It’s What’s for Dinner — But Not Here, Please

Mad cow disease was the reason meat and poultry donated by the UK to help Katrina victims never wound up in American bellies. Instead, the food has idled, at a cost of $16,000 per month, in an Arkansas warehouse.

But ours is a government that can never let someone else’s good deed go without using it to punish a third party. The Washington Post:

State Department officials have considered sending the food to Guatemala, which was devastated by mudslides. But the impoverished country does not have vehicles to transport the enormous pallets. For cultural reasons, the meals would be inappropriate for Pakistani earthquake victims.

“Everyone wants a happy ending,” said a senior State Department official who requested anonymity, given the already bruised feelings in Britain. “No one wants them to go to waste. Everyone wants them to be put to good use.”

Hey, where do we keep the smallpox-infected blankets these days? Cold in Kyrgystan this time of year.

Katrina Food Aid Blocked by U.S. Rules [WaPo]

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