(no subject)

[javasaurus]

New dollar coin available today. Sacagawea has been replaced by George Washington as the face of the golden-collered dollar coin. It's a new attempt at getting dollar coins into circulation, with not only George, but each president in turn for three months at a time. (side note: only presidents dead for at least two years can appear on currency)

Also, as with state quarters, serious and novice collectors will snap up a bunch, effectively buying money, which is profit for the government.

WTOP's article

Comments

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

I wrote about this a while back, giving profit estimates (back-of-a-napkin calculation, of course) that it's about $25 million free money per president.

plus there's all the "Collectors Kits" you can find at book shops to help store your collection (yes, I have a state map for my quarters).

In addition, the religious right are all up in arms over the fact that "In God We Trust" was moved to the side edging instead of being on the face.

Of course, *nobody* but Ed Brayton over at Dispatches ranted about the fact that the word "Liberty" was removed *entirely*.

Guess we know what the government thinks is more important these days. And no, having the statue of liberty on the back doesn't count.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

You can see pictures of the new coin at the mint's site, which lets you look at both sides and the edge. I actually like the look of the coin, and the edge is very nicely done. I don't want to get into the debate about wether "in God we trust" should be on the coins, but it is probably more visible on the edge than it was on the face. The odd placement will certainly draw more attention to it for a while.

Regarding liberty, the mint claims that the statue on the reverse is supposed to represent the idea.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

The Right's attitude is that it hides it more, and edges wear down meaning "God" will be worn down over time. (of course, it wears down the front as well). And there's the whole overall attitude that God is no longer in "Front" and that must be an intentional insult to God that he's secondary to the secularist gods as those in favor of separation treat the first presidents up to Monroe.

There's nothing logical or reasonable about it - its all emotional rhetoric designed to increase their collective sense that the majority is suffering and are oppressed victims of a secularist minority determined to take God out of the public picture entirely.

Regarding liberty, I disagree that it does. It's a monument and all it brings up are monuments. the fact that most kids getting through school today can't even recite "Give me your tired, your poor" to completion (or even that much) or know that the statue is where that is written leads me to think the true symbolism is lost on this.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Let me put it this way - which should be more preserved, "Liberty" or a monument to liberty?

I'll take the real thing, and its most accessable symbol, the word itself, over the monument any day.

"Look on my works ye mighty and despair", indeed.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

I was just pointing out the Mint's view on the statue/word question.

Certainly symbolism should not be dominated by the symbol. The flag is a symbol which has, in the minds of many, become more important that the ideals it stands for. This is part of the tragedy that is modern America.

But, as you point out, the word is also a symbol. Which is the better symbol? I have neither the time nor the background to make that decision. But I will remark that we humans are sensory creatures. Sights, such as monuments, can immediately evoke from us emotional responses. Words can create the same response, but only after a bit of mental processing. (Unless the words become ritualized, but that's a different discussion). This doesn't make the Statue a better symbol of liberty, though. Maybe the mental processing that goes with the word needs to occur. Maybe people need to put thought into what liberty means, where it comes from, how it is kept, rather than just wallowing in the gushy patriotic feeling of liberty that might come from seeing the Statue.

Also, there is the problem that the Statue does not stand only for liberty, but also welcome and enlightenment, and possibly America in general.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Also, there is the problem that the Statue does not stand only for liberty, but also welcome and enlightenment, and possibly America in general.

And there-in lies my problem with it.

It stands for none of those to me now.

It stands for good relations with the French, yet with a simple mistake actually making the French's intentions get reversed. She wasn't supposed to face Europe. She was supposed to face us, so that we look past her to the Europe we came from. By facing Europe, the words on the plaque become FAR more poignant than the French originally intended.

It stands for the rust of Ellis Island and the neglect it went through for most of the 70s before they finally cleaned it up. Kids today won't see that, but its still clear in my memory of how bad it was back then. It stands for the loss of identity, cultural and personal, that people went through to get here. It stands for the randomness and arbitrariness of how some people were rejected only to meet a quota.

By standing for Ellis Island, it stands for the relative closing of our borders that has taken place over the last 60 years in our paranoia against communism, where the only sure way you could get into this country was to be a political refugee. Liberty, yes, but not for all.

In short, there's emotional baggage that is tremendous attached to that monument and the contexts in which it has been viewed over its 100+ year history.

The word, on the other hand, has none of that baggage.

The only baggage attached to the word itself is the emotional distaste that comes from people using that word while implementing policies that are the exact opposite of its meaning.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

The deli in A.V. Williams gave me a gold dollar and a silver dollar for change on Tuesday. Does that mean I'm rich? Because since I can't use them in vending machines, they are kind of a bother now...

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

take the bus.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

Which gold and silver dollars? I might buy them off you at face value for paper money or quarters.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

I think postal service vending machines and probably Metro will take them. SOME campuses had dollar coin friendly vending machines installed several years ago (2002 maybe?).

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

You could spend it at the deli in A.V.Williams next time you go.