Oh Gobble Gobble

Not for nothing, but we are rapidly approaching Thanksgiving and rather than fill the space with mind numbing financial talk (although the new unemployment filings are down a bit so that is good news and consumer spending is up slightly (does that include fuel and food???) the market had its worst week in three months and we are bracing for a gridlock the likes of which we have never seen.

Ben Franklin was a supporter of making the turkey the national bird. I have to tell you that there are also any number who want to do the same with the Peacock. Turkeys don't photograph well. Peacocks are,as the saying goes, "all hat but no horse" meaning that they look good but perhaps don't eat well. I'll give you music about each. You decide before you send 47 million of the birds to bite the dust to satisfy the holiday. Oh, and here are some tidbits for the table-talk after Uncle Ed tells his boyhood stories for the billionth time and someone complains that the white meat is too dry.

• Benjamin Franklin wanted the wild turkey to be the national bird of the United States instead of the bald eagle. When Jefferson won the argument, Franklin called the Turkey "Tom" - hence tom turkey  

• Male wild turkeys act much the same as peacocks when it comes to finding a mate; they puff up and spread their tail feathers to attract females.
• The turkey acquired its name by mistake; the English thought it was another bird that came from Africa through Turkey. The birds were not the same but the name stuck with the bird anyway.