Phyrfight Intel

“… Utah has passed a law intended to encourage residents to use gold or silver coins made by the Mint as cash, but with their value based on the weight of the precious metals in them, not the face value — if, that is, they can find a merchant willing to accept the coins on that basis.

…The law is the first of its kind in the United States. Several other states, including Minnesota, Idaho and Georgia, have considered similar laws.

… one day soon Utah might mint its own coins, that retailers could have scales for weighing precious metals and that a state defense force could be formed to guard warehouses where the new money would be made and stored.

“This is an incremental step in the right direction,” said Lowell Nelson, the interim coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty in Utah, a libertarian group rooted in Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. “If the federal government isn’t going to do it, then we here in Utah ought to be able to establish a monetary system that would survive a crash if and when that happens.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/us/30gold.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

“Nothing illustrates the out-of-control government bureaucracy than a Tuesday 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 Dollarhites 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?”