Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
LABOR DAY LEGISLATION
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.
FOUNDER OF LABOR DAY
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
“The Real Maguire – Who Actually Invented Labor Day?”
THE FIRST LABOR DAY
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Time to Reclaim our Independence : Let’s party like it’s 1776.
Thursday, July 3rd, 2014 by Daniel Horowitz
On this day 238 years ago, the Continental Congress adopted the 1338-word Declaration of Independence in which we declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
11 years later, as Benjamin Franklin left Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention crafted the new constitution, he was reportedly asked by a lady, “well doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” He famously replied, “a republic, if you can keep it.”
Sadly, many of us are spending this 4th of July wondering if our Founders would recognize that republic – that beacon of freedom built upon a strong civil society and ordered liberty. So many ordinary Americans feel our republic is long lost to a foreign socialist utopia centrally managed by an elitist oligarchy in the form of two corrupt political parties.
This small minority of radicals has completely vitiated our most fundamental characteristic as a republic – our sovereign borders. We are now languishing from the flood of over 100,000 illegal immigrants teaming over our southern border, adding to the millions of illegals already here. At stake is nothing less than the preservation of our civil society, sovereignty, and solvency as a nation and as a stable economy. They drain our resources, health care, education, and criminal justice system.
Our veterans are suffering waiting for care under single-payer health care, while private health care providers are being forced to provide immediate treatment to illegal aliens and are being threatened with arrest for speaking out against the threat of diseases. Border agents protecting our republic are now being sued by illegal immigrants for doing their jobs.
We feel like strangers in our own country.
Even without the illegal invasion, our republic is hanging on by a thread.
Almost every American is involuntarily subservient to the federal government for his or her retirement security and healthcare. Over 46 million people, and one-in-four children, rely upon government for food stamps. Under the new Obamacare mandates, an estimated 79 million Americans will be enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. This culture of dependency, an anathema to our spirit of independence, has saddled us with over $1 million in debt and unfunded obligations for every American taxpayer.
Meanwhile, ordered liberty in a constitutional republic needs a strong civil society and strong families in order to thrive, much like fish in water. Yet, the cultural degeneration, promulgated and encouraged by this small societal elite, has permeated every aspect of American life – to the extent that those of us who adhere to traditional family values are now ostracized and castigated. We have reached the point where we need a group of unelected judges to grant us small morsels of religious liberty from their high benches in Washington. The small minority who push this invidious anti-family agenda now seek to eradicate the very existence of gender to the degree that private individuals and businesses are now being forces to accommodate bizarre and licentious practices.
The “Republican” Party was supposed to serve as the bulwark against attempts to supplant our republican form of government, yet they have become part and parcel of the problem. Decades’ worth of treachery directed towards the party faithful from its leadership has finally culminated with the Mississippi election last week. A long-serving Republican, with the blessing of the entire party establishment, engaged in fraud and race-baiting to repudiate his own party base and steal the election.
We are now living through the worst consequences of elective despotism that James Madison warned about in Federalist 48. Indeed we are strangers in our own country and in our own party.
But thankfully, as we celebrate another Independence Day, there are signs that the original zeal for constitutional governance and freedom still runs through the veins and DNA of so many Americans. We have witnessed ordinary citizens risking their careers and reputation to challenge the entrenched political class with almost no funding and very little resources. Most of them came up short on the first try, but so many of them came close and have succeeded in exposing the duplicitous career politicians.
Second Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776
We have looked at Richard Henry Lee’s Resolution on Independence. We have learned about the Committee of Five who was responsible for writing the Declaration of Independence. We have read every line of the document and picked them apart. But what happened after it was adopted?
As already discussed the member of the Second Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776. That should have been America’s birthday. It is not and the Declaration is the reason why.
The duties of the Committee of Five were not complete with the presentation of the Declaration to Congress. They still had one task to complete – getting it printed. As already shown, the Declaration was not signed on the 4th because it was not ready. On that date only John Hancock and Charles Thomson as president and secretary signed the draft which was then delivered to printer John Dunlap. Dunlap worked through the night and the next morning, July 5th, the Dunlap Broadsides were complete. It is estimated that around 200 of these were produced and sent out to the Patriot leaders in each state, to the Continental Army, and of course to Europe. John Adams even sent one to his wife Abigail in Massachusetts. These copies were read aloud in towns across the country, and the people were so moved that it was the date of the Declaration which is honored. Today there are 26 Dunlap Broadsides still known to exist.
The more familiar hand written Declaration was the work of Timothy Matlack, a name which should be familiar to fans of the film National Treasure. Matlack was a Philadelphian known for his fine penmanship. The engrossed copy he created was the one which was signed by the members of Congress. This copy was produced not on paper but on parchment, a material made from sheep or other animal skin. Today there are multiple copies of the engrossed Declaration made from the original. One of these copies is kept at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Another, thought to be Jefferson’s own copy, is in the possession of the Library of Virginia. The original, the one signed on August 2nd, 1776 is kept in the rotunda of the National Archives building in Washington, D.C.
In addition to the Dunlap Broadsides and the engrossed copy a third well-known edition was produced. In 1777 Congress asked Mary Katherine Goddard to create a new broadside which would include the signatures, something the Dunlap Broadsides did not include. Nine of these still exist.
The fact that multiple copies of a 200 year old document have been preserved with such care and are so highly valued by collectors should give us pause to consider how well we value this original founding document.
In June of every year, we honor fathers. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1914, but a holiday honoring fathers did not become official until 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson declared that the third Sunday in June would be Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made this proclamation permanent in 1972. But this doesn’t mean that the holiday was not celebrated before this time.
The idea for Father’s Day is attributed to Sonora Dodd, who was raised by her father after her mother’s death during childbirth. While listening to a sermon at church on Mother’s Day, she thought about all her father had done for her and her siblings and decided fathers should have a day, too. Because Dodd’s father was born in June, she encouraged churches in her area, Spokane, Wash., to honor fathers that month. The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910.
Over the years, the idea spread, and people lobbied Congress to establish the holiday. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson, who had signed a proclamation establishingMother’s Day, approved the idea, but never signed a proclamation for it. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”
History of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Struggle
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was a Baptist minister and social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. Inspired by advocates of nonviolence such as Mahatma Gandhi, King sought equality for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.
The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks (1913-2005), secretary of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days, placing a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.
By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November 1956, King, heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) and the activist Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance. (He had also become a target for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.) Emboldened by the boycott’s success, in 1957 he and other civil rights activists–most of them fellow ministers–founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolence. (Its motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.”) He would remain at the helm of this influential organization until his death.
In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activists and political leaders. (During a month-long trip to India in 1959, he had the opportunity to meet Gandhi, the man he described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.”) King also authored several books and articles during this time.
In 1960 King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the 1960s. Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe test during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest segregation, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities. Arrested for his involvement on April 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.
Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. worked with a number of civil rights and religious groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices African Americans continued to face across the country. Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movementand a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The march culminated in King’s most famous address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for peace and equality that many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial–a monument to the president who a century earlier had brought down the institution of slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of a future in which “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'” The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; later that year he was named Man of the Year by TIME magazine and in 1964 became the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international attention to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized a voter registration campaign. Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Selma and take part in a march to Montgomery led by King and supported by President Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973), who sent in federal troops to keep the peace. That August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed the right to vote–first awarded by the 15th Amendment–to all African Americans.
The events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther King Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and commitment to working within the established political framework. As more militant black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. In 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include a massive march on the capital.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, King was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, where he had traveled to support a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning. James Earl Ray (1928-1998), an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. (He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before his death in 1998.)
After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) signed a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King. Observed on the third Monday of January, it was first celebrated in 1986.
Veterans Day – Ridgewood, NJ – November 11, 2013 – American Legion Post 53
Nov 11, 2013
by Joe Burns
Ridgewood NJ, Selected pictures from yesterdays Veterans Day Ceremonies at Veterans Field in Ridgewood.
The focus of this year’s ceremony was the Korean War. The Master of Ceremonies was Bob Paoli, Commander of American Legion Post 53; The National Anthem was sung by the Harmony Celebration Chorus; Reverand Kyu Tae Pak, Midland Park United Methodist Church opened the ceremonies with a prayer; Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn made opening remarks; Sgt. 1st Class Ron Zier spoke about the Korean War and his service there; Retired HoHoKus Police Chief Robert Re spoke about the war and his service in Korea at that time; veterans in the audience were honored for their military service, and Sally Ann Tumas-Skoric sang “God Bless America” with the audience joining in. Many students from Benjamin Franklin Middle School and Ridgewood High School were in the audience.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Veterans Day 2013 Ceremony in Ridgewood
November 11,2013
Boyd A. Loving
12:39 PM
Ridgewood NJ, Village of Ridgewood 2013 Veterans Day services began at 11 AM on Monday on Veterans Field in Ridgewood. The ceremony was coordinated by members of American Legion Post 53 based in Ridgewood. This year’s event was held, as always, to honor all veterans, but especially those from the Korean War era military.
“We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth, peace, security, liberty, our family, our friends, our home. … But when we look at our flag and behold it emblazoned with all our rights we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we associate with it is the result of duty done.”
I want to wish all the mothers and grandmothers in Bergen County a Happy Mother’s Day and let you know how special I think you are.
There is no job more difficult, more demanding or more important than that of being a mother.
Mothers give love unconditionally and everlastingly. Mothers comfort us when we are down, forgive our mistakes, and offer us a haven from the world’s troubles. Mothers love us for who we are.
Mothers are taxi drivers, cooks, doctors, teachers and psychologists all rolled into one. Mothers inspire greatness as well as kindness.
For those of us whose Mothers have passed, we remember her with great affection and love on this day and everyday.
To the Moms everywhere, I hope you spend the day surrounded by the children you love and the families you created.
And to all you sons and daughters, take a moment to show your mother that you appreciate all the things she has done for you — all the sacrifices she made, without complaint, year after year. It is her unconditional love that has taken you this far.
Happy Mother’s Day! Bergen County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan
Only a few more days left till MOM’s big day…yes indeed Mother’s Day. A rainbow of fabulous natural nail polish colors await at Karma. We have great gift certificates as well for our products and salon services.
The weekend is here…time to treat yourself
We have fabulous manicure and pedicure salon services!
Open Saturday’s from 9am-6pm and Sunday’s 10am to 6pm. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
At Karma Organic Spa we are dedicated to creating an eco-friendly environment with organic products as a healthy alternative for your beauty needs. We even use fresh flowers, herbs and fruits in our treatments.
Looking for high quality nail polish and remover without the harsh chemicals you find in traditional products? Discover our Karma Organic signature nail care products. Our toluene, formaldehyde and phthalate free nail polishes and our soy-based, non-toxic organic nail polish removers are the answer to the eco-conscious nail care user. For an organic spa experience, check out all of our Karma Organic salon services.
32 Wilsey Square, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450
Phone(201) 857-5300 [email protected]
Editors Note: Christopher Columbus was a very controversial figure in his day ,perhaps even more so than now. Many students of history suggest that Columbus would have thrived in today’s culture of “no press is bad press ” and would have basked in all the attention.
Columbus Day
Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. It was unofficially celebrated in a number of cities and states as early as the 18th century but did not become a federal holiday until the 1937. For many, the holiday is a way of both honoring Columbus’ achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage. Throughout its history, Columbus Day and the man who inspired it have generated controversy, and many alternatives to the holiday have appeared in recent years.
https://www.history.com/topics/columbus-day
Origins of Columbus Day
A U.S. national holiday since 1937, Columbus Day commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. The Italian-born explorer had set sail two months earlier, backed by the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He intended to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia; instead, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings set up colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century.
Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba and believed it was mainland China; in December the expedition found Hispaniola, which he though might be Japan. There, he established Spain’s first colony in the Americas with 39 of his men. In March 1493, the explorer returned to Spain in triumph, bearing gold, spices and “Indian” captives. He crossed the Atlantic several more times before his death in 1506; by his third journey, he realized that he hadn’t reached Asia but instead had stumbled upon a continent previously unknown to Europeans.
Columbus Day in the United States
The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, when New York’s Columbian Order–better known as Tammany Hall–held an event to commemorate the historic landing’s 300th anniversary. Taking pride in Columbus’ birthplace and faith, Italian and Catholic communities in various parts of the country began organizing annual religious ceremonies and parades in his honor. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging Americans to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage with patriotic festivities, writing, “On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life.”
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Columbus Day a national holiday, largely as a result of intense lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, an influential Catholic fraternal benefits organization. Originally observed every October 12, it was fixed to the second Monday in October in 1971.
https://www.history.com/topics/columbus-day
Columbus Day Alternatives
Opposition to Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, when anti-immigrant groups in the United States rejected the holiday because of its association with Catholicism. In recent decades, Native Americans and other groups have protested the celebration of an event that indirectly resulted in the colonization of the Americas and the death of millions: European settlers brought a host of infectious diseases, including smallpox and influenza, that decimated indigenous populations; warfare between Native Americans and the colonists claimed many lives as well. The image of Christopher Columbus as an intrepid hero has also been called into question. Upon arriving in the Bahamas, the explorer and his men forced the native peoples they found there into slavery; later, while serving as the governor of Hispaniola, he allegedly imposed barbaric forms of punishment, including torture.
In many Latin American nations, the anniversary of Columbus’ landing has traditionally been observed as the Dìa de la Raza (“Day of the Race”), a celebration of Hispanic culture’s diverse roots. In 2002, Venezuela renamed the holiday Dìa de la Resistencia Indìgena (“Day of Indigenous Resistance”) to recognize native peoples and their experience. Several U.S. cities and states have replaced Columbus Day with alternative days of remembrance; examples include Berkeley’s Indigenous Peoples Day, South Dakota’s Native American Day and Hawaii’s Discoverer’s Day, which commemorates the arrival of Polynesian settlers.
https://www.history.com/topics/columbus-day
Columbus Day Traditions
In many parts of the United States, Columbus Day has evolved into a celebration of Italian-American heritage. Local groups host parades and street fairs featuring colorful costumes, music and Italian food. In cities and towns that use the day to honor indigenous peoples, activities include pow-wows, traditional dance and lessons about Native American culture.
Village Offices will be closed October 8 in Observance of Columbus Day
Village of Ridgewood offices, in obverance of Columbus Day. Garbage and recycling will not be collected. The schedule will resume on Tuesday, October 9.
Some residents from Ridgewood and nearby area have been meeting recently to organize the
honoring of Gold Star Mothers, an organization of mothers whose sons or daughters served
and died while serving their nation in times of war or conflict. The Gold Star Mothers Day is a
national event to honor mothers who have lost a son or daughter in the service of our country.
On Sunday, September 30, 2012 our nation will honor our Gold Star Mothers and families. The
American Legion Post 53 and Ridgewood’s Blue Star Families are spearheading the effort to
bringing awareness to our community and commemorating the sacrifices these mothers and their
families have made. In Ridgewood, we will light luminaries from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Sunday,
September 30th at Van Neste Park. Residents will also light luminaries at the end of their
driveways. The goal is to see thousands of luminaries lit throughout Ridgewood to honor Gold
Star Mothers on September 30th!
The effort has seen a lot of enthusiasm from local groups such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
Order of Elks, VFW and many businesses. To find out how you can be part of this event, please
contact Maria Bombace or Bob Paoli.
>Presidents Day :40% Consider Reagan Most Influential President Of Last 50 Years
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Americans continue to believe Ronald Reagan is the most influential president of the last half century, but they are a bit more divided over which president should be next in line to be honored by a federal holiday.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 40% regard Reagan as the most influential president of the past 50 years. Bill Clinton is a distant second with 16%, closely followed by John F. Kennedy with 14%. Barack Obama, who is making his first appearance in this question, comes in fourth with 11%. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
>Presidents Day: 44 Facts You Didn’t Know About U.S. Presidents
The Huffington Post Seena Vali First Posted: 02/17/2012 11:02 am
While most Americans celebrate Presidents Day Weekend metabolizing the high levels of alcohol in their bloodstreams, we want to make sure that you guys actually learn something.
With that in mind, we collected 44 lesser-known facts about the leaders of this nation. Sure, everyone knows the story about President Taft getting stuck in the bathtub, but did you know about Benjamin Harrison’s fear of touching light switches? Or FDR’s movie credit? Or Gerald Ford’s modeling days?
So set aside your political allegiances and take a brief moment to read up on our country’s presidents. For without them, we would not have Monday off from work.
