Hershberger 3 - Wisconsin 1

My man Vernon Hershberger has been cleared of three of the four raw milk charges levied against him, according to the Wall Street Journal. Hershberger still faces a year in prison and $10,000 for the one guilty charge, so there's that. Nevertheless, the charges of which he was found innocent are an excellent win. Read the whole article for maximum enlightenment.

Here's a remarkably striking passage from the piece:

Many mainstream dairies and public-health officials have long warned of raw milk's health concerns and see that, as well as its potential to steal away market share, as threats to the industry. "It's impossible to make an unsafe product safe," said Shawn Pfaff, spokesman for the Wisconsin Safe Milk Coalition, an industry lobbying group opposed to raw-milk sales. "We strongly urge lawmakers to keep it illegal to sell raw milk in Wisconsin to protect the state's $27 billion dairy industry and the public health of its residents."

"...to protect the state's $27 billion dairy industry." That has to be one of the greatest Freudian slips in recent history. Notice that "protection" of the state's dairy industry comes first on the list of Pfaff's concerns. So it's less important that Wisconsin safeguards a vague, unintelligible "public health," and more important that Wisconsin's monolithic mega-dairies are spared the pain of having to compete with raw milk producers. How on Earth do these lobbyists sleep at night?