[CS-FSLUG] I am very surprised, even shocked

[Jim Isbell, W5JAI]

Two weeks ago I sent our passports in to be renewed.  The reason for
the renewal was not because they were about to expire...they would
still have run until August.  But the last time we went on a cruise we
were told that if our passports were within 6 months of expiration
that they would not accept them.  Thus a 10 year passport becomes,
instead, a 9.5 year passport, because of a whim of the ship line!  But
I thought, if I turn them in for renewal, it will be a renewal of 10
years from August so it doesnt matter.  WRONG, the new passports came
back with an expiration date of March 2019!!  Which, after all, isnt
all that bad because the world will come to an end on December 21st,
2012 according to the Mayans....anyway,..... so I wont need them past
that date.  But even that is not what I am shocked about.

What just really shocked me was to find two references to God and one
to "The Creator" within my passport.  In this world of Political
Correctness I figured that in designing a new passport....which this
is, a redesign, ...they would have purged God from it completely.

Actually its a much more impressive document than the last one I had,
though it still cant hold a candle to the old ones from the 50s and
60s which really looked like an official document and were made with
much better quality materials.  I was proud to show my first passport
to an agent and get it all stamped with seals from exotic places.  Now
it looks like something you got out of a cereal box and most agents
dont bother to stamp them anymore.  The world is going to hell in a
hand cart....

I guess all is not lost....yet.

-- 
Jim Isbell
"If you are not living on the edge, well then,
you are just taking up too much space."