Tomatos, Peppers…And Too Much Government?
Now that the FDA has admitted that they blew it with the salmonella scare in tomatos, how much more of the “good thing” called government…do you want?


By Sonny Fulks/1570wptw.com

I was driving south on route 48 Tuesday when I heard the report that the Food and Drug Administration had come clean. They blew it…over last month's scare about salmonella in tomatos.

Reportedly, more than 1,200 people in this country became ill with salmonella since mid-April…229 hospitalized and two actually died. The FDA, our government at work, jumped on tomatos.

They took them out of restaurants. They took them off grocers shelves. They, in effect, took them out of farmers’ fields. In all, they took more than $100,000,000 dollars out of the pockets of Americans whose livelyhood depended on the sale of tomatos…and yesterday they said they blew it.

Many western growers are worried about the irreparable damage this may leave on an entire industry. For the record, no word on Tuesday as to how our government proposed to amend those people’s losses. Sorry about your luck.

The actual culprit…Mexican jalapeno peppers found at a distribution center in South Texas (they think), and in reality, a veritable “needle in a haystack” to track, find and eradicate the source.

On the heels of Tuesday’s report, I heard another message…a campaign ad from Barack Obama telling us why government has failed to do enough for the American people. “We can do more, and we can do better,” he extolled.

Given the news form the FDA, I couldn’t help but think…I think you’ve done enough.

In a day when the candidates are telling us that government needs to do more for people, I wonder what the owners of those farms, restaurants and stores whose livings are tied the latest government blunder would say? They’re out $100,000,000, and being asked to sign on for more?

More federal policies…more federal taxes…more federal agencies…more federal entitlements…more federal regulation…and yet, we shut down an entire industry for 1,200 people (out of 270 million) who got sick. And from what, we’re still not sure!

Hysterically, they're proud of this in Washington, and the candidates are saying…they’d like to do more.

I noticed on the evening news yesterday that the FDA is also talking about the new strain of flu shot that will available for this season’s projected epidemic. Given what I now know about tomatoes and peppers…where do I sign up for that?

It might kill you, but at least it’s free. Your government…at work!

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