Here is another image from the calendar:
Posted on 12/08/2004 12:21:57 AM PST by 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
(Excerpt) Read more at humaneventsonline.com ...
What they find "permissible" the rest of America may not, if some of the Islamic calendar art I've seen is any indication.
I know nothing about Islamic calendar art. What in particular about it do you find objectionable?
Here is another image from the calendar:
oooh-kay!
NO STAMPS of any kind are on display. You can buy your stamps in the vending machine, or from a clerk who keeps them all in a drawer under the counter, LOL.
Because of this thread, I asked if they had any Madonna and Child stamps and they said they are SOLD OUT. You can still get snowmen, etc. They said they have the Madonna and Child stamp on order, to be here next week.
George Washington promised the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, that the federal government would not discriminate against their faith. I'm sorry you don't think we should be following his example.
I bought mine on line from the Postal Store. Had wonderful service and they came right up with all the rest. Didn't take long for me to choose.
You're welcome Diana.
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.
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.
BTW, here is my Christmas card to you…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Festive eh? I knew you would think so!
You certainly have a lot of faith in the government workers at the Post Office. I always have to ask to see more designs because they slap down some ugly "new" design when I buy stamps and then look annoyed when I ask to see the other options available.
Report from Tallahassee, Florida Post Office, where I spent 20 minutes in line this morning:
The Madonna stamps are hanging with other packaged stamps on the self-serve wall, and are featured on the cardboard ads that adorn the waiting counter line.
I didn't ask the clerk about them for 2 reasons - first of all, I could see that the stamps are openly available - secondly, I had been in there long enough already.
Not faith. I do what you do...ask to see all the choices if I want to see them. They usually ask if I want any design in particular and I usually just say "flags", but sometimes I'll say "show me what my choices are". At this time of year it is no choice for me. I get the Madonna and Child.
Thank you for the report from Tallahassee.
BTW, my husband found another post office nearby we didn't know was even there (it's off the frontage road by the freeway and down a side road).
I might start going there because everytime I go in my usual post office I have to look at the plaque dedicating the building to the previous president. ack
FedEx and the Postal Service are partners in a business agreement. I seem to remember reading comments from FedEx CEO Fred Smith to the effect that there are many fine people working for the Postal Service.
Sure it is countercultural. When the stamps are hidden and Christianity is without room in the public square, Christian acts are countercultural.
Careful, now. Wouldn't want to see you labeled as tiresome or untruthful
Huh?
Congratulations on your hobby. I've heard that it's interesting and sometimes lucrative.
hopesprings said: "...and YOU don't know what YOU are talking about."
That is an interesting attack on me. When discussing an article isn't it appropriate to argue the points the author has made rather than attacking an individual who disagrees?
Then again, perhaps you know the author personally and view any criticism of his statements as a personal attack.
If you agree with everything the author of the article has said then just say that you agree with everything the author has written, rather than lashing out at a fellow Freeper.
The author of the article created a title connoting that a Christian icon Christmas stamp was now officially viewed as pornographic by the US Post Office by the mere act that a particular stamp was only available to the author in an "under the counter" sale.
My argument was against the author's connotation, since post offices in my area sell all limited edition commemorative stamps from under the counter.
hopesprings said: "...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."
That's good news about your local post office with an updated kiosk. It is unfortunate that your post office does not have the Madonna and Child Christmas stamp.
Have you made inquiries as to why this is so? Do you have information that your local Postmaster has forbidden the sale of the Madonna and Child Christmas stamp?
Perhaps you could ask your local carrier if the sale of the Madonna and Child Christmas stamp is prohibited in your area. Letter carriers often enjoy discussing a local Postmaster's new policies.
Have you been to my post office? There are other posters on this thread who report that they saw the Madonna and Child stamp prominently on display, or that they have been able to purchase the Madonna and Child Christmas stamp from a drawer "under the counter" where other commemorative stamps are also kept.
There is the possibility that the Madonna and Child Christmas stamp was so popular in your locale that it sold out early. The other hard to sell stamps in your local post office might be "prominently displayed" so that those other less popular and hard to sell stamps will also eventually be sold.
The relationship between displayed posters and stamps currently available for sale is unclear.
Prior to the release of commemorative stamps advertising posters are sometimes hung announcing the upcoming release. Sometimes those posters remain up for months long after the commemoratives have been sold out.
However, it cannot be assumed that all commemorative stamps are heralded by a corresponding promotional poster.
Promotional posters cost money. If a commemorative stamp is projected to "sell itself" with little to zero promotion, then what Postmaster would want to spend more taxpayers' money promoting such a popular stamp?
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