New Stamp Honors Barbara Jordan

As my regular readers will know, the great Barbara Jordan (the first African-American woman from Texas to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives) is one of my personal heroes. She distinguished herself through her service in the House, and became a national figure with her exemplary work during the Nixon impeachment hearings. Even after her retirement, she served for years as the de facto conscience of the Texas Democratic Party because of her high moral character and her willingness to speak truth to power.

Now she is being honored by the United States Postal Service. As the 34th issue in its Black Heritage series, the Post Office has issued a forever stamp bearing the likeness of this great lady. The stamp was introduced in her hometown of Houston, and is now available nationwide.

I will definitely be getting some of these stamps.

Some Great New Stamps

For those of you, like me, who are getting sick of the same old forever stamps, help is on the way. A new set of forever stamps went on sale yesterday. These stamps have painting of five different Hispanic entertainers -- Tito Puente, Carmen Miranda, Celia Cruz, Selena and Carlos Gardel. The AP says the stamps "represent a range of Latin musical styles, including Tejano, tango, samba, Latin jazz and samba." I like them -- a lot.

Postage Costs Rise Again

Starting today, the United States Postal Service has again raised its rates. It will now cost an extra two cents to mail a letter. A first-class stamp is now 44 cents and a post card is now 28 cents. The postal service says the rate hike is necessary because of their rising production costs.

I expect there will be a lot of complaining over the new rates. There usually is. But I won't be doing any complaining. When you think of the service you get for that 44 cents, it's really a pretty good deal. It's worth it to me to have a letter carried to any address I please, anywhere in the country, and delivered punctually and reliably. Our postal system does a remarkably good job.

But the new rates won't affect me for another month or two. I still have a small supply of the forever stamps (pictured). They can be used at any time without adding any further postage.