Labor Day: No News on Monday

From what I've read, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when Labor Day actually became a tradition here in the U.S. and Canada, but (in the U.S.), I'm told it started out on a state-by-state basis around in 1882 and was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1894. For those of you who aren't in the U.S. or Canada, Labor Day is a holiday adopted to honor workers by giving them an extra day off. We really need it, since we don't get the sort of vacation time a lot of European countries receive. According to the U.S. Department of Labor , Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor once said "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation." Well, the bottom line is that your faithful Hard News Editor just has to take Monday off. It would be unpatriotic to not celebrate a holiday devoted to the working class. Plus, Omid, our U.S. Editorial Director, is on vacation next week, so I'm sure I won't get any calls during the day asking why I missed this or that IDF event or why I chose to cover one story instead of another (I digress). The landline will be shut off, the cell phone will be shut off, and the computer will be shut off until my usual news posting in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. All will be back to normal September 4, barring any bizarre barbecue accidents. Those of you who get to take Monday off, go out an enjoy the last days of Summer. Those of you in other parts of the world certainly get holidays that we don't get to enjoy. When those extra days off work come along and you know that I'm out here in San Francisco pounding away at the news, feel free to shoot me an email to gloat.