Again? Police in GA shut down girls' lemonade stand

Good grief:

Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn't have a business license or the required permits.

Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn't know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.

...The girls needed a business license, peddler's permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.

The same government that is ignoring an invasion of illegal immigration and refuses to profile terrorists has no problems going after lemonade stands run by our children: Good Grief: Kids Lemonade Stand At US Open Fined $500 And Shut Down

If you think this is something new, think again. Earlier last month: Good Grief: GA Police Close Down A Girl Scout Cookie Stand

Related: Big Government: City bans Girl Scouts from selling cookies on front lawn. In New York last year: Nanny State: City official calls police on children selling cupcakes without a license. A similar situation cropped up in the People's Republic of California last year: Video: Police shut down 7 year old girl's lemonade stand! Hey kid - you got a permit?

Speaking of permit derangement syndrome, last year I wrote a post regarding California officials trying to shut down prayer meetings at a pastor's home because he didn't have the proper permit! I kid you not! Get more detail on that story here: California Pastor Threatened With Fines For Holding Bible Study In Own Home! And speaking of cupcakes, here's a recent story much closer to home: Local MI elementary school launches War On Cupcakes, bans classroom tradition of bringing in cupcakes to celebrate a child's birthday. Here's the video report that accompanied the article:

Other nanny state news over at drudge:

• Town Examines Swing Set Rules... 
• Parents could face fine for burying 10-month old son on property... 
• Land not zoned as cemetery...

Nothing is out of reach of nanny state busy bodies. No matter how silly a decision (swings), or how personal (burying your kid), there's a bureaucrat waiting on the grassy knoll with a bullhorn to tell you what to do. I'll leave you all with this:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. -C.S. Lewis

UPDATE: Should have mentioned this prior post: Video: Reason TV announced 'Nanny of the Month' recipient for June 2011

Good Grief: CO Daycare Centers To Be Forced To Stock Dolls Of At Least Three Different Races

3 ways that a tyrannical government asserts control over people: confiscatory taxes, deficit spending, and excessive regulation. This one is of the excessive regulation variety. The central planners aren't content to tell you how much you should weight and what you should or should not eat. Nope. They want to control the pigmentation of dolls in daycare centers too. No item is too small or meaningless for some bureaucratic busybody to want to control. From Denver Westward Blogs: Colorado day-care center proposal: Dolls must represent at least three different races

...New rules proposed by the Colorado Department of Human Services include a requirement that all day-care centers in the state make available dolls representing three different races.

The 98-page document, obtained by 7News, features a slew of rule changes. Among them: children over age two must not be served whole milk without a note from a doctor, kids over age one can't drink more than six ounces of juice per day, TV and computer time will be capped at twenty minutes daily, and staffers must wear clothes that cover their lap and shoulders. But arguably the most unusual suggestion pops up on page 77: "Dolls shall represent three (3) races."

Excessive regulation by a bunch of bureauweenies. Folks - keep your kids at home. Public schools are doing less and less in terms of public education and are now more concerned with lifestyle management that isn't in their charter. When has that ever stopped a liberal though?

UPDATE: I'm assuming from the above list that chocolate milk is out. Via Instapundit: 

EXPERTS SAY CHOCOLATE MILK gets kids hooked on dairy. “Outraged nutritionists, cafeteria managers and parents are pleading with public health officials to keep chocolate milk in schools as the state prepares to issue tough new food regulations that could eliminate the flavored drink.”