I won't rest until we put every one of those kinder egg smugglers behind bars. With something like this, you have to nip it in the bud!
Posted on 07/21/2012 11:56:19 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Justice prevails: two Seattle men were detained for a few hours by U.S. Customs when they tried to smuggle …chocolate… into the United States. That’s right. These menaces to society were trying to bring [gasp] Kinder Eggs into our fair country. Everyone knows those particular treats have little choking hazards inside them: choking hazards disguised as toys! How diabolical. And the worst part is, these confectionary terrorists were going to give these chocolates to… their… kids.
It’s a good thing Nanny Guvment is there to save us from ourselves. Otherwise, who knows what terrible things we would do. We might smoke something other than weed in the San Francisco great outdoors. (It’s okay. It’s for my chronic hiccups.) Or try to purchase more than sixteen ounces of soda in New York.
It’s amazing the extremes the civil government goes to protect us. I feel like I’m reading The Onion anytime I see an article on the TSA (TSA agents make fun of deaf man, eat his bag of candy in front of him while he cries… yes, befuddled brain, you did just read that). I wonder how far it will go. I just got another speeding ticket recently. I was driving the speed of traffic safely, of course. I am without a doubt positive that the most dangerous things about the whole scenario were the cop speeding recklessly to catch up with me, my rapid deceleration onto the shoulder, and my white-knuckle re-entrance into speeding traffic. The rather polite officer told me he was just doing his job… that there had been a lot of wrecks on that stretch. I wonder why.
But the real story here is not that government officials are too involved in our personal lives and choices (which they are), that their remedies are usually worse than the disease (which they are), or that we don’t seem to know what’s good for us (which we never have). The real story is the fact that we as Americans just don’t want to take responsibility for our actions, so the entity that has taken over in that capacity, the civil government, feels it has the right to take away our right to choose. You know: “Fun, fun, fun ’til her daddy takes the T-bird away” kind of stuff. They gave us the car, now they want to tell us how to drive it. (Well they didn’t give you the car… but they did take yours and give it to an Obama supporter in Roanoke.) We’re being treated more and more like nursery babies because we have allowed, and even asked, the civil government to take the responsibility for the bad things that happen to us (or that we bring on ourselves).
It’s difficult to live free. It’s not secure. In a free society, if you screw up, you have to pay for it. If you do stupid things and hurt yourself and others, you have to bear the brunt of your folly. Most people in our country say they want to be free. But they really don’t. They might shed a few tears when they have to get their diaper changed and the cold air hits their little bum-bums, but they like their security blanket. Our country is no longer well-peopled with the kind of noble souls who agree mutually to pledge life, property, and sacred honor to the cause of liberty. And until we have those kind of citizens in large supply again, Big Mother’s gonna make sure to put rubber bumpers on the sharp corners of our ornamental rights.
Now we have the candy police?
Nanny State PING!
Steyn went on a mini rant about the nanny state, etc.
No, they were smuggling.
Once the items were discovered hidden the CBP officers had to investigate further to determine if they were smuggling other items. . .such as drug and such-stuff they really want to find.
The fact the smugglers KNOWINGLY engaged in smuggling is a indication they are not the upstanding people everyone is trying to portray them as.
Once they were discovered with the items the CBP would have confiscated the items and let them go on their way. The smugglers did not let it go. They were confrontational and giving indications that they might also have other items hidden and smuggled.
That is the issue—smuggling.
This is a sign that we’ve got government employees with way too much free time on their hands who have a craving for chocolate. I used to buy these things all the time for my three boys when we were stationed in Germany. They’d break them open, take out the toy and leave the chocolate on the counter in the kitchen. That’s why I used to buy them all of the time. LOL!
While you may be partially correct, these agents were doing their jobs.
While Kinder eggs have been available in Canada since 1975, the product has never been allowed into the US for several reasons. The 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act contains a section highlighting that a confectionery product with a non-nutritive object, partially or totally imbedded within it, cannot be sold within the United States, unless the FDA issues a regulation that the non-nutritive object has functional value.
I've never seen one of these thing, bought one or eaten one. Yet, I knew they were illegal for transport into the US. These parents should have known too.
I won't rest until we put every one of those kinder egg smugglers behind bars. With something like this, you have to nip it in the bud!
That’s why my number one rule is to use your leftover foreign money pocket change to buy chocolate at the airport and eat it on the plane. Customs can’t get you for digesting chocolate, yet.
That's one of the reasons ignorance sucks (eggs ;-)).
Read that one part again:
a confectionery product with a non-nutritive object, partially or totally imbedded within it
Note that I highlighted the word "imbedded." You see, in a Kinder Egg, the toy ("object") is not actually imbedded (in the dictionary sense) in the chocolate as a nut might be. It's loosely contained (rattles around) in the hollow inside of the chocolate egg. The egg itself is too large to be eaten/swallowed by a child in one bite.
To wit, that statute does not apply (IMHO of course).
List the chocolate on your declaration form, make a detour and talk to the ag inspector, and then take it home and eat it.
It’s not hard to bring in chocolate from Germany. Just follow the rules.
Oh come on. I’ve seen those little things for sale here at local ethnic groceries and Cost Plus Imports.
A child could notice that the egg is hollow and the toy rattles around inside.
One bite from a little mouth and the hollow interior and toy are exposed.
Thanks for the ping!
I had a case of those that I was going to smuggle back, but left them in the trunk of the rental car at Stuttgart airport. That was almost 20 years ago, and I would have gotten away with it then.
Eggzactly!
I knew the Cadbury bunny couldn’t be trusted.
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