Thanks Prince Kuhio!

The following article comes courtesy of some random googling I did earlier that I forgot to link.

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole

Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole was born in Koloa, Kauai on March 26, 1871. When the Kalakaua Dynasty assumed the throne of Hawaii in 1884, Jonah Kuhio was declared a prince. He was next in line to become king when the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893. In the late 1800's he was sentenced to a year in prison for his role in a Hawaiian uprising against Sanford Dole's newly formed Republic of Hawaii. After his release from prison, he joined the British Army to fight in the South African Boer War, and he remained in Africa until that war ended in 1902. When he returned to Hawaii he was elected to served in the United States Congress as the Territorial Delegate from Hawaii. The achievements for which he is credited include the dredging of Pearl Harbor and establishing the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Prince Kuhio died in Waikiki on January 7, 1922. He is buried on the island of Oahu at the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu.

Prince Kuhio Day is celebrated on March 26 in Hawaii. Hawaii's second delegate ot congress Born in Koloa, Kauai. Youngest of the three sons of Kauai High Chief David Kahalepouli Piikoi and Princess Kinoiki Kekaulike. Served as the Hawaiian Territory's delegate to the U.S. Congress from 1903 to 1921. He was known as the "Citizen Prince" He was inline to become king with the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. he died of heart disease in 1922 at the age of 50. He is buried at the royal mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley on Oahu. best remembered for his successful effort to get Congress to pass the 1920 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which provides homesteads for native Hawaiians. One of his main goals was to save the rapidly declining Hawaiian race from extinction. He planned to return tenement dwellers to the land and encourage them to be self-sufficient farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders on leased parcels of reserved land.

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So here's to you Prince Kuhio! For being the "citizen prince", for being born on my birthday, for being cool enough to get a state holiday and for giving me a "free" day off from work so that I can wallow in the fact I am now closer to 50 than I am to birth - 'cuz I surely needed *that*.

Also, I like your 'stache. :)