Monday, March 5, 2007

question from the peanut gallery.

I've crossed the Atlantic Ocean via economy class about twenty times or so. Security protocols and hassles have changed over the years--quite drastically so after 9/11--but one thing has always remained constant: the unflinching vigilance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whose agents make sure that no one brings produce, fruit, or ham sandwiches into the United States.

These guardians of liberty confiscate sandwiches, apples, and all other food that is not packaged, to make sure that visitors and returning citizens don't import a nasty case of apple crud or pig sniffles into the Land of the Free.

That, of course, brings me to the Question of the Day.

Why is it that I have Oma's tasty German liverwurst sammich ripped out of my hands at gunpoint upon arrival at U.S. Customs, and some self-important, blowhard rap "artist" can have a complete Indian meal delivered from Wales to New York?

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