President’s Day

President’s Day, in theory, is a day for Americans to honor their presidents… all their presidents, yet many feel that we should be celebrating Washington and Lincoln‘s Birthdays, respectively, as has been done for generations.  Many feel that kids should spend their days at school on the 22nd (Washington) and the 12th (Lincoln) learning about these men and their times instead of having a couple days off to ‘hang out’, and that parents (adults) who are off should spend the day taking their kids to a (relatively) nearby presidential library or watching a movie or reading a book with their kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews about these two men or another American president… instead of shopping or hanging out in Vegas or at the river.

Many feel that there is no such thing as President’s Day:

We don't care what that newspaper ad says, there's no official 'Presidents' Day' holiday. By law, it's 'George Washington’s Birthday' honoring the Father of Our Country, and only him.

John Godzieba, portraying Gen. George Washington, walks with his troops toward the boat dock during a re-enactment of Washington's historic crossing of the Delaware River. A strong current kept the re-enactors from making the crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey.  Joseph Kaczmarek/AP

It’s not ‘President’s Day.’ It’s Washington’s Birthday (2012)

WASHINGTON: We know we’re swimming up a creek without a paddle here, but there is no federal Presidents’ Day holiday. We don’t care what your mattress ad says – is that a legal document?

The official name of Monday’s day off is “George Washington’s Birthday.” It’s supposed to honor the Father of Our Country, and only him. Not Abraham Lincoln, not Franklin D. Roosevelt, not any other of the nation’s former chief executives. Chester A. Arthur will just have to get his own holiday, if he can.

If you still don’t believe us take a look at the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management list of 2013 holidays. It’s the official word for the time off US bureaucrats enjoy. It calls Monday, Feb. 18, “Washington’s Birthday,” with an asterisk. At the bottom of the page the asterisk leads to a footnote.

“This holiday is designated as ‘Washington’s Birthday’ in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees,” says OPM. “Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in law.”

Washington’s Birthday has been a national holiday since 1885.

In 1968, when Congress was considering a shuffle of three-day weekends with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, some Illinois lawmakers tried to get the February holiday stretched to cover Abe Lincoln by calling it “Presidents Day.” But according to an account in the National Archives Prologue Magazine, Virginia legislators, jealous of their state’s prerogatives, blocked the change and maintained Washington as First in Our Hearts, First in the National League East, and First in Special-Today-Only Used Car Discounts.

Some Obama supporters are already talking about putting Barack Hussein Obama on Mount Rushmore; a little premature don’t you think… even if you do like him?

How about Ronald Reagan first, if we are going to add someone?  He is a man/president that almost everyone loved or at least respected, while he was alive and in office, even if they didn’t agree with his politics.  Not so with BHO…

"A Time for Choosing" by Ronald Reagan – Video

U.S. Presidential Libraries

Thought or the Day… What Would Our Former Presidents Have Thought and Said If They Were Alive Today?!?

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." -- Winston Churchill

Related:

Reagan’s home could become a parking lot for Obama’s library

Not All Presidents Are Equal

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