You miss the point. Although this particular incident is humorous, the fact remains that there are lawmakers in Berkeley who hold a political philosophy that they believe gives them the right to make it a crime--a punishable crime--for a private business to sell coffee that the politician personally does not approve of.

That this is a small venue and a single city does not mean we need to sweep such raw wannabe totalitarianism under the rug.

I could fill a page with examples of leftists wanting to use the power of the gun to enforce whatever crackpot notion happens to creep across the unwrinkled surface of their brain that day. Make fast food illegal? Tax meat? Outlaw autos from cities? Remove every human being from the Great Plains and give it back to the buffalo? Equalize all incomes? A maximum wage? Outlaw pets? Each of these has been seriously suggested by people who are respected by their peers, and often have political power--fortunately, not very much of it. Yet.

There are one hell of a lot of politicians on the loose with exactly this philosophy, and too damn many are already in Washington, or heading there.

And yes, when I contemplate someone jamming a cold gun barrel into my forehead to tell me what kind of goddam coffee I can drink--and no matter how much liberals try to fog the issue, this is exactly what's happening--I do tend to reach for the antacids.