Here are some updates to four stories previously covered at Homeland Stupidity.

• The Transportation Security Administration is implementing a Registered Traveler program, which allows people to register their biometric information with the federal government, pay a fee, and receive expedited security screening at airports. Only it turns out they probably aren’t going to get expedited security screening at all. What exactly are travelers paying for, then?
• Pennsylvania primary elections are in trouble. Last month it was vote rigging on Sequoia voting machines. This month it’s vote rigging on Diebold voting machines. Are there any trustworthy voting machines left?
• I forgot something when discussing high gas prices last week. On Friday, the federal government actually repealed a law! The requirement for gasoline to contain the additive MTBE was dropped, and oil companies stopped using it immediately. The net result was a temporary increase in gas prices as oil companies have to replace it, most likely with ethanol. You can expect prices to come back down — a little — as supplies of ethanol and other additives stabilize.
• And yet another stupid failure of government in responding to Hurricane Katrina was the maps. FEMA uses a mapping system called the National Grid, which despite being supported by most commercial GPS units, nobody really understands, so few emergency responders had good workable maps. But in the South, people prefer latitude and longitude coordinates, or in the case of New Orleans, street addresses. (If you’ve ever been to New Orleans, the reason coordinate-based systems aren’t used becomes obvious.)