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

[Sir_Ed]

I just got a Christmas...no, strike that, a Season Card, from the White House. It had NO mention of Christmas, NO nativity, NO cross, nothing, except a mantel with what may be two menorahs on it, and a quote from Psalms.

I don't get it...if President Bush wants to send out a generic Season Card, why doesn't he send it out in, say, June, or July, not December, when it might be taken at first glance to be a Christmas Card!

Ed

[bd476]

It would be interesting to find out if local Postmasters have complete autonomy in choosing advertising posters and in ordering a specific number of commemoratives which they feel their district Post Offices will be able to sell.

Local Postmasters might have some control over the incoming quantity of newly issued or available commemoratives and then again, they may have no control over the quantity of commemoratives sent to their district.

[It's me]

At the closest PO to us, which is the big distribution center for San Diego, the Madonna and Child stamps are out there. In front for everyone to see.

[ladyinred]

My anger knows no bounds over this! The Muslim one is on display? GRRRRRR!!!

[torqemada]

Festivus....was that the Costanza holiday?

[torqemada]

Whoa! Thanks for the heads up. I didn't notice that someone had added all of that. I think I initially put 5 or 6 keywords on this post. Can the Mod identify who added these?

[beezdotcom]

Well, I think this thread may effectively be dead now, anyway. Between the people who think the author is a liar, and the people who think other posters are liars, and the people (er, me) who are on the warpath about all of that, I doubt there's much room left for reasoned discourse.

But I do think it would be a good idea for keywords to show authorship. I'm sure there was a good rationale for anonymity originally, but I've seen it abused so much, it may be time to rethink it.

[beezdotcom]

Interestingly enough, I added a keyword called ABADABUSEOFKEYWORDS - and of all the ones present, THAT one has been pulled. Quite interesting...

[xp38]

Yes :)

[Stu Cohen]

Gee, let's see... $400 and change for a basic level desktop from Dell, $15 to $35 per month for net access, somewhere from $30 to $75 in software for firewall and virus protection, and lastly there is the time spent screening and deleting spam, and/or setting up software and filters. And let us not forget the occasional crash.

Yeah, but you'll be able to do so much more then email Christmas greetings once you get up and running.

You are right. When one looks at the huge (or is it hugh?) 37 cent per use fee and the enormous effort involved in tossing away the adds as you walk in from the box there is just no comparison. Not even close.

I agree. Why wait 3 days for delivery too? The USPS is getting a little long in the tooth. Kind of like the fax machine did to bicycle messengers in the early 90's.

BTW, here is my Christmas card to you…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thank You!!!!!! I wish you the same.

Festive eh? I knew you would think so!

Well, it's okay. We usually email nice big .jpg's with pictures of the family, text overlays, etc.

I've nothing against plain text though.

[beezdotcom]

It's funny - the argument supporting the USPS was rather like an argument supporting cows instead of buying gallon jugs of milk: "let's see....$700 for a refrigerator, $15 per month in gas to drive to the store, possible dropping and spillage of the jug, time spent throwing it away when done". It would be true, I suppose, if many of us didn't already have a refrigerator and weren't already going to the store all the time.

[Coleus]

I never noticed in the post office where I go. I'll have to check it out. I normally just go to the window and ask for religious Christmas Stamps and have no problem, all of the stamps are in a drawer anyway. I'll check out the self-service areas tomorrow..

[Coleus]

kwanzaa