{"id":368,"date":"2015-01-04T20:05:13","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T20:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=368"},"modified":"2015-01-04T20:05:13","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T20:05:13","slug":"good-job-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=368","title":{"rendered":"Good Job, George"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ok \u2014 here we are charging into the new year. New Year\u2019s Day has come and gone and in case you didn\u2019t know, that is the most celebrated holiday around the world. As you faithful readers are aware, I\u2019m a big fan of holidays. Every month has a number of holidays and January is no exception. Each month has even come to be known for \u201csomething,\u201d like Black History Month, or Breast Cancer Awareness Month. January has been designated as the \u201cofficial\u201d month for the following: National Book Month, National Thank You Month, National Eye Care Month, National Volunteer Blood Donor Month and National Soup Month. You notice that I said \u201cofficial.\u201d How does a holiday or cause become official? The short answer is that lots of variables can enter in to making a day or month official<\/em>, but for a holiday to become a national<\/em> holiday, it literally takes an act of Congress.<\/p>\n

Congress has the power to declare something a federal<\/em> holiday (little different than a national<\/em> holiday.) There are only 11 federal holidays because it\u2019s expensive – government workers don\u2019t work on federal holidays. My extensive research found that more than 1,100 proposals for federal holidays have been floated by various congressmen over the last 30 years. Some wanted a Native Americans\u2019 Day or a Susan B. Anthony Day \u2014 some wanted things like World Leprosy Day, Fanny Pack Day or Yell \u201cfudge\u201d at the Cobras Day\u2026 (you elected these people.)<\/p>\n

The 11 national\/federal holidays legally only apply to federal employees and the District of Columbia. Neither the President or Congress has the authority to impose holidays on the States \u2014 each state determines its individual legal holidays.<\/p>\n

In spite of the fact that there seems to be a movement against the practice, many holidays are religious in nature. I feel sorry for atheists \u2014 they have very few, if any holidays.<\/p>\n

Then of course, there\u2019s me \u2014 if you\u2019ve followed this blog over the years you know that I regularly celebrate holidays that most others don\u2019t. I won\u2019t provide an extensive list because some years I add new holidays and delete some others. Since I retired, it\u2019s become easier to take the day off and just celebrate rather than work. Just ignore those that say I\u2019ve always done that, even before I retired.
\nSo today, I\u2019ve declared a holiday here in Shepherdstown. We\u2019re celebrating the fact that on January 4, 1790 George Washington delivered the very first State of the Union address.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ok \u2014 here we are charging into the new year. New Year\u2019s Day has come and gone and in case you didn\u2019t know, that is the most celebrated holiday around the world. As you faithful readers are aware, I\u2019m a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}