More NAIS

On a keyword search at Yahoo news (for "NAIS") I found this story today seeming to offer a hint of evident opposition, if not quite hope that the whole idea would simply crumble beneath its own ridiculousness. Here's a snippet:

"USDA, after hearing strong opposition from the industry, has abandoned its earlier decision to allow a single private entity to manage the livestock movement database in connection with the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

"But that wasn't the only major announcement from the agency concerning NAIS:

"The agency's NAIS coordinator, Neil Hammerchmidt, told last week's meeting of R-CALF USA that there won't be a mandatory ID program by 2009, as previously announced.

"And, he said, USDA attorneys are researching whether they have the legal authority to require producers to report livestock movement to a private entity."

But after forwarding that link to a person closely following this story, I received his quick and deflating reply: "I wish it was good news, but what I hear them saying is they are going to do the database private to prevent Freedom of Information Act access . . . and that they won't hit the 2009 deadline on mandatory but still plan it to go mandatory. Slipped deadline is all. Keep fighting the good fight."

How did this happen to our country? Where did we fail ourselves?