Watch out for those Home made goodies!

On the Opinion page of the Manhattan Mercury, Tuesday June 26, 2007, an article appeared written by Dale McFeatters of Scripts-Howard News Service entitled "Some homemade brownies seem well worth soldier's risk."

At the Bangor International Airport in Bangor Maine a group of volunteers called "The Maine Troop Greeters" have been greeting troops going to and from Iraq and Afghanistan all sorts of homemade goodies. This has been going on since 2003 and during that time over 500,000 soldiers shared in the good will of the community. At first the airport even allocated a room where the treats could be found. But no more.

Airport authorities became concerned about the potential for a lawsuit because they had no control over the conditions in which these goodies were prepared. The local concessionaires claim they never complained, but what concessionaire in his right mind or even his left would go on record as complaining about goodies going to the troops. End result: no more goodies for the troops.

McFeatters suggests that the goodies be allowed again with a sign up over the door warning the troops of the risk that they run eating this undocumented food. Oh yes, the article mentions that there is no record of any soldier coming down sick as a result of the goodies, but we all know it could happen anytime.

My spin on this story is simple. It is a great example of our bureaucracy out of control. You can't just do good deeds without making sure you followed all the rules for doing good deeds. Since 1934 our bureaucracy has grown at an astronomical rate. These agencies are a power unto themselves and little or nothing can be done about their decisions.

A good friend of mine worked in a mine/mill operation in the state of Utah. He said that OSHA would come in and make a list of changes that had to be made for the safety of the workers. So the mine/mill would make the changes. About the time the changes were made the EPA would show up and they would have a list of changes that needed to be made. Some of the changes contradicted the ones OSHA had made. Finally the Bureau of Mines would show up and we would have the same game played. New changes that reversed what the previous two agencies had put in force.

So what is the answer. Well, we need an agency to oversee the agencies. Maybe several new agencies whose role is to oversee the agencies. In time we could then establish more agencies to oversee the agencies that are overseeing the agencies. Job security at least.