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June 29, 2006
Government Sting Addresses Amish Milk Menace
Now that the borders have been secured, terrorism is no longer a threat, Iraq has been stabilized, Iran and North Korea have been permanently declawed, our education system has been rescued from leftist teacher's unions and made into the best in the world, our space program is back on track, and we have found a cure for cancer, our government at last has the time and resources needed to address the menace of Amish farmers who sell raw milk.
Last fall a guy with a plastic container showed up at the home of Arlie Stutzman in an Amish settlement in northeast Ohio and asked for milk. Stutzman was hesitant, but his religious views did not allow him to deny him the milk, so he filled up the container. The mysterious stranger gave him $2 and left.
Then the trap snapped shut. The visitor was an undercover agent from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which revoked Stutzman's license because the milk hadn't been pasteurized to kill bacteria like E. Coli (although this also kills beneficial bacteria and diminishes vitamin content). Apparently pasteurization can be a problem for the Amish, who shun electricity.
It's comforting to know that vigilant bureaucrats will keep us safe from ourselves.
Hat tip: Byron
Posted by Van Helsing at June 29, 2006 9:08 AM
Comments
This goes to show what happens when a needed regulation becomes so normal that people no longer remember what it was for. Read a book about everyday city life at the end of the 19th century and you'll see what I mean. In those days you were dead lucky if the white liquid the milk man was selling you was only chalk dust in water; the possibilities went downhill from there.
So, in reaction to totally unscrupulous capitalism (Yes, there is such a thing. No Socialism isn't the answer.), we instituted pure food laws. They were a good and necessary thing.
Now the pure food laws have been on the books for so long that the people that enforce them are bored. They don't want them CHANGED to meet modern conditions and problems; that might get them put out of a job. But they are bored, and so they go trolling for violators where there might not be any without the encouragement of the Troll.
Posted by: C. S. P. Schofield at June 29, 2006 9:51 AM
So the government is "milking" someone else eh?
What else is new.
I'm more concerned about the amish puppy mills, incest & inbreeding and less about their milk, the threat of E. coli, TB etc.
Posted by: jael at June 29, 2006 10:49 AM
I'm not concerned about the Amish AT ALL!
Posted by: Sam Houston at June 29, 2006 11:15 AM
What's this?...
"Clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop...POW!!!...clip-clop-clip-clop..."
An Amish drive-by shooting!
Posted by: Jonathan L. at June 29, 2006 12:35 PM
