Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Happy Holiday

The first of May has a grand tradition as a holiday, going back millenia, due to its position more or less halfway between the solstice and equinox. Whether for you it's Beltane, Walpurgisnacht, International Workers Day, Labor Day or just plain May Day, live it up.

The US is characteristically odd one out on this because of the Red Scare, which moved our Labor Day to September, but it's still a sort-of-official day, as noted by The New York Times, "Law Day."

In keeping with tradition, President Bush has issued a proclamation inviting Americans today to “celebrate the Constitution and the laws that protect our rights and liberties.” It rings more than a little hollow, though, as he continues to trample on civil liberties in the war on terror, and stands by an attorney general who has politicized the Justice Department to a shocking degree.

The less committed a president is to the law, the more need there is for Law Day, which makes it a holiday whose time has come.