IN CASE YOU FORGOT WHY BIG GOVERNMENT IS A BAD THING

After years of it folks come to see stuff like this as normal.

Germany can no longer afford state aid to help its yodelers buy lederhosen, the Bavarian government said Tuesday in a sign of how drastically public finances have deteriorated in Europe's largest economy.

"We no longer want to sponsor the lederhosen with subsidies," Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber said, ignoring outcries from traditional folk groups, some of whom have threatened to boycott the opening parade of the Munich Oktoberfest, the world"s biggest beer festival.

Astonishing. But folks...that is how Europe is!

Two weeks ago I bought a car from a German so CPT Patti has something to drive to work the last couple of months we are here. As we completed the transaction the previous owner showed me various papers to be kept with the car. Among them was a permit, issued by a government entity here in Germany. That permit, she tells me, I must have in the car if stopped by the Polizei. It is the permit issued by the government to allow the original owner to replace the stock steering wheel with a "sports steering wheel (to be best of my ability to tell, the difference betwee the two is the sports wheel is thicker and covered in leather.) In Germany you need the Government's permission to make such a change.

Why? Folks here have allowed the government to expand into the smallest of businesses.

(Thanks for the tip, Sarah)