OT: Stupid

historygeek

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43966-2003Dec7.html

<<<Now it can be revealed what the hot debate was on the floor of the House of Representatives during that three-hour vote on the Medicare bill last month: What president's profile is on the dime?

With all the House members in one place, an idea for legislation and time to kill, Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.) spent many of those hours asking his colleagues to support a bill to put Ronald Reagan's face on the 10-cent coin. He gathered more than 80 cosponsors -- and learned that many of the lawmakers were not all that clear about who is on the dime now. (It is Franklin D. Roosevelt.)

"One member insisted to me the whole night that Roosevelt's not on the dime, it's Eisenhower," Souder said. "We went around looking for a dime to resolve it." >>>

CIVITAS

Ah yes, the good ol' Eisenhower dime.......

I don't know which is sadder, the stupidity of the House of Reps, or the fact that we the people put them there.....

0john0

I saw Nancy Reagan on TV saying she thought it was a terrible idea, and that Ronald would not like for it to happen.
Besides, don't we usually wait for a person to be officially dead before putting their image on a coin?

Bruce

I thought it had to be a dead president to be on a coin.

historygeek

C'mon guys read the entire article.

<<<Coin collectors definitely like new designs on coins, said Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World.

"We have been in the longest period in our history without changes," she said. "For the better part of 50 years, the mind-set at the U.S. Treasury was that the public would not accept changes on the designs of coins, and that the designs were time-honored. Well, the enthusiastic reaction to the state quarters blew that out of the water."

But Deisher does have concerns about putting the ailing Reagan on a coin anytime soon.

Although there is no law preventing the minting of a coin portraying a living person, putting Reagan on the dime while he is alive would overturn 211 years of coinage tradition. George Washington declined to have his portrait on our first coins or bills, saying that would induce the trappings of monarchy.

"Once you start, every time you have a change in the majority party in government, does that mean they change the coin to feature their favorite leader?" Deisher asked.>>>