All emphasis and bracket comments/emotes are mine. Too funny! Hell, Canada has had all sorts of stamps. Superman etc.
Is Harry Potter stamp un-American?
(CNN) -- First, immigrants steal Americans' jobs. And now foreigners are stealing Americans' rightful place on U.S. postage stamps!
OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. But a new line of Harry Potter stamps released this week by the U.S. Postal Service has outraged some stamp enthusiasts. As the former head of the American Philatelic Society (that's a stamp collecting society to the rest of us) noted: "Harry Potter is not American. It's foreign, and it's so blatantly commercial it's off the charts."
First off, can a fictitious teenage wizard ever become a U.S. citizen? Secondly, and far more importantly, the Postal Service is in a financial "hot mess." It's losing $25 million every day. And for the 2013 fiscal year, which ended September 30, the USPS ran up a deficit of $5 billion.
At this point, I'd be all for a stamp bearing the image of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack if that could generate revenue. 
That's preferable to higher deficits, drastic cuts in services and increases in stamp prices.
Look, I understand that one of the mandates of the Postal Service is, "portraying the American experience to a world audience through the issuance of postage stamps." But the "American experience" is not just colored by U.S. citizens.
Plus Harry Potter and his cast of cohorts are not the first non-U.S. citizens to grace our stamps. Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Mother Theresa and French singer Edith Piaf have all been featured on past stamps.
This is not the first time a new set of stamps has caused controversy. In 2001, the
Postal Service came under fire from some on the right when it released the Frida Kahlo stamp because she was a Communist, a Mexican and a bisexual. In fact, the late Republican Senator Jesse Helms denounced the stamp on the Senate floor.
(and they are worried about a fictitious wizard?
)
...............
It appears, though, that the real reason for the uproar over the Harry Potter stamp isn't his citizenship status. Rather, it's because stamp purists are dismayed by the increasing commercialization of U.S. postage stamps. As one collector said: "They shouldn't be reduced to the latest fads, whatever's going to sell."
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So I say it's time for the Postal Service to roll out stamps that will make money. I don't care if it's Miley Cyrus swinging on a wrecking ball, an angry Donald Trump or Honey Boo Boo wearing a tiara. These are all preferable to the Postal Service incurring more debt and slashing services to the point where it ends up having to lay off so many postal workers that it's stuck delivering mail via carrier pigeon.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/22/opinion/o ... Stories%29
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