Posted on 02/09/2004 4:20:15 AM PST by billorites
WASHINGTON'S birthday, Feb. 22, is on a Sunday this year. The official national day of recognition for the father of our country ought to be the nearest Monday, Feb. 23. Instead, the holiday will be noted one week from today on the 16th, and many, if not most, references to it will be to "Presidents' Day."
The national holiday, as decreed by Congress ages ago, is still officially Washington's Birthday, as it should be. We have a Presidential range in our White Mountains but the tallest of its peaks is not called Mt. Presidents. The tallest mountain in the northeastern United States of America, and the one with the fiercest, toughest weather in the world, is Mt. Washington. It stands head and shoulders above even Adams and Jefferson nearby, as well it should.
It is hard for someone my age to believe that Washington, of all people, would ever be so dishonored by his country. No single individual was more responsible for gaining our freedom from foreign tyranny than Gen. Washington and no individual but Washington could have led the new nation so successfully as our first President.
But poor old George's birthday is perilously close to the dustbin of history in which Abraham Lincoln's day has landed. Lincoln's birthday, Feb. 12, still shows up on a few calendars but that's a far cry from the honor and attention the 16th President used to be paid.
Today's youth won't believe it, but Abe used to be nearly as revered as Tom Brady.
There will come a day, sports fans, when even Mr. Brady falls victim to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. In fact, my friend, Monsieur Rick, thinks the guy is too good to be true as it is.
"There must be something wrong with him!" Rick protested the other day after watching the Patriots win the Super Bowl, again, and young, handsome, cherubic Tom lead them in a homecoming victory celebration in Boston.
"Well," I offered, "the hat he was wearing looked kind of dumb."
"That's a start," Rick said. "Work on it."
So I made up this list. I don't think Tom Brady would be as good a President as Washington or Lincoln. I think he doesn't always brush after every meal. I think he may not have been the best amateur golfer at Pebble Beach this weekend. I think he talks on his cell phone while in the car (though not while actually driving) AND I think he should have done something when that half-time woman fell out of her clothes.
In short, Tom Brady: feet of clay. But I'd still name a mountain after him.
Joe McQuaid's e-mail address is publisher@theunionleader.com.
Just because they don't teach about him in school anymore? Come on. Washington was extremely important to this country and always will be.
But he was:
Which means he was an evil, lying s.o.b. that never contributed anything of value to society. He was a soldier too - so that means he was a violent, Neanderthal that enjoyed killing innocent Europeans who were just trying to keep the peace. He would have tried to kill their babies too, unless they were black then he would have made them work in his fields to support his exploitative, materialistic greed and furthered the oppression by his rich cronies and Freemason conspiracy to rule the poor, disenfranchised minorities.
He was evil, I tell ya', evil!! That little Jefferson bast***d was evil too - that's why we're taking his slave/rapist mansion off of the nickel. (Replace the front with Clinton as soon as he quits bouncing bimbos...er...policy advisors)
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