David McElroy

What do you do if you want to buy vegetables? If you’re like most people, you head to the grocery store to buy food grown far away from where you live by people you don’t know under conditions you aren’t sure about. What if you had a choice to buy veggies from somebody around the block instead?

Shamefully, I don’t eat vegetables the way I should, so I can’t remember the last time I’ve been in the vegetable section of a grocery store unless I was on my way to the meat counter. But if I did suddenly become a healthy eater, I’d have a choice that a lot of people don’t have. I could walk two blocks to the house you see above and buy fresh vegetables grown in their yard — all without any licensing or health permits.

I feel pretty certain that this must be against city vending ordinances to do it in a residential area, but this older couple have been doing this ever since before I moved to the neighborhood 20 years ago. They’ve lived there in their modest little house since long before an affluent suburb grew up around them. The mayor of this little suburb lives within 50 yards of the house where these folks live, so I’m sure the city knows about it. Even though my little suburb likes to see itself as progressive and upscale these days, it leaves these people alone. Why? I assume it’s because they’ve been doing it for so long and because the people who live nearby actually like it.

This older couple aren’t going to win any awards for marketing or merchandising displays, but there’s something reassuring and honest about their little operation. I was thinking last night — not for the first time — that what they do is a perfect example of how commerce works when the state doesn’t give orders.

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The first time I ever saw Alex, he was lying next to a food bowl outside of the Winn-Dixie grocery store near my house.

He looked up at me with big sad eyes as I walked into the store one night. I didn’t know who he belonged to or what he was doing at the store, so I asked while I was checking out.

“He’s been here all day,” the cashier said. “Some woman put him out of the car this morning with that bowl and a ball. She took off and he’s been here ever since.”

On the way out the door, I stopped to visit him. He didn’t have a real tail, but he wagged a little stump of a tail at getting some attention. Another store employee told me that people had been petting the dog all day, but nobody was interested in taking him home.

As I was petting the dog and trying to figure out whether I could help him, a couple of other customers stopped to talk. They were both big animal lovers, they said, and they both expressed a willingness to help. Each said she knew someone who wanted a dog, but neither had a place to keep him that night.

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If you’re one of the millions of Americans who gets news and information from TV news, please read this and think about it every time you see someone on your screen shaping your opinions. Many of these people are simply performing.

Radley Balko has an amazing little nugget of information at his excellent Agitator blog today that you really need to see. Balko received an email from a TV producer with a promotional email from attorney Jeffrey Steinberger, who markets himself to stations as a “celebrity attorney” and legal analyst. Read the entire post, but here’s the key part:

“Attorney Steinberger is available to discuss all civil matters as well and any other legal matter not mentioned above.

“Attorney Steinberger is able to take a position on either side of any case– defense or prosecution.”

He brazenly admits that he’s willing to take either side — depending on which role the producers need him to fill. In other words, when you’re listening to him, you’re not listening to his opinion. Instead, you’re listening to him play a part assigned by a TV producer. He’s using his credibility as an attorney to gain your confidence and sell you a position. It’s dishonest.

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