And we slide further and further down the slippery slope of tryanny.

This story gets me spitting mad.



This is the perfect example of government mission creep being taken to the extremes.  Stories like this dumbfound me for so many reasons.

Karim Mansour, the store and dog owner, received a warning: Remove the dog or the Florida Department of Agriculture would declare all of Mansour's food products — mostly bottled sodas, Slim Jims and candy bars — unfit for consumption.

WHAT THE EFF?!?!  The guy runs a private business where many of the customers presumably come to the store BECAUSE OF THE DOG!!!  This business owner has found a way to make himself and his business stand out, a way to get the attention (and money) of his customers, thereby increasing business (or at least not losing business in this economic downturn), and what does the government do?  Pisses on his parade.

And notice the lack of anything unsafe or unhealthy about the food currently.  For if the dog's presence was so unhealthy, they'd immediately "declare the food products unfit for consumption", not spend time blackmailing this business owner.  If this was actually a health crisis they'd act immediately, post haste.  But no, let's just force this business owner to choose between his dog or his store.  Can't have both.  No.  People might get sick, or something.

The owner is not doing anything devious, or backhanded, or hidden.  His dog is out in the open, for everyone to come and see.  The people coming into the store know there is a dog there and they purchase from this store anyway.  The purpose of the Health Department is to UNCOVER unscrupulous business practices that business owners are keeping hidden from their customers.  You know, unsanitary cooking surfaces or an infestation of roaches or cooking with spoiled food or anything that would affect customer health (thus the name "Health Department").   But, as the story points out,

The store doesn't serve hot food such as hot dogs or even fresh cold deli-type items. The only food it carries are packaged products such as chips, crackers and candy. But food, apparently, is food.
Michael Lombardi, who manages the Agriculture Department's inspectors, said since food items touch the main counter, the inspectors said it is off-limits to dogs.

This prick Lombardi apparently doesn't understand that the PACKAGING that surrounds the foods sold at this store are designed to keep dog hairs out of the food.  I'm quite certain that there are worse things that touch the packaging than dog hair or slobber. 

Were there ANY complaints?  Were people getting sick from this food that was all of a sudden "unfit for consumption"?  If the answer is no, then this a-hole health inspector should have absolutely no jurisdiction over the affairs of this store. 

"The guy was told this is not sanitary to have an animal running around in the area where food is kept," said Terence McElroy, Department of Agriculture spokesman. "We all love dogs. But the fact of the matter, as far as we're concerned, nothing's more important than preventing food contamination."

I bolded the last part so that everyone can see.  NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PREVENTING FOOD CONTAMINATION.  NOTHING.  Not property rights.  Not consumer rights.  Not personal freedom.  Not personal liberty.  Not freedom of choice.  NOTHING.

This is the mindset of liberals (and many conservatives these days) that drives me crazy.  This idea that I as an adult American citizen am too weak/stupid/uneducated/narrow-minded to be able to take care of myself.  If I want to go into a store run by an avid dog lover who happens to bring one of his sweet dogs to work with him, I am strong enough to decide for myself whether or not I want to eat the food in this store.  I am smart enough to look around the store and see if it is clean or dirty.  If the counter is clean or dirty.  I don't need some government busy body asshat protecting me from my own decisions.

This is tyrannical behavior.  At the end of the video, the reporter says that the Department told her that if we let one store have a dog, then every store would have some sort of animal, wouldn't they?  ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!  No, not every store.  Just stores which want an animal there and where it makes business sense. 

Maybe the busybodies at the Department of Health should leave alone this business man who sells PACKAGED FOOD to customers who willingly come to his store to purchase said PACKAGED FOOD, and instead focus their attention on "consumers" who's health is actually in danger from the food that is provided for them:  Report: School lunch meat not up to snuff.


Wait, let me get this straight, you mean to tell me that when someone has incentive to keep his customers happy (because he wants them and their money to return to his store), if he's a smart business man, he'll provide the best product and service (even if it is a dog that greats customers coming to his store) he can? No kidding?  And that when a government run monopoly (in this case, public education) can legal force a captive audience and doesn't have to worry about making a profit because they can run HUGE deficits and/or just forcibly take any money they deem necessary, they won't give a damn about the quality of food they provide their customer?  Who would have thunk it?  Seems pretty backward to me. 



I am so fed up with the constant intrusion into my life from the a-holes in government.  And nothing pisses me off more than when some know-it-all government official decides that they know how to run a business better than a store owner.  They sure seem to know all the answers when they're telling business owners that they can't allow smoking (even if their customers want it), or they can't use trans-fats (even if their customers want it), or what the minimum wage they can pay someone is (even if both parties want to pay/get paid less that the government mandated minimum wage).  But if they're so smart, why aren't they out in the private sector making the big bucks with all their great ideas?


The tyrants within the Department of Health and the Department of Ag in Florida think and act as if they are smarter than the customers of this store, and they think and act as if they know better how to run this man's business.  When in fact they are power hungry busy bodies who get to weld their power about with no regard for the consequences. 

Lombardi, with the Department of Agriculture, said while he couldn't verify what prompted the surprise visit Thursday, it was not uncommon for supervisors to accompany inspectors on routine checks.
But Mansour, recalling his conversation with Carroll, came to a different conclusion.
"He told me somebody up top said his boss saw it on the news," he said.

 There you have it.  This wasn't about the public's health or well-being.  It was about some jackass big-wig who wanted to push his weight around and decided to make an example of some little guy.  

MAKES ME SICK.