Weekend Open Thread: Wow [Y-not]

Stolen from our good friends at Hot Gas, here's a story that you may have missed:

North Carolinian Steve Cooksey had gone through an intense personal journey he wanted to share with the world. He had been obese, diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, and almost keeled over, but emerged from his near-death experience to adopt a simple, "Caveman" or paleo diet of meat, nuts, and veggies along with exercise. He lost a lot of weight, felt great and healthy, and wanted to share with the world, so he started a blog, wherein he dispensed advice about food and fitness. Recipes, grocery lists, general advice.

The state of North Carolina declared this illegal "counseling and assessing" without a license provided by the state. For three years, he has been fighting for the right to blog without a license.

Go over to Mary Katharine Ham's post at Hot Air to learn what happened. (Then come back here to discuss!)

Short answer: the "Caveman" blogger won. Finally.

Often when I see these sorts of stories in the "conservo-sphere" I assume there's some back-story involved that helps explain (or mitigates) what looks like an egregious abuse of power. But I have to say I can't come up with any reasonable explanation for trying to regulate a blogger's speech in this way.

He doesn't appear to be selling anything or representing himself as a medical expert or anything of that sort. What gives, North Carolina?

Open thread.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:00 PM

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