Until "V for Vendetta" came out two years ago today, Guy Fawkes was only a household name for British rabble-rousers, history buffs, and comic book geeks (OK, sorry, graphic novel geeks). Now many Americans — or at least Wachowski Brothers watchers — know about the Catholic man who was executed for trying to kill England's Protestant King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. And today's the day to celebrate the foiling of Fawkes' plot. Brits do it with bonfires (and hedgehog burning) but Americans have joined in with their own festivities.

Ron Paul is using Fawkes as a fundraising gimmick. (The Spoof, a British satire publication, has its own take, and Wired blogger Adrienne So loves it.) The presidential candidate managed to gain $3.5 million, according to the Associated Press and beat Mitt Romney for the biggest one-day fundraising total among Republican candidates.

SFist has some suggestions for stateside Fawkes fun.

But as Andrew Sullivan notes on the Daily Dish, Americans are actually barred from celebrating the holiday by none other than George Washington:

At such a juncture, and in such Circumstances, to be insulting their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused; indeed instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our Brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for every late happy Success over the common Enemy in Canada.

And The Observer's Barbara Ellen says, who needs Guy Fawkes day when we should be burning Britney in effigy?