Over a decade ago, I went to visit someone who worked in Madison. He worked in a building in which state officials were working, and the scene in the lobby on my arrival was one I haven’t since forgotten. Around one of the elevators, a group of men were pushing to get inside, and go…
Laws/Regulations
Laws/Regulations
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Enforcer of State’s Raw Milk Rules Resigns
by JOHN ADAMS •
Laws/Regulations, Police
How Not to Voice a Complaint
by JOHN ADAMS •
Government Spending, Law, Laws/Regulations, Police
Sarah Palin’s Right: Minor Marijuana Arrests Are a Waste of Police Resources
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve supported reform of Wisconsin’s laws so that chronically ill people can take regulated medical marijuana lawfully. I think reform in Wisconsin is long overdue, and that although reform did not pass in our recent legislative session, it one day will. When that happens, Wisconsin will join many other states that allow medically prescribed marijuana.…
City, Laws/Regulations
Update on the Urban Chicken Movement
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written about the urban chicken movement . It’s goal is to persuade communities to allow residents to keep a hen or tow for fresh eggs. Many communities, ironically including rural communities like Whitewater, there are prohibitions on backyard hens in residential neighborhoods. Ordinances like this are more social than rational: I think it’s mostly…
Laws/Regulations
The Economist Covers the Raw Milk Controversy
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written before about the irony of a dairy state banning nearly all sales of raw milk. The governor’s recent veto of a popular bill to allow a limited increase in raw milk sales was the latest example of Wisconsin as a dairyland nanny state. It was worse really, as the public health claims against…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Huffington Post: Making the Business Case for Dairy Farmer Civil Disobedience
by JOHN ADAMS •
The war against raw milk sales in a dairy state, a war whose generals are big business interests, is underway in Wisconsin. I’ve written about previously about Governor Doyle’s veto of a bill allowing modest raw milk sales, and about regulatory badgering of dairies that offer raw milk for sale. (Some raw milk may be…
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Culinary Freedom
by JOHN ADAMS •
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
Motion Hearing for Walworth County Raw Milk Case
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, I posted about Wisconsin’s regulatory badgering of dairy farmers trying to sell raw milk within existing legal requirements. Even that’s now hard to do, following Governor Doyle’s veto of a bill that would have allowed expanded, yet still modest, raw milk sales. See, Ongoing Harassment of Dairy Farmers in America’s Dairyland. One of the…
Laws/Regulations
Ongoing Harassment of Dairy Farmers in America’s Dairyland
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin Governor Doyle gave special interests a victory over small farmers when he veteoed a bill that would have permitted limited raw milk sales. Now, during the deepest recession in decades, state inspectors are badgering small farmers about voluntary transctions between adult buyers and sellers of a dairy products. See, Raw Milk Advocates Decry State…
Government Spending, Laws/Regulations
Wisconsin’s Wasteful Smoking Ban Ad Blitz
by JOHN ADAMS •
In a time of a high unemployment and dire budget forecasts, the State of Wisconsin has decided to waste money telling residents that a statewide smoking ban in workplaces begins soon. See, Wis. to Launch Statewide Smoking Ban Ad Blitz. There are a thousand ways to better use this money, from not spending it at…
Laws/Regulations
Can a Private Business Fire a Woman Because She Was Allegedly “Too Hot?”
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a story over at Business Insider about a woman who claims that she was fired from a job at Citibank because she was “too hot.” See, Woman Says Citibank Fired Her Because She Was Too Hot. Debrahlee Lorenzana contends that she was fired because her managers could not handle her steamy looks; Citibank contends…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Police
Maryland: Still Wrong on Civil Liberties
by JOHN ADAMS •
I have written about the disregard for civil liberties in Maryland before. See, Something’s Rotten about Policing in the State of Maryland, and Elsewhere. In that earlier post, I wrote about a SWAT raid gone bad — in almost every which way — at the home of the completely law-abiding mayor of Berwyn Heights. Maryland’s…
Laws/Regulations
Reason’s May 2010 Nanny of the Month (Raw Milk Edition )
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve contended that Wisconsin residents should be able to buy and drink raw milk produced in America’s Dairyland. Sadly, even that’s not legal for consumers. Wisconsin Governor Doyle, under pressure from dairy industry lobbyists and their regulation-loving allies, vetoed legislation that would have made limited raw milk sales possible. See, Wisconsin Governor Doyle as a…