How About This Week?

What a week the Democrats picked for their convention:

1. The week immediately after the Olympics end - no better way to get up that USA pride.
   
2. Tuesday was the 88th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Hillary Clinton addressed the convention on this day.
3. Wednesday would have been President Lyndon B. Johnson's 100th birthday. President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964, helping to fight segregation in the United States. He also signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which helped to ensure many blacks, given the right to vote a century earlier, would get to realize that right, many for the first time. On this day, the Democratic Party also became the first major party to nominate an African American (or any non-white male, for that matter) for president.
4. Today is the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Barack Obama will accept the nomination for president. (And, of course, this is less important, but Al Roker is exploring his roots today. From slavery to the white house.)

Who ever decided to have the convention this week deserves an award. For their part, the Republicans will hold their convention in St. Paul during the week that a major hurricane is expected to hit New Orleans - right around the three-year anniversary of Katrina. I'm sure that will bring them good memories of the competency of Republican government.