Brickbat: It Does a Body Good

Credit: b3d_ / photo on flickr

An Australian court has fined dairy farmers Mark and Helen Tyler $17,000 for setting up a cow-share plan that allowed individuals to obtain raw milk from cows they had an ownership stake in. A judge said that was nothing more than a scheme to get around laws banning the sale of raw milk. He said he believed the Tylers' claim that they believed the plan was legal but needed to deter them and others from trying to sell raw milk.

Comments

[JeremyR]

I'm never understood the obsession some people have with raw milk.

Yeah, it shouldn't be illegal, but it's not the smartest thing to drink. Pasteurization was invented for a reason

[Cyto]

Yeah, lots of stupid behind that one.

But this judge.... oh, this judge. Acknowledging that you are not going to follow the law and bringing the state down on someone....... wow. This should be a much worse offense than stupidly avoiding simple safety measures. He should be immediately thrown off the bench and arrested for his offense against the Tylers and the people of Australia.

The other bad actors in this drama have some form of plausible deniability. They can claim that they didn't know the law on the matter, even if they did in fact understand the scheme to be legal. But he's saying that he's above the law, and he's going to decide what is right and what is wrong. Deciding that a legal outcome would be unjust and letting someone go free anyway in the name of justice would be one thing... but bringing the boot down on someone because you don't like the state of the law? He's gotta go.

Actually, now that I think about it... this is probably how most judges and prosecutors see themselves. Standing astride the law, meting out justice! Only most of them are sharp enough to avoid actually saying they are going to ignore the law and bring the hammer anyway. In fact, this is pretty much my impression of the US Supreme Court - backing their way into decisions that were arrived at by political and policy considerations rather than following the law logically to its conclusions.

[Cyto]

Magistrate Luke Davis told the couple their actions constituted deliberate criminal behaviour.

"While I accept, with some hesitation, that you both believed your conduct was lawful, in fact, of course, it was not," he said.

Huh. Reading comprehension, how's that work?

Next time I won't post when sleep deprived. Dang.

[Libertarian]

Apparently, Australia doesn't know how to do loopholes.

[Robert]

I too don't get how "deliberate criminal behavior" squares with believing their conduct was lawful.

[Adans smith]

Yeah,I don't get the raw milk thing either.I'm not a milk drinker. I like mine made into cheese..It's better with beer.I don't agree with it being illegal. Home canning can cause illness too.People still do it.Eah to his own,I say.

[Akira]

One thing that raw milk is used for is home cheesemaking. Storebought milk is homogenized specifically to stop it from turning into cheese. The only other option is using dry milk plus heavy cream, which is a workable but vastly inferior option.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mark Tyler was fined $13,500 and Helen Tyler $4,000, with a 10 per cent discount allowed for their guilty pleas.

Court fees were waived but the couple was ordered to pay a $1,000 prosecution fee and victims of crime levy.

That's quite a lucrative business model the magistrate has.

[straffinrun]

@!!#%#&!!&@!!. And after that they can #`$$%`$ with a &%$#""@@ until it ``%&`@@1!!@. Ahhh, I feel better.

[AdamJ]

In Australia, women only pay $0.30 on the dollar in fines compared to men. Sexists.

[Rich]

a 10 per cent discount allowed for their guilty pleas.

Interesting.

Except it would be more lucrative if the model were: 0% discount for guilty plea, 100% surcharge for being found guilty after pleading innocent.

[Cdr Lytton]

a $1,000 prosecution fee

cue old Soviet jokes about charging for the execution bullet

victims of crime levy

So they made out a check to themselves, right? Because I'm not seeing any other victims in this case.

[Akira]

So the principle seems to be that citizens shouldn't be allowed to buy something that *might* have harmful bacteria in it. If this principle is worth upholding with force of law, shouldn't we be prohibited from buying raw meat as well? I mean, if we can't be trusted not to poison ourselves with raw milk, why are we allowed to buy a whole uncooked chicken?

[Brett L]

What's your favorite pasteurization recipe?

[Granny Weatherwax]

A shot of Bailey's.

[Libertarian]

What's kahlua, chopped liver?

[Radioactive]

I believe, chopped liver is chopped liver & Kahlua is an abomination unto God

[Libertarian]

That noise you hear is the sound of spinning and laughing by the tens of thousands of convicts who helped settle Australia.

[Wizard4169]

Aussies like to paint themselves as wild and crazy anti-authority rebels, but the truth is that they're some of the world's greatest lickspittle statists. Remember, this is a country where you're legally required to vote. Oh, and only for government-approved parties. No "frivolous" parties allowed on the sacred ballot. And they LOVE to hold themselves up an exemplar of democracy. I'll freely admit we Yanks can be a bit delusional in our self-image, but getting called on it by Australians always makes me laugh.

[Suthenboy]

"Raw milk is dangerous. If you drink a bad batch it can kill you."

"Oh yeah? Good to know. By the way, how is my getting sick any of your fucking business?"

[Radioactive]

what about the CHILLDRENZ!!!!?

[UnCivilServant]

Give them some THC gummies and they'll be fine.

[straffinrun]

The Hillary Rodham Clinton gummie? Would.

[kbolino]

They're going to make health care "affordable" and you're going to do what your told to make it happen.

[kbolino]

"what your told"

grumble

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Oh, it will be Suthenboy. It will be...when single payer comes to town.

Once it does it will be all 'we must do this because drain on system.'

[Wizard4169]

Oh, you silly person, you. Don't you know you belong to the collective? I routinely hear this argument from collectivists both left and right. Leftards blame you for not taking better care of yourself and thereby costing everyone else for your healthcare. The fact that you never asked for their socialized healthcare is utterly irrelevant, since it's only just and fair. Right-wingnuts frequently argue against drugs because if you're high, you will be less productive, and you owe it to society to maximize your production. You're somehow robbing them, even if you limit your consumption to match your production. To these people, thinking you own yourself just means you're a spoiled, selfish child.

[some guy]

They didn't build that cow.

[JoWaDat889]

Dude this is why we roll with it. Wow.

http://www.Complete-Privacy.tk

[AdamJ]

You and me.

[pan fried wylie]

One thing that raw milk is used for is home cheesemaking. Storebought milk is homogenized specifically to stop it from turning into cheese. The only other option is using dry milk plus heavy cream, which is a workable but vastly inferior option.

homogenization is breaking up the fat so it doesn't separate, and pasteurization does not preclude cheesemaking, home or otherwise, it just alters the taste of the milk (and the resulting cheese) because you're cooking it. It wouldn't be "authentic" if your recipe calls for raw, but probably a perfectly enjoyable result still.

[RRiver]

I was raised on raw milk, since we lived on a dairy farm, and I never recall ever getting sick from it, as I was healthy as a well feed Arabian horse. What I do recall is the jar of milk with an inch of pure cream on the top, that made oatmeal and hot chocolate taste like candy and honey, it was so good. Any self respecting dairy farmer knows when a cow is giving bad milk. Its easy to see from just what the milk looks like, if it has blood or pus in it, which floats to the top during milking, then the milk isn't any good.

When milk is pasteurized, all of the good nutrients are cooked out of it, and what you are left with whole milk is about 45-50% worth milk and the rest is water with little real value to the human body, and 2% and skim milk have even less value. I haven't drank any milk since we got rid of the dairy farm some 40+ years ago. To me it has no flavor to it, and for sure very little nutritional value. When I was a kid, everyone had a milk cow or more, and I don't ever remember anyone getting sick from drinking it. We made, butter, cheese, and buttermilk as well as sour cream as thick as butter from the milk we kept.

Add to all of this that Louis Pasteur was a fake, and a stealer of others ideas, see: http://www.whale.to/a/b/pearson.html to understand how underhanded Pasteur was. Now the government is trying to stop all sales of raw milk. Not because it dangerous, but because the government just had to get their hands in the pie.

[jackrose]

nice post thanks admin