Saturday, September 28, 2013
New $100 bill has ink well, more color, 3-D security ribbon
A new, improved $100 bill is being printed and is scheduled to enter circulation Oct. 8 with enhanced features to allow visual checks for fake bills.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A glitzier, high-tech version of the United States' $100 bill is rolling off the presses and headed for wallets soon.
Despite years of production-related delays, the updated $100 bill has undergone a major makeover that includes a color-changing inkwell, 3-D security ribbon and more texture on Benjamin Franklin's collar.
The new, more expensive C-note is scheduled to enter circulation Oct. 8 and has a higher calling: It aims to fight back against counterfeiters by using better printers and technology.
The modifications will help people check for fake $100s without going to a bank or using a blacklight, said Michael Lambert, a deputy associate director at the Federal Reserve.
"We try and find security features that can be used at a number of different levels, from more experienced cash handlers ... down to the person on the street who really needs to know the security features so they can protect themselves," Lambert said in an interview Wednesday.
Related: New Benjamins ready by October
The new $100 bill still bears the image of Franklin, one of United States' Founding Fathers. But it adds part of the Declaration of Independence, written in script from Franklin's left shoulder to the right edge of the bill. A quill and an inkwell are printed behind the text, and a blue ribbon goes down near the center of the bill.
The ink in the well changes colors from copper to green when the bill is turned. A watermark of Franklin also appears on the right side of the bill when it's held up to light.
New $100 bill has ink well, more color, 3-D security ribbonAP Photo: LM Otero A stack of sheets of $100 bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Federal Reserve said in its latest currency budget that it would order 2.5 billion new $100 bills this year. Lambert estimated each new bill costs about 4 cents more to print than the old one, totaling an additional $100 million in costs this year.
The Fed also budgeted about $9.5 million this year for its education program, which includes global outreach efforts about the new note.
The government has redesigned the $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills during the past decade to add security features. The $1 remains the only bill not to get a makeover.
At a federal facility in Fort Worth, 32-bill sheets of money paper are printed, stamped with serial numbers and sliced into individual notes. The notes are sorted into piles 100 deep, banded together and eventually stacked into 4,000-note bricks worth $400,000. Those bricks will be shipped to Federal Reserve banks across the United States for distribution.
A multistep printing process leaves the bills with their distinctive colors and texture. The process takes place under tight security inside a secluded facility several miles north of downtown Fort Worth. Several checkpoints stand between the facility's gated entrance and the printing floor, where dozens of overhead security cameras watch the process.
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By Nomann Merchant of Associated Press
Just in case you missed it, here is President Obama's entire speech about the Affordable Care Act from yesterday in Largo, Maryland.
It was a truly great, and informative speech.The President also took a few well deserved shots at his Republican opponents.
“Just the other day, one Republican in Congress (None other than Ted Cruz) said we need to shut this thing down before the marketplaces open, and people get to see that they’ll be getting coverage, and getting these subsidies because — and I’m going to quote him here, he said ‘It’s going to prove almost impossible to undo Obamacare. So, in other words, we’ve got to shut this thing down before people find out that they like it,” the President said, to more applause from the crowd.”That’s a strange argument.”
And this:
"One congressman said that Obamacare is the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed," (Louisiana Representative John Fleming) Obama said in Largo, Md. "Ever, in the history of America, this is the most dangerous piece of legislation. Providing -- creating a marketplace so people can buy group insurance plan, the most dangerous ever."
"You had a state representative somewhere say that it's as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the Fugitive Slave Act," (New Hampshire representative Bill O’Brien) he added. "Think about that. Affordable health care is worse than a law that lets slave owners get their runaway slaves back. I mean, these are quotes. I'm not making this stuff up."
"And here's one more that I've heard. I like this one. We have to, and I'm quoting here, we have to repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens," (Michele Bachmann) an incredulous Obama said. "Now, I have to say, that one was from six months ago. I just want to point out we still have women, we still have children, we still have senior citizens. All this would be funny if it wasn't so crazy."
And then pointed out that, despite so much bizarre opposition, that someday it will be accepted and that they will no longer want to associate it with his name:
"Here is a prediction for you: a few years from now, when people are using this to get coverage and everyone's feeling pretty good about all the choices and competition that they've got, there are gonna be a whole bunch of folks who say, "Yeah, yeah, I always thought this provision was excellent. I voted for that thing,'" he continued. "You watch. It will not be called Obamacare."
In fact that day of acceptance may be almost upon us as we just learned the other day that the cost of Obamacare will be lower for 95% of Americans than previously estimated.
Oh, and all of those full time jobs that the law was supposed to be costing Americans? Yeah well that is turning out to be a bunch of crap as well.
Yep, all of that spells good news for uninsured Americans, and bad news for the Republicans who have spent all of these last four years fighting against its implementation.
I would shed a tear for them but I am too busy being excited about signing up for health insurance.
(H/T to TPM and Mediaite)
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Final picture of the day. The George Bush, gay marriage, and awesome socks edition.
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| He may not be gay, but I think his socks might be. |
Former President George H.W. Bush served as an official witness at the marriage of Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen, the owners of a general store in Kennebunk, Maine, close to where the Bush family has a home.
After so many negative stories concerning the Republican party today it is nice to remember that there was a time when they were not overrun with mental health patients and political insurgents.
I did not always agree with George the first by any means, but at least it appeared he did what he thought was best for the country and did not allow ideology to dictate his actions.
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Chris Matthews discusses Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and the future of the Republican party.
This conversation gets very contentious and there is a lot of people talking over each other, but I thought it was a very good indication of the problems that Republicans, in this case represented by GOP strategist John Brabender, are having reconciling the numerous moving parts within their party.
It is becoming clearer then ever that the Republican party is under a very aggressive attack by political insurgents and there may be NO WAY for them to survive intact.
I don't know how anybody is not watching politics these days! I swear there is nothing on television to rival the drama, plot twists, and villainous characters that are contained within this struggle for political dominance.
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Sarah Palin pimps her daughter's ghostwritten blog, and kisses up to Billy Graham and the ghost of Ronald Reagan, all in the service of increasing her Christian bonafides.
Please read Billy Graham’s impassioned plea to the new president of Iran imploring the release of the imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini. Bristol has been covering Saeed’s story for a long time on her blog. We are all so grateful to Rev. Graham for taking out this full-page ad in the New York Times to bring light to this terrible injustice.
President Obama, please act on this by using your position to appeal for Saeed’s release. We often ask ourselves, “What would Reagan do?” Well, in the 1980s, President Reagan worked behind the scenes to appeal to the Soviets for the release of Russian Christian dissidents who wanted to emigrate, and because of Reagan’s quiet work in the background, these Christians were finally allowed to leave the former Soviet Union. Reagan used the exceptional position of POTUS to appeal for justice, and it worked. Now we need our current president to appeal to Iran's new president for the release of this imprisoned Christian.
Kudos to Rev. Graham for taking action today. I have so much respect for him. As my dad wrote about in his book, Billy Graham was the man who led my mom to Christ years ago, which resulted in the rest of the family becoming Christians in the 70s.
- Sarah Palin
Okay, well first I think that Sarah Palin has quite a pair of wrinkly balls to ask President Obama to do ANYTHING after she has been lying about him and attacking him for having the temerity to beat her and her grandfather lo those many years ago.
Putting that aside I would imagine that there are all kinds of diplomatic measures being taken in order to gain his release (Including Secretary of State John Kerry's numerous attempts.) as well as the two other Americans being held, just like there are for Kenneth Bae currently being held in North Korea, who for some reason does not garner the same outcry for his release from Graham and Palin as does Saeed even thought Bae is also a Christian missionary.
I think it is admirable that Graham or ANYBODY advocate for the release of prisoners, though I would personally not make their religion the primary reason for my advocacy. After all there are numerous Muslims being held as political prisoners in Iran, and numerous North Koreans being held in prisons for the same reasons, and yet no outraged demands appear to be forthcoming on their behalf.
By the way it appears that the main reason Palin and Bristol are jumping on this bandwagon is because it has become a cause celebre, with numerous Christian leaders and others who are joining in to call for his release. This includes of course Ted Cruz, who, like Palin, knows a good public relations stunt when he sees one.
There is something very unsettling about certain religious types caring only of their own, and having little compassion for those of a differing faith.
Are not human beings worthy of the same rights as every other human being? Or is there a religious litmus test to determine those worthy of compassion and those deemed unworthy?
Having said that I also fervently hope that Saeed Abedini will soon be granted his freedom. As well as the prisoners currently held in Gitmo, those serving time in American prisons for minor drug offenses, and those locked away in prisons around the world for speaking out against tyranny and in favor of human rights.
After all they are fellow human beings. And in the absence of serious criminal behavior all human beings deserve to be free.
Christian or not.
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The Daily Show mocks perhaps the most mock-able thing in the news, Ted Cruz's non-filibuster filibuster.
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There were a plethora of choices to post today of pundits taking shots at Cruz's ridiculous ineffective grandstanding yesterday, but it was not until I watched the Daily Show last night that I knew what I HAD to post.
Not only is it spot on, it is truly hilarious.
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