[HPforGrownups] Christmas traditions elsewhere (OT)

[wren lanier]

No: HPFGUIDX 7062

not to continue the american-bashing here (since i am one, after all), but
can any of you other Americans imagine having party-favors with GUNPOWDER in
them?!?!?

i'm sure all manner of federal agencies would want to regulate them, and the
NRA would declare them Constitutionally protected under the "pursuit of
happiness" clause and fight regulation efforts tooth and nail, all the while
sadistic little sociopaths are emptying the contents into homemade
pipe-bombs and downloading nefarious plans from the Internet.

sigh.  how can we deign to "police" the world when we can't even be trusted
with Christmas crackers!!!

seriously though, what if Wal-Mart started selling exploding bon-bons
tomorrow? i'm sure rosie o' donnell would have a seecial expose about the
dangers to children (i assume, of course, that these things are safe since
they are so popular in other countries.  that ever stopped american hysteria
before though), and congressmen would demand hearings on the issue, and we'd
have a whole new mess to suffer through on the cable news channels.

sometimes i hate being an american.  there's no fun in it.

wren

> 
> Christmas crackers are called bon-bons here. (snip)
> Inside is a long thin strip of paper with gunpowder in the middle which
> makes a bang as you pull the bon-bon.