President to 'Pardon' Innocent Birds; Sentence Them to Death

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On Wednesday of this week, President Bush will be performing one of the more morbid rituals this country celebrates—the annual “Turkey Pardon” ceremony in the Rose Garden, in which he will be magnanimously sparing the lives of two turkeys (out of a field of 12 animals whose lives were put up for a vote this month) and then sending the birds to Disneyland, where they will probably die within a year due to inadequate care. I suppose the turkeys in question will be more enthused about this turn of events than they would be about the alternative, but I have to say I can think of a number of ways that I’d rather spend my Thanksgiving than being manhandled by politicians and then sent to Disneyland to die...

As we normally do at this time of year, we sent a letter to the President this morning asking him to take steps to ensure that the "pardoned" birds receive the care they will need to live out the year. You can read that letter here, and for more information about the conditions endured by the 50 million other turkeys who will be killed this Thanksgiving season, click here.