How fitting that the United States would choose this particular time to rework the penny and include a retrospective of its chief spokesman, the man who suspended habeas corpus, incarcerated nearly 20,000 people indefinitely without trial, and happily made and spent appropriations before Congress had even considered them. Of course that was Abe Lincoln. (Well, ok, it is his bicentennial, but the timing is still funny).
The first of four new pennies chronicling Abraham Lincoln’s rise from a small Kentucky cabin will be put into circulation Thursday to honor the 16th president’s 200th birthday.
The coin’s front is unchanged, but the reverse depicts a tiny log cabin, representing the one-room dwelling where Lincoln was born near Hodgenville, Kentucky.
The new one-cent piece is being unveiled by the U.S. Mint as part of Lincoln’s bicentennial celebration, being held Thursday morning near his birthplace.
The remaining coins, set for release later this year, show other phases of Honest Abe’s life: a young man reading while sitting on a log during his formative years in Indiana; Lincoln the state legislator speaking in front of the Illinois capitol; and the unfinished dome of the U.S. Capitol.
New Penny Chronicles Lincoln’s Early Life [Wall Street Journal/AP]
Typical government program. Instead of abolishing the penny like they should, they produced four different kinds.
Attacking Honest Abe, EP? For shame. Your visa is showing.
Now I can finally smile when I see Obama’s face superimposed over Abe Lincoln’s portrait.
The hypocrisy of liberals never ceases to amaze me. Lincoln suspends the writ and becomes a hero. W suspends the writ and they want show trials.
Close the fucking mint.
Ever since 1st grade, lincoln and washington have battled for my “favorite president”. I am super excited for the new pennies!
seriously I throw pennies into the garbage
seriously I throw pennies into the garbage
What a clusterscrew. Realistically, the smallest US coin should be the DIME. The penny and nickel should have been shitcanned at least a decade ago.
BTW, Pre-1983 copper pennies are worth about 2 cents each in melt value.
Brilliant! If every American child hordes these four coins the seigniorage alone will wrest us from this crisis!
@4- hmmmmm, I’m trying to think what else ole Abe did that might’ve made him a better prez than W…what is it…what is it…
Lincoln – more re-written history.
11 I know, I know… He carried out a just war and won it?
Too many penny lovers for the penny to disappear…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-07-06-penny-usat_x.htm
“Retired firefighter Sylvester Neal, 62, says eliminating the penny would be “like losing part of our American history.”
Although Neal’s opinion is shared by many, he is a bit biased: He has 700,000 pennies in his garage — $7,000 worth — and is shooting for the 1 million mark. This is after he cashed in 800,000 pennies five years ago when he moved from Alaska to Washington state and couldn’t find a way to transport them.
“It’s therapy for me,” he says. “When I get a little uptight, I go into the garage and turn on my music and turn on my lights and play with my pennies. It’s like being in hog heaven.”
Would he ever cash in his current stash? “Not as long as I’m alive,” he says.
too bad they cancelled the fifth one – Big Abe boning the snot outta Mary Todd
“Posted by guest, Feb 12, 2009 2:43PM
Attacking Honest Abe, EP? For shame. Your visa is showing.”
Do you have an issue with the accuracy of the facts I presented?
If not, I’m not sure why you bothered to comment.
(I happen to LIKE Lincoln, but people often forget that he, too, was a despot). Often times it takes a despot. This country forgets that.
@13…at the time, i bet half the country figured it was one of those illegal wars…the south succeeded, people bleeded?
@17 – secession was viewed as an inherent right of what were supposedly sovereign states. Don’t forget – New England almost pulled out of the Union 40 years earlier.
Do they have a version of the penny with Honest Abe taking it in the rear?
the “brains all over ford’s theater” one is sure to be a hit
Do they have a version of the penny with Honest Abe taking it in the rear?
What’s a penny???
Ooooh, ooooh….. #4 saw the show on Lincoln last night!!!
Ooooh, ooooh….. #4 saw the show on Lincoln last night!!!
US Treasury officials cower in fear over the possibility of upsetting this insane old man who plays with his collection of 700,000 pennies in his garage. Enough. Cancel the penny and nickel tomorrow. Not even beggars accept those.
US Treasury officials cower in fear over the possibility of upsetting this insane old man who plays with his collection of 700,000 pennies in his garage. Enough. Cancel the penny and nickel tomorrow. Not even beggars accept those.
Lots of yahoos and freepers coming up!
EP’s talents at writing humor suck big time. It’s time for EP to learn from the Mistress.
@23
W is heading to Calgary to start collecting his bribes from the oil men. He’s going to be reading a speech that Cheney wrote for him. It’s about 2 minutes long, more dollars per minute that way.
The hypocracy of neo-con Republicans never ceases to amaze me. Obama brings them tax cuts and government spending (the wet dream of recent conservatives) and they bitch about it.
I think we should replace all US currency in every denomination with portraits of President Obama to commemorate such an historic presidency.
@18 Try using the active voice as the first step toward not posting a bs apologia. As for “Don’t forget–” the nutjobs at the Hartford Convention were condemmed for proposing treason.
what’s with all the double comments?
what’s with all the double comments?
Fucking Abe Lincoln. What the fuck is that?! W owns his ass 10 times over!
Goddam liberal elites should get Cleveland Steamered.
EP – No, actually, I just found it odd that you posted such a snarky, mean-spirited set of remarks about one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had on the occasion of the anniversary of his birthday. (Which, by the way, I think most people would think reason enough for the announcement you profile, rather than a coincidence.)
What was the point of your remarks? To draw a strained and nasty parallel to current events in American politics between the actions of a man who was trying to fight a civil war and preserve the Union and the current shitshow in Washington over TARP? Was Lincoln human? Did he do naughty, perhaps even despicable things? Yes, and yes. Can you claim that you would have done any better?
If not, why take non-sequitur potshots at the (dead) man? And, if you do take potshots at him, why not go for broke? Point out that the man’s bowel movements stank, and he may have even cheated on something or other.
For another thing, what part of your original remarks could give anyone the impression that you believe, as you now comment, “Often times it takes a despot. This country forgets that.”? That just sounds like a guilty rationalization after the fact.
I appreciate your passion, but I will take the liberty to offer a friendly suggestion. It is time you tried to climb out of the pool of bile you have been steadily sinking into. These kind of remarks educate no-one (don’t pretend that was your intent), and they entertain very few apart from the lunatic fringe.
You can do better than this.
@2
@39
too long, didn’t read
@39: Sorry, I didn’t see anywhere that you had an issue with the facts. Did I miss that?
@EP & 39 – I’m rubber; you’re glue…
@39
you have a point there…
@39
you have a point there…
bad form EP.
@39
you have a point there…
bad form EP. too many facts. no class.
@39
you have a point there…
bad form EP. facts yes. class no.
@14 – LOL, too easy.
“It’s therapy for me,” he says. “When I get a little uptight, I go into the garage and turn on my music and turn on my lights and play with my penis. It’s like being in hog heaven.”
Amen 39. EP, the issue is obviously not the accuracy of the facts. Look in the mirror and grow up.
@48
Not going to happen. Hopeless.
@39
Got it right.
@21
Clever.
@39
The point of this post was obviously to elicit comments like #4 about the “hypocrisy of liberals.” Wingnuts are actually drawn to the argument that if you admire Lincoln you have to admire Bush.
Aside from the fact that he gave a good speech, I’m a little fuzzy on what exactly Lincoln did that made him “one of the greatest Presidents in our history.”
He killed hundreds of thousands of Americans to prevent some of them from exercising the rights set forth in the Declaration of Independence as inalienable, and he vastly expanded Federal power and destroyed the currency while he was doing it.
And, by the way, he wasn’t really all that against slavery, and he freed no slaves – the Emancipation Proclamation applied *only to territories which had seceded,* where his writ did not run. It’s like Reagan “outlawing Russia.” It was pure propaganda and he knew it.
He was a lying, murdering, dictatorial megalomaniac and if there’s any justice in this world he and FDR take turns fisting each other with barbed-wire gloves every night in Hell.
@51
Always warms my heart to see a southern loser being furious with history.
@52: 51 here. I’m not from the south, and I think seceding was a really bad idea on their part. However, even if I were from darkest ‘Bama and had extra-wide mirrors on my truck because the Confederate battle flag gun rack made the rear window too hard to see through, it wouldn’t make anything I said wrong.
Did you have some example to raise of why Lincoln was a “great president” or did you just feel the need to flaunt your higher state of evolution?
@51
Now that you mentioned it: Higher state of evolution.
FDR and Lincoln were mortals and are acknowledged as so. But to borrow a phrase I am beginning to like, they did display signs of a higher state of evolution. For their times.