Apparently even in its' final moments, the Bush administration's
penchant for pettiness has not yet been exhausted. The latest victim is
Roquefort cheese, which has had its' import duty rate tripled to 300%
by the lame duck government. According to an article in The Guardian,
the move was taken in order to "shut down trade in the sheep's milk
product by making it prohibitively expensive". This is payback for the
EU's import ban on America's hormone-addled beef -- plus, in light of
the way this administration has operated, one has to wonder whether
Cheney isn't heavily invested in Gorgonzola stock.
The report goes on to say that the tariff, labeled "incomprehensible
and inadmissible" by the French government, will likely have a minimal
effect on the Roquefort producers given that exports to the US account
for just 2% of their sales. But it adds that those producers believed
it would mean "the end" for Roquefort in the U.S.
This stinks!
