To honor every president is to honor no president. Which is what Presidents' Day does...Slowly but without question -- and Presidents' Day is only one example -- Americans are forgetting and ignoring the men and events that have made this nation great.
--Lyn Nofziger
For the record:
This holiday [February 21, 2005] 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. 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 the law.
--U.S. Office of Personnel Management
George Washington, First President of the United States, 1789-1797
- Born: February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia
- Died: December 14, 1799 in Mount Vernon, Virginia
Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States, 1861-1865
- Born: February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Hardin County, Kentucky
- Died: April 15, 1865, the morning after being shot at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth.
If your local school district calls today's holiday "Founders Day," ask them why.
UPDATE: Hats off to Power Line for The Big Trunk's 2005 tribute to George Washington.
