Thanks but no thanks

The above cartoon is one of Dan Piraro's best, in my humble opinion. It begs the question, how does eating a tortured animal express in any way our personal gratitude for the blessings we have received in life? I still marvel that until I turned 40 and vegetarian, I had participated so willingly and happily in this barbaric tradition. Why did I not ever put two and two together?

Today of course was the day of one of America's more disturbing traditions, which is the Presidential pardoning of two turkeys out of the millions that will be slaughtered to satisfy greedy human appetites. Watching President Obama usher out his daughters to witness this act of mercy was a bit irritating to me and yet a part of me hoped, part of me so desparately wanted to see either Sasha or Malia say to their father, "But Dad, why can't you spare ALL the turkeys in the country?" Wouldn't that have been something? I suppose we must wait for Dennis Kucinich to become President for such a magnanimous gesture to be made.