I have heard the words honor and ethical bandied about on the chat boards now and again.

These words mean more to some than others, and different things to different people.I have heard it said that history is written by the victors. The british might agree, if they had to sit through our history classes and listen to us go on and on about men they consider traitors against the crown.The fact is, had the war of independence gone the other way, that is EXACTLY how we would be reading and thinking about them now.My point is simple. Standing up for what you believe and what you think is right is almost never popular, and even less rarely profitable. The worst part about stading up for what you "believe is right, is that you may be wrong! OUCH.I am 51 years old. I am one of those guys you either love or hate. There does not seem to be much middle ground. I don't pull any punches. I try not to put anything between the lines and, right or wrong, I call'em as I see'em.I no longer believe that good will triumph over evil or that truth will always prevail - I know that if I want to live in a world where these things might happen good people have to be willing to put popularity and profit aside in the persuit of what they think is right.My candor has not won me any friends at NGC. I still send them coins because I have been happy with the way my coins have been handled and graded by NGC. They offer very competitive pricing compared to thier competition. And I think, with a few exceptions, that their registry format is much better than the PCGS format.One thing everyone here can count on, is that I will continue to use the public forums here to give praise where due and call out the company when I see something I think is wrong.A case in point is what looks like adding points to the registry value of first day of issue coins. These coins, if removed from their slabs would be impossible to tell apart from any other coin in the mintage. I think the idea of first day issue coins is cool, but numismatically - they are just another coin.I want to see NGC do well, If I did not care - I would not bother to call them to task.In the mean time, I will be sending my smooth edge washington dollars to them and continue to write in support of their inclusion in the registry.