If there were a USDA wiki or something this wouldn't be a problem.
So why isn't there one? While you ponder that, allow me to highlight the really important part of this article.
Why do you suppose that everyone was laughing at him when he insisted that his answer was serious? Possibly because his perception on how government works is radically different from most people's (and from reality). As someone who has spent most of his life working for governmental agencies rather than requiring their assistance, I have no doubt that he truly did expect this question to be simply resolved within a few minutes with one simple phone call.
Anyone who has ever actually tried to do that knows that the odds of such a thing happening are about a million to one. Hell, even the most simple and common interactions with government usually require an appointment a week in advance, a good hour of showing up in person at some office, and filling out multiple complicated forms. How disconnected from reality must you be to not realize this? I'm sure when he calls the USDA, he gets a simple answer quickly, but to expect that such a thing would happen for any of us is insane. I'm sure that in medieval times, the lords thought the serfs lived quite well and were treated fairly, too.
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SmartMuffin - Because anything less would be uncivilized
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