Now who am I thinking of here?

The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Democracy

I've found the loophole in democracy.

It's stupid people.

Vast masses of stupid people.

end of year greetings

(shamelessly copied from the Internet, various sources)
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all...


...and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greaterthan any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.


(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)

The lowering of more education standards?

Are the standards for the SAT's going to be lowered? There are complaints that the SAT's 3.75 hours long test is too long. Well Yea, it's probably more difficult that most high school tests but freshmen college students should be able to concentrate for that period of time. So the MTV has reduced their attention spans , so what. Yea, many students will not do as well as they would have if they test was divided into three parts but that is the point. The test is supposed to separate the cream from the milk. Doing something easy is not as valuable as doing something difficult. Anyways, these whiners should take a look at the German abitur and thank god how easy they have it.

Dusting

If you're dusting a room to remove dust, what do you call it when you try to add dust? Isn't that dusting???

Things you can’t mail to places "Part 2"

Here is a list with the most interesting items. If you know why a certain is restricted please post a comment explaining by clicking the "posts" link. These are not complete lists but just items of the lists I found very interesting.

This information is all available at the USPS website.

My comments are in brackets []

For some reason the United states information was not available at this webstie (USPS website)

Syrian Arab Republic (Syria)
· Margarine and other kinds of artificial butter and materials for its manufacture.
· Footwear of all kinds and parts thereof.
· High frequency radio receivers (above 100 megacycles).
· Salt.
· Soap, except shaving soap.
· Stockings of all kinds except wool stockings.
· Television equipment.
· Used clothes made of silk or cotton.


Saudi Arabia
· Books and prints contrary to the Islamic faith. [ a no brainer]

Lebanon
· Artificial butters and adulterated or harmful products.
· Automatic and electrical gambling devices.
· Essences, essential oils, and products derived therefrom for the use in the manufacture of · imitated beverages, ices, and pastries.


Jordan
· Advertisements concerning treatment of venereal diseases or medicinal preparations intended to serve as preventives against those diseases. [ are they kidding?, they refuse to let their citizens know how to treat diseases they may have]
· Essences and oils for use in making adulterated or imitated beverages.


Iran
· Used clothing.
· Fashion newspapers [ now this is in good taste but still excessive]
· Games involving profit and loss (for example, dice or card games).
· Musical instruments. [ everyone knows that these are just evil]
· Sugar, brown sugar.
· Radio systems that are equipped with a single sideband; upper sideband; lower sideband; beat frequency oscillator; continuous air wave band; police band; or an FM band having a frequency range of 76 to 87 MHz.


United Arab Emirates

· Polished, whitened, artificial, or imitation pearls [ I think these may contain lead, and therefore · be harmful, but I an unsure]
· Pork products.


Israel
· Agricultural tools and accessories
· Blank invoices with headings
· Games of chance.
· Soil and sand.


Tunisia
· Aspirin, sulfa drugs, and vitamin compounds; chalk; pencils; soap; and detergents containing it; leather and articles of artificial leather; carpets, tapestries, and bed coverings; footwear of rubber or plastic; hosiery of cotton or synthetic fibers, except women's stockings; jewelry made of precious metal or plated with it; household articles of galvanized iron, galvanized steel or aluminum; and nonelectric cooking and heating appliances for household use.
· Nursing bottles, nipples, and pacifiers that are not made of pure rubber and marked accordingly, and vulcanized by heat.
· Playing cards
· Saccharine and similar products, except in very small amounts imported as remedies by pharmacies or physicians.


Libya
· Tea
· Salt. [these actually appear very often]


Albania
· Extravagant clothes and other articles contrary to Albanians' taste.
· Literature, publications, and other articles prejudicial to the State public order.
· Used articles.


Botswana
· Honey and preparations of honey including royal jelly, preserves sweetened with honey, and flypaper.
· Prison-made goods.
· Used clothing for sale; used boots and shoes


Burma(Myanmar)
· All goods manufactured outside Her Majesty's dominions and bearing the British Royal Arms or imitations thereof; or bearing as a mark or label a portrait of any member of the Royal Family of England.


Malaysia
· Circulars or advertisements containing amulets, charms or talismans. [uhhh… explanation anyone]


Vietnam

· Unused postage stamps.
· Used clothing, blankets, mosquito nets, and shoes. [ banning mosquito nets in a country filled with mosquitoes….. you bastards]
· Paintings, pictures, books, newspapers, cinema films, photographic films, records, miscellaneous articles for the stage, all other literary and artistic productions, objects of art and of sculpture, all kinds of children's toys must have the authorization of the Ministry of Culture of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


Nigeria
· Hardware of all kinds. [Hmmm … explanation anyone?]


Niger
· Publications in Arabic.
· Weights and measures not of the metric system.


Nicaragua
· Police whistles. [a popular thing to ban in central and south America for some reason]
· Telegraph equipment. [goddamned 19th century technology]
· Communist material or literature.

Nepal
· Bearings of all kinds. [ bearings, bearings, ?????, If anyone knows why some of these things are banned please post why]
· Cameras.
· Cardamon. [A rhizomatous Indian herb (Elettaria cardamomum) having capsular fruits with aromatic seeds used as a spice or condiment.]
· Cinnamon. [ Principle Skinner: two independent thought alarms in one day, time to take away the colored chalk Willy. Willy : I waarrrrned ya , I waaarrrned ya, this chalk was forged by Lucifer himself]
· Cloves. [ CLOVES?]
· Synthetic fibres (75 denier or less).
· Watches and spare parts.[ I think this has to do with controlling gold]


China
· Articles in hermetically sealed, nontransparent containers
· Used clothing and bedding. [ as popular as this is to ban I think it is to prevent the spread of disease]
· Wrist-watches, cameras, television sets, radio sets, tape records, bicycles, sewing machines, and ventilators.


Kazakhstan
· Deer horns, hooves, and antlers


Iraq
· Binoculars. [tapes and cassettes seem a popular thing to ban, but binoculars?]
· Tapes or cassettes.


Great Britain and Northern Ireland(Includes England, Scotland, Wales,Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey,Alderney, Sark, and the Isle of Man)


· Horror comics and matrices.

Guatemala
· Telegraphic apparatus. [ And I was going to mail a telegraph machine to Guatemala]
· Police whistles. [many places don’t allow police whistles, I wonder why]


Germany
· Playing cards, except in complete decks properly wrapped.
· Melatonin.


Fiji
· Dyes and coloring materials.


Indonesia
· Books and periodicals printed in any Indonesian language and published outside of Indonesia, except educational books approved by the Indonesian Department of Commerce.
· Cloth and batik designs and sarongs.


Korea, Democratic People's Republic of(North Korea)

· All merchandise is prohibited. [no surprise here]


Republic of(South Korea)
· Salt.
· Textile fabrics.
· Weights and measures


Paraguay
· Batteries.
· Most foodstuffs including butter and cheeses; sugar; peanuts; salt; fats of vegetable origin; rice; fruit; and tomato juices.
· Plastic toys.
· Soaps.
· Stocking and socks except those made of jersey.
· Suitcases; leather bags.
· Used clothing and apparel.
· Wool blankets.


Peru
· Accessories and personal items.
· Artificial flowers and interior ornaments. [ this is in good taste but excessive]
· Ceramic products and imitation jewelry [ceramic? Explanation??]
· Clothing, accessories, and underwear.
· Communist propaganda.
· Contraceptive products, remedies, or apparatus. [ ahh.., a bush ally I see]
· Electrical household appliances.
· Footwear, shoes, boots, and accessories.
· Furs and clothing made of fur.
· Gloves and hosiery.
· Household articles of iron, steel, copper, and aluminum.
· Household linens.
· Perfume products or soaps.
· Playing cards.
· Sound recorders and reproducing devices.
· Textiles and carpets.
· Toys and dolls of all kinds. [ toys are for weak capitalist children]
· Travel articles, suitcases, attache cases, kits, or similar articles.
· Waxes and creams for shoes.
· Wooden utensils.


Canada
· Commercial tags of metal.[weird]
· Oleomargarine and other butter substitutes, including altered or renovated butter.[ this is in good taste but too ban it is a bit excessive]
· Prison-made goods being sold or intended for sale by a person or firm.
· Used or secondhand hives or bee supplies [this appears so often I think it is to prevent the spread of bee illnesses?]


Trinidad and Tobago
· Honey [ I am seeing this so often I am now thinking they are trying to prevent the spread of infected honey]
· Saccharine requires the permission of the Trinidad health authorities.


France
· Measuring instruments marked in units not complying with French law.
· Saccharine in tablets or packets.
· Feeding bottles.


Italy

[now this is not where you would expect to find extreme regulars, but here they are. I think they are to protect Italian companies and not because the listed items are illegal]

· Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.
· Clocks and supplies for clocks.
· Footwear of any kind.
· Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind.
· Hair and articles made of hair.
· Leather goods.
· Nutmeg, vanilla; sea salt, rock salt; saffron.
· Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).
· Playing cards of any kind. [so many places restrict playing cards????]
· Postage stamps in sealed or unsealed letter-post shipments
· Ribbons for typewriters.
· Roasted or ground coffee and its substitutes; roasted chicory
· Saccharine and all products containing saccharine.
· Toys not made wholly of wood.


RussiaRussian Federation
· Color copiers[ against counterfeiting maybe?]
· Honey, pollen, wax, and honeycombs. [ because of contamination?]