Momentous occasion.

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the phrase "In God We Trust" first being printed on a one dollar bill. Prior to that American currency was backed by a gold standard which required that the government keep enough gold around to pay for all the bills in circulation. Then eventually any mention of the gold standard was removed from the currency and "In God We Trust" put in its place. This meant the currency, which was printed by the government, was no longer the government's problem and that backing of the currency was God's responsibility.
Today also marks a change in the way Americans travel. The carefree days of going to the Bahamas, Canada, or Mexico for the weekend without anything more substantial than your driver's license are over. Starting today if you go to one of those countries without your passport you won't be allowed back in. This doesn't seem so bad if you think about the Bahamas, but imagine being trapped in Mexico or worse, Canada! Now I don't have anything against our neighbors to the North and the South, but as they say: home is where you keep your passport.