Mister Regulator

I was telling someone the other day about this little girl who runs a lemonade stand just down the street. She's there every now and then. While she sells lemonade, another little girl, perhaps her sister, draws art on the sidewalk with sticks of chalk.

I've bought lemonade from her stand for two reasons. 1) Lemonade's pretty good. 2) You should always support a budding capitalist. My only complaint is that her serving cups are damn small and the last time I bought lemonade there, I felt jipped.

In any event, she seems to enjoy the venture, and so should we. It teaches her the value of a buck and how the world works. While everyone else is running around worrying about the economy and begging for government handouts, this little girl shrugs and starts earning some cash. Pretty cool. Right?

Out in California, another little girl is learning how the world works, too. Running a small business? Get ready for Mister Regulator:

Eight-year-old Daniela Earnest has made lemonade out of lemons in more ways than one this week.

Hoping to raise money for a family trip to Disneyland, the Tulare girl opened a lemonade stand Monday. But because Daniela didn't have a business license, the city of Tulare shut it down the same day.

A radio station caught wind of it and gave her some tickets to Disneyland. Under that PR pressure, it looks like the city is going to cave and let the little girl have her lemonade stand.

The reason I dislike Mister Regulator is because his mission in life is to make sure you don't make a buck. He makes his living by trying to stop you from doing same. In this case, Mister Regulator was "Richard Garcia, a Tulare code enforcement officer, [who] happened to be at the same intersection to remove illegal signs left behind by someone selling tetherball poles."

I get that. Signs hanging all over the place are ugly. But think about his job: constantly looking for ways to cheat someone out of making a living. It must be a glorious little place, the mind of Mister Regulator: "I am important. I am the boss. Scourge of lemonade stands and tetherball enthusiasts."

Imagine the officious moron you would have to be to see a little girl selling lemonade, then bust her for not having a business license. It's almost inconceivable that someone could be that stupid.

Almost, but not quite, because these clowns are everywhere.