FRUITS and vegetables will be delivered fresh from the farm to your doorstep in a new Australia Post program.

For the first time you will be able to virtually `meet’ various farmers, see their farm and buy their produce at their prices through the internet.

Australia Post’s pilot paddock to plate venture is called Farmhouse Direct and marries the country’s largest delivery network – servicing close to 10.7 million addresses every day – with local producers.

Read more: Australia Post teams up with Aussie farmers | Herald Sun.

The Federal Times does a great job summarizing the Congressional game-playing that has resulted in the current postal “crisis”. Here’s your “crisis” in a nutshell- note that it has nothing to do with the Internet, email, or electronic diversion:

Congress set this slow-motion train wreck in motion way back in 2006 when it passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which required the Postal Service to pre-pay expected health care costs for future retirees within 10 years. Compressing the payment period to just 10 years is why the annual payments are a whopping $5.4 billion to $5.8 billion apiece.

No other organization in the country carries such a burden.

Congress insisted on a 10-year payment period in order to capture the impact of the law on the deficit. The Congressional Budget Office’s arcane “scoring” rules require that the impact only be scored over 10 years. Forcing all liabilities to be pre-paid within 10 years enabled CBO to declare the bill to be deficit-neutral. That, in turn, provided the political cover Republicans needed to support the bill.

Aside from that, however, there was no reason to make the payments so large and to collect them so fast.

The paper goes on to point out that the GOP-controlled House, and Congressman Darrell Issa in particular, have shown “contempt” for the USPS and even for Congress itself:

The House’s failure to act is disgraceful. Through their inaction, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., are demonstrating contempt for the Postal Service and a lack of respect for the law and for the obligations of their own institution.

via Editorial: Congress’ inaction on Postal Service default disgraceful | Federal Times | federaltimes.com.

Update: Well that was fast! Minutes after I posted the story on twitter, Congressman Dennis Ross responded:

@postalnews fed times is wrong. great reason 2accelerate payment. FACT that USPS was over $100 bil in red 4 ret & health care & decl volume

— Dennis Ross (@RepDennisRoss) July 15, 2012

From the National Association of Postmasters of the US:

Apparently, the House Republican leadership has thrown in the towel in attempting to bring up H.R. 2309, the Issa-Ross postal bill, prior to the summer recess. (The summer recess extends from August 4 through September 9.)

Depending on who you ask, the following reasons have been offered for deferring action on H.R 2309:

• The GOP leadership does not believe that the bill has enough support to pass, or remain intact through the amendment process
• The GOP leadership does not want to reserve prolonged floor time for a controversial bill
• The GOP  leadership does not deem HR 2309 to be a legislative priority
• The GOP leadership does not want to subject vulnerable GOP Members of Congress to politically difficult votes only three months prior to the election
• All of the above.

The political and legislative calendar does not improve in the fall. In September, the House is scheduled to be in session for only eight days, with a stop-gap government spending bill and politically-charged pre-election measures dominating the landscape. There is potential for a postal bill being considered in a post-election lame-duck session; however, the presidential and congressional elections will determine whether such a session will tackle postal legislation in 2012, or delay a bill until 2013. Only time and the general election returns will tell.