We love LItigating Lawyers Day for August 31, but there are alternatives

Hey, this guy was a litigating lawyer -- and he's
proved quite popular down through the years.
Of course, he had to get shot first.

A number of the Usual Suspects proclaim Saturday, August 31 to be Love Litigating Lawyers Day. You can stop right there, as far as we're concerned.

Actually, despite the negative press lawyers receive, most people like their own lawyers: Lawyers are respected in the first person -- my lawyer, our lawyer; they are only hated, loathed and despised in the second and third persons -- your lawyer, his lawyer, her lawyer, their lawyer. (And, of course, even "my lawyer" loses some of his or her luster when his or her bill arrives....)

Still, Love Litigating Lawyers Day represents a chance to turn those negative feelings around.

Saturday is also Eat Outside Day, which certainly seems an appropriate thing to do on the Labor Day weekend. We don't know why August 31 should also be National Trail Mix Day, but it is.

The Roman Emperor Caligula was born on August 31, A.D. 12. Caligula was an insane, murderous psychopath, even by the standards of his own time. Initially a popular choice after the death of Tiberius (who was himself pretty darn crazy), Caligula so alienated everyone in Rome that he would be murdered by his own guard at the tender age of 28, not quite four years into his reign.

Lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner (of the songwriting team of Lerner and Loewe -- Brigadoon and My Fair Lady, for example) was born on August 31, 1918. Comedian Buddy Hackett was born August 31, 1924.

Irish musician and songwriter Van Morrison turns 68 on Saturday. Actor Richard Gere turns 64. And baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson will celebrate his 78th birthday on August 31.