey Barn.
This year as the Presidential last-minute Pardon spares the would-be main course... President Bush took this last chance opportunity to voice some telling "turkey jokes". The President was quoted as saying "This is an election year and Biscuits had to earn his spot at the Whitehouse...you might say it was neck-and-neck...the Vice President and I are here to congratulate Biscuits for a race well run." Following special recognition and thanks to the National Turkey Foundation for donating the turkey, the charitable donation of food baskets by the Immaculate Conception School, and the men and women serving in the armed forces, the official pardon was then offered "The National Thanksgiving Turkey will soon be on stage for all to see, but he's not going to end up on the table. I'm granting him a Presidential Pardon. Not only will I grant the pardon to Biscuits, I will also grant one to Gravy, as well. I wish them well as they begin their new life at Frying Pan Park in the great state of Virginia."
Looking back, as a nation, we can reflect on what to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving followed an election year, and not just any election, but a second-term Presidential election where the Chief Turkey was on the chopping block to become the National Lame-Duck. With a divided country this almost became a "Total Recall" of four years ago where the fate of the election ended up in court. Now that all the clawing and mud flinging of this neck-and-neck election has finally come to a close, we can simply be thankful that this election has now ended.
If the work of Government were as easy as Pardoning a turkey, national elections would be simple affairs. The politicians would be highly qualified and respected individuals. Washington DC would be a "Pleasantville" of the 1950's where everything appears black and white, and power and personalities would play together in harmony. But this year's election was anything but pleasant. It dug up both old and new issues including 911, Fahrenheit 911, Iraq, Vietnam, the economy, education, healthcare, gay marriage and the clincher that surprised everybody- the morality issue. Although it's been reported that the media is still in recovery from Bush depression, I guess we can be thankful and proud that the participants were undoubtedly qualified in their own right, each bringing their own skill sets and partisan viewpoints to the dinner table. Even if they weren't, we can at least be thankful that along with political candidates, just like Biscuits and Gravy, can come great posturing. Whether it's a debate (anyone for another helping?), the ads (authorized or not), or the media spin, this is where we begin to separate the Turkeys from the truth. It's interesting, it's exciting, it's passionate, it's personalities, it's entertainment, and it can be lot of fun. It's the election process after all that helps us to distinguish the difference between a Turkey and the real deal, a democracy and something else, and maybe that's something to be thankful for.
As Thanksgiving represents an opportune time for thankful reflection upon the year, we must be thankful for the process and principles of democracy, the people who created it, those who now fight to preserve and support it, the American people who live under it, and those who stay to fight another day. Why even the turkeys (Biscuits and Gravy) contribute to the process, and while we hope they won't get elected, they play important roles too, if nothing more than to be the brunt of some Thanksgiving political humor! But seriously, after all is said and done, and now that the cloud of feathers has finally comes to a rest, lets hope it will make a difference now that the baddest bird of them all, will again for the second time, step through those Presidential Barn Doors!
gobble... gobble...
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Official Whitehouse Turkey Q & A and View Turkey Pardon Video
Official Whitehouse President Pardon's National Turkey Story
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