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Thursday, April 19, 2007
Dutch Date
You are excused if you did not make appropriate advance plans to celebrate Dutch-American Friendship Day, which is today.
You had no way of knowing it was Dutch-American Friendship Day because the White House did not announce it until about 6 p.m. today. The presidential proclamation was signed sometime today.
Anyway, here’s why we celebrate Dutch-American Friendship Day. It is, the proclamation proclaims, because of “our longtime friendship with the Kingdom of the Netherlands” and to honor “the many Dutch-Americans who have made significant contributions to our country.”
That, and other reasons, is why President Bush “by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 19, 2007 as Dutch-American Friendship Day.”
“I encourage all Americans to celebrate our country’s Dutch heritage and the many ways Dutch Americans have strenghtened our nation,” he said in the proclamation.
And, if you want to do it on Dutch-American Friendship Day, he gave you about six hours to do so.
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