Let’s get this straight. The White House Office of Management and Budget, the final arbiter of these matters, says the holiday is Washington’s Birthday, not Presidents’ Day, and it says so right there in section 6103(a) of Title 5 of the United States Code.

Get too aggressive with Muqtada al-Sadr, some believe, and you will ignite a general uprising in Iraq. There is counter-evidence to that conjecture, and, meanwhile, it seems more than likely that as long as the Shiite cleric remains free, a stable, decent Iraq will remain seriously challenged.

As I watch this Republican presidential primary season proceed in a manner roughly consistent with the course of the Costa Concordia, it has led me to a suspicion I feel honor-bound to share: I think the Republicans are throwing this thing.

Bill Steigerwald: No matter what party partisans say, no American president is perfect — to say the least. But when historians get around to ranking our greatest presidents, the top spots invariably go to the usual titans — Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and the Roosevelts, Teddy and Franklin. Ivan Eland, a senior fellow at The Independent Institute (independent.org) and an expert on defense issues, begs to differ with the standard consensus -— by about 180 degrees.