Post Office Treats Christmas Stamp Like Pornography; Sells It from 'Under the Counter'

Human Events ^ | Mike Thompson

[torqemada]

Saturday after Thanksgiving is the traditional day to purchase stamps for my annual Christmas card mailing... [snip] So, shortly before noon on that most recent post-turkey day, I sauntered into a neighborhood "U.S. Postal Store," [snip] and headed for the stamps-only section. I quickly found a packed wall of display racks offering a panoply of first-class postage devoted to the various elements of the year-end holiday season, specifically:

1) Christmas, featuring colorful, contemporary designs of Santa Claus with an array of inanimate, secular Yule symbols;

2) Kwanzaa, with not just one but two stamps promoting a totally fabricated "harvest holiday" for African-Americans, [snip]

3) Hanukkah, the ancient Jewish festival that marks the rededication of the temple wrested from the savage control of Syria's King Antiochus IV; and

4) Eid (Arabic for "festival"), a two-part, post-Ramadan feasting period for Muslims.

Beholding such philatelic diversity in a simple American post office truly is a multicultural moment that a few weeks earlier would have reduced John Kerry to tears of joy.

Something, however, was missing. "Where," I asked the attending postal clerk, "are the traditional Madonna & Child stamps?" (Postal authorities for years have issued both nonreligious and religious commemorative stamps for this holiday season, to satisfy equally those citizens who groove exclusively on office-partying and those who quaintly still revere the birth of Christ.)

"Those stamps," said the clerk with an odd, ecumenical smile, are here in this drawer, "under the counter." She slowly pulled open the discreet trove and withdrew samples of the Virgin Mary and her Baby Jesus for my fascination, as if they were products of an eccentric artist with copious red body hair who works at night, alone in the P.O. attic.....

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=5906

[cyncooper]

I have never added a keyword in my life unless I am starting a thread myself and put some words in to kick off my own thread.

The Moderator can see who is adding words and can verify that.

[BlessedBeGod]

They're not under the counter at my post office.

[spunkets]

Depends on the PO. Most have the std stamps on the counter and the rest are in the drawer.

[spunkets]

" At my Post Office the limited edition stamps are on display"

That's a poster depicting the stamps, not the stamps themselves right?

[verity]

As long as the stamps are available...................

[beezdotcom]

I have never added a keyword in my life unless I am starting a thread myself and put some words in to kick off my own thread.

It's not ALL about you - I was thinking of a couple of users that had voiced their overt skepticism of the actual article. But I must confess, it was your skepticism of specific posters that made me read back up the thread to see who ELSE was kvetching, whereupon I reread the keyword list and noticed that it had grown cancerously. I then added one of my own.

But thanks for noticing.

[cyncooper]

I didn't notice anything except your overt hostility to me personally on this thread and your murmurs about just who was adding keywords and how you had your suspicions. I wanted to make it plain I do not add keywords to existing threads, no matter who you had in mind.

That's all I said. I've had enough of our snide comments to and about me. Stop.

[beezdotcom]

That's all I said. I've had enough of our snide comments to and about me. Stop.

Your Freudian slip is showing.

As for my "overt hostility", let me agree with you again. I am often "overtly hostile" to people who refer to other people making statements I find quote reasonable as "ridiculous" and "liars". You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm entitled to tell you exactly what I think of it.

As for 'stopping', if the Admin Moderator thinks my indignation has crossed the line into abuse, I'll be happy to stop. Otherwise, I'll continue to disagree as I see fit.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I specifically asked for stamps with a religious image. They had to go into the back of my local post office to get some.

I worked several years as a window clerk in a Post Office. Going back to the back to get stamps is not unusual. Especially at Christmas when there's a high volume of business. The counter storage is limited. The main stamp stock is stored in safes in the back.

The thing I find funny is that the original article assumes an ideological preoccupation on the part of postal workers which I just didn't see in my time at the PO. I guess we just got jaded by dealing with a multitude of stamps. The prevalent opinion was a stamp is a stamp. Some we liked more than others, but mainly your job is to sell what they give you.

[cyncooper]

More like my sticky keyboard is showing.

I don't hit abuse, just like a don't add keywords, so nobody is going to make you stop. You're making it clear you're a jerk.

[Ciexyz]

The PO has a poster on the wall advertizing all of its holiday stamps, including the Madonna and Child stamp (the "traditional" stamp) and the Santa ornament stamp (the "contemporary" stamp).

The poster also shows the Hanukah stamp, which has been updated this year to a dreidl from the Hanukah candles stamp of years past, and the Eid stamp (no change from prior years).

If anything, the Muslims should be complaining that their holiday stamp hasn't been changed or updated.

[GraniteStateConservative]

It's true in Hanover, New Hampshire-- home of ultraliberal Dartmouth College (Laura Ingraham '85, curiously). I bought some stamps there a week ago.

[beezdotcom]

I don't hit abuse, just like a don't add keywords, so nobody is going to make you stop.

You're presuming nobody ELSE is offended enough by me to hit 'abuse'. You're presuming that the Admin Moderator we pinged to these discussions won't also make that decision.

You're making it clear you're a jerk.

You certainly wouldn't be the first person to call me a jerk. However, most of the other people usually reserve that word for those times when they can combine it with the modifier "self-serving".

But those same people don't gratuitously use the word 'liar', either. Many people are reluctant to toss that word around without more basis in fact.

[Ciexyz]

If you simply ask the postal clerk, "I'd like to buy some stamps," without specifying the type you want, the clerk will bring out the ones they're trying to get rid of.

If they're having a big run on the religious stamps, then the clerk will push the contemporary stamps, if they think you don't care.

[HopeSprings]

I'm also a collector, and YOU don't know what YOU are talking about. The post office is updated now, with shopping kiosks that feature commemorative stamps. Indeed, I've seen these kiosks feature all of the holiday season stamps, including Eid, but not the Madonna and Child stamps.

[cyncooper]

Most people don't insert themselves in others' arguments. We all see you're not the decent and courteous sort. Since you insist on having the last word you can just:

[beezdotcom]

Most people don't insert themselves in others' arguments.

(Since you're no longer listening, I guess I'll just be posting this for nobody in particular.)

Sorry, I didn't realize this thread belonged to you.

So, let me make sure I understand this. On a public forum, it doesn't matter how much one person insinuates another is lying, it's more important to respect the private argument (in public) those two people are having????

I assume you'll be having an issue with approximately 75% of FR, then. You might want to rethink your non-use of the abuse button.

[weegee]

The same legislators who claim that they will so something about SPAM emails have shielded those mailings to your box for decades.

[weegee]

Considering muslims don't permit drawings of living things or Mohammed or Allah, what else WOULD they show?

[Ciexyz]

The PO will have to update the Muslim stamp eventually. They should get advice from the Muslim community about what they would find permissible.