• http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    Did I miss something? Isn’t President’s Day celebrated next Monday? Or is the bar so high that we should remember to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday on the actual day, not when there’s a national holiday for it?

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    a) There is no national holiday for Lincoln’s birthday – there is a national holiday in honor of the Presidents of the United States. That single holiday was created to stand in place of the previous national holidays celebrating Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday.

    b) A single mantion on a news cast, where they can usually cram in all sortsof useless trivia, of the birthday of one of the most highly-regarded Presidents in the history of our nation is not too much to expect, is it?

    Let’s see if anybody other than the sale ads mentions Washington’s birthday next week…

    -cjb-

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Glad someone sees it my way.

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    Lincoln’s Birthday was NEVER a national holiday. Numerous states celebrated it — and still do, as evidenced Google News. My guess is that if you lived in a state that recognized Lincoln’s Birthday, you’d see coverage about it on the LOCAL news, or partake in a celebration somewhere.

    More to the point, why stop at Lincoln? Are we going to be outraged when they don’t mention anything on Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, too? He was certainly an incredibly important individual in our nation’s history, even before he became president. He’s on Mt. Rushmore with the other two guys, and has his own special memorial in D.C. Why doesn’t he get any love on his actual birthday? I mean, not even a state holiday for that good-for-nothing president, eh?

    More here, too. Interesting history that I didn’t realize — it was a congressional decision in 1968 to move WASHINGTON’S birthday (always a national holiday, and rightly so) to a consistent Monday, for three-day weekend purposes. It was still meant to be Washington’s Birthday, not President’s Day.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Lincoln’s Birthday was NEVER a national holiday. Numerous states celebrated it – and still do, as evidenced Google News. My guess is that if you lived in a state that recognized Lincoln’s Birthday, you’d see coverage about it on the LOCAL news, or partake in a celebration somewhere.

    Without going one inch further, that’s the whole problem in a nutshell.

    Why does MLK get a federal holiday and a man who is almost universally the greatest president we’ve ever had not get one or even a mention on the news that it’s his birthday in between segments on American Idol trivia and some indian grocery store that was selling bad cheese?

    And don’t bring up Jefferson; he wasn’t a Lincoln-class president. Very few have been or ever will be.

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    Jefferson not important? He only wrote the freaking Declaration of Independence. That alone puts him in a rarified class of presidents, to say nothing of his other accomplishments (like being one of the driving forces behind our Bill of Rights, or presiding over the Louisiana Purchase).

    So I don’t know why Lincoln (or Jefferson) don’t get their OWN national holidays, but MLK does. Why not any number of other influential Americans? Benjamin Franklin comes to mind.

    And I honestly think you’re moving the goalposts with this one. MLK’s *actual* birthday is on 1/15. The *holiday* is the third Monday in January. I don’t know if you studied newscasts on Saturday the 15th or not, but from your earlier post in January, it looks like you were comparing coverage on the 17th. Did you even notice if anybody mentioned MLK’s birthday on his actual birthday?

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    In the eyes of the american people, Lincoln was probably our greatest president ever. I didn’t mean he wasn’t as important or even more important, just not as important in the eyes of the common man as Lincoln. Jefferson isn’t even allowed to be the name of a town because gasp he owned slaves! I don’t think a holiday in his name would go over big with Kwesi Mfume and his thugs at the NAACP.

    But maybe you’re right. I’ll be tuning in to the news next week to see what’s said. So far they missed his birthday. I’m sure they’ll make up for it by making a big deal out of the holiday honoring it.

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    Actually, given that Federal employees were given the day off for it, and Federal offices were closed for it, I would say that Lincoln’s birthday *was* a Federal holiday.

    Regardless, it was still mentioned in both local and national newscasts when I was a child, and not just during the auto and furniture store sale ads.

    The rabble-rouser’s birthday was mentioned on the 15th, with mention fo the fact that the official holiday was on the 17th.

    I am thankful that I wasn’t born a day earlier, because if I had, my birthday would occasionally fall on the MLK holiday.

    -cjb-

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    Well, here it is, FEbruary 22, post 9PM, and the only mention I’ve seen/heard of George Washington outside of the furniture and car commercials has been an article on an attempt in Congress to have the third Monday, or preferable the fourth Monday, of February re-designated as George Washington Day, as was originally written in the bill that made the third Monday the official national holiday.

    Whataya say, Vinny, are folks trying to forget the founders?

    -cjb-

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    I was giving them the week. :-)

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    Definitely not mainstream media, but there was a report on the 700 Club about Washington’s birthday, and how Washington, Jefferson and Madison are being eased out of the school curriculums. This was on Tuesday night, after I posted my earlier message.

    -cjb-

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    Well, they have two more days. I’m still holding out hope :-)

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    Did I miss something? Isn’t President’s Day celebrated next Monday? Or is the bar so high that we should remember to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday on the actual day, not when there’s a national holiday for it?

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    a) There is no national holiday for Lincoln’s birthday – there is a national holiday in honor of the Presidents of the United States. That single holiday was created to stand in place of the previous national holidays celebrating Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday.

    b) A single mantion on a news cast, where they can usually cram in all sortsof useless trivia, of the birthday of one of the most highly-regarded Presidents in the history of our nation is not too much to expect, is it?

    Let’s see if anybody other than the sale ads mentions Washington’s birthday next week…

    -cjb-

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Glad someone sees it my way.

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    Lincoln’s Birthday was NEVER a national holiday. Numerous states celebrated it — and still do, as evidenced Google News. My guess is that if you lived in a state that recognized Lincoln’s Birthday, you’d see coverage about it on the LOCAL news, or partake in a celebration somewhere.

    More to the point, why stop at Lincoln? Are we going to be outraged when they don’t mention anything on Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, too? He was certainly an incredibly important individual in our nation’s history, even before he became president. He’s on Mt. Rushmore with the other two guys, and has his own special memorial in D.C. Why doesn’t he get any love on his actual birthday? I mean, not even a state holiday for that good-for-nothing president, eh?

    More here, too. Interesting history that I didn’t realize — it was a congressional decision in 1968 to move WASHINGTON’S birthday (always a national holiday, and rightly so) to a consistent Monday, for three-day weekend purposes. It was still meant to be Washington’s Birthday, not President’s Day.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Lincoln’s Birthday was NEVER a national holiday. Numerous states celebrated it – and still do, as evidenced Google News. My guess is that if you lived in a state that recognized Lincoln’s Birthday, you’d see coverage about it on the LOCAL news, or partake in a celebration somewhere.

    Without going one inch further, that’s the whole problem in a nutshell.

    Why does MLK get a federal holiday and a man who is almost universally the greatest president we’ve ever had not get one or even a mention on the news that it’s his birthday in between segments on American Idol trivia and some indian grocery store that was selling bad cheese?

    And don’t bring up Jefferson; he wasn’t a Lincoln-class president. Very few have been or ever will be.

  • http://www.robertkbrown.com/ RKB

    Jefferson not important? He only wrote the freaking Declaration of Independence. That alone puts him in a rarified class of presidents, to say nothing of his other accomplishments (like being one of the driving forces behind our Bill of Rights, or presiding over the Louisiana Purchase).

    So I don’t know why Lincoln (or Jefferson) don’t get their OWN national holidays, but MLK does. Why not any number of other influential Americans? Benjamin Franklin comes to mind.

    And I honestly think you’re moving the goalposts with this one. MLK’s *actual* birthday is on 1/15. The *holiday* is the third Monday in January. I don’t know if you studied newscasts on Saturday the 15th or not, but from your earlier post in January, it looks like you were comparing coverage on the 17th. Did you even notice if anybody mentioned MLK’s birthday on his actual birthday?

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    In the eyes of the american people, Lincoln was probably our greatest president ever. I didn’t mean he wasn’t as important or even more important, just not as important in the eyes of the common man as Lincoln. Jefferson isn’t even allowed to be the name of a town because gasp he owned slaves! I don’t think a holiday in his name would go over big with Kwesi Mfume and his thugs at the NAACP.

    But maybe you’re right. I’ll be tuning in to the news next week to see what’s said. So far they missed his birthday. I’m sure they’ll make up for it by making a big deal out of the holiday honoring it.

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    Actually, given that Federal employees were given the day off for it, and Federal offices were closed for it, I would say that Lincoln’s birthday *was* a Federal holiday.

    Regardless, it was still mentioned in both local and national newscasts when I was a child, and not just during the auto and furniture store sale ads.

    The rabble-rouser’s birthday was mentioned on the 15th, with mention fo the fact that the official holiday was on the 17th.

    I am thankful that I wasn’t born a day earlier, because if I had, my birthday would occasionally fall on the MLK holiday.

    -cjb-

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    Well, here it is, FEbruary 22, post 9PM, and the only mention I’ve seen/heard of George Washington outside of the furniture and car commercials has been an article on an attempt in Congress to have the third Monday, or preferable the fourth Monday, of February re-designated as George Washington Day, as was originally written in the bill that made the third Monday the official national holiday.

    Whataya say, Vinny, are folks trying to forget the founders?

    -cjb-

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    I was giving them the week. :-)

  • http://www.hauntedparsonage.us/blog/ Chuck

    Definitely not mainstream media, but there was a report on the 700 Club about Washington’s birthday, and how Washington, Jefferson and Madison are being eased out of the school curriculums. This was on Tuesday night, after I posted my earlier message.

    -cjb-

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    Well, they have two more days. I’m still holding out hope :-)