WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Remarks by President Trump at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony
byVanderleunonNovember 22, 2017
“It was 70 years ago that the National Turkey Federation first presented the National Thanksgiving Turkey to President Harry Truman — who, I might add, did not grant the pardon. He refused. He was a tough cookie. Today, I’m going to be a much nicer President.
“Over the past 10 months, Melania and I have had the pleasure of welcoming many, many special visitors to the great White House. We’ve hosted dozens of incredible world leaders, members of Congress, and, along the way, a few very strange birds. But we have yet to receive any visitors quite like our magnificent guest of honor today — Drumstick.
“Hi, Drumstick. Oh, Drumstick, I think, is going to be very happy.
“Unlike millions of other turkeys at this time of the year, Drumstick has a very, very bright future ahead of him. Drumstick was raised on Carl and Sharlene’s turkey farm in Douglas County, Minnesota, with the help of five young women from the Douglas County 4-H chapter who are here with us today. And I want to say, great work. Where are they? Please stand. Great job you’ve done. 4-H. That’s great. Thank you.
“Upon being pardoned, Drumstick and his friend, Wishbone, will live out their days at “Gobbler’s Rest” — beautiful place. It’s custom-built; it’s an enclosure on the campus of Virginia Tech. Tremendous school. There, they’ll join Tater and Tot, the two turkeys pardoned last year by President Obama.
“As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor. However, I have been informed by the White House Counsel’s Office that Tater and Tot’s pardons cannot, under any circumstances, be revoked. So we’re not going to revoke them. So, Tater and Tot, you can rest easy. – – – – Whitehouse.gov
Why are the pardoned turkeys always white? Eight breeds of Turkey are recognized by the American Poultry Association in its breed standard and only two of those are pure white. Is this some kind of white privilege?
White is the combination of all colors. Like the bald eagle, a white turkey embodies e pluribus unum.
Black is the absence of all colors.
Freckles and stripes and sprinkles make faces and bodies (zebras, tigers, ) and ice cream nicer.
PatvannNovember 22, 2017, 6:31 PM
Absolutely brilliant!
It sounded like a slipper upside a head.
ghostsniperNovember 23, 2017, 9:24 AM
Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird but the war mongers won out claiming the eagle was the most noble of all birds. Even from day one the politicians were lying. While having predator characteristics the eagle is best known for cowardly and lazily eating carrion, competing with the buzzards and crows. There are lots of eagles around here and I have never seen one attack a live prey. They are always skarfing dead animals along the roads. I see redtails, coopers, and peregrines dealing violence in the skies and fields all the time.
The turkey has been mischaracterized as being bird-brained but nothing could be farther from the truth. Every summer we have a plethora of turkey families that include our property in their 2 mile radius foraging and they seem every bit as smart as the crows, maybe smarter. When they take off in flight their wings sound as if you flapped a beach towel size piece of canvas violently. Just before dusk they stand around in the woods behind our house preening themselves and each other then they light up into the trees and find a nice cozy branch to spend the night. Then, just as the sun is peaking over the distant horizon they jump down with a plop and start foraging all over again. Notice how their heads bob back and forth? Because their eyes are on opposite sides of their heads (prey) this is how evolution has caused them to simulate binocular vision. Bobbing back and forth allows them to take a picture from 2 slightly different positions which their brains then combine so as to be able to tell distance. I have stood next to a tree, not moving, while a turkey walked right by, it thought I was part of the unmoving tree. I had camo on so that helped but even with camo if I had moved it would have seen me and veered.
Turkeys grow fast. Last year we had 2 mom’s and 7 young unz. The kids went from football size to full grown in about 8 weeks and about halfway into it the males started showing little beards. Coyotes like turkeys and by summers end there were only 3 not so little ones left.
We like all the birds and creatures around here and spend about $100 monthly in black oil sunflower seeds, dried dent corn, suets, and deer licks. Each morning my wife makes the rounds with a large can of seeds hitting all 33 of our bird feeders and then she does it again with the corn, and the licks get changed out as needed. My job is the suets, of which we have 9, and I change them out as needed, more so in the winter.
The raccoons absolutely demolish the suets so I have went thru a series of efforts to thwart them. The metal suet cages are tied to tree limbs about 5-6 feet high. The coons climb out on the limbs, pull the suets up, then sit there and chow like big dawgz. Sometimes they tear the suet loose and it’s never seen again, so I started using wire rather than string. They unwind the wire and take off. My last effort was to use a piece of threaded rod 1/4″ dia x 3′ long with the O hook screwed onto one end with a lock nut cinched up against it. That O hook is wired very snuggly with 10 ga. to a higher limb in such a way the coon can’t unravel it – they aren’t THAT dextrious. The the rod hangs down and is wired to the suet cage. There is a heavy piece of angle iron u-bolted to the middle of the threaded rod. Now, the coon won’t climb down the threaded rod cause it hurts his feets. He can’t pull it up to the limb because it’s too heavy, and it is far enough out on the limb that he can’t reach it from the side of the tree, nor can he reach it from the ground. You wouldn’t believe the irritated sounds they make at night when they can see and smell dam good food but cannot get to it. Similar to an urbanite when the EBT card doesn’t work. I’ve seen 6 coons on one limb fighting nail and tooth with each other trying to get to that suet cage and all of them failed. FWIW, leftover food, scraps, etc, get thrown off the back deck each night for the coons and possums so nobody goes hungry here at the GS Compound.
Howard NelsonNovember 24, 2017, 10:09 AM
A fuller poop re the Bald Eagle symbol of American self-respect. http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle3.html
A Bald Eagle, like its devotees, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, eats dead animal flesh in addition to other foodstuffs (fish, small mammals, …).
Unlike the HSS, Bald Eagles eat carrion, rotting flesh, demonstrating their greater civilization by bypassing the need to eat fresh dead or killing living animals for food. This leads to the observation that HSS get too easily fed up with each other, when they could more sanely carry-on peacefully.
Howard NelsonNovember 24, 2017, 10:20 AM
Given the way HSS treat others of their own species is it any wonder that the Bald Eagle does not have HSS as its symbol of self respect?
How I know this is a horse of another feather (old time gas station logo).
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
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Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Why are the pardoned turkeys always white? Eight breeds of Turkey are recognized by the American Poultry Association in its breed standard and only two of those are pure white. Is this some kind of white privilege?
Right on, Bunny! Turkey lives matter!
It’s all good. God bless President Trump.
White is the combination of all colors. Like the bald eagle, a white turkey embodies e pluribus unum.
Black is the absence of all colors.
Freckles and stripes and sprinkles make faces and bodies (zebras, tigers, ) and ice cream nicer.
Absolutely brilliant!
It sounded like a slipper upside a head.
Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird but the war mongers won out claiming the eagle was the most noble of all birds. Even from day one the politicians were lying. While having predator characteristics the eagle is best known for cowardly and lazily eating carrion, competing with the buzzards and crows. There are lots of eagles around here and I have never seen one attack a live prey. They are always skarfing dead animals along the roads. I see redtails, coopers, and peregrines dealing violence in the skies and fields all the time.
The turkey has been mischaracterized as being bird-brained but nothing could be farther from the truth. Every summer we have a plethora of turkey families that include our property in their 2 mile radius foraging and they seem every bit as smart as the crows, maybe smarter. When they take off in flight their wings sound as if you flapped a beach towel size piece of canvas violently. Just before dusk they stand around in the woods behind our house preening themselves and each other then they light up into the trees and find a nice cozy branch to spend the night. Then, just as the sun is peaking over the distant horizon they jump down with a plop and start foraging all over again. Notice how their heads bob back and forth? Because their eyes are on opposite sides of their heads (prey) this is how evolution has caused them to simulate binocular vision. Bobbing back and forth allows them to take a picture from 2 slightly different positions which their brains then combine so as to be able to tell distance. I have stood next to a tree, not moving, while a turkey walked right by, it thought I was part of the unmoving tree. I had camo on so that helped but even with camo if I had moved it would have seen me and veered.
Turkeys grow fast. Last year we had 2 mom’s and 7 young unz. The kids went from football size to full grown in about 8 weeks and about halfway into it the males started showing little beards. Coyotes like turkeys and by summers end there were only 3 not so little ones left.
We like all the birds and creatures around here and spend about $100 monthly in black oil sunflower seeds, dried dent corn, suets, and deer licks. Each morning my wife makes the rounds with a large can of seeds hitting all 33 of our bird feeders and then she does it again with the corn, and the licks get changed out as needed. My job is the suets, of which we have 9, and I change them out as needed, more so in the winter.
The raccoons absolutely demolish the suets so I have went thru a series of efforts to thwart them. The metal suet cages are tied to tree limbs about 5-6 feet high. The coons climb out on the limbs, pull the suets up, then sit there and chow like big dawgz. Sometimes they tear the suet loose and it’s never seen again, so I started using wire rather than string. They unwind the wire and take off. My last effort was to use a piece of threaded rod 1/4″ dia x 3′ long with the O hook screwed onto one end with a lock nut cinched up against it. That O hook is wired very snuggly with 10 ga. to a higher limb in such a way the coon can’t unravel it – they aren’t THAT dextrious. The the rod hangs down and is wired to the suet cage. There is a heavy piece of angle iron u-bolted to the middle of the threaded rod. Now, the coon won’t climb down the threaded rod cause it hurts his feets. He can’t pull it up to the limb because it’s too heavy, and it is far enough out on the limb that he can’t reach it from the side of the tree, nor can he reach it from the ground. You wouldn’t believe the irritated sounds they make at night when they can see and smell dam good food but cannot get to it. Similar to an urbanite when the EBT card doesn’t work. I’ve seen 6 coons on one limb fighting nail and tooth with each other trying to get to that suet cage and all of them failed. FWIW, leftover food, scraps, etc, get thrown off the back deck each night for the coons and possums so nobody goes hungry here at the GS Compound.
A fuller poop re the Bald Eagle symbol of American self-respect.
http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle3.html
A Bald Eagle, like its devotees, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, eats dead animal flesh in addition to other foodstuffs (fish, small mammals, …).
Unlike the HSS, Bald Eagles eat carrion, rotting flesh, demonstrating their greater civilization by bypassing the need to eat fresh dead or killing living animals for food. This leads to the observation that HSS get too easily fed up with each other, when they could more sanely carry-on peacefully.
Given the way HSS treat others of their own species is it any wonder that the Bald Eagle does not have HSS as its symbol of self respect?
How I know this is a horse of another feather (old time gas station logo).