Free Republic

  Honoring China's 'The Year of the Pig' Over the weekend, Google highlighted the Chinese New Year – the year of the pig – with a couple of the porkers dancing in place of the "Os" in its name. But today, the Internet behemoth that recognizes holidays and special events with modifications to its logo declined to recognize the birthday of George Washington, "the father of our country" and the first president of the United States. It's been able, in recent months, to highlight special honors for Percival Lowell, Edvard Munch and Louis Braille. Lowell was an astronomer, Munch an...

George Washington is one of the most recognized figures in U.S. history. But familiarity breeds contempt. More often than not, Washington is an old painting on the wall – solemn, impersonal and distant – or the subject of childhood stories and nursery rhymes. We all know that he chopped down a cherry tree and had wooden teeth. The actual Washington is much more compelling. We can all see the brilliant flourishes of Jefferson's pen, Madison's constitutional handiwork or the success of Hamilton's economic policies, and that can cause us to overlook or underestimate the magnitude of Washington's achievement. Yet he...

DEBUNKING CINDY SHEEHANHEAR ABE LINCOLN/JOHNNY CASH + PBS' NEIL CONANby Mia T, 8.31.05 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE)   "You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich. You tell me my son died to spread the cancer of Pax Americana, imperialism in the Middle East."--Cindy Sheehan "And if you think I won't say bulls**t to the President, I say move on, cause I'll say what's on my mind."--Cindy Sheehan   The trusty triad's half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies,...

Whether today should be called Washington's Birthday or Presidents Day is a question that will not distract most Americans from patriotic golf rounds and shopping excursions. But it's less a question than a crusade for Lafayette lawyer Jason Bezis. He calls Presidents Day -- with its varying interpretations and occasional, floating apostrophe -- a noxious weed strangling the venerable oak of Washington's Birthday, which happens to be the official title of the holiday in California and under federal law. On paper, he appears to be right. And almost no one cares. "The poor oak tree's leaves are withering," Bezis, 31,...

TODAY is George Washington's birthday. Except that George Washington was born on Feb. 22, and today is Feb. 16. But as far as the federal government knows, his birthday is today. It may be the CIA's fault, but without a full investigation we'll never know. We wonder what Washington would think of what Washington has done to his birthday. "They did what to what, now?" It probably would confuse him, federal bureaucratic incompetence not having been invented until after his time. He'd most likely wonder why we stand for it. "Since when do Americans let their government tell them when...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article first appeared on NRO on Feb 17, 2003. Can you name the holiday that falls on the third Monday in February? Like most Americans, you probably think its "Presidents’ Day." Every desk calendar and car sale ad seems to confirm it. So it may surprise you to learn that its legal name is still "Washington’s Birthday." The law establishing the holiday has never been changed. For all practical purposes, of course, his day has been forfeited to convenience. We celebrate it on the third Monday in February rather than on the actual day (Feb. 22), and...

When tradition faces off against the almighty buck, smart gamblers put their money on the money. Consider one of the overlooked revolutions of the '60s: the Uniform Holiday Act of 1968, under which Congress decided that George Washington's face on the dollar bill trumps George Washington's birthday. The act provided that beginning in 1971, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and Washington's Birthday (later demoted to the beloved "Presidents' Day") were to fall only on Mondays. For years, Florida Senator George A. Smathers, the smarmy playboy best known as JFK's sidekick in the pursuit of venereal happiness, had been the...

  It's "Washington's Birthday" by Matthew Spalding, Ph.D.February 16, 2001   Can you name the holiday that falls on the third Monday in February? Like most Americans, you probably think its "Presidents Day." Every desk calendar and car sale ad seems to confirm it. So it may surprise you to learn that its legal name is still "Washington’s Birthday." The law establishing the holiday has never been changed. For all practical purposes, of course, his day has been forfeited to convenience. We celebrate it on the third Monday in February rather than on the actual day (Feb. 22), and we...