Tuesday, January 21, 2003

More human than human: Apparently one can obtain a better tariff rate on imports/exports in the U.S. if the products you are importing/exporting are toys (or "non-human creatures") as opposed to dolls (presumably "human creatures"). A judge in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York recently held that the "X-Men" action figures were decidely non-human. While this made the manufacturers happy, folks in the comic world were outraged. "These [fictional characters] have families, they work. They must be human!" The judge, meanwhile, was apparently more persuaded by the tentacles, eye-beams, claws and other "non-human" attributes. More disturbingly, the judge admitted that the determination required the "removing" of clothes ("battle uniforms" in the parlance). The libertarians out there might find this to be the final straw; the government can now determine whether you are a human being. Excuse me while I telepathically curse out the judge.....there, that's better.

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