Wherever you are today, I hope you have the day off. Did you know that in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is officially known as the Robert E. Lee/Martin Luther King holiday (in Virginia, it was known as Lee–Jackson Day until 2000, when they decided to move the celebration of Lee’s birthday to the Friday before MLK day, so presumably down there they get a 4-day weekend that begins with a rebel yell and ends with “we shall overcome”)? In fact, while today is not actually MLK’s birthday, Robert E. Lee was born 208 years ago today.

If you were around back in the early 1980s, you probably remember a lot of resistance to creating this holiday. That fine American Jesse Helms (Satan rest his soul) and fellow NC cracker John Porter East (also dead and, presumably, in hell if there is one) led the opposition with Helms criticizing King’s opposition to the Vietnam War (because, like, that was such a noble cause). Helms staged a filibuster in the Senate and submitted a 300-page document alleging that King was a commie. And, in a proud moment for New York, our Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared the document a “packet of filth”, threw it on the Senate floor and stomped on it (sadly, I can’t find video of that).

I really miss guys like Moynihan and Mario Cuomo.

Oh well, enjoy your day off, if you’ve got one.