Do you know any breast cancer survivors? Chances are that you do. Go out and buy breast cancer stamps and use them on your mail, OK? They cost 6 cents over face each (that's 40 cents), and that 6 cents is going to cancer research. These stamps are still available at your local post office.

Much is made in the philatelic press about how the subjects on stamps are going to the dogs. Nothing against the Snoopy stamp coming out a week from today, but there are a lot of subjects out there that are more deserving of a stamp in their honor than poultry, deep sea creatures, and Wile E. Coyote. One of those that should be high on the list are Purple Heart veterans who are more than deserving of a stamp. Since Rep. Chris Smith (R - NJ), the new chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, can find time to ramrod through a stamp for hairdressers, surely he can find time to get a Purple Heart vets stamp OK'd.

Philately has a long association with politics and current affairs. Stamps changed the route of the canal through Central America from going through Nicaragua to going through Panama. A stamp incited a border war between Paraguay and Bolivia in the 1930's. There are other examples, but today's has to do with the American spy plane that landed on Hainan Island in the People's Republic of China.

Last week the PRC issued a commemorative cover featuring Wang Wei, the Chinese F-8 fighter pilot who was killed when he rammed his plane into the American EP-3 intelligence-gathering plane. The cover depicts Wang as a martyr and a "guardian of territorial airspace and water." He certainly was the latter, but I doubt he was the former, based on all I've seen regarding his aerial exploits. Time will be the final judge.

Here are some points to ponder with the upcoming rate increase. These things are reported in the philatelic press, too, just so you know.

Recently deceased prime minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau, will get his own stamp July 1st. Trudeau served as prime minister for 16 years until he retired in 1984.

That didn't last long. The United States Postal Service, often claiming to be in financial trouble, will raise rates again on July 1st. It will now cost 21 cents to mail a postcard, up a penny. The 34-cent letter rate won't change, but the additional ounce rate will go up from 21 to 23 cents per ounce. These rate increases are expected to make up about half of an expected $2 billion loss this year.

One of the things they did to convict the Unabomber was to analyze the stamps that were used on his mail bombs. Imagine how embarrassed you'd be if you didn't use enough postage.