[nfb-talk] From today's New York Times

[Wm. Ritchhart]

So what?  You posted your editorial remarks last night.  Just because
you reword them it does not change anything.  

William
 


> _____________________________________________ 
> From: 	nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]  On Behalf Of Rick E Morin
> Sent:	Sunday, December 03, 2006 8:06 AM
> To:	'NFB Talk Mailing List'
> Subject:	[nfb-talk] From today's New York Times
> 
> December 3, 2006
> Editorial
> If It Feels Like a Dollar ... 
> Anybody who has ever handed over a $10 bill thinking it was a dollar
> knows the problem. Unlike the currency in 180 other countries, the
> American greenback comes in one size, and one dominant color — green.
> That can be so confusing for the 3.3 million Americans who are either
> blind or have very poor sight that a United States District Court
> judge in the District of Columbia ruled last week that the government
> had unlawfully denied them access to the nation’s paper money.
> Changing United States legal tender would be expensive — the
> government says that redesigning its currency would cost hundreds of
> millions of dollars. It would also pose problems for those who make or
> use machines that take money for tickets or soft drinks, or change at
> the Laundromat. And the government’s lawyers have argued that some
> changes could make it easier to counterfeit United States cash.
> Judge James Robertson’s opinion makes it clear that the American
> government simply has not tried very hard to help those Americans who
> cannot see their money. The Treasury Department has revamped United
> States currency design twice in the last 10 years without making any
> real adaptation for the blind — despite numerous pleas. None of the
> other objections seem convincing. The machines that take dollars could
> be adapted; in Europe, they work with currency that comes in a variety
> of sizes. And some of the additions to bills that help the blind, like
> embossed dots or raised numerals, are used elsewhere as extra
> safeguards against counterfeiting.
> Judge Robertson wisely resisted telling the Bureau of Engraving and
> Printing exactly how to make its bills more accessible to the visually
> impaired. He merely wants officials to return soon to his court and
> offer a plan. United States currency might come in slightly different
> sizes or textures for each denomination. Perhaps the money-printing
> machines in Washington could start on the larger-denomination bills
> first, leaving the most numerous ones — the singles — the same as
> ever. However it happens, the change could also be a boon to Americans
> who are not blessed with 20-20 vision.
> Rick E. Morin
> mailto:rick.morin at comcast.net
> 
> 
>  << File: ATT00060.txt >>