USDA to free market: Go Cheney yourself.

[Pirate Smile]

Daily Kos

USDA to free market: Go Cheney yourself.

by Kagro X
Wed May 30, 2007 at 12:00:11 PM PDT

You're not gonna believe this one. Oh wait, of course you will

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

You read that right. The Bush "administration" will fight to keep meatpackers from testing their animals for mad cow disease.

WTF? How does stupid shit like this always end up happening?

A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

Great! Wonderful! Everybody's gonna want their meat from Creekstone Farms! Free enterprise at its best! Give the people what they want!

Not so fast, says the "administration." The people can go Cheney themselves.

But why? Why the hell would anyone get in the way of something like that? And on what grounds?

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.

The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.

Oh my God. F this. Are you kidding me?

I'm at a loss here. But thankfully, Rick Perlstein at .common sense is not:

First, observe the contempt for liberty. When E. coli conservatives say self-regulation is preferable to government, they're even lying about that. Second, observe the contempt for small business. When a small company want to - voluntarily! - hold its product to a higher standard, the government blocks it, in part because bigger companies have to be protected from the competition, in part because a theoretical threat to the bottom line (false positives) trumps protection against a deadly disease.

There's your conservatism, America: not extremism in defense of liberty. State socialism in defense of Mad Cow.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/30/143539/136

[Captain Hilts]

1. This fight's been going on for y e a r s. It still makes no sense. nt

[LiberalFighter]

2. How much does testing cost if only done on a few? VS

Testing on many?

Hmmmm doesn't cost usually go down when consumers buy more?

[Pirate Smile]

3. kick