LED Polarity: Why does this LED have the anode as the short pin?
I've noticed that the die is 'flipped' on AlGaAs SR LEDs (the bonding wire goes to the opposite side of the die) compared to other colors so I strongly suspect Lite-On wanted to standardize on a single lead frame type for all colors in the series, which necessitates reversing the SR ones. 

You may have noticed that similar LEDs in the series such as the yellow LTL4252N have the longer lead as the anode: 



I would find this very annoying- our standard footprint for LEDs and radial electrolytic caps has a big silk screen circle around the positive hole.