Archive for February 14th, 2007
The UglyRipe tomato has existed for years with a taste that is far superior to your typical tomato found in the supermarket.
The Florida Tomato Commission has been fighting a new variety, the UglyRipe, for years. The Commission makes sure that ugly-looking tomatoes, no matter how tasty, don’t wind up with out-of-state consumers.
While the Florida Tomato Commission claimed to be protecting consumers from “ugly” tomatoes, it was really shutting down competition for the other tomato producers. The U.S.D.A. finally stepped in and over-ruled the Florida bureaucracy.
Enter the U.S.D.A. It’s the division of the federal government that rides herd over these guilds set upon us by FDR’s Brain Trust. And it’s come to our senses, so to speak. It recently gave the green light to the UglyRipe.
Joseph Procacci, head honcho of the people bringing the UglyRipe to market, said that “Thanks to the U.S.D.A., consumers can now have the midsummer goodness of the tomato season all year round.”
I’ll just thank Mr. Procacci himself. The U.S.D.A. has merely got a bureaucracy out of the way. Had it not existed, we’d have been eating UglyRipes for years. Thanking the U.S.D.A. is like thanking a mugger when he stops beating you. Our appreciation is there, but muted.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Source: » The Liberated Tomato
Bill Online Easily, Fast & Free with PayPal. No Software Needed. Sign Up Now!
Your principle has placed these words above the entrance of the legislative chamber: “whosoever acquires any influence here can obtain his share of legal plunder.” And what has been the result? All classes have flung themselves upon the doors of the chamber crying: “A share of the plunder for me, for me!”
— Frédéric Bastiat, Selected Essays on Political Economy [1848]
Reading this is kind of spooky. It perfectly describes the scene at the Erie County budget hearing a few months ago. All of the people pictured below were waiting for their turn to plead their case for YOUR money. This is actually only about half of the actual crowd.
Netflix Delivers DVDs to your home. NO LATE FEES. Try for FREE!
The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006. Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year. On top of that, the entity’s total liabilities and unfunded commitments rose to about $50 trillion, up from $20 trillion in just six years. If this announcement related to a private company, the news would have been on the front page of major newspapers. Unfortunately, such was not the case – even though the entity is the U.S. Government.
To put the figures in perspective, $50 trillion is $440,000 per American household and is more than nine times as much as the median household income. The only way elected officials will be able to make the tough choices necessary to put our nation on a more prudent and sustainable long-term fiscal path is if opinion leaders state the facts and speak the truth to the American people … We hope the media and other opinion leaders do their part to save the future for our children and grandchildren.
~ David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
“America’s Red Ink” (The Washington Post, 24 December 2006)
Source: Avoid the Rush by Chris Leithner
An embassy for 8,000 workers. Will we ever leave Iraq?
In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy
From Daniel McGrory in Baghdad
THE question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?
Irritation grows as residents deprived of air-conditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion watch the massive US Embassy they call “George W’s palace” rising from the banks of the Tigris.
In the pavement cafés, people moan that the structure is bigger than anything Saddam Hussein built. They are not impressed by the architects’ claims that the diplomatic outpost will be visible from space and cover an area that is larger than the Vatican city and big enough to accommodate four Millennium Domes. They are more interested in knowing whether the US State Department paid for the prime real estate or simply took it.
While families in the capital suffer electricity cuts, queue all day to fuel their cars and wait for water pipes to be connected, the US mission due to open in June next year will have its own power and water plants to cater for a population the size of a small town.
Read it all: In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy-News-World-Iraq-TimesOnline
