I Can't Eat The Tomatos That I Grow?!?

My company is global so we have major offices in Denver, Florida, Japan, and South Africa just to name a few.  I spend a lot time on the phone in meetings with these various company locations.  I have to say that this diversity has provided me with the opportunity to learn how different cultures operate and how to work efficiently with my fellow employees in this cultures.  I like my job.  There are great people in my company.  Some are funny.  They make work fun.

So I was doing some research on hypervisors for a cloud system (if I wrote this blog about that subject matter, I bet none of you would read it) when I came across a news item about a Judge in Wisconsin.  Hmmm Wisconsin.  I took a cross-country trip with a good friend a few years back to see an Elton John concert.  I remember stopping to have my picture taken by one huge cow!

By the way, the Elton John concert was great!  I was able to get an autograph on my original vinyl double album of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road!

In fact, I have a framed picture my friend took of the concert in my Den along with the signed album, framed.  But I am getting off subject here.  Yes Elton is great, but back to the Wisconsin Judge.

So this Judge, made a very bizarre ruling, that is, that American citizens do not have a "fundamental right to produce or consume foods of their choice."  Wow!  I don't have the right to go to the store and buy the food that I like and then eat it? 

This case involved people who owned cows and sought to board them at a farm.  The following was noted in the case, "Although the commercial relationship between the owner of the cow and owner of the land gives cause for the state to intervene, Fiedler (the Judge) took his ruling into a more personal and troubling direction."

Apparently the plaintiffs in the case argued that their right to privacy allowed them to decline medical treatment, allow abortion, view pornography, and engage in consensual sex should translate into their right to consume food of his or her own choice.

Judge Fiedler remained unconvinced claiming that the constitutionality of food rights is wholly without merit.  He also added that bringing Roe vs Wade into the picture does not explain why a woman's right to have an abortion  translates to a right to consume unpasteurized milk.

The judge went on to clarify his ruling further:

• "no. Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a diary cow or a dairy herd;
• "no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;
• "no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer;
• "no, the Plaintiffs' private contract does not fall outside the scope of the State's police power;
• "no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the foods of their choice."

A quote from the website Foolocracy goes as follows: "A person growing a tomato plant in his or her home and choosing to eat that tomato would seem to have that right as clearly as a person choosing a partner for sex in a private home."

Prison Planet has the following to say about this, "You have to wonder if maybe even the regulators are getting a tad uncomfortable with the rulings coming from the nation’s judiciary on food rights. Many of these individuals, biased as they are against raw milk, dabble in farming to some extent, or grew up on farms. This judge has gone way beyond what many of them have come to assume — that everyone has the right to own a cow and consume its milk. Even in places that ban raw milk sales, there’s nearly always a provision in state law that anyone who owns a cow has the right to consume its milk."

So are we to assume that the Judge believes that food consumption is one of those rights that are not God-given but rather granted by the state?  Granted, every year the government gets more involved in the production and distribution of food.  A lot of this, in my humble opinion, is needed for our safety.

Now we have Judge Fiedler's ruling which opens the door for the need for "police" to enforce restrictions on the personal use and growing of vegetables.  (Now I know why I didn't plant a personal vegetable garden this year, it wasn't because of the short growing season...)

I believe there is a place for government in our lives, but too much or too big government causes more pain than benefit.  When what the government is doing infringes on our guarantees as outlined in the constitution, then the line has been stepped over and something needs to be done.  With the Presidential and other  elections coming up, make wise choices so that we will have a solid government that will make wise choices.

And btw, if you get a chance to see Elton in concert, you'll love it!


Till next time,
Bill
P.S. The link to the article I read is here.