Massachusetts Milk Nazis

Spraying it at police!

Having the most *schools* and the smallest *private sector*....Massachusetts is our most thoroughly Moronic state. In fact five days after visiting my birthplace, I'm still recovering from hearing my 'old coot' relatives pontificate on current events and whatnot.

Now here's another trophy for the M@sshole mantle:

Fight Over Raw Milk Moves East Amid Charges Of Collusion With Big Dairy

But now that regulators are moving to stem the flow of raw milk in the East, affecting the supplies of Boston lawyers, business owners, and health professionals, as well as even Washington bureaucrats, the situation is moving from fringe to mainstream.

The trigger has been a seemingly small but arbitrary decision by a Massachusetts regulator to restrict consumer access to milk. Unlike Wisconsin, which never officially sanctioned raw milk sales, Massachusetts has long allowed sales from dairy farms, and delivery to consumers by any of a half dozen or more buying clubs.

Everything was working fine in Massachusetts -- more dairy farmers producing ever more raw milk and in the process creating a revival for the state's moribund dairy industry. No illnesses in over a decade.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources seemed to be doing its job of supporting state agriculture by encouraging raw-milk-producing dairy farmers rather than harassing them, like the regulators do in New York state. Late last year, MDAR publicly supported a suburban Boston dairy farmer in his fight with state and local public health authorities and helped him gain approval to sell raw milk from his dairy.

But then something happened early this year to change MDAR's approach. The agency sent cease-and-desist letters to four buying clubs that had been quietly and efficiently delivering raw milk to consumers who didn't want to burn the gasoline or were unable because they don't have cars or even are disabled, to travel the hour or two hours to a dairy farm in central Massachusetts and pick up their milk. (Buying clubs are private businesses that deliver milk from raw dairies on a contractual basis for consumers.) The letters weren't well received by the owners of the buying clubs, and they began mobilizing support from their customers and legislators to challenge MDAR. They argued that Massachusetts laws and regulations don't specifically prohibit the buying clubs, making the cease-and-desist letters so much paper.

MDAR seems to have agreed, because two weeks ago, it proposed a new regulation to explicitly prohibit the buying clubs. The regulation would make Massachusetts the first state in the country to explicitly ban raw milk buying clubs.

And if you click the link above and read the article you'll see that the law was ADMITTEDLY proposed by Big Dairy, seriously!

Okay....Massachusetts has the most flu shots....the least seat belts fastened....they were the first state in 1850 to make *education* compulsory....they still have Puritanical liquor laws....70% of the state voted FOR keeping the state income tax,...

See also:

Raw Food For Thought

Massachusetts - The Dumbest State - QED