HUMOUR:

THE WAY IT GOES:

Another winner from the pen of Stephanie McMillan.

CANADIAN POLITICS:

THE RITZ PUTS YOU ON (CANADIAN ELECTION TRIVIA-PART 4):

The Canadian election campaign grinds on, with its usual selection of weekly slips of the tongue on the part of Sneaky Stevie's pirate crew. One of these is Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz whose rather crude jokes about the recent Listeriosis outbreak have led to repeated denunciations from the victims of the tainted meat involved and also repeated calls for Harper to fire the man on the part of opposition parties. Ah yes, but Mr Ritz is not all fun and games. He has a serious side as well, as the following article from the Harper Index makes plain. A good "team player" in the Harper cabinet, Ritz is almost as bullying and secretive as his boss, and like Sneaky Stevie he makes no bones about his corporate agenda. The cold cuts dispensed to those quarters will never be sliced too thin. Read on.

...........................

Ritz aggressively defends industry:
Embattled agriculture minister is known as bully and yes-man for Stephen Harper.
OTTAWA, September 18, 2008: Who is agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, the MP and agriculture minister from Battlefords- Lloydminster? The failed ostrich farmer and former newspaper publisher has been the victim of leaks this summer. In July came news of a leak at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) of a government document detailing the shift of food inspection from government to food manufacturers and distributors. As a result of this new policy, food companies will, for the most part, inspect themselves and federal inspectors will spend the bulk of their time going through company-generated reports.

Ritz was back on the front pages this week after it was reported that he made wisecracks in a departmental conference call in August over the listeriosis outbreak. The crisis, which has resulted in at least 17 deaths, occurred just months after the changes to food inspection.

Terry Pugh, Executive Secretary of the National Farmers Union (NFU), says Ritz is a "a yes-man" for Stephen Harper and "one of the most vociferous opponents of the Canadian Wheat Board." He is also closely tied to the ethanol lobby.

When CFIA biologist Luc Pomerleau was fired in July for leaking the document, Ritz praised the colleague who turned Pomerleau in as the source of the politically embarrassing leak.

"Some people have likened him to a whistleblower. I dismiss that," Mr. Ritz told the Globe and Mail. "The whistleblower was the gentleman who turned Mr. Pomerleau in."

As chair of the House agriculture committee, Ritz maneuvered to prevent meat processors being forced to open their books during the BSE crisis, Pugh says. "He always fought to protect the interests of the companies."

Ritz' "stamp is push and bully your way in," says Pugh. "But he's a ding-a-ling, he doesn't know when to shut his mouth. To make jokes like that during a conference call is the height of stupidity. The fact that some courageous person would report it is amazing. Retribution will come hard and swift," he predicts.

Ritz also caused waves earlier in September when Agriculture Canada announced that crown corporations like the Farm Credit Corporation (FCC) will now have to consider the "personal integrity" of program applicants. Critics say the move is purely political because it came after the FCC loaned money to former Liberal cabinet minister Alfonso Gagliano – of Sponsorship Scandal fame – for a grape farm.

"The concerned crown corporations will immediately begin to review their policies and programs to ensure that due consideration is given to the personal integrity of persons applying for financial assistance or other benefits from the corporations," Ritz said in a news release.

BRAZIL: 5TH CONGRESS OF BRAZIL'S LANDLESS MOVEMENT: CREATING THE BASIS FOR A NEW WORLD:

There's an interesting recent article over at the Autonomy and Solidarity site about the 5th Congress of the Brazilian Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurals Sem Terra- the MST). Since 1979 the MST has engaged in land occupations of large estates. Today they have 5,000 settlements occupying 55 million acres and housing about 2 million people. There are also 150,000 landless workers camped on the side of highways still struggling to obtain land. This Congress was notable in that despite having called for support for President Lulu's Workers' Party(the PT) less than a year ago Lulu was pointedly not invited to this event, and there were far fewer representatives of the PT than at previous congresses. The actuality of social democracy in power has proven to be disappointing for the MST and many other social movements in Brazil. In relation to agriculture the MST is particularly disturbed by the acquiescence of the PT with neoliberalism's plans for genetically modified crops and ethanol production, all of which means support for agribusiness rather than small peasant farmers.

The article at Autonomy and Solidarity is by Raul Zibechi of Brecha, a weekly journal in Montevideo, Uruguay. Excerpts follow:

"The largest social movement on the continent, and one of the most important in the world, held its 5th Congress in mid-June 2007 in Brasilia. Despite successful mobilization of masses of people and significant media impact, under Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government the movement faces strong challenges to activate its base against new enemies such as agribusiness....

"This was the central dilemma for the 5th MST Congress. To make agrarian reform viable, first the neoliberal model that is advancing in Brazil under the administration of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must be rejected. The recent agreement between Lula and George W. Bush for the production of biofuels proved to the MST that it can no longer no longer count on Lula to support its goals. Stedile sees Lula's second term, which began in January 2007, as likely to be even more conservative than his first (2003-2006)....

"In contrast with previous congresses, this one had fewer representatives from Lula's Workers' Party (PT), and Lula was not invited. Although less than a year before, the MST had called to support Lula in the second round of the presidential election, relations have never been worse. The first leftist government in Brazil's history not only failed to accomplish the agrarian reform expected by the landless; it also supported agribusiness by approving transgenetically modified crops and promoting biofuels....

"Agrarian Reform for Social Justice and Popular Sovereignty was the theme of the 5th Congress. MST believes its main enemy now is agribusiness linked to multinationals, which wrests land and resources from the type of family agriculture that assures sufficient food for the national population. The organization proposes five steps:democratize ownership of the land; reorient agricultural production by turning towards the internal market and away from the external market preferred by multinationals; develop new agricultural techniques that do not harm the environment; spread education among farm workers; and develop small agroindustries to create employment....

"As a result of this, Stedile says in an article in Folha de Sao Paulo that the movement focus is on a democratic agricultural model that guarantees access to work, land, water and seeds for all. As an example of an undemocratic model he points to Lula's first four years in power, during which the State transferred US $300 billion to the financial sector because Brazil's interest rate is the highest in the world."

To read the entire article go to the Autonomy and Solidarity site HERE.