BUSH PARDONS TALKATIVE TURKEY, STARS

[AussieMark]

Bush Pardons Talkative Thanksgiving Turkey, Stars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stars the turkey may have pushed his luck by gobbling throughout a Rose Garden ceremony but President Bush just the same gave him a presidential pardon from being served for Thanksgiving dinner.
In a contest to name the national Thanksgiving turkey, conducted on the White House Web site, Stars, and the alternate national bird, Stripes, won out over Pumpkin and Cranberry. "It was a neck-to-neck race," said Bush.

Other names that gained votes were Hope and Glory, Harvest and Bounty, Plymouth and Mayflower, and Lewis and Clark.

"The rule book states that an alternate turkey is chosen in case the national Thanksgiving turkey cannot fulfill his role in this ceremony. It's kind of like being the vice president," Bush said.

In the Rose Garden on Monday, Stars punctuated nearly every sentence of the president's with a comment of his own as dozens of schoolchildren giggled, prompting Bush to remark: "Sounds like Stars wants to give the speech."

It was the 56th consecutive year the pardoning ceremony was held in the Rose Garden. The bird, supplied by the National Turkey Federation, was picked from among a group of 40 birds hatched on July 10 in a turkey barn in the Carthage, Missouri area.

Rather than being eaten on Thursday, like millions of other turkeys, Stars will live out the rest of its days at Frying Pan Park in nearby Herndon, Virginia.

Turning serious, Bush thanked U.S. forces serving in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.

"We're thinking of them and their families. We think of the military families that have suffered loss," he said.

[stormchazer]

The tradition continues.