On Mon, 16 Apr 2001, Neil Johnson wrote:
I was listening to a radio program on NPR (The cypherpunks favorite statist medium :) ).
They were discussing the problems with the certification of kosher food.
Evidently there are many different organizations with differing ideas on what it takes to be kosher.
They interviewed one restaurant owner who follows kosher practices and has been certified by a rabbi.
However, the local kosher certification organization says he isn't because he doesn't have a full time rabbi on staff in the kitchen (who just happens to HAVE to be from their organization). So most orthodox Jews won't eat there.
Kind of sounds like a "protection racket" to me.
And they admit it freely, the 'protection racket of the soul'. This is after all one of the primary facets of their lives. It's also very non-economic in character. It also occured to me a few minutes ago while I was out on an errand that it's pretty funny that crypto-anarchist are using 'heavily regulated markets' as examples of the strength of 'free market' and 'reputation capital' (being devout is related to 'reputation'?). ____________________________________________________________________ The ultimate authority...resides in the people alone. James Madison The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------