Jimmy Stewart with dinner guestWhenever in doubt about the existence of evil, keep in mind not only the horrors but also the faith-shaking absurdities on offer in countries controlled by evil regimes. The historical examples are innumerable, but the present-day ones are often worse—proof that brutality and stupidity on a grand scale aren't a fluke but are here to stay. Here's the latest outrage, courtesy of Joshua Muravchik on Commentary's excellent "Contentions" blog:

Suddenly there is a ray of hope that North Koreans—even those who are not employed by the armed forces or the secret police—will have something more nutritious than grass and bark in their cooking pots. According to a report in the Washington Post of February 2, the North Korean embassy in Berlin recently sent a delegation to a German agricultural fair at which a retired chauffeur named Karl Szmolinsky showed off hugely oversized rabbits that he had bred—some reaching “the size of a full-grown beagle.” “Eureka!,” thought an embassy official, presumably the economic attaché. Your average rabbit might make a meal for two or three people. But according to Szmolinsky, a single one of his “gray giants” can, if properly butchered, yield fifteen pounds of meet, enough to feed, say, thirty. It is easy for even a Communist economist to see, therefore, that if you raise these monsters instead of regular rabbits you can increase one component of the food supply by a factor of ten.

What's so terrible about that? Am I opposed to Frankenfood? Do I care if starving Koreans dine on Fuzzy Bunny Jjigae? No, but as with all quick fixes (especially quick fixes ignorant of economics), it just doesn't work. Find out why here, and then get a little comic relief by way of another Jimmy and his giant rabbit. (If this hasn't killed your appetite for news from NoKo, here's another food-related nightmare.)