CNMI and Guam to get quarters (New York Times)

Last year Congress passed legislation that will have a long-term impact on our pocket change. The law authorized a new series of quarters, to be released over 11 years, with at least 56 different designs featuring national parks or sites.

This new series is just one of several rotating coin design programs that have come in the wake of the success of the 50 State Quarters Program, in which the Mint issued a new quarter design five times a year for 10 years, starting in 1999. In 2004 the Mint started the Westward Journey nickel series. In 2007 we got a series of dollar coins with former presidents. One of the coins recently issued features William Henry Harrison, who was president for only a month.

By now we are experiencing new coin fatigue: authorization of the national parks quarter series attracted very little mainstream attention, while many coin collectors disapproved of it as too much of a good thing.

These critics have a point. This year we have even more coin programs featuring rotating designs. For Lincoln’s 200th birthday, four different reverse (tails) designs were produced for the penny. American Indians will be honored with a new series of dollar coins. And six quarters will be issued featuring the District of Columbia as well as the territories of Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

As a result of all this, this year we will have more coin series with rotating designs than series with permanent designs. We may find ourselves thankful for the constancy of the Jefferson nickel, the Roosevelt dime and the Kennedy half-dollar, which is no longer even issued for circulation.

While it may seem as if the Mint is to blame for all this, the problem really lies with Congress. The issuing of new coins, including the specific details on each coin’s design, is mandated by legislation. These coins can be lucrative for the government: the Mint estimated that the 50 State Quarters Program earned nearly $3 billion in seigniorage (that is, the difference between the face value of a coin and the cost to mint it).

Coins are a medium of exchange. They should be relatively standard, universally identifiable units of money. On a deeper level, coins are also representations of the country that issues them. Our currency has become a shifting, unidentifiable mess that tries to recognize everything and ends up symbolizing nothing.

The best remedy would simply be to overhaul all our standard coin designs. Redesign each denomination across the board, and leave the new designs in place for at least a decade. These redesigned coins should be contemporary in nature but timeless in theme, and unmistakable objects of art.

It was once common to portray Liberty, personified in female form, on our coins. Imagine the return of this figure, grown wiser and reflective after her absence, evoking confidence that our nation will endure any hardship and meet any challenge. Then, maybe our coins will once again become respected national symbols.

Michael Zielinski is the creator of CoinNetwork.com, a social network for coin collectors.

My letter published in the Tribune today

Saipan Tribune

Letters to the Editor

Monday, May 11, 2009

Bad press about Saipan

I really think it’s a shame that every time I do an Internet search about Saipan, I run into a bunch of articles from the Irish press griping and complaining about a place they have never been to, much less heard of. Turns out that in 2002, there was some kind of beef between the Irish football/soccer team during a training exercise, henceforth referred to as the "Saipan Incident". There’s even a Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Roy_Keane_Saipan_incident).

That’s all well and good, but it seems that nowadays the very word "Saipan" is almost a curse on the Emerald Isle. Do a Google search for "Saipan Ireland" and you’ll see what I mean. Maybe there should be some kind of high-level meeting between Irish and CNMI officials, or even a goodwill game between the two teams. Or just invite members of the Irish media over for a barbecue.

I read somewhere that South Korea is spending money internationally on bringing a more positive image of themselves to the minds of people in other countries. Maybe the CNMI government should consider something similar. Koreans and Japanese know Saipan very well, so we don't need to worry about brand awareness in those countries. Probably people in the mainland USA, if they have heard of Saipan at all, only know the garment factories, the Abramoff scandal, and the recent debacle regarding the lieutenant governor. Something should be done about this.

Rick Vaughn
Chicago, Illinois

http://saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=90139&cat=15

The War of Saipan

by Bob Coldeen

Five years ago this week Ireland's national soccer team came to Saipan in preparation for the World Cup in Japan. No one predicted that their short time here would be referred to as the “War of Saipan” by a whole country.

When one hears about “the War” here in these islands, the natural assumption is World War II. But to people in Ireland, it means the battle between two men: coach Mick McCarthy and star player Roy Keane, a feud that went so deep into their collective psychology that it polarized a nation and remains such a significant event that a movie of it is being made and last month's “Mad About Sports” magazine from Europe had it on their front page as the feature article.

Keane was not only Ireland's top player, he was captain of Manchester United, the most famous soccer team in the world. McCarthy was an Englishman with Irish ties hired to coach the team.

Ex-pat John White invited the team to Saipan and they accepted.

I went to their first workout at Oleai Field and chatted with one of the press from Britain. Prior to their arrival, I had scanned the internet to learn something about the team. Trying to impress one of the British press with at least some knowledge of their national sport while also looking for a story angle, I asked, “Are Robbie Keane and Roy Keane brothers?”

He shook his head and laughed at my ignorance. He asked me if the team's arrival would be my top story that night. Itold him I wasn't sure because I also had an exciting women's softball game and a good Little League game planned for my show that evening.

The next day on the Internet I read a British newspaper story about how ignorant I was about soccer and considered women's softball and children's baseball to be more important than the World Cup. Well, I do think Roy Keane could walk down Beach Road in a jockstrap and people here could not care less. And more people go to a Little League game on Saipan than there were at the Ireland's practices.

Later I asked McCarthy why they had chosen Saipan and he said they came to get acclimated to the heat and the time change and also for the team to bond together in a relaxed setting. He must have not told Roy.

The CNMI spent $20,000 to improve Oleai field but that wasn't enough to make it the quality pitch Keane was used to playing on and he complained to one of the reporters for the Irish Times about that and a slew of other things about McCarthy's preparation for the Cup.

The next day Keane's diatribe showed up in the Irish Times newspaper and in McCarthy's hands. He held a team meeting and that's when the whole thing exploded with McCarthy kicking Roy off the team. Saipan's soccer field suddenly became an issue of world concern, but the fact is the two had bad feelings brewing between them for 10 years, fundamental differences between two incompatible professionals, talented men with personal flaws that they could not overcome, even for the sake of a country in the World Cup. That is what caused the “War of Saipan,” not some field of grass.

(Saipan Tribune 05/20/2007)

Ireland needs to get over Saipan

I really think it's a shame that every time I do an internet search about Saipan, I run into a bunch of articles from the Irish press griping and complaining about a place they have never been to, much less heard of. Turns out that in 2002, there was some kind of beef between the Irish football/soccer team and their coach during a training exercise, henceforth referred to as the "Saipan Incident". There's even a Wikipedia entry*.

That's all well and good, but it seems that nowadays the very word "Saipan" is almost a curse on the Emerald Isle. Do a Google search for "Saipan Ireland" and you'll see what I mean. Maybe there should be some kind of high level meeting between Irish and CNMI officials, or even a goodwill game between the two teams. Or just invite members of the Irish media over for a barbecue.

I read somewhere that South Korea is spending money internationally on bringing a more positive image of themselves to the minds of people in other countries. Maybe the CNMI government should consider something similar. Probably people in the mainland, if they have heard of Saipan, only know the garment factories, the Abramoff scandal, and the recent debacle regarding the Lieutenant Governor. Something should be done. That's all I'm saying.

Tonight's dinner

I cooked red rice tonight, for the first time, loosely following the recipe below. The only difference was, I didn't have any more bacon and realized it too late - no chance to run to the store. I also cooked beef with broccoli.

See more pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickvaughn/sets/72157617443800024/