Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Even more government controls - over animals

Nothing illustrates the out-of-control government bureaucracy than a Tuesday (May 24) news item in the Daily Caller... a family being fined over $90,000 for selling a few rabbits. It started out as a hobby, a way to teach their son financial responsibility. It's interesting to note that selling the rabbits for meat consumption was NOT what put them in hot water with the USDA, however.

It was because they sold them to a local pet store. Seems you can't sell over $500 worth of rabbits per year to a pet store without buying a USDA permit. The first inspector that arrived to correct this gross malfeasance of the law told the family that their cages were "a quarter inch too small" and would have to be replaced.

Even though the Dollarhit family immediately quit selling rabbits and actually got out of the business (hobby is more the word), the USDA sees fit two years later to generously submit a bill for $90,000 to make the whole thing just go away.

You know, I wonder how the American republic was ever founded. I mean, if you think about it, we're obviously too stupid to be able to manage our own lives and make decisions, especially if you look at the actions of the federal government. First our gardens, then raw milk, and now baby rabbits. Is there nothing out of the reach of government oversight and reach? I'm beginning to think not. (I was going to make a joke about the bathroom being the last bastion of privacy, but then I remembered the government has regulated that too...)

From OFF THE GRID NEWS


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