Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Happy Birthday To ...Who?

     (From Double Dee's Dusty Dungeon)
   Chances are a lot of you had yesterday off.
   You probably figured you got to sleep
late because it was "President's Day." But you
would be wrong!
    There is no national holiday called "President's
Day."  It’s a myth, like the story about George
Washington chopping down a cherry tree.
    The holiday we celebrated  Monday was,
officially, "Washington's Birthday."
    Of course it wasn't Washington's actual
Birthday. That's February 22nd.
    Back in 1968 Congress adopted the "Uniform
Monday Holiday Act." The law moved four
holidays, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day,
Columbus Day, and Washington's Birthday
from fixed dates to designated Mondays to
increase the number of three day weekends
for Federal workers.
  Eventually Veteran's Day was moved back
to its traditional date of November 11th.
  This whole "President's Day" thing is the
work of  Madison Avenue. The people there
figured you can promote a lot more sales
if you can tie merchandise to all the dates
between Washington and Lincoln's
Birthdays!
   I think the "Father of our Country" deserves
his own day! I always liked Washington best!
   I had a cherry tree in my backyard when I
grew up. I didn't chop mine down either.
Although I'm not sure I would have admitted
it had I done so.
   I had started a collection of dollar bills
because they bear George's portrait. Unfortunately
I never been able to keep any more than about
ten of them at any one time.
    Don't get me wrong. Lincoln is OK too.
    When I was in school, or at work, I would have
been very happy to take Lincoln and Washington's
Birthday off!
    In fact I'd gladly celebrate every President's
Birthday with a day off! Including Jefferson Davis!
    But let's give old George the special
attention he deserves. Lets take the 22nd off too!
    Hope we get more holidays and that all
your NEWS is good!
   

      

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