Reason #17 not to vote for $arah Palin for President

She is just plain dumb and ignorant

Politico says that in a speech Friday night in Wisconsin, former Gov.Sarah Palin took issue with the design of the new dollar coin, suggesting that President Barack Obama may be pulling a fast one.

In addition to the suggestion that government officials would consider hastening the death of the infirm or handicapped, she began her remarks with a puzzling commentary on the design of newly minted dollar coins.

Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.

“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”

She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”

Unsaid but implied was that the new Democratic White House was behind such a move to secularize the nation’s currency.

But the new coins – concerns over which apparently stemmed from an email chain letter widely circulated among conservatives – were commissioned by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 and approved by President Bush."

For more, read Jonathan Martin's story on Politico, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29267.html

I spent some time this afternoon sorting out the answer to Palin's question: "Who makes a decision like that?"

There is no mystery about it.

On Dec. 22, 2005, the "Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005" was signed by President Bush. The law stipulated that the words  "E Pluribus Unum" and "In God We Trust" "shall be edge-incused into the coin."

The sponsor of the bill, Delaware Republican Rep. Mike Castle, spoke on the House floor about the virtute of putting "In God We Trust" on the side of the coin.

"This bill is unique. It has on the side edge incusing, which means on the side of the coin you are going to have what we have above you, Mr. Speaker: 'In God We Trust' and 'E Pluribus Unum' will be on there. It will be gold in color, and it will represent the various Presidents who served our country. It is going to be tremendously educational."

In an "Ask the White House" Q&A on Aug. 1, 2006, the U.S. Treasurer in the Bush administration responded to a question by saying, "it may interest you to know that the U.S. Mint is currently working on designs for new dollar coins on which the motto and year of the coin will be displayed on the side edges as opposed to the face of the coin."

Almost exactly two years after agreeing to put the words on the side of the dollar coin, Congress reversed itself. A lot of critics interpreted the decision to put the words on the side as a way of downplaying the message.

On Dec. 18, 2007, Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about the motto, but did not say that it was the Congress that decided to put the motto on the side of the coin.

"In 1955, the phrase was required for all new coins, and in 1956 Congress officially endorsed ``In God We Trust'' as the national motto. Therefore, I was troubled to learn that the words ``In God We Trust'' do not appear on the face of the new Presidential coins. These words are barely visible and almost hidden on the edge of the new coins. To rectify this situation, we have included language in this bill that will require the U.S. Mint to return our national motto to the front of the coin," Brownback said.