I Just Renewed My APS Membership... But Why?

I renewed my APS membership this morning. Renewals were due by the 10th this year to insure uninterrupted service and delivery of the February issue.

But why?

I haven't read a copy in more than two years. When they come, they get set aside because there isn't time for them, and if they didn't come they wouldn't be missed.

Were any lost in the mail over the past couple of years?

Good question, but I wouldn't know.

Just when I'm really sick about what the governments issuing stamps are doing, especially our own, and thinking about chucking it all once again, in the first 10 days of this year I have purchased 10,000 stamp hinges, a 5th pair of stamp tongs (have to keep a few around because one or another is always misplaced -- one of their favorite hiding places is somewhere in the middle of an album I recently worked on), and two volumes of the 2010 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue with plans to secure the rest!

But why?

I began collecting stamps in 1955 when I was 8 years old. In high school a operated a catalog basis exchange and by college an approval service. Having to have one and overbidding on both, I won two very nice copies of U.S. #1, the 5 cent Franklin from one of Herman Herst's auctions at about that time. While in the Army, I paid little attention to stamps except for saving them from the mail, but while on R&R in Australia, a week away from Vietnam, I purchased 10 copies of everything available at the Sydney post office and mailed them home.

After Vietnam and home for a while, I began collecting again, world wide, postally used. I picked up a new set of Scott catalogs, placed a trading ad in Linn's Trading Post Horn column, and began swapping until I was hit with revulsion, because I had seen that governments, including our own were basically evil, and it was governments that issued stamps.

I had been drafted into the Army and had my life seriously altered if not potentially destroyed by our government. In Vietnam I saw people who, like myself, only wanted to live their lives but were having them altered and destroyed by government. Whether it was the Chinese, the French, the Japanese, the communists of North Vietnam backed by the Soviets and Chinese, governments were killing these poor people, basically for the right to enslave them. They were all the problem, not the solution.

When my father died in 2003, I brought home all the stamp stuff from my parent's attic and began to dispose of it on ebay when, lo-and-behold, I got hooked into stamps again after 30 years of doing little with them except for saving everything that came in on the mail.

It's been a few years of fun, and I was having a lot of fun, here, but then it happened again. Those blasted governments! During just the last century, they conservatively were responsible for the deaths of some 200,000,000 people, mostly their own and are continuing into this century. They are murderers, liars, thieves.

I am appalled by our own outlaw government as it continues to ignore the Constitution and even stage terror attacks in order to further erode liberty and involve us in wars, and every time I see the Queen I want to puke, knowing what's beyond the royal facade, even though the British Commonwealth was once my favorite area of collecting.

However, as I've said, I just renewed my APS membership, bought 10 packs of hinges, another pair of tongs, and two volumes of the latest Scott catalogs with more to come.

But why?

Because despite the governments I still like working with stamps and enjoy seeing them in my albums!

Twisted, huh?

Or is it the insanity of hobbies keeping us sane in an insane world?

Stamps are history... but what have we learned?

Larry.... I feel your pain.

I started collecting in 1957 as a 9 year old. Those were the great ol' days for collecting. Lots of stamps on lots of mail, stamp stores locally.......and I collected right up through high school. After High School my collecting dropped off due to my joining the Army. I spent 31 years in the Army so my collecting was hit and miss at best. Interruptions for Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and the first Gulf war. When I retired in 1998 my collecting was back in full force.....

I understand the magazine problem....I get them but they sit for days or weeks before I get to them. So, like I said.....I feel your pain. It seems like the collecting bug still stays with us though.



Butch

Hello Larry.....


Nice to see you back here........I agree that many of the world's problems are caused by governments.

The USPS does not receive federal funding so it is at worst a quasi-government entity. I only buy what I need for postage and a little extra to help create modern used stamps & covers for future collectors. For my collecting interests I concentrate on older issues, generally those that are already 50+ years old or older. I buy most material from other collectors and small time dealers. This way for the most part I'm not supporting any government.

To me, giving up collecting because you don't like what's being issued or don't agree with government actions is like giving up food because you don't like the newest restaurant in town. In my opinion, you should just think about why you collect, what material got you hooked and concentrate on that material and earlier issues. Don't let anyone or any government force you to give up something that you love.

OK, I can relate to the tone of these posts.

Why do I collect when it seems like the world is going to hell in a hand-basket, when I've had to eliminate 24 jobs this last year due to state budget cuts, when my own president has no regard for our constitution, when Congress continues to force legislation down our throats even when an overwhelming number of Americans are against it, when . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .?

I continue to collect stamps because it is the one area in my life where I am in complete control of what I do and how I do it. It is the activity that allows me to forget budget cuts, terrorists, rogue politicians, and such for hours at a time.

I continue to collect stamps because I can feel it reducing the stress in my life, because I have measured the positive affect it has on my blood pressure, and because like the other said, it keeps me sane.

I enjoy the American Philatelist that I read each month, and the copy for our stamp club (that is a chapter member) is read by many in the club.

Being a member of the APS gives me a level of credibility when dealing with other stamp collectors, especially the American ones.




Her Majesty The Queen is the Head of State of my country... if you like it or not. She is also the one to whom I have served in Her Majesty's Canadian Armed Forces, and who's name still appears on the inside page of my Canadian passport.

When I lived in the United States, I expressed nothing but courtesy and respect for the symbols of your country, and your Head of State (The President). I would expect nothing less of the same for those of other nations.

David

Thanks all.

And David, you can say anything you want about our queen... er president... and I won't be offended.

Maybe you wouldn't be offended at anything David or anyone else would say about the president, or the Queen, but others are.

It's great to be living in countries that you are free to say what you wish without the worry of being thrown in prison, or worse, but there are times that respect and courtesy for a person is far more important.
Say anything you want about how the governments are run, be it good or bad, that's your right. But don't be insulting to or about the actual person.

Well I hardly expected this to became an issue with the Queen, because I once very much enjoyed collecting the British Commonwealth but now find it repulsive because of what the Queen and her kind stand for...

However, no leader, Queen or President, is to be worshiped. Particularly when they are up to no good. They are not God, though many of them would like to think so. Sacred cows are an illusion, no matter what their form or function.




As to the above statement, don't you see that all people should be living in free countries rather than as timid slaves, and only by standing up to tyranny will anything ever change for them.

Your statement also lacks logic, since these people are not innocent bystanders but in control of governments and determine or are responsible for how these government are run and the crimes against freedom and humanity that these governments commit.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

So said the signers of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Notice it said Creator, not king nor queen nor president nor government.

I didn't mean to insult any Canadians, but some people simply insult themselves by choosing to live in the dark.

I guess the difference between us is that we must be deceived to be subjugated, but you accept it openly.

I feel and understand your frustration regarding the consequences of power and governments. I have thought about this deeply and over a long period of time. Firstly, I will say that my family has particpated in most of the armed engagements, of the US, since the beginning of the twentieth century and proudly. it ended with my son's fourth deployment to the Persian Gulf region. I believe that the Constitution of the United States was written by ordinary men doing extraordinary deeds, the forming of a new society. I think that they experienced the same frustrations and angst that we do in the present time. There was death and destruction then too. In fact there has been the tyranny of power since homo sapiens stood erect. It seems, that in the natural world, which we are a part of, competition for food, shelter and clothing are part of the human condition and it has been that way, I believe since the beggining of the planet with what ever organisms existed. As a five year old, having a conversation with my grandfather about his flying of the American Flag on particular holiday, I don't remember which one, and I asked him why, and he told me at that time, that whatever the problems or misdeeds this country has been involved in it is far better place than anywhere else in the world. He knew, he lived it. As a reply to your frustration about the evils of this government and its leaders, why do some many of the world's peoples want to come here? And, I don't see a mass migration out of this country either. That certainly says something about us as a society, with all of its current problems. Regarding your membership in the APS and don't read the magazine, don't participate with their activities, don't renew the membership. I joined one year and never renewed, didn't miss it, don't need it. Between 800 phone numbers and the internet all the information that I need is available to me. I've been a general collector for close to 50 years, enjoy the hobby for what the stamps and covers can teach me.
Joel

Thanks, Joel.

The problem is that it is not really our government anymore, not a government bound and limited by the Constitution, as it was designed to be, but a rogue government of unlimited tyranny and treason.

For decades, foreign and corporate interests have been chipping away at our liberty and the principles on which this nation was built. To think that a Kenyan, yes he admits and it is documented that Obama's father was a Kenyan, thereby conferring Kenyan/British citizenship upon him can, in treason, sit in the oval office blocking all attempts to see his birth, school, and other records, and that his crime is aided and abetted by all levels of government including the Justice Department and the courts, including the Supreme Court, shows you just how dishonest things have become. And all this so that a few families, including the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Schiffs, and others including the so-called 'Royal Families' of Britain and the Netherlands can gain complete control of the world by impoverishing us through a fraudulent Federal Reserve in which all of them hold stock.

Though 99% of Americans were against it, congress and the Bush/Obama administration have allowed the banksters at the Federal Reserve, Goldman-Sachs, and others steal an estimated 28 TRILLION dollars, which they now say we owe them.

I can go on, but you can find all the information you need online without the bent of the controlled media. Inforwars.com is a good place to start.

For example, you say your son was deployed to the Persian Gulf region for four tours. I'm sure he thinks it is being patriotic, I don't doubt that. But the sad fact is that he is being used by globalists to protect their interests. Believe me, it was NOT an old man on dialysis in a cave in Afghanistan that attacked us, but it is easier to believe that such is the case and it would actually be better if it were, than to know that it was deliberately staged by elements in our government, and others, as an excuse to slowly bring in martial law through the Patriot Act and to attack Afghanistan and Iraq.

At first, I could not believe this myself, and having never looked at the evidence for myself, thought everyone talking about 911 being an inside job, such as Charlie Sheen, was an absolute nut job until I actually took a look for myself.

Hundreds of scientists have said that burning jet fuel could not possibly heat steel to the temperatures necessary to melt the steel in the Twin Towers and cause their collapse -- and at free-fall rates, at that. Furthermore, traces of nano thermite, not ordinary thermite but an explosive form of thermite have been found in dirt samples from the site. The fact the firemen in the buildings heard explosions below them, that stocks of the two airlines were shorted, that certain employees were told not to come to work that day and a whole lot more can't be ignored, accept by a rogue government determined to hide its criminality from we the people.

By the way, it has now been revealed that the Gulf of Tonkin incident, where North Vietnamese patrol boats supposedly attacked our destroyer never happened. Johnson and his administration lied to further involve us in Vietnam thereby destroying countless lives both here and in South East Asia.

I hate to say it, but in this world, since man began living in organized societies, might makes right, unfortunately

Just a comment, I am a strong supporter of our military Men and Women doing a thankless job in some of the most God forsaken places on earth. But not war, I have often said "The way to end all war is send the Heads of State, Generals, etc. to fight. I think we would see an end quite quickly!"

Quote: "What if someone declared War and no one showed up??" (Richard Starkie aka Ringo, to me 2AM at the Waverly Diner, NYC 20+yrs ago).

Now a question, what does this digression have to do with the hobby we all love so obsessively???

I was wondering the same thing!!

My question is, did you read my original post?

And did you get it?

It kind of loses it's obsessiveness when you see who is issuing the stamps to keep you entertained while they are all working against you (possibly even against your freedom to continue your obsession) in the background. When your job also disappears due to their collective maneuvering, as so many jobs already have with everything being moved offshore, will you be able to continue your hobby? Will you even care?