Dec. 2: National Mutt Day, Fritters Day, Special Education Day, McCarthy Silenced

Dec. 2: National Mutt Day, Fritters Day, Special Education Day, McCarthy Silenced

National Mutt Day

Can you help save 10,000 mutts across America on Dec. 2? Animal Welfare Advocate Colleen Paige created National Mutt Day to embrace, save, celebrate and raise awareness of the plight of mixed breed dogs. According to the site, mixed breeds "end to be healthier, better behaved, they live longer and are just as able to perform the duties of pure bred dogs - such as bomb and drug sniffing, search and rescue and guiding the blind."


* Adopt a mixed breed mutt.

* Contribute time or a small $5 donation to a local animal shelter.

* Spay or neuter your dogs.

* Watch your favorite mutts in action: Benji or Old Yeller.

Fritters Day

It's a happy day for fried food lovers. Any fruit, cheese, fish or vegetable deep-fried in a batter is a fritter. "The Roman scriblita, described by Cato in the second century BC, was probably a precursor of fritters and doughnuts. Lumps of moist dough (leavened with sourdough) were spooned into hot fat, and allowed to stream in random shapes" according to "The Oxford Companion to Food." Make your own savory fritters with clams or sweet fritters with apples.

Special Education Day

President Gerald Ford singed the first special education law, Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 on Dec. 2, 1975. The law is known today as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Special Education Day celebrates the anniversary of the law and honors progress in special education.

"We take the day to honor progress and celebrate students with disabilities -- and their parents, teachers and schools. And we dialogue and plan for the future for all students in our schools and for appropriate reforms," according to Special Education Day.

McCarthy Silenced

After two years of making sensational charges and conducting a political witch hunt for communists, Sen. Joseph McCarthy was finally silenced. During a speech the senator from Wisconsin claimed to have a list of communists in the State Department. Some of those accused and put on trial during the height of the dark period in American history called McCarthyism, including author Dashiell Hammett, playwright Arthur Miller, singer Lena Horne and filmmaker Elia Kazan, and actor Charlie Chaplin . The Senate voted to censure McCarthy on Dec. 2, 1954.