In the further attempt to annoy the rest of the world for the slight possibility of more safety for the US, we apparently passed The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. According to this article, in order to ship foodstuffs from foriegn countries to the US, you have to register with the FDA (on the Internet, no less, and apparently with later versions of IE only) and register each foodstuff you send. Well, unless you make it yourself. Or its beef or poultry (since those aren't regulated by the FDA, they are regulated by the USDA). So, in this age of mad cow and the bird flu, you are still free to ship meat to the US without any problems, but just in case you were planning on killing us with a box of Swiss chocolate or Greek Ouzo, you've got to register first.

I guess we should be happy they don't require fingerprints. How long until the rest of the world follows Brazil's example and starts throwing these stupid regulations back in our face? And we get more diplomatic farce like large fines for giving officials the finger. Apparently we already have that in common: airport security officials have no sense of humor.

T-minus 3 days til 30.