Download this report as an MP3 sound file.


For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations June 28-29, 2003:


When You Wish Upon A Stamp


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.


Everyone has an idea on what subjects ought to be on our nation's stamps,
and members of Congress have more than most. They've discovered that
proposing a new postage stamp is an easy way to curry favor with their
constituents.


New Hampshire Republican Charlie Bass last month called on the Postal
Service to RE-issue one of the two stamps that showed the Old Man of the
Mountain, his state's signature granite outcropping that recently collapsed.
One of the stamps was issued in nineteen-fifty-five <1955>, the other in
nineteen-eighty-eight <1988>.


New York's Steve Israel and Hillary Clinton want a stamp honoring Holocaust
author Anne Frank, as a symbol of "bravery and hope in the face of tragedy."


The Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee screens requests like these, and tens
of thousands of others each year. Only a few dozen make it onto a stamp. But
as recent choices show, particularly the charity issues, members of Congress
DO have influence.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.
**********************************

(Lloyd's Longer Version - Download the MP3) 

When you wish upon a stamp, it DOES make a difference who you are.


Everyone has an idea on what subjects ought to be on our nation's stamps,
and members of Congress have more than most. They've discovered that
proposing a new postage stamp is an easy way to curry favor with their
constituents.


New Hampshire Republican Charlie Bass last month called on the Postal
Service to RE-issue one of the two stamps that showed the Old Man of the
Mountain, his state's signature granite outcropping that recently collapsed.
One of the stamps was issued in nineteen-fifty-five <1955>, the other in
nineteen-eighty-eight <1988>; Bass isn't fussy which one is used.


New York's Steve Israel and Hillary Clinton want a stamp honoring Holocaust
author Anne Frank, as a symbol of "bravery and hope in the face of tragedy."
They have about two dozen co-sponsors.


The Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee screens requests like these, and tens
of thousands of others each year. Only a few dozen make it onto a stamp. But
as recent choices show, particularly the charity issues, members of Congress
DO have influence...more than you and I.


I'm Lloyd de Vries


----------------------------------------------------------
Go to Previous Report
Go to Next Report 

Go to Report Index