BAN DAY!

Roman Around ^ | 3 December 2008 | Andrew Roman

[andrew roman]

In Perry County, Alabama, there was no time to waste. Action had to be taken.

And with a kind of urgency rarely seen in government (unless it is appropriating trillions of dollars in bailout money), the county commission did it.

It's official.

Barack Obama Day is on the books.

As the Associated Press Reports:

The Perry County commission voted 4 to 1 to observe the second Monday in November as "The Barack Obama Day." County offices will close and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid holiday.

The sponsoring commissioner said the holiday is meant to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved by reflecting on Obama's victory.

The majority of the county's 12,000 residents are black.

An Associated Press exit poll found black voters in Alabama almost universally supported Obama while more than eight in 10 whites backed Republican John McCain. McCain carried the state by 60 percent.

It's one thing to rename a school (as was done in New York). It's another to have a street renamed (as was done in South Florida) ... but to create an annual holiday is something altogether different.

This could catch on.

Say it with me ... Barack Obama Day.

The Electoral College hasn't even cast the official vote for President (at which time Obama actually does become the President-Elect), and yet, a holiday has been created in the man's honor.

And a paid off-day, to boot!

This Obama election is already paying dividends.

The general election was only held last month.

You can't make it up.

At the risk of being a party-pooping pin to Perry County's soaring balloon of "conquering difficult goals," a quick check of the county's school system calendar shows that county offices are, indeed, closed on February 22, 2009 - but not because of any holiday.

That's because next year it falls on a weekend.

Normally, however, county offices are open on February 22nd.

Without peeking, by a show of hands, how many recall what that day is?

(Cue Jeopardy music).

If you said it is the birthday of George Washington - father of our country - you win a cigar (or, if you prefer, four carbon credits toward your next use of a combustion-engine vehicle).

Some of you may remember that this country used to honor the birthday of this man - by name - before it morphed into a "third Monday of the month," bastardized, unceremonious, embarrassing waste of a meaningless holiday called President's Day. At one time, to utter the words "Washington's Birthday" was as common and natural sounding as saying "bailout" or "Bush lied, people died." It just rolled off the tongue.

Now, it resides in the "where are they now" file in the back of the cabinet.

Certainly, Washington's name must be familiar to some, no? At the very least, his face must be. He is, after all, on some of the money we use. (Dying culture alert).

Perhaps this is a tad presumptuous of me, but isn't the man deserving of his own day? Doesn't George Washington merit a holiday?

He did at one time ... until his status as a slave owner became the most important thing about him.

Now, we honor all Presidents in one happy, universally inclusive, generic, fifty-perecnt-off-all-linens sale day ... all of them, that is, except Barack Obama, who gets his own holiday. (And he's not even President yet!)

And as long as I have my "lamenting-the-culture" shoes on, I also remember celebrating Abraham Lincoln's Birthday - never a federal holiday, but a legal holiday in several states. It was an important day - one worthy of commemorating - at one time, too.

Fairly big names, I would think.

*sigh*

To be sure, there's a certain congruity in not only creating a Barack Obama Day, but having it as paid non-work day.

In line with the Obama campaign plan to "cut" the taxes of the bottom 95% of wage earners in this country - a huge portion of which, as we all know, pay no income tax at all - the very idea of getting something for nothing seems consistent enough.

Obama-lama-ding-dongs.

It's a little creepy.

-

[bfh333]

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 11,861 people, 4,333 households, and 3,046 families residing in the county. The population density was 16 people per square mile (6/km²). There were 5,406 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile (3/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 68.38% Black or African American, 30.86% White, 0.08% Native American, 0.03% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.08% from other races, and 0.54% from two or more races. Nearly 0.86% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

[Dallas59]

[Perdogg]

I think we should have December 2nd off, paid of course, in honor of the birth of the princes of pop Britney Spears.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I was going to celebrate Sly Stone’s birthday or first arrest for battery...

[2ndDivisionVet]

Your lack of faith disturbs me: There will be maggots in your gruel at the reeducation camp, I fear. Just think of them as extra protein to help you through the long days of breaking rocks.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

They shouold have the holiday on Obama’s birthday and ask him to produce his birth certificate for verification!?