Posted on 12/10/2012 9:43:13 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
Cats were everywhere. Fifty or so of them. In the house. On the lawn. Sunning themselves on the wall surrounding the property.
Most were six-toed — making them polydactyls. That's different. The cats you usually see have five toes on each paw in the front. Four on each in the back.
They were descendants of Snowball, a present from a ship's captain. A gift to writer Ernest Hemingway. He — Hemingway, that is — died in 1961.
About 10 years ago, a visitor to the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West thought something was wrong. Were the cats being treated well? The museum said yes. The visitor, who had doubts, filed a complaint with the feds. It's a complaint that's gone to the courts.
Yes, Hemingway's cats are a federal case.
Now, as Christian Science Monitor correspondent Warren Richey tells NPR's Robert Siegel, a ruling has come down: The U.S. Department of Agriculture can regulate how the cats are treated, judges say. The museum gets visitors from out-of-state. It charges those visitors to see Hemingway's home and the famous cats. Interstate commerce gives Uncle Sam an interest, according to the courts.
So the feds can tell the museum to build a higher fence. Or to give the cats some more elevated "condos" to sleep in. The government also could levy fines if the museum doesn't cooperate. Will the museum appeal, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court? Nobody knows just yet.
Richey's written about all this for the Monitor. His story is here. Want to see the cats? There's video of them.
All Things Considered will have more on this later. We'll add the interview to the top of this post when it's ready. Click here if you want to find an NPR station that broadcasts or streams the show.
As for the cats, they're not commenting. We have our doubts, though, that they'll do what the law says. They're cats.
Are you @#$%ing kidding me? By this logic, the feds have jurisdiction over every business that gets at least one out-of-state customer - and how can they prove they don't? If this ruling is upheld federalism has been unilaterally abolished.
[Kitty lovers: Pix, video of the cats at source.]
Did Key West [city fathers] ever settle the *gypsy chicken* problem *some* busybodies think they have?
Ping
Kittehs are a bonus to this thread about Fed gov power grab.
The Feds Can Tell Ernest Hemingway's Cats What To Do; Here's Why [Totalitarian Fed power grab]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture can regulate how the cats are treated, judges say. The museum gets visitors from out-of-state. It charges those visitors to see Hemingway's home and the famous cats. Interstate commerce gives Uncle Sam an interest, according to the courts.
By this logic, the feds have jurisdiction over every business that gets at least one out-of-state customer - and how can they prove they don't? If this ruling is upheld federalism has been unilaterally abolished.
Check out article.
Thanks, Slings and Arrows.
I’m sure the Feds will be moving on the chickens next.
You’re welcome. Wish I wasn’t the bearer of bad news.
*Cluck the Feds and City Hall.*
Political considerations aside, the feds must think awfully highly of themselves.
I have never met ANYONE who can tell cats what to do and get away with it!
≤}B^)
If anybody would try, it’s the Fed.
Had years ago a multi-toed cat by the name of Goofy. Would drive my mother nuts for food, but he was a sweet boy. :)=^..^=
Bookmarked!
Hemingway was a fraud; but leave his cats alone Feds.
this Fed bafoonery has been going on since the Bush administration
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The exchange of goods, products, or any type of Personal Property. Trade and traffic carried on between different peoples or states and its inhabitants, including not only the purchase, sale, and exchange of commodities but also the instrumentalities, agencies, and means by which business is accomplished. The transportation of persons and goods, by air, land, and sea. The exchange of merchandise on a large scale between different places or communities.....The Feds are overstepping on this one a bit. Aholes.
This is one topic where I am “Pro Choice.” I don’t want the feds regulating how we must keep our pussies!
Actually it started with FDR.
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