Sunday, November 29, 2009
EID Stamp Issue A Non-Issue
A friend recently forwarded a chain letter that was all in a huff about the current re-issue of the USPS stamp commemorating EID. The Snopes article reprints the letter and some of it's variations. After thinking about it, I responded with the following:
I've seen this letter and it's assertions often since the first issue in 2001 (34¢). Unfortunately, the first issue was on August 1, 2001, a month prior to the 9/11 attacks. It has been reissued several times since, each time there is a rate adjustment many stamp designs are reissued in the new rate. The EID, in addition to the 2001 issue was reissued in 2002 (37¢), 2006 (39¢), 2007 (41¢), 2008 (42¢) and the latest reissue this year. Each time these chain letters go around trying to get people to "forward" in protest. All it ends up becoming is an ego trip for those behind the email.
The assertion that the US is a "Christian" nation, in these times, is, in my humble opinion, a stretch. While the US had it's birth and founding rooted in Christianity and Biblical principals, I would have to say, despite the assertion of many, we are not a Christian nation, or even a nation of Christians. We are a nation of many who claim the name of Christ, but do not follow His principals or base our lives on His.
That desire to follow Him and live our lives according to His principals is the basis of Christianity, not any historical connection to the past. Let's face it, nations cannot be "Christian," only individuals. Jesus didn't come and die to save a nation, he came to bring eternal life and relationship to each of us "individually." And, it is His coming to become the conduit of that provision of eternal life and relationship with the Father that we celebrate at this time of the year.
Relatively few US citizens truly follow Jesus as He would have us. Were we to suffer the same persecutions and challenges to our faith that our fellow believers overseas suffer, I dare say most of us who claim His name would fail miserably. Not unlike Peter we would curse Him and "save our skins."
But back on subject. There are a number of holiday stamps issued and sold each year at this time. The two new issue Christmas stamps are the Madonna and Sleeping Child based on the 17th century art of Giovanni Battista Salvi, and the Winter Holidays stamps. Reissued are the EID, Kwanza and Hanukkah stamps. There are also several older stamps series still available. See: USPS Holiday Stamps
So, in my opinion, the issue of the EID stamp is of about as much significance as the issue, and reissue of Elvis stamps (the record holder of the most stamps purchased), Star Wars or The Simpsons.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: EID, holidays, stamps, USPS
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veteran's Day
As one of the "minor" holidays, for most Americans, Veteran's Day goes by with little notice. I dare say that even most young people now serving in our nation's military barely gave this day a nod prior to their enlistment.
For the many who have forgotten the roots of this day and why it is important, I bring to your attention the following:
"Thanks to heavy and successful lobbying from the travel and leisure industry many "federal" holidays are now celebrated on Mondays. That's great if you work for the government, or in a bank. Not so great if you work retail. Or in a restaurant or supermarket.
But Christmas, New Years, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Veterans Day are not guaranteed Monday holidays. For good reasons.
Monday holidays make a lot of sense: especially if you have the day off, someplace to go and money to make it all work. But for some events that are date/tradition specific, the date, not the day of the week, is the big deal.
Very few people who are still alive remember the original event, World War I, that led to Armistice Day, the original name before it was legally changed to Veterans Day. At one point it too was celebrated on a Monday until somebody said, "hey wait a minute!" Turns out November 11 is an important date, a date to remember, even if it was (as many self-centered people say) before before they were born. Still, it happened.
World War I ended, by an armistice, that was to take effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Tragically, more than 10,000 men died that day even though their commanders knew well in advance that it was over and there was no point in fighting anymore.
Many students of history think the war shouldn't have happened. That it could have, and should have, been avoided. They say it was a "bad" war that set the stage for even more bloodshed in a good-as-in-necessary war, World War II.
Understanding World War I, what happened and why, is important if you want to understand what's happened since. President John F. Kennedy once told a friend that every world leader should be forced to read about it at least once a year. He recommended Barbara Tuchman's book, The Guns of August. Not a bad idea from a bona fide veteran of World War II.
My own favorite book on the subject is 11th Hour, 11th Day, 11th Month, by Joseph Persico. He points out that more people died that day, a day when no one needed to, than on D-Day, the Allied Invasion of Normandy. That also happened before a lot of you were born, but it still happened.
Pardon the quickie history lesson. Just thought it would be nice if all of us, whether working or not today, gave it some thought. This is not a fun holiday. But is an important one." by Mike Causey
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: history, holidays, military, Veteran's Day, veterans, WWI
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Giving thanks...
Eph 5:20 "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (KJVA)
If you’re reading this Thanksgiving Day, I was scheduled to work today, but flexibility being the watchword, that has changed, YEAH!!.
I had originally planned to be off this week and was considering making the trek to be with my parents and siblings this day, that or spend the week working on a failed shower pan.
Well, things didn’t work out where I would be able to work on and complete the shower, but neither was I able to make the pilgrimage north. One of our employee’s heart problems revisited and for the second time in 3 weeks he had to undergo a cardiac stent procedure.
With the downsizing the Postal Service is undergoing, we no longer have the redundancy of employees for which the service was once legitimately criticized. That redundancy is no longer the case and the reductions continue with voluntary early retirements taking effect in January ’09.
Two strong healthy people can distribute mail in our office for a short period of time, I know because I did it the first time this employee went into the hospital. But now, if I were to take the time off, the two people left are both near or past retirement and neither are in the best of health themselves. Attempting to run the office for a week would most likely, for them, result in their needing to take sick leave to recover from the physical damage they’d incur.
So, I find myself working this week, the first time I would have had Thanksgiving week off in 20 years of working for the Postal Service. Additionally, the little known secret is that even though there is no window service or mail delivery on a holiday, many larger offices still must staff to one degree or another otherwise the mail the following day would be overwhelming and most likely delays would occur.
However, with the overwhelming changes occurring in the Postal Service, we are downsizing our staffing across the board and extending dependency on automation processes to increase productivity and further reduce staffing.
The Postal Service is not immune to the shrinking economy. Our business depends on mail volume and that volume is dropping. Many factors come into play, the rise of the Internet and electronic billing and remittance being primary.
We learned Wednesday that except in the major processing centers, there will no transportation running to delivery offices on Thanksgiving Day and thus no need to provide even minimal staffing in those office. I have no doubt that this seeming minor change will save millions of dollars in avoided costs on this holiday.
And with that additional bit of knowledge, I no longer am required to work this Thanksgiving Day, and that's a good thing.
So, with all this change and uncertainty am I complaining, Nope. I’m thankful. Thankful for so many things. Thankful for my job. It’s been a source of income security for 20 years and provided for my family in many ways.
I’m thankful for my family. For their love and patience with me, even in those times when I challenge their patience.
For my parents, for their nurture, their provision, their guidance, their love. For being an example to follow and a source of strength in times of trial. For their expression of love and in doing so were an example of God’s love to me.
For my brother and sister. I left home before we developed those close relationships so often depicted in film and book. But then, I’m a different kind of independent individual and those kind of relationships would be difficult for me to maintain for any length of time. Still, I know their love is secure and when I have needed their support, they have been there for me, without fail.
For my wife, Karen. For the same reasons listed above, I’m not an easy person to live with. I can often be distant, quite, uncommunicative, and stubborn and sometimes exhibit unloving behavior. Still, she is patient and continues to love me, even after these past 8 years of ups and downs. She really deserves a medal.
I’m thankful for my health. The past two years has really brought this home with the cycling accident I had in February ’06 and the subsequent two surgeries. The long rehabilitation and just in the past few weeks returning to my bike. It’s a joy to be able to physically challenge myself. Many my age are unable to do so, their bodies failing them either due to genetics or abuse.
I’m thankful for my home. Yes, even with the damaged shower. Our home is a blessing and a refuge. In the six years since we built we’ve realized it is probably too small for this time in our lives and there are things I miss, like a two-car garage. But many have no garage, live in an overcrowded home with several generations under one roof and, recently, a significant percentage of homeowners are losing their home. Some due to imprudent financial decisions, some simply victims, oh how I hate those words, of our present economy.
I’m thankful for our grandchildren. Don’t see ‘em often enough, and frankly, when we do I’m often ready for their parents to pick ‘em up before their parents are ready to do so. Still, Camron and Katie are great kids, healthy, active, energetic, imaginative, inquisitive and intelligent. What more could you ask for.
I’m thankful for technology, though sometimes I’d like to take that technology and toss it out the window. Technology helps keep us closer. Families that would barely know each other develop cyber-relationships when there would have been little contact otherwise. Some of you are reading this on Facebook where I have recently had the pleasure to reconnect with friends thought lost years ago.
Speaking of those friends, I’m thankful for each of you. The imprint you’ve had on my life is indelible and while some more than others, each friendship and relationship has served to mold and shape me in ways that has made me the person I am.
Most of all I’m thankful for the love, grace and mercy of a loving God who really does love me. Some folks think of God as a stern, judgmental, unforgiving master who seeks their obedience, respect and fear. The God I know loves me; he really does, and seeks his best for my life. It’s my duty to seek out his will and conform my life to it, not out of fear but out of love and devotion to him.
So on this Thanksgiving Day, as I work, I will do so with thanksgiving in my heart and a song on my lips. For I truly have much to be thankful for.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: family, friends, holidays, Postal Service, Thanksgiving
Friday, July 04, 2008
Independent musings
As I sat in our porch swing overlooking our backyard garden this morning, I reflected on this 4th of July holiday while observing the activity in my neighborhood. It seems that for many, the day our nation celebrates her independence from the tyranny of the crown holds little value.
While in our town such days as Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday are observed and workers are given time off to celebrate, Independence Day garners no such honor. Specifically, while Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor Day and New Year’s Day and the afore mentioned Martin Luther King, Jr. holidays are honored by closing the sanitation department, on Independence Day it’s business as usual.
Now I’m not so much opposed to honoring a man who did much for the advancement of the dreams, hopes and civil rights of many of the citizens of this nation who were thought by some to be of lesser importance simply due to the color of their skin. What I am opposed to is the failure to recognize and promote the importance of the seminal event in history that made Dr. King’s ambitions possible.
Were it not for those brave men who placed not only their signatures, but their very lives on the line, there would be, in all likelihood, no United States of America today. With all its faults, the US remains the leader in democracies around the world. Since her establishment in 1776 and with her the beginnings of modern representative government, more than 120 nations have followed.
We are not perfect; indeed it is our imperfections, and our understanding of and tolerance of them that makes us great. We are a Republic that recognizes the importance of the individual freedom of our citizens and celebrate their right to be so. 
We celebrate our ability to freely become the people, the individuals we choose to become. We celebrate when others achieve their dreams and aspirations, honoring them for pursuing their goals when all hope seemed lost.
It is and was that ability to chase his dream, and a nation that, despite some detractors, supported his dream, that allowed Dr. King to make his mark in the history of this nation. But without the freedom to do so, exemplified in our Declaration of Independence, bought and paid for with a terrible price in the blood of brave souls, and protected by our Constitution, he would not have been allowed to reach for his dream.
That is why I find it so counter-intuitive that our city would honor the man, Dr. King, but not the very Declaration that allowed him to act on his dream. Perhaps it is another sign of the shifting of a society and education process where the shallowness of celebrity overshadows the deep principles of democracy and the lessons of history.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: holidays, honor, Independence Day, Martin Luther King Jr, values
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Gas prices, taxes and politics
I just returned from a 13-day trip to Ocracoke Island and Myrtle Beach. While the destinations and itinerary of that trip will be the subject of future posts, my current interest is my observations on the ongoing debate over the soaring price of fuel.
In January of this year unleaded regular gasoline cost an average of $3.085/gallon and we all were crying the blues. Now, four and a half months later, the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular in Florida is $3.814, an increase of 23.6%. Annualized that’s an increase of 62.9%.
That hurts everyone and affects every part of our economy from food to transportation, from stock prices to entertainment; everything we do is connected in some way to the cost of fuel and crude oil.
The burning question on most people’s minds is, “who is to blame?” The media and the Democrat party will tell you its “big oil” and the Bush administration who are at fault. Most people go along with that assessment because it makes a neat little package and easy to understand.
I find it interesting that when asked a hard question, liberals (i.e. Democrats) will counter that the answer is not so simple, nuanced with many variables that must be addressed for one to understand their answer. But when it comes to the price of fuel, they simply pin the blame on “big oil” and the current administration.
But is it really so simple, and is the fix so simple as well?
They want to divert the deposits into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the marketplace for the rest of the year and eliminate the federal gas tax for 15 weeks during the upcoming summer driving months. Sounds good, but will it really make a serious impact?
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) amounts to 70,000 barrels per day, about one tenth of one percent of world consumption and 0.0056% (that’s just over one half of one percent) of daily US imports.
If the SPR were full and we were to be cut off from the world oil supply, there would be only about 58 days of reserve before we would need to drastically cut back on consumption. In practice though, we would need to make those drastic cutbacks immediately.
The US is dependent on foreign crude oil for 60% of its consumption, the largest portion of which is refined into gasoline (9.253 million bpd). However, if the 12,000,000 barrels per day we import was interrupted not only would fuel supply be scarce, but manufacturing of most goods would grind to a halt.
Not only is crude used to make plastics, which permeate every part of our economy, but the machines which produce them and make every item we produce more affordable would stop for lack of lubrication and maintenance parts.
But returning to the immediate issue of the price of gasoline and the effect of the congressional and administrations band-aid approach. It’s estimated that diverting the SPR to domestic production will result in a reduction of about .03 - .05¢ gallon. That works out to about $53 in savings over 6 months of the diversion. Excited?
The moratorium on the 18.4¢ federal gas tax will save motorists an estimated $28 - $30 on average over its limited lifespan and in the process reduce available revenue for highway maintenance by $6.4 billion, affecting 10’s of 1000’s of highway related jobs.
So for the sake of saying they did something, our congressmen/women and the administration are going to save you about 83 bucks, expose a weakness in our national security, expose motorists to unsafe roads as they go unmaintained and throw thousands of highway workers into the unemployment lines.
In the end, who's gonna notice anyway? In 38 days at the current rate of increase the pump price of gasoline will be right back where it was before the "cuts" took place. At the end of the summer when the "tax holiday" ends and the price suddenly rises 18.4¢, do you really think the American people will remember they've been enjoying the largess of the US Congress for 3 months?
Sounds like a great plan to me.
My next post will include some of my ideas on what we should do to deal with this problem and the wider issue of the US energy supply.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, holidays, politics, Republicans, taxes
Monday, February 18, 2008
What are we celebrating after all?
Today is President's Day, created by Congressional law in 1968 by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that moved most US Federal holidays to a Monday. Originally it was to combine both Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday into one holiday, but as most things Washington (the town not the man), stuff fell through the cracks. When signed, the act only applied to Washington's Birthday.
The first designated Federal holiday to honor a citizen, Washington's Birthday was so ordered by Congress in 1880 for the District of Columbia and expanded to the states in 1885. Its purpose was to honor the man who was our first President and is regularly referred to as "the Father of Our Country."
George Washington was commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary forces who overthrew England, presided over the convention that created the US Constitution, unified our nation and after unanimous choice of the Electoral College became our first President, setting the standard for all subsequent Presidents to attain.
For decades on this day our citizens were reminded of this great man and his accomplishments and took time to honor his important and vital place in our history. However, in recent years it has become little more than a reason to have a retail sale.
Outside of government and banks, few take leave of work, fewer remember the man, and even fewer remember that without him, this great nation may well have never come into existence. Today, it's all about a day off work or school and another reason to compel people to spend.
On the other hand, a recent addition to the Federal holiday calendar, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day came into existence in 1983 to celebrate the life of this man who undoubtedly had a great impact on the United States civil rights movement. Still, one would be hard pressed to say his impact on the US and her citizens was as far-reaching as that of George Washington.
Even so, were one to imply that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day be observed in the same manner as the President's Day observance has become, there would be great cries of "heresy" and disrespect for this man. If one were to suggest celebrating "King Day" by holding a sale he would no doubt be venerated as having ill will towards the Black community.
It took about 20 years from it's inception to when business began to accept President’s Day as a "non-holiday" and no doubt there were many who cried out at this dishonor as it turned into a retail sale day. Yet today we allow it as acceptable and expected practice, many looking forward to the possibility of finding a good "deal".
I have little doubt that sometime in the future, certainly not as quickly as it took President's Day for there was substantial prior history to that day of remembrance, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day will, too, become another little recognized day where most forget the man and his accomplishments and turn their attention to the discounts of the retail sector.
People will cease demanding the day off from work to honor the man, memorials will be forgotten, parades no longer organized and the words so often quoted, "I have a dream…" will take their place in obscurity along side Washington’s "…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Labels: George Washington, history, holidays, Martin Luther King Jr