For once, this inanity can't be blamed on the EU. Switzerland is not a member state.

Hear! Hear! Well said. I was thinking along a similar line about parliament if they have nothing better to do than pass laws like this. But if you peruse the commenrts at the bottom of the article there are people applauding this. It's enough to lead one to despair.

I don't even like the whole "anger management" issue. A whole industry devoted to breaking the spirit of people, many of whom may have had an excellent reason to be exasperated at a subway attendant, a flight attendant, a panhandler, someone who turned tham into the cops for having photos of their toddlers in the bathtub, you name it.

Liberal Fascism, playing at a ballot box near you.

A more likely explanation is that the Swiss became tired of participating in their extensive "direct democracy," and left the field to the nuts. Swiss participation in elections and local governance has been declining for years, as the citizens became increasingly cynical. Voter participation is actually lower in Switzerland than in the US. Meanwhile, the "participatory bureaucracy" spread like a cancer. Being left alone is a luxury that can be undermined in more than one way.

These new regulations are an example of what happens when you let pathological fussbudgets have their way.

Over-regulation is a symptom of what happened when we allowed them to air-condition the Capitol building and stay in session for months at a time. Congress should be made to legislate in 100-degree heat, and bureaucrats to decree in straitjackets.

Remember Den Beste's Law: "The job of a bureaucrat is to regulate, and left to themselves, they will regulate everything they can."

Government is, by nature, a regulatory Terminator. "That's what it does! That's all it does!"

But wait! There's more! And it's even stupider!

William Briggs reports,

For it has finally been announced—from Europe, naturally, from the Swiss government-appointed Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology—that plants have feelings too.

They have authoritatively stated that “interfering with plants without a valid reason as ‘morally inadmissible.’” This means the next time you carve you and your sweetheart’s name into a tree can lead to a nice, long jail sentence. (If the famed Swiss police ever catch you, that is.)

The ethics committee did grudgingly admit—for now—that “all action involving plants for the preservation of the human race was morally justified.” Meaning, I suppose, that it’s still OK to eat them. I probably don’t need to explain to you the fix we’d be in if we could not. But there is only direction for the Enlightened to go, so stay tuned for an announcement banning the use of “higher” plants, such as maybe corn and tomatoes, for use in the “preservation of the human race.”

The august Swiss body has also found that “genetic modification of a plant did not contradict the idea of its ‘dignity’.” Yes, I can see how a kumquat would not find it an affront to be genetically probed. Until, that is, the kumquat learns how easily this sort of thing can sully one’s reputation. It’s only matter of time before a lawyer figures this out and brings a case to Brussels.

I came upon your site while looking for more detail on the Swiss liberation of goldfish. Two comments: 1) This is a very well written post and I plan to be back to read more! Entertaining too. 2) A group of U.S. business people, government veterans and others have launched a new website called The Tecumseh Project. We, like the Ohio valley Shawnee Chief it is named for, are urging a united front: Christians and other freedom lovers must work together to battle the anti-religious oppression now sweeping through the West.

Folks who are interested may persue our site at: http://www.tecumsehproject.com. Thank you very much for your consideration, and God bless us, every one.